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In this episode, we perceive the projection of human concerns on other life around, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Kurunthogai 139, penned by Okkoor Maasaathiyaar. The verse is situated in the agricultural regions of ‘Marutham’ and speaks in the voice of the confidante to the man, refusing him entry to the lady’s house.
மனை உறை கோழி குறுங் கால் பேடை,
வேலி வெருகினம் மாலை உற்றென,
புகும் இடன் அறியாது தொகுபு உடன் குழீஇய
பைதற் பிள்ளைக் கிளை பயிர்ந்தாஅங்கு
இன்னாது இசைக்கும் அம்பலொடு
வாரல், வாழியர்!-ஐய!-எம் தெருவே.
‘Sounds of slander’ resound in this verse. The opening words ‘மனை உறை கோழி’ meaning ‘a hen that resides at home’ shows that animals had become part of the household in the Sangam era. Then, we glance at ‘வெருகினம்’ or ‘a group of wild cats’. Interestingly, I learnt today, the term for ‘a group of wild cats’ is ‘a destruction’. Moving on, in the words ‘பைதற் பிள்ளைக் கிளை பயிர்ந்தாஅங்கு’ meaning ‘calling out to its chicks with fear and agony’, the frenzied cries of a mother hen can be heard. Following this, ‘இன்னாது இசைக்கும் அம்பலொடு’ talks about ‘sounds of slander that cause suffering’. Ending with the words ‘எம் தெருவே’ meaning ‘our street’, the verse welcomes us there to learn more.
Sounds like the cry of a hen holds the key to the heart of this one. The context reveals that the man and lady had been leading a married relationship when the man took to keeping the company of courtesans, and understandably, our lady is furious. After a while, he decides to return to the lady and seeks the confidante’s help in resolving the lady’s anger. To him, the confidante says, “The house hen with short legs, seeing a group of wild cats by the fence in the evening, struggles without knowing where to hide its flock of chicks and cries out with angst, calling the little ones to huddle together. Akin to that sound, with naysaying words of slander, do not come to our street, O lord, may you live long!” With these words, the confidante refuses to aid the man in appeasing the lady’s anger.
What could be the reason for the confidante’s refusal? Let’s unravel that and more by listening closely to her words. She starts not by talking about the man or the lady but conjuring before our eyes, a house hen. This home bird seems to be anxious about something and the confidante confides in us that’s because the hen has caught sight of wild cats by the fence in the evening. Long before an English lady from the 15th Century called Julia Berners decided to term a group of wild cats as ‘a destruction’, the house hen in this Sangam verse knows that’s exactly what those feral cats would cause amidst her flock of chicks. Not knowing where to hide them, but with its motherly instinct heightened, the hen clucks aloud, wanting the chicks to huddle together, believing in the safety of numbers. The confidante ends this vivid scene by mentioning how the cries that are heard from the harried hen is exactly like the sound of slanderous words that the man brings along with him. And so, she asks him not to come to their street in that manner, adding a blessing to him as well.
To understand why the man brings slanderous words, we need to focus on the scene of the hen’s call to its chicks. This is a metaphor for how the courtesan fears that the lady would steal the man away from her, akin to those wild cats, making her speak out loud words of slander about the lady, akin to the hen protecting its young ones. So, since the man comes with these suffering-filled words, owing to his actions of seeking a courtesan, the confidante rejects his return to the lady. But, her culture and magnanimity is revealed in how she softens that rejection with a blessing for the man to live long. Any rejection is bound to bring hurt but the thought of rendering positive words to balance that negative effect is the sign of an acute understanding of the workings of the human mind, as demonstrated by these Sangam PhDs in psychology.
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