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In this episode, we observe the antics of a buffalo, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 91 to 100, situated in the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and penned by the poet Orambokiyar.
Here goes the Tenth Ten of Ainkurunooru : Ballad of the Buffalo
91 Immature daughter and troublesome father
நெறி மருப்பு எருமை நீல இரும் போத்து
வெறி மலர்ப் பொய்கை, ஆம்பல் மயக்கும்
கழனி ஊரன் மகள் இவள்;
பழன வெதிரின் கொடிப் பிணையலளே.
The blue-black male buffalo with curving horns steps into the pond with fragrant flowers and muddles the white waterlily there in the field-filled town of the lord. She is his daughter. The one who weaves a garland out of the cane flowers blooming in the common spaces.
92 Suckling the young
கருங் கோட்டு எருமைச் செங் கண் புனிற்று ஆ
காதல் குழவிக்கு ஊறு முலை மடுக்கும்
நுந்தை, நும் ஊர் வருதும்
ஒண் தொடி மடந்தை! நின்னை யாம் பெறினே.
The buffalo with black horns offers its milk-filled udders to its adorable, red-eyed, new-born calf in your father’s town. I shall come seeking thither, O maiden wearing glowing bangles, if I can win your hand in marriage.
93 The curious case of bees
எருமை நல் ஏற்றினம் மேயல் அருந்தென,
பசு மோரோடமோடு ஆம்பல் ஒல்லா,
செய்த வினைய மன்ற பல் பொழில்
தாது உண் வெறுக்கைய ஆகி, இவள்
போது அவிழ் முச்சி ஊதும் வண்டே.
The bees, wanting not the white waterlily along with the black cutch that blooms in the grazing patches of the herd of male buffaloes, and also feeling saturated with all the pollen that these had fed on in the many groves, they have decided to do this instead, and that is to buzz around her flower-filled tresses.
94 Wrestlers and their women
மள்ளர் அன்ன தடங் கோட்டு எருமை
மகளிர் அன்ன துணையொடு வதியும்
நிழல் முதிர் இலஞ்சிப் பழனத்ததுவே
கழனித் தாமரை மலரும்,
கவின் பெறு சுடர்நுதல் தந்தை ஊரே.
Akin to wrestlers, are these buffaloes with curving horns, and akin to their women, the buffaloes remain with their mates, in the shade-filled ponds of the common spaces. Lotus flowers too bloom in the fields. Such is her father’s town; The father of the lady with a beautiful, glowing forehead.
95 Breaking bad buffalo
கருங் கோட்டு எருமை கயிறு பரிந்து அசைஇ,
நெடுங் கதிர் நெல்லின் நாள் மேயல் ஆரும்
புனல் முற்று ஊரன், பகலும்,
படர் மலி அரு நோய் செய்தனன், எமக்கே.
The buffalo with black horns breaks free from the rope around it, and grazes during the day on the tall stalks of paddy in the water-rich town of the lord. He is the one, who made me suffer with an angst-filled affliction, even during the day.
96 The forgiving blue lotus
அணி நடை எருமை ஆடிய அள்ளல்,
மணி நிற நெய்தல் ஆம்பலொடு கலிக்கும்
கழனி ஊரன் மகள் இவள்;
பழன ஊரன் பாயல் இன் துணையே.
The buffalo with a beautiful gait plays in the mud and delights with the sapphire-hued blue lotus and white water-lily in the fields of the lord’s town. She is his daughter, and the sweet companion of the man, from the town with common spaces.
97 The fear-evoking garland
பகன்றை வால் மலர் மிடைந்த கோட்டைக்
கருந் தாள் எருமைக் கன்று வெரூஉம்,
பொய்கை, ஊரன் மகள், இவள்;
பொய்கைப் பூவினும் நறுந் தண்ணியளே.
Seeing the vine of bright rattlepod flowers around the horns of the black-legged buffalo, its calf gets startled in the pond-filled town of the lord. She is his daughter, and has a nature, more fragrant and cooler than a pond flower.
98 Buffaloes and Boats
தண் புனல் ஆடும் தடங் கோட்டு எருமை
திண் பிணி அம்பியின் தோன்றும் ஊர!
ஒண் தொடி மட மகள் இவளினும்
நுந்தையும் ஞாயும் கடியரோ, நின்னே?
The buffalo with curving horns that plays in the cool streams appears like well-tied boats in your town, O lord! Have your father and mother rebuked you more severely than this naive maiden wearing glowing bangles?
99 Cure for the wild buffalo
பழனப் பாகல் முயிறு மூசு குடம்பை,
கழனி எருமை, கதிரொடு மயக்கும்
பூக் கஞல் ஊரன் மகள், இவள்;
நோய்க்கு மருந்து ஆகிய பணைத் தோளோளே.
On the bitter gourd vines, growing in the common spaces, red ants build their nests. The buffaloes in the field ruin these along with the crops in the flower-filled town of the lord. She is his daughter, and the one, with bamboo-like arms, who has become the cure for my disease.
100 Lost and found
புனலாடு மகளிர் இட்ட ஒள் இழை,
மணல் ஆடு சிமையத்து, எருமை கிளைக்கும்
யாணர் ஊரன் மகள் இவள்;
பாணர் நரம்பினும் இன் கிளவியளே.
The shining jewels left behind by maiden playing in the stream gets buried in the sands and is then dug up by the buffalo in the prosperous town of the lord. She is his daughter, and her words are sweeter than the strings of bards.
