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In this episode, we perceive the emotions of the lady, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 61 to 70, situated in the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and penned by the poet Orambokiyar.
Here goes the Seventh Ten of Ainkurunooru: The Lady in Spotlight
61 Wasted fruit
நறு வடி மாஅத்து விளைந்து உகு தீம் பழம்
நெடு நீர்ப் பொய்கைத் துடுமென விழூஉம்,
கை வண் மத்தி கழாஅர் அன்ன
நல்லோர் நல்லோர் நாடி,
வதுவை அயர விரும்புதி நீயே.
From the mango tree with fragrant tender mangoes, a ripened, sweet fruit breaks and falls resoundingly into a deep stream in the town of ‘Kazhaar’, ruled by the generous ‘Maththi’. Akin to this town, you seek the beautiful among beautiful, desiring to unite with them.
62 Where next?
இந்திர விழவில் பூவின் அன்ன
புன் தலைப் பேடை வரி நிழல் அகவும்
இவ் ஊர் மங்கையர்த் தொகுத்து, இனி
எவ் ஊர் நின்றன்று மகிழ்ந! நின் தேரே?
Akin to the many flowers in the ‘Indra festival’, are the many maiden in this town, where the female bird with a sparse tuft stays in the lined shade and calls out. You have collected all their beauty. In which town does it stand now, O lord, that chariot of yours?
63 Flesh-reeking Otter
பொய்கைப் பள்ளிப் புலவு நாறு நீர்நாய்
வாளை நாள் இரை பெறூஉம் ஊர!
எம் நலம் தொலைவது ஆயினும்
துன்னலம் பெரும! பிறர்த் தோய்ந்த மார்பே.
The flesh-reeking otter that lives in the water attains the scabbard fish as its prey every day in your town, O lord! Even if my beauty were to fade, I shall touch not, O lord, the chest embraced by others!
64 Hide not the truth
அலமரல் ஆயமொடு அமர்துணை தழீஇ
நலம் மிகு புதுப் புனல் ஆட, கண்டோர்
ஒருவரும் இருவரும் அல்லர்;
பலரே தெய்ய; எம் மறையாதீமே.
In the presence of your uproarious companions, embracing your mate, you played in the beautiful, fresh river stream; Those who saw this were not just one or two but many, many. So, please hide not from me!
65 Waterlily in the sugarcane field
கரும்பு நடு பாத்தியில் கலித்த ஆம்பல்
சுரும்பு பசி களையும் பெரும் புனல் ஊர!
புதல்வனை ஈன்ற எம் மேனி
முயங்கன்மோ தெய்ய; நின் மார்பு சிதைப்பதுவே.
The white waterlily that delights amidst the sugarcane field ends the hunger of bees in your river-filled town, O lord! Embrace not my form that has given birth to our son, for it will ruin the adornments on your chest!
66 The obstacle
உடலினென் அல்லேன்; பொய்யாது உரைமோ:
யார் அவள், மகிழ்ந! தானே தேரொடு,
தளர் நடைப் புதல்வனை உள்ளி, நின்
வள மனை வருதலும் வௌவியோளே?
I shall not become furious; Please tell me without lying, who is she, O lord? The one who stopped you, when thinking about your toddler son, you wanted to ride your chariot back to your prosperous mansion?
67 The forsaken many
மடவள் அம்ம, நீ இனிக் கொண்டோளே
‘தன்னொடு நிகரா என்னொடு நிகரிப்
பெரு நலம் தருக்கும்’ என்ப: விரிமலர்த்
தாது உண் வண்டினும் பலரே,
ஓதி ஒள் நுதல் பசப்பித்தோரே.
Foolish indeed, she is, the one whom you have chosen. They say that she compares herself to me and talks about her great beauty with arrogance. Even more than the bees that feed on the pollen of fully bloomed flowers are those with long tresses, whose shining foreheads have become clouded with pallor because of you.
68 Uncontrollable woman
கன்னி விடியல், கணைக் கால் ஆம்பல்
தாமரை போல மலரும் ஊர!
பேணாளோ நின் பெண்டே
யான் தன் அடக்கவும், தான் அடங்கலளே?
In the early hours of dawn, the hollow-stemmed white water-lily pretends to bloom like the lotus in your town, O lord! Does she have no respect, that woman of yours? Even though I control myself, she seems to have no restraint whatsoever!
69 Crying like a child
கண்டனெம் அல்லமோ, மகிழ்ந! நின் பெண்டே?
பலர் ஆடு பெருந் துறை, மலரொடு வந்த
தண் புனல் வண்டல் உய்த்தென,
உண்கண் சிவப்ப, அழுது நின்றோளே!
Did we see not, O lord, that girl of yours? On the huge river shore, where many were bathing, as the cool and gushing stream that came filled with flowers, broke her sand house, with her kohl-streaked eyes reddening, the one who stood there crying?
