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In this episode, we listen to the lamenting words of a lady, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 11 to 20, situated in the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and penned by the poet Orambokiyar.
Here goes, the Second Ten of Ainkurunooru – Reeds of Sorrow.
11 Not a good man
மனை நடு வயலை வேழம் சுற்றும்
துறை கேழ் ஊரன் கொடுமை நாணி,
‘நல்லன்’ என்றும், யாமே;
‘அல்லன்’ என்னும், என் தட மென் தோளே.
The ‘vayalai’ creeper planted in the house swirls around the reeds in the shores of the lord’s town. Embarrassed by the fear of his cruelty becoming known, I say, ‘A good man, he is!’. However, my soft and curving arms say, ’Nay, he isn’t!’.
12 Unbearable cruelty
கரை சேர் வேழம் கரும்பின் பூக்கும்
துறை கேழ் ஊரன் கொடுமை நன்றும்
ஆற்றுகதில்ல, யாமே;
தோற்கதில்ல, என் தட மென் தோளே.
The reeds sprouting on the banks bloom with flowers like the sugarcane in the shores of the lord’s town. I can bear his cruelty very well; However, my soft and curving arms bear it not!
13 A forgotten sleep
பரியுடை நல் மான் பொங்குஉளை அன்ன
அடைகரை வேழம் வெண் பூப் பகரும்,
தண் துறை ஊரன் பெண்டிர்,
துஞ்சு ஊர் யாமத்தும், துயில் அறியலரே.
Akin to the thick and bobbing mane of a fine and speedy horse, are the white flowers blooming on the reeds by the sandy banks in the cool shores of the lord’s town. Even when all the town sleeps, his women know not what sleep is.
14 The chest of the lord
கொடிப் பூ வேழம் தீண்டி அயல
வடிக்கொள் மாஅத்து வண் தளிர் நுடங்கும்
அணித் துறை ஊரன் மார்பே
பனித் துயில் செய்யும் இன் சாயற்றே.
As the flowers of the reeds graze against it, nearby the lush leaf sprouts of the mango tree with tender fruits tremble in the beautiful shores of the lord’s town. His chest has the good nature of endowing a sweet sleep.
15 A mere stranger
மணல் ஆடு மலிர்நிறை விரும்பிய, ஒண் தழை
புனல் ஆடு மகளிர்க்குப் புணர் துணை உதவும்
வேழ மூதூர் ஊரன்
ஊரன் ஆயினும், ஊரன் அல்லன்னே.
For the young women, who love the sand-filled shores near the flowing waters, those clad in shining leaf garments, playing in the river stream, the reeds offer the companionship of a float in the ancient town of the lord. Although he is the lord of this town, to me, he isn’t one.
16 Golden eyes
ஓங்கு பூ வேழத்துத் தூம்புடைத் திரள்கால்
சிறு தொழுமகளிர் அஞ்சனம் பெய்யும்
பூக் கஞல் ஊரனை உள்ளி,
பூப் போல் உண்கண் பொன் போர்த்தனவே.
On the thick but hollow stems of the soaring reeds with flowers, little helper girls leave the kohl paste in the flower-filled town of the lord. Thinking of him, the kohl-streaked, flower-like eyes are now covered in a golden pallor!
17 Barren heart
புதல் மிசை நுடங்கும் வேழ வெண் பூ
விசும்பு ஆடு குருகின் தோன்றும் ஊரன்
புதுவோர் மேவலன் ஆகலின்,
வறிது ஆகின்று, என் மடம் கெழு நெஞ்சே.
The white flowers of the reeds dancing in the bushes, appear like the birds playing in the sky in the lord’s town. As he keeps seeking new women, barren becomes my naive heart!
18 Broken oath
இருஞ் சாய் அன்ன செருந்தியொடு வேழம்
கரும்பின் அலமரும் கழனி ஊரன்,
பொருந்து மலர் அன்ன என் கண் அழ,
பிரிந்தனன் அல்லனோ, ‘பிரியலென்’ என்றே?
Reeds dance along with the dark and rough ‘cherunthi’ grass, like sugarcane in the uproarious fields of the lord’s town. As my eyes akin to perfect flowers tear up, he has parted away, the one who said, ‘I shall part not!’.
19 Flowers in the rain
எக்கர் மாஅத்துப் புதுப் பூம் பெருஞ் சினை,
புணர்ந்தோர் மெய்ம் மணம் கமழும் தண் பொழில்,
வேழ வெண் பூ வெள் உளை சீக்கும்
ஊரன் ஆகலின் கலங்கி,
மாரி மலரின் கண் பனி உகுமே.
The mango trees with new, flower-filled huge branches soaring on the sand has the scent of lovers in the cool groves, even as the white mane-like flowers of the reeds dispel it in the lord’s town. And so, akin to a flower in the rain, my eyes shed tears!
