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In this episode, we listen to the confidante’s words about the man and lady, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 101-110, situated in the ‘Neythal’ or ‘Coastal landscape’ and penned by the poet Ammoovanaar.
Here goes the Eleventh Ten of Ainkurunooru: For Mother’s Attention
101 Trampling chariot
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! உதுக் காண்
ஏர் கொடிப் பாசடும்பு பரிய ஊர்பு இழிபு
நெய்தல் மயக்கி வந்தன்று, நின் மகள்
பூப் போல் உண்கண் மரீஇய
நோய்க்கு மருந்து ஆகிய கொண்கன் தேரே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Look over there! Tearing the beautiful vines of the beach morning glory, trampling down and muddling blue lotuses, comes the chariot of the one, who is the cure for the disease that spreads around the flower-like, kohl-streaked eyes of your daughter!
102 Tingling bells
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நம் ஊர்
நீல் நிறப் பெருங் கடல் புள்ளின் ஆனாது,
துன்புறு துயரம் நீங்க,
இன்புற இசைக்கும், அவர் தேர் மணிக் குரலே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! To end the ceaseless suffering-filled angst of our town’s bird that roves over the blue-hued huge sea, delightfully resounds the tingling sound of his chariot’s bells!
103 Duet of the blooming flowers
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! புன்னையொடு
ஞாழல் பூக்கும் தண்ணம் துறைவன்
இவட்கு அமைந்தனனால் தானே
தனக்கு அமைந்தன்று, இவள் மாமைக் கவினே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Along with the laurelwood, the screw pine too blooms with flowers in the cool shores of the lord. Because she has become one with him, her dark-skinned lustrous beauty has become one with her!
104 Town of the son
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நம் ஊர்ப்
பலர் மடி பொழுதின், நலம் மிகச் சாஅய்
நள்ளென வந்த இயல் தேர்ச்
செல்வக் கொண்கன் செல்வனஃது ஊரே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! In the hour, when many in our town sleep, making her health and beauty fade, came his swaying chariot in the dark of the night then. This is the town of the son of that wealthy lord!
105 Twinkling pearls
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! முழங்குகடல்
திரை தரு முத்தம் வெண் மணல் இமைக்கும்
தண்ணம் துறைவன் வந்தென,
பொன்னினும் சிவந்தன்று; கண்டிசின் நுதலே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! The pearls rendered by the waves of the roaring ocean twinkle on the cool shores of the lord. Take a look at her forehead that glows redder than gold, since he has arrived.
106 Mistaken mate
அன்னை, வாழி!வேண்டு, அன்னை! அவர் நாட்டுத்
துதிக்கால் அன்னம் துணை செத்து மிதிக்கும்
தண் கடல் வளையினும் இலங்கும் இவள்
அம் கலிழ் ஆகம் கண்டிசின் நினைந்தே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! The sea bird with feet, akin to a leather bag, mistakes a cool sea conch for its mate and mounts on it in his country. Think about how whiter than the conch, is her beautiful form!
107 Spreading pallor
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! என் தோழி
சுடர் நுதல் பசப்பச் சாஅய், படர் மெலிந்து,
தண் கடல் படு திரை கேட்டொறும்,
துஞ்சாள் ஆகுதல் நோகோ யானே.
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! My friend’s glowing forehead spreads with pallor, and with thoughts of him, she becomes thin. Whenever she hears the roar of the waves in the cool sea, she sleeps not! I worry for her!
108 The other shoulder
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! கழிய
முண்டகம் மலரும் தண் கடல் சேர்ப்பன்
எம் தோள் துறந்தனன்ஆயின்,
எவன்கொல் மற்று அவன் நயந்த தோளே?
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! The water-thorn in the backwaters blooms in the cool shores of the lord. If he were to abandon my shoulders, what do you think might happen to those other shoulders he desires?
109 Memories of grace
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நெய்தல்
நீர்ப் படர் தூம்பின் பூக் கெழு துறைவன்
எம் தோள் துறந்த காலை, எவன்கொல்
பல் நாள் வரும், அவன் அளித்த பொழுதே?
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Blue lotuses with hollow stems bloom in the waters of the flower-filled lord’s shore. Even though he has abandoned my shoulders, how come for many days, it goes on – those memories of days he rendered his grace?
110 Destiny’s destination
அன்னை, வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! புன்னை
பொன் நிறம் விரியும் பூக் கெழு துறைவனை
‘என்னை’ என்றும், யாமே; இவ் ஊர்
பிறிது ஒன்றாகக் கூறும்;
ஆங்கும் ஆக்குமோ? வாழிய, பாலே!
Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! The laurelwood spreads its gold in the flower-filled shore of the lord. I think of him as ‘my lord’; But this town seems to say something else. Will that become true? Long may destiny live!
