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In this episode, we perceive parting pain and hear of daring plans, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Ainkurunooru 231-240, situated in the ‘Kurinji’ or ‘Mountain landscape’ and penned by the poet Kabilar.
Thus soars the Twenty Fourth Ten of Ainkurunooru: Alas! The Poor Lass
231 How could you?
யாங்கு வல்லுநையோ ஓங்கல் வெற்ப!
இரும் பல் கூந்தல் திருந்துஇழை அரிவை
திதலை மாமை தேயப்
பசலை பாயப் பிரிவு? தெய்யோ!
How did you find the strength to do this, O lord of the soaring mountains? On the dark form of the young maiden wearing etched ornaments, and having thick, dark tresses, you made beauty spots fade away and spread pallor by parting away! Alas!
232 Shower from the eyes
போது ஆர் கூந்தல் இயல் அணி அழுங்க
ஏதிலாளனை நீ பிரிந்ததற்கே,
அழல் அவிர் மணிப்பூண் நனையப்
பெயல்ஆனா, என் கண்ணே தெய்யோ!
Ruining the exquisite beauty of the maiden with flower-filled tresses, you parted away like a stranger. Drenching the glowing, sapphire-studded jewels on my chest, my eyes shed a downpour! Alas!
233 Leave not to your land
வருவைஅல்லை; வாடை நனி கொடிதே
அரு வரை மருங்கின் ஆய்மணி வரன்றி,
ஒல்லென இழிதரும் அருவி நின்
கல்லுடை நாட்டுச் செல்லல் தெய்யோ!
You are sure not to come! The northern winds are extremely cruel too! From that formidable mountain, rushing down with precious jewels, resounding comes the cascades in your mountain country. Please don’t go there! Alas!
234 Gone with the dream
‘மின் அவிர் வயங்குஇழை ஞெகிழச் சாஅய்,
நன்னுதல் பசத்தல் யாவது?’ துன்னிக்
கனவில் காணும் இவளே
நனவில் காணாள், நின் மார்பே தெய்யோ!’
You ask me, ’Why does this maiden, wearing lightning-like, radiant jewels, thin away and lose her health, as pallor spreads on her fine forehead?’ She, who sees your chest in her dreams so close by, doesn’t find that when she wakes up! Alas!
235 To part or not?
கையற வீழ்ந்த மை இல் வானமொடு
அரிது காதலர்ப் பொழுதே; அதனால்,
தெரிஇழை தெளிர்ப்ப முயங்கி,
பிரியலம் என்கமோ? எழுகமோ? தெய்யோ!
With all the clouds falling on to one side, the sky appears bereft of darkness. This is a difficult time for lovers. And so, will you embrace making those well-carved ornaments resound and declare we shall never part? Shall we rise and go now? Alas!
236 Time to leave
அன்னையும் அறிந்தனள்; அலரும் ஆயின்று;
நல் மனை நெடு நகர் புலம்பு கொள உறுதரும்,
இன்னா வாடையும் மலையும்;
நும் ஊர்ச் செல்கம்; எழுகமோ? தெய்யோ!
Mother has come to know! Slander has spread too! The evil northern winds that blows through the fine and tall mansion torments too! So, shall we rise and go now to your town? Alas!
237 Whereabouts of the mountain town
காமம் கடவ, உள்ளம் இனைப்ப,
யாம் வந்து காண்பது ஓர் பருவம் ஆயின்,
ஓங்கித் தோன்றும் உயர் வரைக்கு
யாங்கு எனப்படுவது, நும் ஊர்? தெய்யோ!
Propelled by desire, tortured by the heart, if the time comes for us to journey on our own, where upon that tall and soaring mountain, is that town of yours? Alas!
238 The hopeful female goat
வார் கோட்டு வயத் தகர் வாராது மாறினும்,
குரு மயிர்ப் புருவை நசையின் அல்கும்
மாஅல் அருவித் தண் பெருஞ் சிலம்ப!
நீ இவண் வரூஉம்காலை,
மேவரும் மாதோ, இவள் நலனே தெய்யோ!
With long and curving horns is that sturdy mountain goat. Even though it does not return, the short-haired female stays with hope and desire in your cool and great mountain slopes, filled with tall cascades, O lord! Only when you appear here, that beauty of hers appears too! Alas!
239 The mistaken male elephant
சுரும்பு உணக் களித்த புகர் முக வேழம்
இரு பிணர்த் துறுகல் பிடி செத்துத் தழூஉம் நின்
குன்று கெழு நல் நாட்டுச் சென்ற பின்றை,
நேர் இறைப் பணைத் தோள் ஞெகிழ,
வாராய்ஆயின், வாழேம் தெய்யோ!
