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In this episode, we observe a woman’s angst, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 303, penned by Avvaiyaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse sketches the glory and fame of some Sangam kings and their lands.
இடை பிறர் அறிதல் அஞ்சி, மறை கரந்து,
பேஎய் கண்ட கனவின், பல் மாண்
நுண்ணிதின் இயைந்த காமம் வென் வேல்,
மறம் மிகு தானை, பசும்பூண் பொறையன்
கார் புகன்று எடுத்த சூர் புகல் நனந்தலை
மா இருங் கொல்லி உச்சித் தாஅய்,
ததைந்து செல் அருவியின் அலர் எழப் பிரிந்தோர்
புலம் கந்தாக இரவலர் செலினே,
வரை புரை களிற்றொடு நன் கலன் ஈயும்
உரை சால் வண் புகழ்ப் பாரி பறம்பின்
நிரை பறைக் குரீஇயினம் காலைப் போகி,
முடங்கு புறச் செந்நெல் தரீஇயர், ஓராங்கு
இரை தேர் கொட்பின் ஆகி, பொழுது படப்
படர் கொள் மாலைப் படர்தந்தாங்கு,
வருவர் என்று உணர்ந்த, மடம் கெழு நெஞ்சம்!
ஐயம் தெளியரோ, நீயே; பல உடன்
வறல் மரம் பொருந்திய சிள்வீடு, உமணர்
கண நிரை மணியின், ஆர்க்கும் சுரன் இறந்து,
அழி நீர் மீன் பெயர்ந்தாங்கு, அவர்
வழி நடைச் சேறல் வலித்திசின், யானே.
This trip to this drylands domain is full of detours to fertile hills ruled by famous kings, as we listen to the lady say these words to her heart, when the man continues to remain parted away, having left the lady before their wedding, to go in search of wealth:
“Fearing that others would come to know, I hide my heart within, akin to how those who have seen a ghost in their dream talk not about it. However, the nuanced, well-etched passion of mine resounds, akin to gushing cascades that leap from the peaks of the huge and dark ‘Kolli hills’, filled with wide spaces, which the rain clouds love and divine spirits reside, ruled by Pasumpoon Poraiyan, with a victorious spear and a courageous army. Resounding so, it spreads slander all around town.
From the ‘Parambu hills’, ruled by Paari, celebrated in songs many, and renowned for his generosity of rendering fine vessels and elephants, akin to hills, to those supplicants, who arrive before him, climbing those highlands with their talent as their pole, birds which spread their wings in neat rows, fly out in the morning, so as to bring red paddy crop ears with curved backs, search with precision for what they seek, and as the day diminishes, in that suffering-filled evening hour, would return back to the hills. Akin to this assured return of the birds in the evening hour, you think the one who had left, letting slander spread in town, would come back to me, O naive heart! Be rid of these thoughts! To those spaces in the drylands, filled with barren trees, where crickets chirp, akin to the sound of bells on herds of cattle, driven by salt merchants, akin to a fish that migrates from diminishing waters, I have decided to dare and go join that path he now treads!”
Let’s be transported to that arid region and see the rain of love in the lady’s heart! She starts by explaining her situation, mentioning how she had tried hard to hide whatever she was feeling for the man. To etch this, she presents a unique simile, talking about how people who had seen a ghost in their dream would never talk about it to anyone. This points to a specific Sangam belief and I wonder if the reason is the fear that talking about a dream would make that come true! Though we will not know the answer to this riddle, what we can understand is that the lady had tried her best to conceal what was in her heart. While that may be so, her heart refused to heed her restraints and seemed to shout out, akin to the cascades in the divine and lush ‘Kolli hills’, ruled by the Chera King ‘Pasumpoon Poraiyan’, known for his brave army and conquering spear. So consequentially, the townsfolk saw these loud changes in the lady and spread slander about her relationship with the man, the lady adds.
Next, she starts narrating about a significant event that happened in the ‘Parambu hills’, ruled by ‘Paari’, who was renowned all over the land for his extraordinary charity to supplicants, honouring their intelligence with elephants and gifts many. This event is the act of certain birds, mentioned as parrots in other verses, and how they were trained to go search for paddy crops. and that they would leave in the morning as a huge flock, and return back to the hills in the evening, carrying those crop ears in their beaks. Why is this significant is that this was a time when Paari’s domain was laid siege by the three emperors, the Chera, Chola and Pandya kings, who put up a food blockade. This story tells us how that blockade was overcome with strategy of training these parrots.
Coming to why the lady has mentioned these famous parrots is to point out to her heart that in the manner of the returning birds in the evening, the lady’s heart too was holding on to the hope that the man would return to her. The lady concludes by asking her heart to banish such thoughts and follow her, as she has dared to leave like a fish in a pond with receding waters, to that path in the drylands space, where crickets call out, amidst barren trees, like the sounds of cattle bells, belonging to salt merchants, where her man walks now!
How can a fish leave a pond, no matter how much it wants to? Likewise, the lady knows it’s a futile desire to think she can go where the man is, and yet renders this wish in a nuanced way to etch the helplessness of her situation. An insightful verse that paints a person’s state in a philosophical manner, dipping the brush of poetry in the hues of history!
