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In this episode, we observe the joyous anticipation of the future, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 368, penned by Nakirar. Set in the farmlands of ‘Marutham’, the verse speaks in the voice of the lady to the confidante, on hearing that the man has arrived to claim her hand in marriage.
மெல்லியலோயே! மெல்லியலோயே!
நல் நாள் நீத்த பழி தீர் மாமை
வன்பின் ஆற்றுதல் அல்லது, செப்பின்,
சொல்ல கிற்றா மெல்லியலோயே!
சிறியரும் பெரியரும் வாழும் ஊர்க்கே,
நாள் இடைப் படாஅ நளி நீர் நீத்தத்து
திண்கரைப் பெரு மரம் போல,
தீது இல் நிலைமை முயங்குகம் பலவே.
‘Embracing again and again’ is the tender thought herein. The opening words ‘மெல்லியலோயே! மெல்லியலோயே!’ meaning ‘O soft-natured girl! O soft-natured girl’ expresses the love in the mind of the speaker towards the listener. In ‘பழி தீர் மாமை’ meaning ‘a blameless, beautiful dark skin’, we see the high regard for a dusky appearance. Lushness of the land is vividly captured in ‘நாள் இடைப் படாஅ நளி நீர் நீத்தத்து’ meaning ‘without even a day’s break, floods surround and soak’. A singularly striking image can be savoured in ‘திண்கரைப் பெரு மரம்’ meaning ‘a huge tree on a firm riverbank’. Ending with the words ‘முயங்குகம் பலவே’ meaning ‘let me embrace many a time’, the verse welcomes us to listen intently.
A current of tenderness swirls through this verse. The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship when the man parted away to gather wealth for their wedding. Languishing in his absence, the lady spent many days in misery. After some time, the confidante conveys the happy news that the man was there to claim the lady’s hand and positive steps were being taken for the lady’s marriage with the man. Hearing this, the lady says, “O gentle one! O gentle one! My faultless, dark skin lost its glow on that good day and I have borne that loss only with strength within, without being able to speak words any! In this town where live the big and small, akin to the huge tree on a tough river shore, graced by lush floods, without even a single day’s break, I too, in a manner of pure good sans any wrong, shall embrace him over and over again!” With these words, the lady expresses her boundless joy on hearing the confidante’s news and also, her eagerness to claim the bliss, the future holds out for her.
In the midst of many songs, where the lady moons over the missing man, isn’t it pure delight to delve into a joy-filled one? Let’s relish the lady’s emotions deeply by listening to her words. Doesn’t a bearer of good news seem like an angel to yearning eyes? True, says this Sangam lady, who calls her confidante with such loving words, not once or twice but thrice in the course of this verse of few lines. She then talks about how the beauty of her dark skin vanished the moment the man parted away, and yet, she could not open her mouth and express it, for fear of slander in town. Alas, all she could do, was to bear his absence with her silent strength!
All that is in the past, and now, in their town, which has small-minded people, who spread about rumours, and great-minded people, who have accepted the man’s request for marriage, the lady sees her future, in the image of a tree on a river’s shore. Akin to how the tree is never without water, being surrounded by rich floods day after day, she too, will live in the endless embrace of her man, the lady concludes. That image of a strong tree on a firm river shore, always having all that it needs to flourish is the metaphor for how the lady envisions her life with the man. A sweet verse that dwells on the challenges of the past and then leaps to the bright future that awaits, leaving us to rest under the shade of that blessed tree, situated amidst the caressing waves of the river, wanting for nothing more!
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