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In this episode, we relish the ingenuity in expressing intent, depicted in Sangam Literary work, Natrinai 85, written by Nalvilakkanaar, this being his only Sangam poem. The verse is set in the ‘Kurinji’ landscape or the mountain country and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the lady, passing on a subtle message to the man listening nearby.
ஆய் மலர் மழைக் கண் தெண் பனி உறைப்பவும்,
வேய் மருள் பணைத் தோள் விறல் இழை நெகிழவும்,
அம்பல் மூதூர் அரவம் ஆயினும்,
குறு வரி இரும் புலி அஞ்சிக் குறு நடைக்
கன்றுடை வேழம் நின்று காத்து அல்கும்,
ஆர் இருள் கடுகிய, அஞ்சு வரு சிறு நெறி
வாரற்கதில்ல-தோழி!-சாரல்
கானவன் எய்த முளவு மான் கொழுங் குறை,
தேம் கமழ் கதுப்பின் கொடிச்சி, கிழங்கொடு
காந்தள்அம் சிறுகுடிப் பகுக்கும்
ஓங்கு மலை நாடன், நின் நசையினானே!
The poem paints the lush mountain country of Kurinji, well-watered by the skies, through words that describe the lady’s eyes as ‘மழைக் கண்’ meaning ‘rain-like, moist eyes’. This is immediately followed by the rhythmic ‘தெண் பனி’ which is to be expanded as ‘தெளிந்த பனி’ or ‘clear water drops’. Interesting that the word ‘பனி’ which is now used to represent ‘mist’, meant its liquid state, centuries back. Perhaps, the water in the word has evaporated into mist, owing to the heat of time! We encounter the phrase ‘இழை நெகிழவும்’, meaning ‘jewels slip’ and we come to know that this is an indirect reference to ‘பசலை’, that illness which afflicts maidens separated from their loved ones, causing them to lose their health and shrink in size. Then, there’s talk of a ‘அம்பல் மூதூர்’ meaning ‘slanderous old town’. The term ‘மூதூர்’ fascinates because it stresses that the town has lived on for generations before the period of the poem, proclaiming how ancient the land is. From the towns, we move into the jungle path where there seems to be both a ‘புலி’ meaning ‘tiger’ and ‘வேழம்’ meaning ‘elephant’. Another animal ‘முளவு மான்’ makes an appearance shortly and we come to know that this refers to the ‘porcupine’. Let’s finish our exploration of these words with that fragrant phrase ‘தேம் கமழ் கதுப்பின் கொடிச்சி,’ meaning ‘the hill woman with honey-smelling tresses’!
From words to meaning, we journey on to find that the man has arrived for his nightly tryst with the lady and is standing by the backyard. Knowing of his arrival, the confidante turns to the lady and says, “Even if those moist and beautiful, flower-like eyes shed clear water drops, even if the precious jewels on those bamboo-like, thick shoulders slip and fall, even if the slanderous old town is filled with the sounds of gossip, let the man not come here, walking on the treacherous, narrow jungle path, filled with pitch-black darkness. A path where the female elephant stays on and protects its young calf with short strides from the huge tiger with short stripes. Your man, the lord of the tall mountains, in whose domain, a hunter shoots down a porcupine and offers it to his wife, with honey-fragrant tresses and she in turn, shares the fleshy pieces of meat along with tubers, with all the people of that little hamlet, filled with flame-lilies!” With these words, the confidante passes on a hidden message that the man should forsake these nightly trysts and should make haste and seek the lady’s hand in a formal union.
Peeling the layers of meaning, we navigate to the core of the verse. The confidante first conveys the state of affairs to the man saying that indeed, if the man does not meet with the lady, her eyes will shed tears plenty, her health will fade, causing her jewels to fall and seeing all this, the slanderous old town will be agog with gossip. But still, the confidante insists, the man should not come at night in those dark paths through the jungle, filled with danger. She paints the dangers in that path by saying that it’s pitch-dark all around and even though it can run and escape, a female elephant stands there, guarding its little calf, which is described as one with short strides. Being one which cannot run far and fast, the calf is in danger from that huge tiger that prowls around. So, with motherly instinct, the female elephant stands guard. There are many ways to talk about danger. Why does the confidante choose this particular metaphor? This is because she hints that she’s like the mother elephant guarding the little calf, who happens to be the lady, from the attack of the tiger, which is the attack of illness and slander from the town. An exquisite way to say that she’s forbidding the man’s trysts only because she cares for the health and well-being of the lady!
From this metaphor, we move on to the next one which again describes the natural scene in the land the man belongs to. Here, we see a hunter arriving home to his hut in the mountains after a successful hunt of porcupines. The hunter’s wife efficiently skins the animal and lays out the fleshy meat. What she does after that is true testimony to the collective nature of existence then. She doesn’t hoard the meat for herself and her husband but she carefully separates it and offers that along with tubers to all the people of that village. So much lies hidden in that act of the hunter’s wife – generosity and an utter lack of greed! The confidante uses this metaphor to hint to the man that the girl’s parents will welcome his offer of marriage and share, like the hunter’s wife, that good news with all the townspeople, ushering the man and the lady into a happy, married life. Thus, with two movie-like, metaphoric montages, the confidante aims the arrow of intent to hasten the lady’s marriage, straight to the man’s heart.
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