20 Slipping bangles
அறு சில் கால அஞ்சிறைத் தும்பி
நூற்றிதழ்த் தாமரைப் பூச் சினை சீக்கும்,
காம்பு கண்டன்ன தூம்புடை, வேழத்துத்
துறை நணி ஊரனை உள்ளி, என்
இறை ஏர் எல் வளை நெகிழ்பு ஓடும்மே.
With six small legs and fine wings is a beautiful fly and the eggs it has laid on the hundred-petaled lotus flower is troubled by the reeds with stalks, akin to sugarcane, in the water-filled shores of the lord’s town. Thinking of him, the shining bangles on my forearms slip away.
That ends Verses 11 to 20 of Ainkurunooru. Time to delve into the nuances of these words. All the verses are situated in the context of a man parting away from a lady, after marriage, seeking other women known as courtesans. Also, all these words are spoken by the lady to her friend, the confidante, or a messenger from the man, the bard. The unifying element in each of these verses is the ‘Reed’, a type of grass that grows on the banks of waterbodies with a thick plume of flowers. From this section of verses in the farmlands landscape, we can conclude that this plant was a common feature of this region.
In the second part of the verse, the lady is rather direct in the expression of her disappointment in the man. For instance, in the first, she says though she tries very hard to hide the man’s cruelty of forsaking her and being with other women, her thinning arms are not so discreet and they proclaim the truth to the world. In the second verse too, she separates herself from her arms and says though she may try to bear his abandonment, her arms will not. In the third, she proclaims how the man’s courtesans sleep not through the night, and thus, the man can never leave to be with his wife. Saying this, she renders a message of refusal for the man’s request to return home. In the fourth, the lady replies to her friend saying even though the man has been cruel to her, it’s his chest that she seeks to have a sweet sleep. In the fifth, the lady perceives that though the man has returned to her, his heart is still roving towards the courtesans and so she replies to her friend that though he is by her side, he doesn’t act like the lord he is. In the sixth, she talks of her kohl-streaked eyes taken on a golden hue, to indicate the pallor of pain that spreads on her. In the seventh, she mentions how because the man keeps seeking new women, her heart has become barren. In the eighth, she laments that the man had broken his oath of never parting from her. In the ninth, she talks of how her eyes shed tears like flower petals after a rain shower. And in the final one, she brings forth the repeated image of bangles slipping away that we have seen in many Sangam poems, here talking about her own thinning arms, owing to the man’s behaviour.
It’s evident the lady is heartbroken because of the man’s seeking of other women. This she further etches in the form of metaphors using the single element of a reed. She talks of how the purslane creeper seeks out the reeds, implying her husband seems to spread away from the home and seek courtesans. Next, she mentions how the flowers of the reed make them seem like sugarcane, a metaphor for the man treating the lady, symbolised by the sugarcane, and the dressed-up courtesans, symbolised by the flower-filled reeds, as one. The next reference too is in a similar vein, metaphorically placing the lady in parallel to a horse with a thick mane, and the courtesans, with the reeds, whose flowers seem like the mane of that horse, as they try to cheat with a false feeling of being with family women. In the next, the lady becomes a mango tree, whose tender leaves tremble, hurt by the shoots of the reeds rubbing against it, representing the courtesans’ actions. Next is the image of reed stems becoming a float and a companion to playing maiden, a symbol of the man finding pleasure in the courtesans’ company.
In the next one, there’s another subsidiary connecting element and that is the kohl that maiden paint on the hollow stems of this grass, which is a symbol of how the man endows his attention and gifts on the reed-like courtesans. This kohl, she connects back to her kohl-streaked eyes that are now raining down with tears. Similar to the placement of the lady as sugarcane and horse’s mane, now she becomes the birds in the sky and the courtesans, whose flowers merely look like those birds, as they pretend to be the lady in the man’s life. There’s another comparison with how the reeds are dancing along with other rough grasses, as if they were sugarcane, implying that the courtesans are strutting with arrogance, along with their confidantes, pretending to have the pride of the lady. The next is a reference to the fragrance of a lush mango tree having the scent of lovers who come together near it, being masked and dispelled by the smell of reeds, implying that the courtesans are making the man forget the happy life he lead with the lady. And in the final one, there’s an image of a fly that hides its eggs in a lotus flower, and that being toppled by the swaying stalks of the reeds, implying that the courtesans will do all possible to disrupt the family life of the lady with the man.
Death to the reeds, seems to be the shout of the lady! Even though it appears so, that poets have given so much importance to this situation seems to suggest this was an inevitable consequence of money in the hands of a few men, the exact outcome of a lifestyle in an agricultural town. Like how you can’t keep the reeds from growing near a lush water source, the presence of courtesans was taken as a given thing in that society. What’s appreciable though is the piercing focus on the lady’s emotions in such a situation and the one unforgettable takeaway from this section of songs is the subtle nudge to pay attention to all that unfolds within!
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