Thus concludes Ainkurunooru 101-110. All these songs except one are situated in the context of the man’s parting before marriage, wherein the confidante is relaying various aspects of the lady’s love relationship with the man, to her mother, the foster-mother of the lady. A moment to explain these terms from a Sangam context. We note how there’s a confidante who is so close to the lady and seems to dedicate her life to the happiness of the lady. Likewise, the lady’s mother too would have had a confidante when young, and in later years, that confidante becomes the foster-mother to her friend’s daughter and her own daughter becomes the confidante of the young lady. It appears as if the confidante too gets married to someone in the man’s town and leaves with the lady after marriage to the man’s town, and continues her bond with the lady for generations. Astonishing to even mull on the logistics of such relationships, if these are indeed the truth and not the figment of poets’ imaginations. Returning, the unifying element in all these verses set in the coastal landscape is that each song is addressed to the mother and the confidante is the one speaking these words in every case.
The first one occurs when the man had parted away to earn wealth for his marriage with the lady and the confidante shares with great exuberance about how the man’s chariot is approaching their town, bringing the cure for the lady’s sorrow. Likewise, in the second one too, she draws mother’s attention to the sound of the man’s chariot bells. The third one occurs at a joyous moment when the man and lady are about to get married and the confidante remarks on the perfect match between them and how it has brought out the dark-skinned beauty of the lady shining to the fore. We find a different context in the fourth song for it happens after the marriage of the man and lady, at a time when the lady has given birth to the man’s child. At this time, the confidante tells the visiting mother with much joy that this was town of that wealthy man, who had come in the dark of the night to meet with the lady, and now it has become the town of his son too.
The fifth is one that happens in that happy occasion when the man has earned the wealth to render his offerings to the lady’s family and has returned successfully. As if marking this occasion, the lady’s forehead glows redder than gold, comments the confidante with glee. In the sixth, the confidante is revealing the lady’s love relationship with the man to the lady’s mother, and insisting that they accept his proposal of marriage by pointing out how making it whiter than a conch shell, pallor spreads on the lady. Yet another instance to say how the colour white, fairness and paleness were elements that indicated lack of health and beauty from a Sangam perspective! Likewise, in the seventh too, the confidante comments about how the lady’s forehead spreads with pallor, and she becomes thin, always thinking about the man and expresses her own worry for the lady. This is a way of revealing the lady’s condition to her family and asking them to do the needful to marry her to the man.
The eighth brings forth the worry of the lady’s mother wondering why the man was taking so long to return and marry the lady. She seems to have put forth the suspicions that he might be off wooing other women. To this, in the voice of the lady, the confidante replies with a question, if he can let go of these shoulders he loved so much, imagine what would be the state of others he seeks! A unique way of reassuring mother and letting her know that he would definitely return. In the ninth too, in response to mother’s doubting words, the confidante replies that the man may have been gone for days many but the memories of his grace to the lady and his promises to her are still fresh in her mind, thus reinstating her faith in the man’s return. In the final one, there arises a tricky situation of strangers approaching the lady’s family seeking her hand when the man is away seeking wealth for their marriage. At this time, the confidante reveals the lady’s relationship to the mother and declares the lady has decided that the man is the one, who will be her lord, but the town, meaning the lady’s family, seems to be thinking in other lines. She concludes with a blessing to fate, with a hope that it will stand by the lady’s wishes.
Looking at the metaphorical elements, in the verse where the man’s chariot comes trampling the morning glory vines and blue lotuses, that’s a metaphor for how he returns, shutting the mouths of those who were spreading slander about the lady and the man. In the verse about the marriage of the man and the lady, there hides a fragrant metaphor where both the ‘punnai’ and ‘thazhai’ trees bloom together, a metaphor for the union of the man and lady and their fame and joy spreading together everywhere. In that image of pearls twinkling as they lie on the shores of the man’s domain, waiting to be picked up, there shines a metaphor for how the man will easily obtain the wealth he needs to win the lady’s hand in marriage. In the one where the sea bird mistakes a conch shell for its mate, we can find an intricate metaphor for how mother seems to mistake the ill-health of the lady for the wrong reasons, instead of clearly seeing it was because of the man. In that intricate image of how the stem of a blue lotus hides out of sight and yet the flower blooms in full glory outside, that’s a metaphor for how even though the man is delayed in his return, he will for sure, fulfil his promise to the lady and make marriage bloom. In the last one, depicting how the flowers of the ‘punnai’ shed gold on the shores of the man’s domain, the confidante promises that the man too would return with the wealth he needs to win the lady’s hand.
Thus, we see the various emotions of lament, doubt and hope manifest in this situation of a parting before marriage between the man and lady. A subtle note of anxiety runs through many of these verses and the techniques to allay the same using trust and positivity are lessons relevant to this day.
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