Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More
In this episode, we listen to an encrypted refusal, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 306, penned by Madurai Koolavaankian Seethalai Saathanaar. The verse is situated amidst the swaying sugarcanes of the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands Landscape’ and conceals profound meanings in its scenic metaphors.
பெரும் பெயர் மகிழ்ந! பேணாது அகன்மோ!
பரந்த பொய்கைப் பிரம்பொடு நீடிய
முட் கொம்பு ஈங்கைத் துய்த் தலைப் புது வீ
ஈன்ற மாத்தின் இளந் தளிர் வருட,
ஆர் குருகு உறங்கும் நீர் சூழ் வள வயல்
கழனிக் கரும்பின் சாய்ப் புறம் ஊர்ந்து,
பழன யாமை பசு வெயில் கொள்ளும்
நெல்லுடை மறுகின் நன்னர் ஊர!
இதுவோ மற்று நின் செம்மல்? மாண்ட
மதி ஏர் ஒள் நுதல் வயங்கு இழை ஒருத்தி
இகழ்ந்த சொல்லும் சொல்லி, சிவந்த
ஆய் இதழ் மழைக் கண் நோய் உற நோக்கி,
தண் நறுங் கமழ் தார் பரீஇயினள், நும்மொடு
ஊடினள் சிறு துனி செய்து எம்
மணல் மலி மறுகின் இறந்திசினோளே.
In this quick trip to the fields, we get to enjoy images of this fertile land, as we listen to the confidante say these words to the man, when he returns to the lady’s house, seeking entry after having left to court a courtesan:
“O lord of the town, having great fame and name! Do not stand here trying to appease! Do part away now! Near the vast pond, grows the rattan cane along with the thorny branched touch-me-not vines. The soft-headed, new flowers of these vines join along with the mango tree’s tender leaves in stroking a beautiful bird sleeping peacefully therein. With such well-watered, fertile fields, where crawling away from the bent backs of field sugarcanes, a turtle basks in the warmth of the fresh sunshine, in the paddy-filled spaces of your picturesque town, O lord! A maiden, with a handsome forehead, akin to the esteemed moon, and clad in shining ornaments, spoke disparaging words to you, and then, with her reddened, beautiful, many-petalled, rain-like eyes piercing sharply, she tore apart the moist and fragrant garland you gave her. After quarrelling so with you, she came and created a little ruckus in our sand-filled streets and left from here. Is this what they celebrate as your greatness?”
Let’s listen to the drumbeats of discord in this domain! The confidante opens by addressing the man as a person of great renown, telling us he was well-respected and admired by many. Next, she sharply asks him to not keep seeking to praise and calm, but to leave from there. Then she goes on to describe his rich town, where there’s a huge pond and rattan cane grows nearby and along spreads the vines of the touch-me-not, which are known for their fuzzy-headed flowers. Now these soft flowers join along with the tender leaves of the mango tree and caress the head of a sleeping bird, the confidante sketches. What a serene scene!
Then, from the tree branches, the confidante flies downwards to the lush fields, and points to a turtle that seems to have become fatigued with its abode of sugarcane fields, as it steps out to enjoy the sunshine. A moment to note that this reference is most probably to the ‘Indian Flapshell Turtle’, which is said to live in lakes, rivers and flooded fields of South Asia. The confidante concludes this montage of images by saying such are the prosperous places in the lord’s town.
After glorifying the man’s town so, the confidante turns to box him in the ears, describing how the man’s well-dressed and pretty courtesan had insulted the man, tore up the garland he had given her, and after that quarrel with him, the courtesan seems to have come near the lady’s house and created a ruckus there too. The confidante concludes by asking the man, ‘Is this what you call noble?’!
Remember how the confidante started by praising the man’s fame and she ends up by asking him if what he’s doing was befitting that praised name of his! Openly, the confidante is refusing the man entry into the lady’s house. In that scene of the turtle, tiring of its sugarcane abode, and wanting to venture out for something fresh, the confidante places a metaphor for how the man seems to have tired out of the lady and sought out the company of courtesans. After that depiction of his current actions, though she outwardly refuses the man, then, by describing the scene of the growing touch-me-not flowers and mango leaves caressing a bird, the confidante hides a promise to the man that good things, such as the lady’s acceptance, will happen to him, on its own, if only he bides his time. With those images from the world around, the confidante weaves a web of the dynamics of these relationships in this land of riches many!
