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In this episode, we perceive a stack of similes, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Puranaanooru 193, penned by the poet Or Er Uzhavanaar. Set in the category of ‘Pothuviyal Thinai’ or ‘Common Themes’, the verse focuses on the dynamics between a man and his family.
அதள் எறிந்தன்ன நெடு வெண் களரின்
ஒருவன் ஆட்டும் புல்வாய் போல,
ஓடி உய்தலும் கூடும்மன்;
ஒக்கல் வாழ்க்கை தட்கும்மா காலே.
A tiny song with evocative visual imagery. The poet’s words can be translated as follows:
“On a wide, white salt pan, appearing like flayed skin spread out, a man can run and escape, akin to a deer under attack. However, a life with kith and kin would bind his feet!”
Time to delve into the nuances. The poet zooms on to the image of flayed skin being spread out. That’s how a white salt pan appears, he connects. Then, he brings forth the image of a deer running speedily so as to escape a predator. He says a man too can run away like that, if he did not have his family tying up his feet tight.
That raw feeling of desperation a person sometimes feels is reflected in the image of flayed skin. At this time, it’s natural for someone to want to escape from everything and flee like a hunted deer. The only thing stopping this person is the responsibility he has to his family, the poet finishes. Looking at this from another angle, it could be said that it’s family that makes a person fight and withstand the pressures of life. Serious inferences apart, this verse reminded me of a somewhat humorous phrase in Tamil used to denote marriage, and that is ‘Kaal Kattu’, meaning ‘a tying up of the feet’. Hearing this phrase has always made me wonder about its origins because there are no such rituals involving the feet in Tamil weddings. This verse makes me look at that phrase with new eyes. Could that phrase have originated from this metaphorical thought about marriage and family life in the Sangam era?
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