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In this episode, we perceive the emotions around parting, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 221-230, situated in the ‘Kurinji’ or ‘Mountain landscape’ and penned by the poet Kabilar.
So soars the Twenty Third Ten of Ainkurunooru: Conversations between Companions
221 About to leave
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! காதலர்
பாவை அன்ன என் ஆய்கவின் தொலைய,
நல் மா மேனி பசப்ப,
செல்வல்’ என்ப தம் மலை கெழு நாட்டே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! Ruining my exquisite beauty, akin to an etched doll, making pallor spread on my fine, dark form, the lover of mine intends to go to his mountain country!
222 Visits not anymore
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நம் ஊர்
நளிந்து வந்து உறையும் நறுந் தண் மார்பன்
இன்னினி வாராமாறுகொல்
சில் நிரை ஓதி! என் நுதல் பசப்பதுவே?
Listen my friend, may you live long! The man with a cool and fragrant chest is one, who used to frequently visit and stay here in our town. Is it because he does not come anymore that my forehead spreads with pallor, O maiden with delicate tresses?
223 Beating the seasonal blues
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நம் மலை
வரை ஆம் இழிய, கோடல் நீட,
காதலர்ப் பிரிந்தோர் கையற, நலியும்
தண் பனி வடந்தை அற்சிரம்
முந்து வந்தனர் நம் காதலோரே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! Making cascades in our mountain to flow down; flame lilies to open their wide petals; separated lovers to feel helpless, the cool and moist northern winds would torment in the early winter season. Before it could do all that, he has arrived, the lover of yours!
224 No more play
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நம் மலை
மணி நிறம் கொண்ட மா மலை வெற்பில்
துணி நீர் அருவி நம்மோடு ஆடல்
எளிய மன்னால், அவர்க்கு; இனி,
அரிய ஆகுதல் மருண்டனென், யானே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! In the clear waters of the cascades that flow down from the great cliffs of our sapphire-hued mountain, to play with me was easy for him then. Seeing how it’s going to be harder for him to do that anymore, I’m perplexed!
225 Won’t he know?
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! பைஞ் சுனைப்
பாசடை நிவந்த பனி மலர்க் குவளை
உள்ளகம் கமழும் கூந்தல் மெல்லியல்
ஏர் திகழ் ஒள் நுதல் பசத்தல்
ஓரார்கொல் நம் காதலோரே?
Listen my friend, may you live long! In the fresh springs, above the green leaves, rises the cool flower of the blue waterlily. Wafting with the scent of this flower’s heart is your tresses, O gentle maiden. Won’t he know that your radiant and shining forehead will spread with pallor?
226 The bee is back
அம்ம வாழி,தோழி! நம் மலை
நறுந்தண் சிலம்பின் நாறு குலைக் காந்தள்
கொங்கு உண் வண்டின் பெயர்ந்து புறமாறி, நின்
வன்புடை விறல் கவின் கொண்ட
அன்பிலாளன் வந்தனன் இனியே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! In the cool and fragrant slopes of our mountain, flame-lilies bloom in scented clusters. Feeding on this nectar, bees flit about, moving places. Akin to that, he took away your unceasing beauty. That loveless man has come here now!
227 Forgotten oath
அம்ம வாழி! தோழி! நாளும்,
நல் நுதல் பசப்பவும், நறுந் தோள் ஞெகிழவும்,
‘ஆற்றலம் யாம்’ என மதிப்பக் கூறி,
நப் பிரிந்து உறைந்தோர் மன்ற; நீ
விட்டனையோ அவர் உற்ற சூளே?
Listen my friend, may you live long! Day after day, spreading pallor on the fine forehead and thinning those fragrant arms, he has parted away from you, even though he declared with honour ‘I can never bear to see that state’. Are you still holding on to that oath of his?
228 A plea for her hand
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நம் ஊர்
நிரந்து இலங்கு அருவிய நெடு மலை நாடன்
இரந்து குறையுறாஅன் பெயரின்,
என் ஆவதுகொல் நம் இன் உயிர் நிலையே?
Listen my friend, may you live long! He is the lord of the tall mountains, where cascades flow unceasingly. If he parts away when his plea is refused, what is to become of the state of our life?
229 The secret of the glow
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நாம் அழப்
பல் நாள் பிரிந்த அறனிலாளன்
வந்தனனோ மற்று இரவில்?
பொன் போல் விறல் கவின் கொள்ளும், நின் நுதலே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! Did the one, who, making us cry, parted away for days many, that unjust man arrive in the dark of the night? For it glows with the dashing radiance of gold, that forehead of yours!
