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In this episode, we listen to a mother’s wishes for the well-being of her daughter, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 378, penned by Kayamanaar. Set in the drylands of ‘Paalai’, the verse speaks in the voice of the lady’s mother, on hearing that her daughter had eloped away with the man.
ஞாயிறு காயாது மர நிழல் பட்டு,
மலை முதல் சிறுநெறி மணல் மிகத் தாஅய்த்
தண் மழை தலைய ஆகுக, நம் நீத்துச்
சுடர்வாய் நெடு வேல் காளையொடு
மட மா அரிவை போகிய சுரனே.
‘May her path be comfortable’ is the heartfelt wish at the core here! The opening words ‘ஞாயிறு காயாது’ meaning ‘may the sun not scorch’ talk about the first and most inconvenient aspect of travel in the drylands. In ‘மர நிழல் பட்டு’ meaning ‘shade of trees spreading’, we see a soothing refuge in the dense cover of trees. The phrase ‘தண் மழை தலைய ஆகுக’ meaning ‘let cool rains come down’ puts forth a fervent wish for a rainy day! In ‘நெடு வேல் காளையொடு’ meaning ‘with the young man holding a tall spear’, we see how the contemporary Tamil word for a ‘bull’ – ‘காளை’ has been employed to refer to a man. Ending with the words ‘மட மா அரிவை போகிய சுரனே’ meaning ‘the drylands to where the innocent, dark-hued maiden left’, the verse welcomes us to travel thither and explore more!
What do the sun, trees and rains have to do with the lady’s love life? The context reveals that the man and lady were leading a love relationship and the man was trysting with the lady for a while. Soon, the man found himself in a situation such that the only way to guard his relationship with the lady was for him to elope away with her to his village. So, the man convinces the lady with the confidante’s help and takes her away. After the mother learns that the lady has left with the man, she says aloud, “Let the sun not blaze; let there be the shade of trees; let that narrow path from the mountains be spread with fine sand and let cool rains pour down in that drylands, to where, parting from us, the naive, dark-skinned young maiden left in the company of the bull-like young man, holding a spear with a radiant tip!” With these words, the mother voices a wish for every possible comfort in the journey of her daughter with the man.
To understand the depth of the mother’s words, we need to journey to the drylands and place her words in parallel. The first thing that would hit us as we begin a road trip in that ancient arid area, would be how the sun comes beating down, and this is what the mother wants not, for her daughter. She wishes that the sun doesn’t blaze at all! Next, a region becomes a drylands because trees find it hard to grow there. Just as we have seen in song after song, there’s only the ‘dotted shade’ of scarcely dressed, small-leaved trees here and there. Mother says that will not do and wants the dense shade of trees in her daughter’s path. Then, delving further down, mother demands that the path this young girl walks on be filled with fine sand, and not the usual rocks and pebbles, so as to not hurt the lady’s soft feet. As if all this is not enough, mother wants to change the very geography of the region by asking for rains to pour down on that barren land, where her innocent young girl now walks with that bull-like, young man, holding a radiant spear!
In that description of the man in such glowing terms, we can infer a reverence for his qualities for although he has taken away their precious daughter, deep down, the lady’s family respect him for that decision and consider him worthy. When looking back at all the wishes mother puts forth, the thing that strikes me is how, even though hurt by the action of her girl, whom she reared with so much care all her life, the mother still finds the compassion to wish her all good things in that journey. What a world it would be if we too can look with this Sangam mother’s eyes at those who have hurt us and find the heart to wish them well in their life’s path!
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