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In this episode, we perceive the worry of a mother, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 219, penned by Kayamanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse sketches a portrait of the care and love showered on a daughter.
சீர் கெழு வியன் நகர்ச் சிலம்பு நக இயலி,
ஓரை ஆயமொடு பந்து சிறிது எறியினும்,
‘வாராயோ!’ என்று ஏத்தி, பேர் இலைப்
பகன்றை வால் மலர் பனி நிறைந்தது போல்
பால் பெய் வள்ளம் சால்கை பற்றி,
‘என் பாடு உண்டனைஆயின், ஒரு கால்,
நுந்தை பாடும் உண்’ என்று ஊட்டி,
‘பிறந்ததற்கொண்டும் சிறந்தவை செய்து, யான்
நலம் புனைந்து எடுத்த என் பொலந்தொடிக் குறுமகள்
அறனிலாளனொடு இறந்தனள், இனி’ என,
மறந்து அமைந்து இராஅ நெஞ்சம் நோவேன்
‘பொன் வார்ந்தன்ன வை வால் எயிற்றுச்
செந்நாய் வெரீஇய புகர் உழை ஒருத்தல்
பொரி அரை விளவின் புன் புற விளை புழல்,
அழல் எறி கோடை தூக்கலின், கோவலர்
குழல் என நினையும் நீர் இல் நீள் இடை,
மடத் தகை மெலியச் சாஅய்,
நடக்கும்கொல்? என, நோவல் யானே.
In this trip to the drylands, we get to hear mother say these words, at the juncture her daughter had left her home and eloped away with the man:
“In the esteemed and prosperous mansion, when she moved about with her anklets tinkling, and played by throwing the ball with her mates, fearing she would tire out, I called out, ‘Come here, my dear’ and holding a bowl, brimming with milk, appearing akin to a white flower of the rattlepod, coated with dew, I would say to her, ‘After eating one portion for me, do eat another for your father’ and feed her with care. Thinking, ‘My darling young girl, adorned in gold, on whom I showered all that was good and brought out the best in her, has now parted away with that unjust man’, my heart doesn’t want to forget her even a little. I worry not about this! Having sharp, white teeth, akin to molten gold, the wild dog roves in the drylands. Hearing its rustle nearby, frightened, a spotted male deer, turns in the direction of a sound that arises when the heat-showering summer wind blows through the cracked shell of the wood apple fruit, blooming on a rough trunk, and thinks it’s the flute of the cowherds, in that waterless, long path. Wondering how my naive and delicate girl would walk through such a place, is all I worry about!”
Time to tread those scorching spaces! Mother starts by recollecting the attention and care she had bestowed on her girl, feeding her and nurturing her. Mother talks about how she would feed her daughter even if she had spent but a little energy in playing ball with her friends, worrying that she would fall tired. All the coaxing mother would do is brought out by the mention of her asking the girl to eat a little for the sake of mother and a little for the sake of father. This brings to my memory about how caregivers here, often play the game of making the food they are feeding a young child into small balls, and saying one is for mother, one is for father, one is for sister, and so on, including the whole family from grandparents to uncles and cousins, a way of entertaining and ensuring the kid gets some food in!
Returning, we find mother saying how after all this care, the girl chose to leave her home and part away with the man. Yet that her girl broke her heart is not what worries her, mother says, but the thought of how she is going to walk on those harsh drylands spaces, where a deer, startled by a wild dog, mistakes the sound of wind through a wood apple as the sound of the cowherds’ flute! In essence, the verse etches the nature of a mother, who even when hurt by her daughter can think of nothing else but how she would fare, wherever she is!