230 Past pain future gain
அம்ம வாழி, தோழி! நம்மொடு
சிறு தினைக் காவலன் ஆகி, பெரிதும் நின்
மென் தோள் ஞெகிழவும், திரு நுதல் பசப்பவும்,
பொன் போல் விறல் கவின் தொலைத்த
குன்ற நாடற்கு அயர்வர் நன் மணனே.
Listen my friend, may you live long! He became the guardian of the field with little millets along with us. Then, he made your delicate arms thin away greatly, your esteemed forehead to spread with pallor, and ruined the gold-like radiant beauty of yours. He is the lord of the mountain peaks, and to him, they shall marry you with festivity!
So concludes Ainkurunooru 221-230. All the verses are set in the context of a man’s love relationship with a lady, prior to marriage, and revolve around the themes of parting and how this affects the lady. The unifying element of all these verses is the phrase ‘Listen my friend. May you live long’ that opens every song, signifying an important message is about to be conveyed. These verses are said by the lady or the confidante to each other, sometimes in the presence of the man or the lady’s family.
The first happens in a situation when the man has just informed the lady that he would part from her to prepare for their marriage. At this juncture, the lady says these words to her confidante when the man is in earshot, lamenting about how the man wants to go back to his country and this is sure to ruin her beauty. Perhaps this is to nudge the listening man to finish his duties quickly and return to her. This situation brought to my mind the slogan we, citizens of Chennai, see all over the city these days: That Metro Rail slogan that goes ‘Inconvenience Today for Better Tomorrow’!
In the second, the man, after trysting with the lady, has been away for a while. He then comes one day and stands listening. At this time, the lady tells the confidante that because the man does not visit frequently, pallor was attacking her. Again, a nudge to the man to express what his parting is doing to the lady.
In the third, the confidante gets the spotlight and to the lady she talks about all the changes that the northern winds which arrive in the early winter bring along. While cascades gush with a lot of force and beautiful flame-lilies open their buds, there’s trouble for separated lovers for it’s said to be a painful time for these souls. Why is the confidante saying these sad things to the lady, who’s already lamenting the man’s absence? Only to finish with a flourish that the man has made it back to the lady before the season could inflict that damage. He has won the race against time, implies the confidante.
The ‘talk’ card is handed over to the lady in the fourth, and here, she tells the confidante, as the man is in earshot, about the fact that it was quite easy for him to play with her in the flowing waterfalls back then, but not anymore. Through this, she conveys to the man that the lady’s family have confined her to the house and put her on guard and therefore no more trysting was possible. The only thing for the man to do was to seek the lady’s hand in marriage.
From the fifth to the final one, the confidante is the one who’s going to be uttering these words, and she starts in the fifth by first praising the lady’s beautiful tresses that seem to waft with the scent of a mountain lily, and asks whether the man won’t realise how his parting is making pallor spread on the lady. Through this question, she actually means that the man will indeed realise and be back soon and thus consoles the pining lady.
In the sixth, the confidante portrays the man as a bee that steals nectar from the flame-lilies, and after roving hither and thither, he’s back, she tells the lady, informing her of how the man has returned from his mission to seek wealth for his marriage with the lady.
The seventh sees the confidante saying these words to the lady as the man listens nearby, when his trysting with the lady had been interrupted by his travels. The confidante recollects how the man swore that he would never part away and cause distress to the lady but now, causing every ruin to her beauty, he has done just that and she questions the lady asking why she was still believing the man and his promises.
In the eighth, the confidante talks to the lady, passing on a significant message to the lady’s family listening nearby. She wonders what would happen if the man’s plea to marry the lady is refused by the parents, and declares living would become impossible for the lady. This is to prepare the lady’s family for the man’s proposal by telling them that the lady is already in a relationship with him and that they should approve his request to marry her.
The ninth sees the confidante teasing the lady, asking her whether the man had arrived in the middle of the night, after a long break of causing ruin to the health and beauty of the lady. The reason she asks so is because the lady’s forehead seemed to suddenly glow with such a brilliance. All a Sangam lady needs apparently for her to be herself is the man’s presence, looks like!
In the final one, the confidante reminisces about how the man used to come along with the lady and guard the millet fields. Then later he had to part to seek wealth for their wedding, and at that time, he made the lady’s beauty and health fade. But now, things have changed and the lady’s family have consented to their marriage and the confidante relays this to her friend with much joy. A finale event that makes me say, ‘All’s well that ends well’!
In this section, the poet breaks his characteristic descriptive style, wherein he avoids metaphors and leaves only the substance of the emotions. Perhaps as a way to say that he need not only cling on to the beauty of the landscape and the fascinating elements there, but try to do something different, something more direct. Reflecting on the skill of this versatile poet, we end this section that narrates the events around a man’s parting and a lady’s pining!
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