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In this episode, we listen to a man’s lament, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 239, penned by Eyinanthai Magan Ilankeeranaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse describes the circumstances of the departed and the one left behind.
அளிதோதானே; எவன் ஆவதுகொல்?
மன்றும் தோன்றாது; மரனும் மாயும்
‘புலி என உலம்பும் செங் கண் ஆடவர்,
ஞெலியொடு பிடித்த வார் கோல் அம்பினர்,
எல் ஊர் எறிந்து, பல் ஆத் தழீஇய
விளி படு பூசல் வெஞ் சுரத்து இரட்டும்
வேறு பல் தேஎத்து ஆறு பல நீந்தி,
புள்ளித் தொய்யில், பொறி படு சுணங்கின்,
ஒள் இழை மகளிர் உயர் பிறை தொழூஉம்
புல்லென் மாலை, யாம் இவண் ஒழிய,
ஈட்டு அருங்குரைய பொருள்வயிற் செலினே,
நீட்டுவிர் அல்லிரோ, நெடுந்தகையீர்?’ என,
குறு நெடும் புலவி கூறி, நம்மொடு
நெருநலும் தீம் பல மொழிந்த
சிறு நல் ஒருத்தி பெரு நல் ஊரே!
In this trip to the drylands, we hear the loud sounds in this domain, as we listen to the man say these words to his heart, when he has parted from the lady and is on a journey to seek wealth:
“Isn’t this a pitiable state? What will happen now? Saying ‘Those red-eyed men, who roar like a tiger, holding firebrands and wielding long and thick arrows, attack towns at night, and capture many a cattle. Their shouts resound uproariously in the hot drylands. Crossing paths in this region that will take you through many other lands, leaving me here all alone in the dull evening hour, when maiden wearing radiant ornaments, painted with ‘thoyyil art’, having many pallor spots, will worship the crescent moon up high, if you leave now to gain that hard-to attain wealth, won’t you end up delaying your return too, O esteemed lord?’, picking up small and big quarrels, a fine, young maiden said many sweet words yesterday. Alas! The town centre of her great town appears not and the trees therein fade away from my sight too!”
Time to tread those dangerous spaces and learn more! The man starts by remarking on the state of affairs and wondering what would happen. Then he starts to repeat the words of someone. This person talks about the drylands, where one can hear the shouts of robbers, after they have set fire to huts in the middle of the night and seized the cows in that town. The person continues saying how the man will cross many such paths through the sweltering drylands and go to faraway lands. At that point, the person contrasts the man’s state to how they will be left behind, all lonely and full of worry, in the evening hour, when other women take to worshipping the crescent moon. At this point, we know the person speaking is none other than the lady. She ends by wondering if the man on his quest for inaccessible wealth will take too much time to return. The man reveals that the lady had said these words to him the previous day, picking quarrels with him for leaving her so, but somehow even those words of sulking had appeared so sweet in his ears. He concludes by lamenting that now the town centre and trees of his beloved maiden’s town were no longer in sight, indicating he had traversed far away from the radius of his beloved’s presence! That the man calls it the lady’s town is a subtle indicator that this separation is happening before his marriage with the lady!
A verse that throws the spotlight on a so-called rugged man, who has to set out into the world, and zooms on to his yearning for the sweet comfort of his beloved. A beat from the past echoing aloud, ’emotions have no gender’!
