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In this episode, we perceive the fire in a lady’s heart, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kalithogai 145, penned by Nallanthuvanaar. The verse is situated in the ‘Neythal’ or ‘Coastal Landscape’ and depicts the conversations of a pining woman in love.
கண்டோர்:
‘துனையுநர் விழை தக்க சிறப்புப்போல், கண்டார்க்கு
நனவினுள் உதவாது நள்ளிருள் வேறாகும்
கனவின் நிலையின்றால், காமம்; ஒருத்தி
உயிர்க்கும்; உசாஅம்; உலம்வரும்; ஓவாள்,
கயல் புரை உண்கண் அரிப்ப அரி வார,
பெயல் சேர் மதி போல, வாள் முகம் தோன்ற,
பல ஒலி கூந்தலாள், பண்பு எல்லாம் துய்த்துத்
துறந்தானை உள்ளி, அழூஉம்; அவனை
மறந்தாள்போல் ஆலி நகூஉம்; மருளும்;
தலைவி:
‘சிறந்த தன் நாணும் நலனும் நினையாது,
காமம் முனைஇயாள், அலந்தாள்’ என்று, எனைக் காண,
நகான்மின்; கூறுவேன், மாக்காள்! மிகாஅது,
மகளிர் தோள் சேர்ந்த மாந்தர் துயர் கூர நீத்தலும்,
நீள் சுரம் போகியார் வல்லை வந்து அளித்தலும்,
ஊழ் செய்து, இரவும் பகலும்போல், வேறாகி,
வீழ்வார்கண் தோன்றும்; தடுமாற்றம் ஞாலத்துள்
வாழ்வார்கட்கு எல்லாம் வரும்
தாழ்பு, துறந்து, தொடி நெகிழ்த்தான் போகிய கானம்
இறந்து எரி நையாமல், பாஅய் முழங்கி
வறந்து என்னை செய்தியோ, வானம்? சிறந்த என்
கண்ணீர்க் கடலால், கனை துளி வீசாயோ,
கொண்மூக் குழீஇ முகந்து?
நுமக்கு எவன் போலுமோ? ஊரீர்! எமக்கும் எம்
கண்பாயல் கொண்டு, உள்ளாக் காதலவன் செய்த
பண்பு தர வந்த என் தொடர் நோய் வேது
கொள்வது போலும், கடும் பகல்?
……………………………..ஞாயிறே!
எல்லாக் கதிரும் பரப்பி, பகலொடு
செல்லாது நின்றீயல் வேண்டுவல்; நீ செல்லின்,
புல்லென் மருள் மாலைப் போழ்து இன்று வந்து என்னைக்
கொல்லாது போதல் அரிதால்; அதனொடு யான்
செல்லாது நிற்றல் இலேன்
ஒல்லை எம் காதலர்க் கொண்டு, கடல் ஊர்ந்து, காலைநாள்,
போதரின் காண்குவேன்மன்னோ பனியொடு
மாலைப் பகை தாங்கி, யான்?
இனியன் என்று ஓம்படுப்பல், ஞாயிறு! இனி
ஒள் வளை ஓடத் துறந்து, துயர் செய்த
கள்வன்பால் பட்டன்று, ஒளித்து என்னை, உள்ளி
பெருங் கடல் புல்லென, கானல் புலம்ப,
இருங் கழி நெய்தல் இதழ் பொதிந்து தோன்ற,
விரிந்து இலங்கு வெண் நிலா வீசும் பொழுதினான்,
யான் வேண்டு ஒருவன், என் அல்லல் உறீஇயான்;
தான் வேண்டுபவரோடு துஞ்சும்கொல், துஞ்சாது?
வானும், நிலனும், திசையும், துழாவும் என்
ஆனாப் படர் மிக்க நெஞ்சு
ஊரவர்க்கு எல்லாம் பெரு நகை ஆகி, என்
ஆர் உயிர் எஞ்சும்மன்; அங்கு நீ சென்றீ
நிலவு உமிழ் வான் திங்காள்! ஆய் தொடி கொட்ப,
அளி புறம் மாறி, அருளான் துறந்த அக்
காதலன் செய்த கலக்குறு நோய்க்கு ஏதிலார்
எல்லாரும் தேற்றர், மருந்து
வினைக் கொண்டு என் காம நோய் நீக்கிய ஊரீர்!
எனைத்தானும் எள்ளினும், எள்ளலன், கேள்வன்;
நினைப்பினும், கண்ணுள்ளே தோன்றும்; அனைத்தற்கே
ஏமராது, ஏமரா ஆறு
கனை இருள் வானம்! கடல் முகந்து, என்மேல்
உறையொடு நின்றீயல் வேண்டும், ஒருங்கே
நிறை வளை கொட்பித்தான் செய்த துயரால்
இறை இறை பொத்திற்றுத் தீ
கண்டோர்:
எனப் பாடி,
நோயுடை நெஞ்சத்து எறியா, இனைபு ஏங்கி,
‘யாவிரும் எம் கேள்வற் காணீரோ?’ என்பவட்கு,
ஆர்வுற்ற பூசற்கு அறம்போல, ஏய்தந்தார்;
பாயல் கொண்டு உள்ளாதவரை வரக் கண்டு,
மாயவன் மார்பில் திருப்போல் அவள் சேர,
ஞாயிற்று முன்னர் இருள்போல மாய்ந்தது என்
ஆயிழை உற்ற துயர்.
