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In this episode, we perceive a miracle moment in the battlefield, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Puranaanooru 295, penned by the poet Avvaiyaar. Set in the category of ‘Thumbai Thinai’ or ‘Battle of two kings’, the verse sketches the courage of a warrior and the love of a mother.
கடல் கிளர்ந்தன்ன கட்டூர் நாப்பண்,
வெந்து வாய் மடித்து வேல் தலைப் பெயரி,
தோடு உகைத்து எழுதரூஉ, துரந்து எறி ஞாட்பின்,
வரு படை போழ்ந்து வாய்ப் பட விலங்கி,
இடைப் படை அழுவத்துச் சிதைந்து வேறாகிய,
சிறப்புடையாளன் மாண்பு கண்டருளி,
வாடு முலை ஊறிச் சுரந்தன
ஓடாப் பூட்கை விடலை தாய்க்கே.
An intense song on a mother’s emotion! This gifted poet’s words can be translated as follows:
“In the middle of the battlefield, akin to a roaring ocean, pointing the sharp spear carved in fire towards the enemy, heading a company of young men, amidst showering spears and arrows, dispersing the approaching army, he stood there blocking the enemy’s advance. Owing to these daring feats, in between two army fronts in the battlefield, his body was chopped and scattered. Seeing the noble virtues of this glorious man who had fallen, the shrivelled breasts, belonging to the old mother of this man who wouldn’t run away, sprouted forth milk!”
Let’s delve into the details. The poet starts by bringing alive a battlefront roaring like the ocean and here she zooms on to a particular young man who happens to be leading a group of warriors, with a sharp spear in his hand, destroying the enemy army and blocking their advance. Because of these valiant efforts in the vanguard, he gets slashed and falls dead, his body cut in many pieces. After the battle ends, the warrior’s old mother arrives at the battlefield and seeing that her son stood the ground and refused to run away, experiences a torrent of emotions, and as a consequence, her dried-up breasts start to secrete milk, the poet concludes.
No doubt this last line is a hyperbole employed by this poet to elevate the mood of the moment! Although lactation occurs every time there’s a pregnancy, usually beyond the age of 40, bodily changes in women impede milk production. To say that this mother sheds milk seeing her brave but dead son is a symbolic outpouring of the pride and love in that mother. A mother’s breast seems to be serving not a biological function but a psychological one in this depiction. Interesting how this ancient poet uses the cornerstone quality of our genus ‘Mammalia’ – the presence of mammary glands -and connects it to courage on the battlefield to drive home the glory of a soldier who fights till the end!
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