Ainkurunooru 201-210: The man and his mountain

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Thus soars the Twenty-First Ten of Ainkurunooru: The man and his mountain

201 Name that mountain tree
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! என்னை
தானும் மலைந்தான்; எமக்கும் தழை ஆயின;
பொன் வீ மணி அரும்பினவே
என்ன மரம்கொல், அவர் சாரலவ்வே!

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! My lord wore it himself and rendered those leaves to me too; These had golden flowers and sapphire-hued buds. Which tree in his mountain slopes are they from?

202 The horse he rides
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நம் ஊர்ப்
பார்ப்பனக் குறுமகப் போலத் தாமும்
குடுமித் தலைய மன்ற
நெடு மலை நாடன் ஊர்ந்த மாவே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Akin to the young Brahmin children in our village, it has tufted hair on its head too – The horse that the man from the tall mountains rides!

203 Better than ours
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நம் படப்பைத்
தேன் மயங்கு பாலினும் இனிய அவர் நாட்டு
உவலைக் கூவல் கீழ
மான் உண்டு எஞ்சிய கலிழி நீரே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Sweeter than the honey infused milk in our hamlet is his country’s muddy water that is left over, after deers have had their fill, in a puddle under the cover of dried-up leaves!

204 Appealing to unappealing
அன்னாய், வாழி, வேண்டு, அன்னை! அஃது எவன்கொல்?
வரையர மகளிரின் நிரையுடன் குழீஇ,
பெயர்வுழிப் பெயர்வுழித் தவிராது நோக்கி,
நல்லள் நல்லள் என்ப;
தீயேன் தில்ல, மலை கிழவோற்கே!

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Why this is so? Mountain goddesses would stand as a group and looking at me without fail, whenever I would traverse them, would exclaim, ‘She’s so likeable!’ But I seem to have become unlikeable to the lord of the mountains!

205 A sleep on his chest
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! என் தோழி
நனி நாண் உடையள்; நின்னும் அஞ்சும்;
ஒலி வெள் அருவி ஓங்கு மலை நாடன்
மலர்ந்த மார்பின் பாயல்
தவ நனி வெய்யள்; நோகோ யானே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! My friend has a lot of shyness; She fears you as well; But she sure desires one thing the most and that is to attain a sweet sleep on the wide, blooming chest of the lord from the tall mountains, resounding with white cascades. I worry for her!

206 A guardian of the heart
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! உவக்காண்
மாரிக் குன்றத்துக் காப்பான் அன்னன்;
தூவலின் நனைந்த தொடலை ஒள் வாள்,
பாசி சூழ்ந்த பெருங் கழல்,
தண் பனி வைகிய வரிக் கச்சினனே!

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Look there, akin to a mountain guard, who protects the pond in the rainy season, he appears with a shining sword drenched in the drizzle by his side, and wears huge warrior anklets, covered with moss and a cool, soaked striped cloth around his waist!

207 The sight of rainclouds
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நன்றும்
உணங்கல கொல்லோ, நின் தினையே? உவக்காண்
நிணம் பொதி வழுக்கின் தோன்றும்,
மழை தலைவைத்து, அவர் மணி நெடுங் குன்றே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! You are worried that your millet fields would completely dry up, is it not? Look over there, akin to a heap of meat with fat atop, surrounded by clouds appear his sapphire-hued, tall mountain!

208 Blessings of the Kino tree
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! கானவர்
கிழங்கு அகழ் நெடுங் குழி மல்க வேங்கைப்
பொன் மலி புது வீ தாஅம் அவர் நாட்டு
மணி நிற மால் வரை மறைதொறு, இவள்
அணி மலர் நெடுங் கண் ஆர்ந்தன பனியே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! Mountain dwellers dig up huge pits to pull out tubers. Filling these pits, the Indian Kino tree sheds its fresh and plentiful golden flowers in his country. Whenever the sapphire-hued mountain in the lord’s country is hidden from sight, her beautiful, flower-like, wide eyes shed tears!

209 The unforgettable mountain man
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நீ மற்று
யான் அவர் மறத்தல் வேண்டுதி ஆயின்,
கொண்டல் அவரைப் பூவின் அன்ன
வெண் தலை மா மழை சூடி,
தோன்றல் ஆனாது, அவர் மணி நெடுங் குன்றே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! You request me saying that I should forget him a little. But how can I, when, akin to bean flowers that bloom in the eastern winds, surrounded by white-headed huge clouds, appear unceasingly his sapphire-hued, tall mountain!

210 The cure for her illness
அன்னாய், வாழி! வேண்டு, அன்னை! நம் படப்பைப்
புலவுச் சேர் துறுகல் ஏறி, அவர் நாட்டுப்
பூக் கெழு குன்றம் நோக்கி நின்று,
மணி புரை வயங்கு இழை நிலைபெறத்
தணிதற்கும் உரித்து, அவள் உற்ற நோயே.

Long may you live, mother! I seek your kind attention, mother! If only she, who wears sapphire-like glowing jewels, gets the opportunity to climb on to the flesh-reeking boulder in our hamlet and stand there, looking for a long while, at his flower-filled mountains, then it will surely recede – That disease which afflicts her!