70 Fishing stork
பழனப் பல் மீன் அருந்த நாரை
கழனி மருதின் சென்னிச் சேக்கும்
மா நீர்ப் பொய்கை யாணர் ஊர!
தூயர்; நறியர் நின் பெண்டிர்:
பேஎய் அனையம், யாம்; சேய் பயந்தனமே.
After feeding on the many fish in the common ponds of the town, the stork climbs atop the ‘Maruthu’ tree in the fields of your prosperous town, filled with plentiful waters, O lord. Pure and fragrant are your women. Whereas akin to a ghost maiden, I am, for I have given birth to a child!
Thus concludes Ainkurunooru 61 to 70. Again, all these verses are set in the context of a man parting from a lady after marriage, seeking other women and the quarrels that arise due to this. The unifying element in this section is that each of these verses is spoken from the perspective of the lady, and in all cases, she speaks to the man.
Delving into the direct part of these verses, in the first, we see the lady employing the technique of comparing a woman’s beauty to a town and takes us to the town of ‘Kazhaar’, ruled by a generous leader called ‘Maththi. Unlike her confidante, who used such comparisons to glowingly talk of the lady’s beauty, here, the lady employs this simile to talk sarcastically about the beautiful courtesans that the man likes to seek endlessly. In the second too, she talks of how the man has enjoyed the company of all the courtesans in their town, whom she compares to the many different flowers seen in a festival celebrated in those times called as ‘Indra festival’, possibly in celebration of the lightning god having this name! She turns to the man and questions which other town does the man plan to take his chariot now that he’s done with all the women in their town!
In the third, she refuses to accept him and says that she will never come near the man who has been in the company of others. In the fourth, when the man lies to the lady and says he does not have any relationship, she declares that it’s not just one or two, who saw the scene of the man bathing and playing with his courtesan, but many, many. In the fifth, she reveals to us she has just given birth and asks the man sarcastically not to ruin his well-adorned form by embracing her.
The sixth verse begins with a curious promise on the part of the lady saying, ‘I’m not going to get mad. All I want is the truth!’ She goes on to ask who was that courtesan who stopped the man when he wanted to come see their toddler son. In the next, the jealousy and squabbling between the lady and courtesan becomes prominent, for here the lady declares how she heard from others that the courtesan was comparing herself with the lady and acting superior. The lady declares foolish that courtesan is, because she does not know that she too will cast aside by the man like the many others with pallor-coated foreheads, more in number than the buzzing bees around pollen-rich flowers. The eighth verse is somewhat complicated and some interpreters have described it as the scenario where the lady and courtesan are living in the same house. But to me, it seems like the lady is just upset by the courtesan’s words without restraint, even though the lady tries to act with poise.
In the ninth verse, we perceive a rather shocking reveal about the age of these courtesans, for the lady tells the denying man, that all of them saw his girl, who stood there crying because the waves of the gushing stream broke her sand house. Is the lady just exaggerating the young and naive nature of this girl out of rivalry or were these courtesans really of such a young age? Holding on to these questions, we move on to see in the tenth verse, the lady employing her tool of sarcasm yet again, as she describes the man’s other women as fragrant and pristine beauties, and of course, compared to them, she was unattractive as a ghost, given that she had just given birth to a child! What a slap to the man with these unconventional words that reveal both the lady’s honour and the man’s dishonour.
Turning to metaphorical elements, in the verse, where the ripe mango falls into the stream in the town of ‘Kazhaar’, the lady places it as a metaphor for how the man from a respectable position has fallen to waste by his association with the courtesans. In another one, where the river otter feeds on the scabbard fish day after day, it’s said as a metaphor for the man’s ceaseless appetite for different courtesans. In the bee-buzzing one, the bee roving around pollen-rich flowers and then forgetting them is a metaphor for the man relishing the beauty of courtesans and then casting them aside. In the one, where the white waterlily tries to bloom like the lotus, the lady places a metaphor for how the courtesans try hard to pretend to be like the lady. In the verse, where the stork after feeding on the fish rests on the Arjuna tree, the lady equates this scene to how the man seems to find his sustenance in the company of courtesans, and then just for a break, he returns home to his wife.
From these verses, we obtain a portrait of the man as one who lies, who is not true to his wife and who seems to want the company of many women. In contrast, the lady is one who performs her duties of giving birth to a child, being true to her man and even accepting his indiscretions. The whole set-up of this farmlands landscape in the Sangam era brought an image from a totally different culture. In my eyes, the courtesans and the historic ‘Gieshas’ in Japanese culture seem so similar. Could this simply be the state in any place where men are few and hold all power and wealth in their hands? Wish for a time when no woman in any place on earth is subject to this state of injustice and inequality!
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