The lament of the lady continues on. The words can be translated as follows:
“Onlookers:
Akin to the state of those, who suffer wanting esteem immediately, is the state of those in passion, who seek their beloved in dreams, which dissipate in the dead darkness of the night and serve not in reality. Here is a woman, who sighs, who inquires and who roves around listlessly. Unceasingly, her fish-like, kohl-streaked eyes, shed tears, akin to a cascade, and her shining face appears, akin to the moon in a downpour. That maiden with thick, luxuriant tresses, letting go of all her good qualities, thinks about the one, who abandoned her, and cries with sorrow; And then, as if she forgot all about him, she laughs out aloud! In such a state of utter confusion, is she!
Lady:
Saying, ‘Without heeding her excellent sense of modesty and beauty, filled with love affliction, she wallows and suffers’, do not laugh seeing my state. I will tell you a little truth, O people! For men, who united with the arms of their women, to leave them with suffering and part away, and for those, who parted away to those vast drylands to return and grace their women, akin to night and day, has been happening forever and ever, and even so, this would torment those in love. This confusion and bewilderment will come for sure to all those who live upon this earth!
O skies, how can you be in this dried-up state? Why don’t you ask your herd of clouds to gather from the sea of my tears, and shed a heavy downpour, resounding with thunder, so that the drylands jungle, through which the one, who made me fall and then went away, forsaking me, doesn’t burn like fire?
O people of this town! I don’t how it appears to you! But to me, one shivering because I’m away from my beloved, the one, who has stolen away my sleep, and rendered unto me an unceasing affliction, this scorching day is like a heat balm!
O sun, don’t spend all your rays in the day and part away, please stay! If you are to leave, that listless, confusing evening is sure to come and seize my life. It would be hard for me not to part away with it! But if you tell me that you will surely make me see my beloved, when you come crossing the seas, in the morning, then I can try to bear the cold evening’s enmity! I shall praise you as ‘The Sweet One’ too!
Without me knowing, that sorrow-filled heart of mine has parted away with that thief, who caused all this sorrow in me and made my bangles slip away! At this time, when the great seas roar, the groves lament, and the blue lotus in the backwaters appears with its buds buried, the time when the white moon spreads its soft rays, I wonder if my heart, after searching the skies, the land, and all the directions, would find sleep or not, with the one I seek, the creator of my sorrow?
O white moon, so radiant in the sky above! I have become the big laughing stock of the townsfolk and my life stands fading away. Won’t you go there to him as my messenger? Making the exquisite bangles fall down, turning away without kindness, without grace, he abandoned me and rendered this terrible disease in me, and no one other than you has the cure!
O people of the town, won’t you at least take up the task of ending my love affliction? Even if you mock me, my beloved would never do that. Whenever I think of him, he appears within my eyes; By doing that, he keeps me from losing all my senses!
O skies filled with thick darkness! Dipping from the seas, you must pour unceasingly upon me, for owing to the sorrow caused by the one, who made the neat row of bangles fall down, every space of my form burns with a fiery fire!
Onlookers:
And she sang so, beating upon her sorrowful heart, filled with yearning. Seeing the one, who kept asking, ‘Have you seen my beloved?’, as if the god of justice himself took pity at her pain, her man returned to her. Beholding the one, who stole her sleep and thought not about her, she ran to him and embraced him, appearing like the Goddess in the heart of the Dark-skinned One, and akin to the way darkness disperses seeing the sun, so too disappeared the sorrow of the bejewelled maiden!”
Let’s delve into the core. The verse is situated in the context of the man’s parting from the lady, prior to marriage, and here, the onlookers and lady depict the thoughts and feelings in that moment. The onlookers open the tale by talking abstractly about those, who wish to attain greatness instantly, and they connect the suffering of these people to those in love, who only see their beloved in their dreams and not for real. From abstractions, they turn to the specific and focus on the lady, who seems to be suffering in a confused state, constantly shedding tears and then laughing aloud deliriously. When they approach the lady, she asks them not to laugh at her state and remarks how it’s natural for men to leave their beloved and then return and grace them again, and this is something happening like night and day for ever. However, the torment would feel real and would happen to everyone on earth, she says, remarking on the universality of this emotion called love.
Then, the lady starts her conversation with the sky and asks it to gather moisture from the sea of her tears to pour down on the man’s path through the drylands, so that it does not scorch him so! Even in the midst of all that pain, so much love shines through. Then, she tells the townsfolk, that the burning heat of their day seems like a balm to her, shivering without her beloved by her side. Next, it’s the turn of the sun to receive a request and she asks this orb to not spend all its rays in the day and leave her to the mercy of the evening. But if at all, the sun were to promise to bring the man, when it comes crossing the seas in the morning, then she would somehow bear the hatred of the evening, and wait there, praising the sun’s sweetness!
After this, she talks about how her heart had left in search of the man, forsaking her and wonders whether in this time when the seas, groves and blue lotus laments for her, at least her heart would have found sleep with her beloved, far away! Next, it’s the turn of the moon to be beckoned by the lady and she asks the moon whether it would go as her messenger, to the man, declaring nobody else has the cure for the love affliction caused by the man. Finally, leaving these silent celestials, the lady turns her attention to the people around and asks them to end her suffering, praising her man for at least appearing within her eyes, whenever she thinks of him, making sure she doesn’t go fully mad. One self-aware lady, this one, sure is! As the final request, it’s back to the sky again, asking it to drench her with a downpour, so that the burning in her form will find some calm!
Next, the onlookers take the centre stage and convey the good news of how the man returned, as if the god of justice himself took pity on the lady, and when she rushed to him and held him close, she seemed to appear like the Goddess of Wealth in the heart of God Thirumal. At that moment, akin to how darkness dispels when sun appears, so too the sorrow of the maiden vaporised and vanished away, they conclude. Same story, some conclusion- Why all these repetitions? This is the constant question in my heart reading these many depictions of the same emotion. Was it like a competition to select the best one portraying the theme? Or was it to stretch the human imagination to come up with new perspectives for the same old? The mystery of the ‘why’ continues on!
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