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In this episode, we listen to sound advice rendered to a king, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Puranaanooru 18, penned about the Pandya king Thalaiyaalankaanathu Cheruvendra Nedunchezhiyan by the poet Kudapulaviyanaar. Set in the category of ‘Pothuviyal Thinai’ or ‘miscellaneous matters’, the verse renders insight on the priorities of ancient nations.
முழங்கு முந்நீர் முழுவதும் வளைஇப்
பரந்துபட்ட வியல் ஞாலம்
தாளின் தந்து, தம் புகழ் நிறீஇ,
ஒரு தாம் ஆகிய உரவோர் உம்பல்!
ஒன்று பத்து அடுக்கிய கோடி கடை இரீஇய
பெருமைத்தாக, நின் ஆயுள்தானே!
நீர்த் தாழ்ந்த குறுங் காஞ்சிப்
பூக் கதூஉம் இன வாளை,
நுண் ஆரல், பரு வரால்,
குரூஉக் கெடிற்ற, குண்டு அகழி;
வான் உட்கும் வடி நீள் மதில்;
மல்லல் மூதூர் வய வேந்தே!
செல்லும் உலகத்துச் செல்வம் வேண்டினும்,
ஞாலம் காவலர் தோள் வலி முருக்கி,
ஒரு நீ ஆகல் வேண்டினும், சிறந்த
நல் இசை நிறுத்தல் வேண்டினும், மற்று அதன்
தகுதி கேள், இனி, மிகுதியாள!
நீர் இன்று அமையா யாக்கைக்கு எல்லாம்
உண்டி கொடுத்தோர் உயிர் கொடுத்தோரே;
உண்டி முதற்றே உணவின் பிண்டம்;
உணவு எனப்படுவது நிலத்தொடு நீரே;
நீரும் நிலனும் புணரியோர் ஈண்டு
உடம்பும் உயிரும் படைத்திசினோரே;
வித்தி வான் நோக்கும் புன் புலம் கண் அகன்
வைப்பிற்று ஆயினும், நண்ணி ஆளும்
இறைவன் தாட்கு உதவாதே; அதனால்,
அடு போர்ச் செழிய! இகழாது வல்லே
நிலன் நெளி மருங்கில் நீர் நிலை பெருகத்
தட்டோர் அம்ம, இவண் தட்டோரே;
தள்ளாதோர் இவண் தள்ளாதோரே.
The Pandya king who is being sung about is none other than King Nedunchezhiyan we met briefly in Puranaanooru 17, being the one who imprisoned that Chera King with an elephantine gaze! Turns out that this Pandya king defeated the other two major rulers of the Tamil nation – the Chera king we just met and the contemporary Chozha king – along with 7 other chieftains referred by the term ‘Velir’ at a place called ‘Thalaiyaalankaanam’ and that earned him the moniker of ‘Thalaiyaalankaanathu Cheruvendra Nedunchezhiyan’ meaning ‘Nedunchezhiyan, who was victorious in the Thalaiyaalankaanam battle’. There are numerous poems about this king in Puranaanooru and this poet himself has sung two of the same. The poet’s words can be translated as follows:
“Roaring seas surround the expansive, wide lands of this world. Winning over these lands with their effort and establishing their fame, they reigned with strength and you are the heir to their legacy. Consider one, ten and so on arranged until a crore, let that be the number of days of your prosperous life!
With scabbard fish that bite the low-lying flowers of the short portia tree, tiny sand eel fish, fleshy murrel fish, and shiny catfish in the deep moat, and well-built long fort walls that reach the sky, stands your prosperous old town, O strong king!
If it’s wealth you desire in the world you leave to, or if you want to be the only victor among all other protecting rulers of this land or if you intend to reinstate your good fame forever – listen to the right action that will fulfil all these wishes, O great king!
For this body that cannot live in the absence of water, those who rendered food have rendered life; Food is the essence of the living body; What is food but water flowing upon earth? Those who will make land and water unite, will be considered as the creators of body and life on earth!
If the fields have to look only to the skies for their livelihood, even if it grows on wide spaces, it would not speak of the efforts of the ruler of that land; And so, O king, who is fierce in battles, follow this ceaselessly: The one who establishes copious water resources in the farmlands will be the one who will establish undyingly their name and fame in this world; Those who don’t do that, will see their name and fame fade away!”
Let’s delve deeper into the words rendered to this famous Pandya king! The poet starts by talking about how the vast lands of this world is surrounded by water. Either the ancient Tamils were skilled seafarers, who knew of this fact through experience, or else, ancient knowledge has projected what is true about the Tamil lands, surrounded by water on all three sides, on the world entire. And, this turns out to be a true fact of this world for there is 71% water and 29% land on this planet we call home.
Returning, the poet has referred to this water-surrounded land to talk about how the ancestors of this king arose to prominence out of their own efforts and how they reinstated their fame and ruled over the land in an incomparable way. Praising ancestors first, the poet renders a mathematical blessing upon the king. Mathematical because the poet says one must stack numbers as 1, 10, 100 and so on, until you hit 1 crore in Indian numbers or 10 million in International terms. That’s how long the king shall live, the poet says. A classic case of hyperbole or poetic exaggeration at work here!
After that blessing, the poet talks about the wealth and resources of the king’s capital, mentioning the many kinds of fish that jump about in the moats, and high walls of the fort that make even the sky fear them, thus celebrating the town that has been thriving from ancient times. Ancestors’ praise done, king’s blessing done and capital celebration done. Now, the poet turns his attention to the core thought here.
The poet first renders some profound abstractions about body, life, land and water. Saying that this human form cannot survive in the absence of water, the poet mentions a meaningful line that has become a proverb in Tamil culture. This line is ‘the one who gives food is the one who gives life’. Then, the poet talks about how this body is made up of food. Reminds me of a modern phrase we often hear – ‘You are what you eat!’. Importance of food established, the poet then declares that this food is nothing but water meeting land, and the one who makes this union possible would be celebrated as the very creator of life, the poet says.
What does the poet mean when he says food is land meeting water? It’s a clear indication of an agricultural society where food was possible only when the lands were watered enough to rear crops. The rain shall fall and the land will meet water then – What’s so miraculous about it, one may ask! As if the poet heard that question, he says that if the lands will depend only on the skies to provide them with water, that gives no credit to the king of the land. And now, after talking about all these theoretical elements, the poet renders practical advice he’s been meaning to give the king. He tells the king that whether the king wants to take something to the world next, or remain the only victor among all the rulers of the land or make sure his name and fame lives for ever, there is one thing he must do and that is to increase the water wealth of his nation!
Here’s a poet from two-thousand years ago talking so lucidly about the importance of water. All your wars and victories mean nothing if you don’t do right by this land and leave behind a legacy of common good, the poet seems to say. Words of advice specially relevant in these years of climate change. Will the rulers of the present and future heed these words of an ancient Tamil poet and do what it takes to bring lasting joy to their people and earn forever fame to their name?
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