Thus concludes Ainkurunooru 91-100, the last section of verses situated in the farmlands landscape. The songs arise from the context of a man’s relationship with the lady, both before and after marriage. What unifies this entire section is a portrait of a buffalo from various angles. We get to see the buffalo muddling the white-lily in the pond, suckling its newborn calf with love, grazing with its herd amidst the white lily and black cutch flowers, staying with its mates in the common spaces, breaking free of its rope and destroying crops, playing in the mud with the blue lotus and white water-lily, calming its calf that has become frightened seeing a vine of rattlepod flowers around its horns, then appearing like well-tied boats as it plays in the streams, ruining crops and red ants nests, and finally helping maiden recover the jewels, that they had buried and eventually lost in the sands of a river shore. A nuanced observation of the many traits of a buffalo!
Different speakers render their thoughts in varying contexts in this section of verses. In the first verse, the context is when the man approaches the confidante seeking her help in establishing his love relationship with the lady. But the confidante refuses his petition by indicating that the lady is too young for a relationship with him, and this she conveys subtly by the choice of this girl’s flowers. The girl does not even know which flowers she must to wear and which she must not and chooses the sugarcane flowers which have no fragrance at all. So, she’s not ready to be in a relationship with you, the confidante declines. Such situations usually arise only in the ‘Kurinji’ or ‘Mountains’ landscape. However, this verse has been included because of the presence of the ‘buffalo’, an animal belonging to the farmlands landscape.
Moving on to the second, the confidante informs the man that he needs to come seeking the lady’s hand in marriage and the man responds that he would do that readily if there’s a chance of winning the lady’s hand in marriage. In the third one, which again is in a context before marriage, when the man had been leading a love relationship in secret with the lady, and owing to this, many changes had appeared in the lady’s scent, which then attracted a swarm of bees. Noticing this curious behaviour of the bees, the lady’s mother questions the confidante why that is so. To allay her suspicions the confidante says that’s because the bees are so full with all the nectar they have been feeding in the buffalo-grazing fields and in the many groves, that they have decided to divert themselves by simply roving around the lady’s hair, fragrant now because of the flowers she wore. The confidante’s words sounds to me as if the bees are burning off their calories with this workout around the lady’s head. Whether she calmed the lady’s mother is a moot point but the point the confidante wants to make is to register in the mind of the listening man that he needs to buck up and seek the lady’s hand in marriage, because suspicions are starting to rise in the minds of the lady’s family. In the fourth, the man parts from the lady before marriage to earn wealth. After achieving this, he returns to her and says these glowing words about her town.
Now, we turn to the context of the man parting with the lady, after marriage for the rest of the verses. In the fifth, the lady describes how the man has caused pain and affliction in her by seeking courtesans. This is followed by an observation of messengers about the good nature of the lady in accepting the erring man in the sixth verse. The seventh is again a glowing tribute to the lady by the man, calling her more fragrant and cooler than a flower in the pond. In the eighth, the confidante takes the spotlight and asks the man whether the man’s parents were ever harsher to him that the lady, now that she’s angry about his parting away with courtesans, implying that the lady had a right to be severe with him to put him on the right path. In the ninth, the man yet again praises the lady as the cure for his disease, when the lady accepts him back home, even though all her friends think she should refuse the man’s messengers. In the final one, the confidante praises the lady to the man, saying how she has words sweeter than a bard’s strings, because of her forgiving nature to the man. In this entire post-marital section, we see how virtue is heaped on a lady for forgiving and accepting the erring husband.
Turning to metaphorical elements, in the verse where the buffalo ruins the white-waterlily, the confidante uses that image as a metaphor for the lady’s father being a stern and difficult person, so as to dissuade the man from seeking a relationship with the still immature lady. In the one where the buffalo suckles its young, that stands as a metaphor for the man’s hope that he would be welcomed with love by the lady’s family. In the one where the man sketches the buffaloes as wrestlers but portrays how like women, they prefer to stay with their mates, this is a metaphor for the man’s dreaming about his future married life with the lady.
In the next, where the buffalo breaks free and ruins paddy crops, that’s a metaphor for the man breaking free from his duty to the lady and ruining their married life by courting with courtesans. In the one where the calf is startled by the rattlepod vine on its mother’s horns, that’s a metaphor for how the lady has mistaken the man’s garland as a sign of his being with the courtesans and just like how the mother buffalo calms its calf, he is speaking these words of praise about the lady.
Connecting the boats to the playing buffaloes, the confidante intends to talk about the duty of the man in ensuring a smooth sail for his family life and that he must turn away from the mere pleasures of courting with courtesans, akin to that bathing buffalo. In the final verse, there’s the striking scene wherein maiden place their jewels on the sands so as to play in the streams and sometimes these get buried and lost but later are dug up by a buffalo. This is a metaphor for how the lady brings back the memories of her love relationship with the man so as to forgive his erring ways and lead a beautiful life with him. Thus, we see how this simple animal becomes a symbol of intricate emotions.
With this section of verses, we have come to the end of the first hundred of Ainkurunooru, all situated in the Marutham landscape. Our travels through these hundred verses have taken us to the fields and towns and ponds, filled with flowers, and made us observe the behaviour of distinct animals like the freshwater crab, the otter and the buffalo, perceive the importance of bathing in the river streams and made us reflect on the erring ways of the man, and the sulking and consequent forgiving by the lady. Consider the journey of a river as it reaches the plains. The river leaves behind its rich silt, it slows down and becomes murkier, compared to its wild and young state in the mountains, where it began. Likewise, in these songs situated in the farmlands on the plains, the themes of prosperity, pleasure and the consequent pains of excess seem to echo aloud. It’s time to bid bye to the farmlands, wish the man and lady a happy married life, and move on to our next domain!
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