So concludes Ainkurunooru 201 to 210. As you have no doubt noted, we have set out on a trip to a mountain country from this section onwards, and the poet who rules this space in the pages of Sangam literature is undoubtedly Kabilar, known for his exquisite similes and depictions that this picturesque land demands. All the verses except one is set in the period of a love relationship between the man and lady prior to marriage, and even the one exception, although it’s after marriage, it’s a situation when the lady travels to her native village and is full of praise for the man’s country. So, no courtesan trouble at all in this land of joy! The unifying theme in all these verses is the person being spoken to, and although the word ‘mother’ is used in every verse, with a request that she listen to the words that follow, this person is not only the mother per se. This reflects the tradition of friends calling each other as ‘mother’ and we have the lady and confidante speaking these words and addressing them either to each other or in some cases, to the lady’s mother.

Let’s start our trek and see the sights in one verse after the other. In the first, the lady speaks to her confidante for the benefit of the lady’s mother in earshot. Here, the lady talks about how the lord wore certain flowers and leaves himself and also gave the same to the lady as a gift for her attire. She describes how the flowers were golden when in full bloom and sapphire-hued when they were buds. Sounding innocent, the lady asks her friend, ‘Which tree is that?’. Although it seems the lady is someone with a naturalist’s aptitude or a botanist’s turn of mind, here her intention is to simply tell mother who’s listening, ‘Please say ‘no’ to those stranger folks who are seeking my hand. For my heart is with the another, that man from the mountains!’ Love the lady’s style of asking a curious question to reveal her state of mind to her mother.

In the second, the confidante speaks these words of cheer to her friend saying the man comes riding his horse, which has a tuft like that on the heads of Brahmin children in their village. This is to say the man comes riding speedily to claim the lady’s hand in marriage. This reference to tufts on the heads of children belonging to a particular community could imply that this was not a practice among the people of other communities.

Moving on from anthropological details, in the third is a delightful verse wherein the lady returns to her village after her marriage, and her friend asks her how she can stand the water in her husband’s country for it was known not to be good. For this, the lady replies that sweeter than milk and honey in their hamlet was the little water, left behind after deers had drunk from it, and covered with dried-up leaves, in a muddy puddle in the man’s country. This is high praise for the man and is a projection of the happiness the lady feels with him after marriage. By saying all the milk and honey my parents showered upon me cannot match the puddle water in my man’s country, the lady is echoing the timeless joy of togetherness with a beloved.

Joy turns to lament in the fourth, for now is the time when the man does not seem to be interested in seeking a marriage with the lady and is only concerned about trysting with her. When the man is in earshot, the lady tells her confidante about how even mountain goddesses celebrate her as someone so attractive, but how come, to the man, she seems so repulsive. This is to shock the man and make him ponder on why the lady thinks so wrongly about him, and from there, direct him towards the path of marrying the lady. Here, the lady is quite the brag, extolling her own beauty and its admiration in other eyes!

Then, it becomes time to reveal the lady’s relationship to mother, and here, the confidante talks about how the lady is shy and full of fear for mother’s ire. But there is one thing the lady wants the most and that’s to enjoy a sweet sleep on the man’s chest. Through these words, the confidante is revealing the lady’s relationship with the man to mother.

Trysting is the main theme in the sixth, where the confidante paints an intricate portrait of a guard around a pond, employed during the rainy season. She talks about his drenched sword, moss-covered anklets and soaked cloth around his waist. Bringing forth this image, the confidante projects it on the man, who has come to see the lady at night, saying that’s exactly how the man looks. This is to portray and praise the man’s love for the lady, for he comes there, braving many dangers to meet with the lady, and to leave her happy.

In the seventh, the lady worries that the millet fields are going to dry up without the rains and because of this, she will not get to meet with the man there. The confidante allays this worry of the lady by pointing to the rainclouds that surrounds the man’s radiant mountains, looking like a heap of meat capped by a layer of fat on top. This simile illustrates the perfect fusion of both the farming and hunting traditions of the mountain dwellers.

The eighth reveals to us huge pits dug up by mountain dwellers to gather tubers, and here, filling those pits, the Indian kino tree rains down its golden-hued flowers. These words are said by the confidante to the lady’s mother, talking about the man’s country so, and saying whenever the lady cannot see this mountain, she would shed tears. Through this, the confidante reveals the lady’s love relationship with the man to mother.

In the ninth, the confidante seems to have been telling the lady that she should forget the man a little as the lady was pining and losing her health in his absence. At this time, the lady says but how can I do that, because he instantly appears in my mind, whenever I see his cloud-shrouded mountains ahead!

In the final one, the confidante speaks to mother and says, ‘I know you are worried about the lady’s illness and you are wondering how to cure it. Well, all she has got to do is to climb on a little boulder and look at the man’s mountain, and if she keeps doing that, she’ll be fine’. This is yet again, revealing the lady’s relationship with the man to mother.

Turning to metaphorical elements, let’s focus on the image of the mountain guard. This is a person employed to ensure the banks of ponds and lakes do not overflow and cause damage to villages nearby and stands testimony to the administrative skills of these ancients, showing their preparedness for natural disasters. Apart from this interesting facet, the confidante uses that image of a guard as a metaphor for how the man will protect the lady too. In the scene where the lady describes the sight of the man’s mountains that prevent her from forgetting him, there’s a metaphor for her feelings that she is unable to hide and which seems to soar like those mountains in front of others’ eyes. In that picturesque image of golden flowers of the Indian Kino tree filling the pits, dug for tubers, there’s a metaphor for how the man’s wealth and fame will make up to the lady’s family, when they lose her in marriage to him. And so we find, a majestic and picturesque introduction in this section, where we perceive how the man and his mountain were seen as one and the same, talking about a deep connection with the land, something more pronounced in this rugged region much more than all the other landscapes!