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In this episode, we perceive a mother’s sorrow, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Puranaanooru 310, penned by the poet Ponmudiyaar. The verse is situated in the category of ‘Thumbai Thinai’ or ‘Battle of two kings’ and speaks about the then and now of a soldier.
பால் கொண்டு மடுப்பவும் உண்ணான் ஆகலின்,
செறாஅது ஓச்சிய சிறு கோல் அஞ்சியொடு,
உயவொடு வருந்தும் மன்னே! இனியே
புகர் நிறம் கொண்ட களிறு அட்டு ஆனான்,
முன்நாள் வீழ்ந்த உரவோர் மகனே,
உன்னிலன் என்னும், புண் ஒன்று அம்பு
மான் உளை அன்ன குடுமித்
தோல் மிசைக் கிடந்த புல் அணலோனே.
A poignant song of pain! The poet’s words can be translated as follows:
“When I brought him milk and asked him to drink it, he would refuse. Then, in fake anger, when I used to raise a small stick, he would fear that! Thinking of him, my mind worries immensely today. Killing many a spotted-face elephant, stands this son of the great warrior, who fell yesterday. Saying he feels not the arrow that has etched a wound on his chest, with his tuft of hair, akin to a horse’s mane, he lies on his shield – The one with a sparse beard!”
Let’s delve deeper into the words. The poet speaks in the voice of a mother, who reminisces about her son, when he was a little child, and recounts to us how he would refuse the bowl of milk brought to him, and in response, when his mother used to pretend to raise a small stick in anger, he would become frightened of that. After that rather usual scene in the life of a child, the mother turns to his state now, and tells us how he has made her worried. After having killed elephants many, he now lies on his own shield and when his mother asks him about the arrow wound on his chest, he replies, ‘What wound? I know of no wound!’ Such is the soaring courage of my son, this young man with a sparse beard, who nows lies fallen on his own shield after putting up a valiant fight, the poet concludes in the mother’s voice!
A verse in which we can sense the pain as well as the pride of a mother in how her son has turned out… With the image of that trembling boy who used to fear his mother’s small stick who now minds not even a piercing arrow at his heart, the verse traces the trajectory of bravery in this young man’s life!
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