Bees buzz around the ichor pouring down the spotted face of the male elephant, which thinking that a dark and rough boulder is its mate, would embrace the rock in your peak-filled fine country. If you leave thither, making her bangle-clad, bamboo-like arms thin away, and then fail to return, we shall not live anymore! Alas!
240 Snared by the scent
அறியேம் அல்லேம்; அறிந்தனம் மாதோ
பொறி வரிச் சிறைய வண்டினம் மொய்ப்பச்
சாந்தம் நாறும் நறியோள்
கூந்தல் நாறும் நின் மார்பே தெய்யோ!
It’s not that we don’t know! We do know! Making bees with spots and lines buzz around, the tresses of that woman, waft with the scent of sandalwood. Your chest wafts with the scent of those tresses! Alas!
So concludes Ainkurunooru 231-240. All except the last verse are set in the context of a man’s love relationship with the lady, prior to marriage, around themes of parting and elopement. The exception is set in a post-marital context and involves a conflict situation with a courtesan. The unifying theme of all these songs is that they finish with an exclamation that can be roughly translated as ‘Alas’. Every song here is expressed in the voice of the confidante and she speaks to the man in all cases but one, and in that case, she speaks to the lady.
In the first, in a situation where the man had not trysted with the lady for a while and had been away in his country, the confidante asks him how he had the heart to part away with the lady, bringing such ruin to her beauty. In the second too, she accuses him of abandoning the lady like a stranger, and seeing the state of the lady, the confidante’s eyes shed so much tears that the jewels on her chest were soaked in salt!
The third sees the man asking the confidante leave to go to his country to make preparations for the wedding. At this time, she responds to him saying he is sure not to return in time, before the onset of the cruel northern winds, and so, he better not leave, thereby indirectly nudging him not to stay away too long. In the fourth, there’s a curious situation wherein even though the man has been trysting regularly, the lady was still losing her health. When the man questions the confidante about it, she says that’s because, the lady often dreams of the man and when the lady wakes up and finds the man gone, she loses her joy and health. A nudge to say bye to that temporary trysting and move towards the permanent path of a married life!
The fifth is the one where the confidante addresses the lady and points to how it’s a cloudless sky up there, and so it was a challenging thing for lovers to elope just then. And she asks the lady whether the lady would embrace the man and say we shall never part but let’s leave another day, or will she dare to go along with him. In any case, a question intended to propel the lady out of her inaction.
In the sixth, the confidante relays all the dangers around the lady about how mother has come to know, slander spreads and the northern winds torment. So, speaking in the voice of the lady, she asks the man if they can leave right away to his town. This is to nudge the man to choose the path of elopement with the lady. The seventh sees the confidante asking the man where exactly his town was on that mountain so that when it became imperative that the lady meet the man, she can leave. This is a way of scolding the man for not keeping to his trysting and causing distress in the lady.
In the eighth, there’s a description of a female mountain goat waiting hopefully for its male, even though it does not return, and then the confidante goes on to say how only when the man comes, the lady’s beauty also makes an appearance. This is to relay to the man how important he was in the life of the lady apparently. In the ninth, we get to see another description wherein a male elephant in musth has hormonal secretions called ichor pouring down its face and making bees buzz around, and this male elephant seems to mistake a dark, rough boulder for a female and tries to embrace that. The confidante says this as a description of the man’s country and tells him that if he fails to return, the lady would perish.
In the final one, it’s back to courtesan trouble, and the confidante declares that they, meaning she and the lady, know all about the courtesan the man is courting, simply because the courtesan’s tresses have the scent of sandalwood and the man’s chest was reeking of those tresses just then. A question arises in me as to how the confidante knows the scent of the tresses of a courtesan. Poetic license, I presume! This also reminded me of a popular scene in many movies where the wife discovers that the man has another woman in his life by the scent of a different perfume in his clothes! Here’s the two thousand year old precursor to this event!
Looking at the metaphorical elements, in the one, where the female goat waits patiently for the man, the confidante uses that as a metaphor for the lady’s trust that the man will return to her, and by imprinting this image in him, she hopes to make the man return to the lady without fail. In the other one, where the male elephant seems to be content in embracing a boulder as its mate, the confidante hints about how the man may abandon the lady and marry someone else, not suitable for him, and she warns him that the lady will perish if he does so. Makes me wonder what these Sangam couples would do without the counsel of this wise confidante? And so, we end this section of ‘Alas tales’ in which the confidante predominantly tries to direct the man towards the right path in life!
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