Puranaanooru 378 – Laughter in the air

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தென் பரதவர் மிடல் சாய,
வட வடுகர் வாள் ஓட்டிய,
தொடை அமை கண்ணி, திருந்து வேல் தடக் கை,
கடு மா கடைஇய விடு பரி வடிம்பின்,
நல் தார், கள்ளின், சோழன் கோயில்,
புதுப் பிறை அன்ன சுதை சேய் மாடத்து,
பனிக் கயத்து அன்ன நீள் நகர் நின்று, என்
அரிக் கூடு மாக் கிணை இரிய ஒற்றி,
எஞ்சா மரபின் வஞ்சி பாட,
எமக்கு என வகுத்த அல்ல, மிகப் பல,
மேம்படு சிறப்பின் அருங் கல வெறுக்கை
தாங்காது பொழிதந்தோனே; அது கண்டு,
இலம்பாடு உழந்த என் இரும் பேர் ஒக்கல்,
விரல் செறி மரபின செவித் தொடக்குநரும்,
செவித் தொடர் மரபின விரல் செறிக்குநரும்,
அரைக்கு அமை மரபின மிடற்று யாக்குநரும்,
மிடற்று அமை மரபின அரைக்கு யாக்குநரும்,

கடுந் தெறல் இராமனுடன் புணர் சீதையை
வலித்தகை அரக்கன் வௌவிய ஞான்றை

நிலம் சேர் மதர் அணி கண்ட குரங்கின்
செம் முகப் பெருங் கிளை இழைப் பொலிந்தாஅங்கு,
அறாஅ அரு நகை இனிது பெற்றிகுமே
இருங் கிளைத் தலைமை எய்தி,
அரும்படர் எவ்வம் உழந்ததன்தலையே.

We are now in that series of songs, which talk about the journey of poets to a patron’s abode, where they find respite for their suffering. Two lines within seemed to me to be out of context, about which we shall discuss shortly. The poet’s words can be translated as follows:

“Subduing the strength of ‘Parathavars’ from the south and chasing away spears of the ‘Vadugars’ from the north, wearing a well-woven garland, having huge arms, holding an etched spear and spurs to hasten the speedy horses, owning garlands and good toddy, was the great Chozhan. Arriving at his palace, whose plastered walls shone like the full moon, and standing there in that huge mansion, akin to a cool pond, making the eye of my huge, well-tied ‘Kinai’ drum resound, as I sang songs of his great victory, in the right tradition, he showered upon me copiously, things not meant for supplicants like me, such as ornaments and other precious items, so intricately made.

Seeing that, my huge group of kith and kin, who were suffering in poverty, started wearing the jewels meant for the fingers on their ears; jewels meant for the ears on their fingers, jewels meant for the waist on their necks; jewels meant for the necks on their waists. (When Sita, the wife of the great Raman, was carried away by the strong demon, her ornaments fell down). Seeing women’s jewels lying on the ground, a huge group of red-faced monkeys, wore them and were seized by endless laughter, just like we were, at that moment, when as the head of this huge family, I saw all our great suffering and pain fade away!”

Let’s delve deeper into these words. The poet first talks about the king’s victories over his enemies, in the south and the north. The way he quelled their uprising and chased away their armies is presented here. Then, the king is described as one, who wears beautiful garlands, holds a spear and spurs to nudge his horses to ride faster. Looks like he’s always ready for a fight! Then, the poet talks about the king’s palace and how it shines like the moon with its white walls glowing and the entire palace seems like a pond, thus symbolising this place as coolness in the midst of summer’s unrelenting heat and suffering, which, in turn, is the poet’s poverty. So, seeing hope before him, the poet seems to have beat his drum with great vigour and sung songs of the king’s victory, featuring what we saw in the first few lines, no doubt! The king is moved by the poet’s skill and offers him the reward of ornaments and precious things meant for the best of the best. 

The poet takes these gifts to his home and shows it to his huge group of kith and kin and never having seen such intricate and precious things, they are overcome with emotion and start wearing jewels meant for the fingers on the ears and vice-versa, and also, jewels meant for the waist on the necks and vice-versa. To present a simile for this topsy-turvy wearing of jewels, the poet supposedly brings in a reference to the scene, when Sita, the female protagonist of Ramayana, is abducted by a demon, making her jewels slip away and fall. Seeing jewels on the ground, some monkeys wear the same and find themselves laughing at their act. This was how his kith and kin felt, the poet concludes, talking about that moment of jubilation, when their sorrows had ended because of the generosity of that Chozha king!

Now, let’s turn our attention to the two lines I mentioned earlier. These are obviously the reference to Ram and Sita in this Puranaanooru verse and the lines in question are:

கடுந் தெறல் இராமனுடன் புணர் சீதையை
வலித்தகை அரக்கன் வௌவிய ஞான்றை

The main reason I find these lines as not fitting in the flow of this verse is that Sangam poets do not have the custom of depicting facets not situated in reality. In the thousands of Sangam verses seen so far, scenes of war and scenes evoking fear in the dark of the night alone mention ghosts, ghost maiden and demons. When these poets are talking about elements in nature, you never seeing them mixing that with fantastical elements as depicted in the lines above, about a demon snatching a woman and flying away. Now, if we were to remove these two lines from the verse, nothing would affected at all. This is because the focus of the simile is upon the monkeys that find jewels on the ground. These jewels may have been left there by maiden bathing in the streams and waterfalls of the mountains. It would be quite a possible thing for these monkeys to snatch away these glowing ornaments and play with them. A nature of theirs, which continues till this day, in their snatching of mobile phones and backpacks from tourists, who happen to visit their domains.

Another reason I find the lines to be a misfit is that a woman, the wife of a great man, being snatched away by a demon, is surely a tragic moment for all, and to refer this in a song about the exuberance and joy of a poet’s family simply does not make sense. So, my conclusion is that these two lines were inserted at some point in the past two thousand years. It could be a time when these epics from the north were gaining popularity, and in the rewriting of this literature, perhaps someone saw the need to add this reference. So, although I have left the words as I found them and translated the same too, I felt the need to convey the reasons that these lines seemed out of place in the flow of this verse and the tradition of Sangam poets. Leaving aside this point of contention, we can choose to focus on the joy and laughter echoing aloud from the pages of the past when the sorrow of a family is finally at an end!