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In this episode, we see the nature of a king’s personality come alive, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Puranaanooru 150, penned about the Velir King Kandeera Koperum Nalli by the poet Vanparanar. Set in the category of ‘Paadaan Thinai’ or ‘King’s praise’, the verse narrates an incident that happened one day in the life of the poet.
கூதிர்ப் பருந்தின் இருஞ் சிறகு அன்ன
பாறிய சிதாரேன், பலவு முதல் பொருந்தி,
தன்னும் உள்ளேன், பிறிது புலம் படர்ந்த என்
உயங்கு படர் வருத்தமும் உலைவும் நோக்கி,
மான் கணம் தொலைச்சிய குருதி அம் கழல் கால்,
வான் கதிர்த் திரு மணி விளங்கும் சென்னி,
செல்வத் தோன்றல், ஓர் வல் வில் வேட்டுவன்,
தொழுதனென் எழுவேற் கை கவித்து இரீஇ,
இழுதின் அன்ன வால் நிணக் கொழுங் குறை,
கான் அதர் மயங்கிய இளையர் வல்லே
தாம் வந்து எய்தாஅளவை, ஒய்யெனத்
தான் ஞெலி தீயின் விரைவனன் சுட்டு, ‘நின்
இரும் பேர் ஒக்கலொடு தின்ம்’ எனத் தருதலின்,
அமிழ்தின் மிசைந்து, காய்பசி நீங்கி,
நல் மரன் நளிய நறுந் தண் சாரல்,
கல் மிசை அருவி தண்ணெனப் பருகி,
விடுத்தல் தொடங்கினேனாக, வல்லே,
‘பெறுதற்கு அரிய வீறுசால் நன் கலம்
பிறிது ஒன்று இல்லை; காட்டு நாட்டேம்’ என,
மார்பில் பூண்ட வயங்கு காழ் ஆரம்
மடை செறி முன்கைக் கடகமொடு ஈத்தனன்;
‘எந் நாடோ?’ என, நாடும் சொல்லான்;
‘யாரீரோ?’ என, பேரும் சொல்லான்;
பிறர் பிறர் கூற வழிக் கேட்டிசினே
‘இரும்பு புனைந்து இயற்றாப் பெரும் பெயர்த் தோட்டி
அம் மலை காக்கும் அணி நெடுங் குன்றின்,
பளிங்கு வகுத்தன்ன தீம் நீர்,
நளி மலை நாடன் நள்ளி அவன்’ எனவே.
A long verse, no doubt, but one filled to the brim with exquisite treasures. The poet’s words can be translated as follows:
“Wearing a ragged attire, akin to the dark wing of an eagle in the cold season, I was leaning against the trunk of a jackfruit tree, forgetting myself in the exhaustion of roving across lands many. Just then, there came a man with his beautiful, anklet-clad legs streaked with the blood of the deer herd he seemed to have hunted, his handsome head shining radiantly like the bright rays of blue sapphires. He appeared to be a man of riches, this skilled archer-hunter. As I attempted to rise so as to salute him, with his hand, he gestured to me to sit. Before his helpers who were apparently lost in the forest path could find him and arrive there, he took the white-hued fatty meat in the texture of butter and quickly roasted that in the fire that he lit. He then handed the cooked meat to me and said, “Eat along with your huge group of kin”. We ate it, as if it were ambrosia, and found our harsh hunger parting away. And then, we drank the cool waters of the cascade pouring from above the mountains in the cool slopes, filled with many luxuriant trees. As I prepared to leave, he hastily came to me. Saying, ‘We are jungle people and I don’t have a worthy ornament other than this to give you’, he gave me the pearl necklace that he was wearing on his chest and also handed me his forearm armlet with a tight clasp.
‘Which is your country?’, I asked him. He mentioned not his country.
‘Who are you?’, I asked him. He mentioned not his name.
And then, I heard many, many others in my path say, “Do you know that which goes by the great name of Thotti, not made by melting iron, but a huge mountain with tall peaks, with sweet and clear waters, akin to cut marble? He is Nalli, the protector of that huge mountain country!’.”
Wasn’t it like a twist-filled modern short story? That’s how it seemed to me when I understood the meaning and flow of this verse. Let’s delve into the nuances hiding in each detail etched here. The poet starts by sketching his state, and to do that in a visual manner, he calls to his aid, a raptor bird, could be an eagle, falcon or kite from these parts, and points out to the state of its dark wings in the cold and wet season. That image he projects on his own tattered clothes, muddied and torn, after his relentless travels. He describes his state of stupor as he seemed to sit there, leaning against the trunk of a jackfruit tree, forgetting that he even existed, so tired was he.
We have met the narrator of this story and sensed his state. Now, another character enters the scene. Instead of wordy descriptions, the poet points to the blood stains of this character’s anklet-clad feet, and tells us that the man had been hunting deer. The poet comments on the radiant face of this person and concludes that the hunter before him must be a person of wealth. In reverence, when the poet attempts to stand up so as to greet this newcomer with the right respect, seeing the state of the poet, that person raises his hand in a gesture asking the poet to sit and be as he was. A seemingly casual sign but within this, the poet makes the thoughtful and caring nature of this character resound aloud. A moment to meander and tell you how even today, it’s almost a reflex action for many Tamils, to stand up, when an elder approaches. In this poet’s stance, I find the origin for this habit!
Returning to our scene, we see the poet informing us that the person’s helpers must be lost somewhere in the forest path. Why should he specifically tell us about this? Possibly because people of eminence always travelled with a company of helpers, and also, if those helpers had been with the hunter, the poet would have been informed right away who that person was. The poet says before those helpers could catch up and arrive there, the hunter quickly lit a fire and roasted the fatty meat of deer he had with him and offered that to the poet and his group. Don’t we know how delicious something tastes when eaten in a hungry state? The poet conveys the exact same feeling, calling that food ‘ambrosia’. Hunger satiated indeed by fatty meat, but then what to do for the thirst that would rise next? No worries for there it was, a stream gushing from a cascade above, with the sweetest of waters. After drinking to his heart’s content, the poet prepares to take leave, just then, that hunter hastens to the poet and says apologetically that he has nothing else precious to give the poet because they were jungle folk and hands over the pearl necklace he was wearing and his armlet too. A pearl necklace is pretty precious to us in the twenty-first century. Was it not so to these ancients? Maybe because it was ubiquitously found in these Tamil regions, was it considered like the common beads of today? Anyway, in this act, we can sense how the hunter felt that just giving food to the poet was not enough and that he had to give him something more lasting.
After receiving these supposedly ‘not-so-precious’ gifts, the poet questions the hunter about his country and name and receives no reply from him. And then, as he goes on in his path, the poet continues his investigations and learns that the person he had just met was none other than the protector of the lush Thotti mountain, and to differentiate the name of the mountain from its namesake of a goad or hook, the poet in Sangam style, says it’s not made by melting iron. He then concludes by pronouncing the name of that hunter as the mountain monarch Nalli!
In the kindness of the king, who did not even share his name, we can see that his charity was not for praise but to truly to allay the suffering of his fellow human. The ruler did not care if the poet never found out who he was and never shared about the incident to anyone. A true mark of unconditional compassion! And through the many layers of this verse penned in a classic ‘show-don’t-tell’ style, the poet makes the character of King Nalli soar as tall as his mountains!
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