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In this episode, we perceive the anticipation of returning to a beloved, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 274, penned by Idaikaadanaar. The verse is situated in the midst of the falling rain in the ‘Mullai’ or ‘Forest landscape’, and sketches a scene from this domain in the dark hour of midnight.
இரு விசும்பு அதிர முழங்கி, அர நலிந்து,
இகு பெயல் அழி துளி தலைஇ, வானம்
பருவம் செய்த பானாட் கங்குல்,
ஆடு தலைத் துருவின் தோடு ஏமார்ப்ப,
கடை கோல் சிறு தீ அடைய மாட்டி,
திண் கால் உறியன், பானையன், அதளன்,
நுண் பல் துவலை ஒரு திறம் நனைப்ப,
தண்டு கால் ஊன்றிய தனி நிலை இடையன்,
மடி விடு வீளை கடிது சென்று இசைப்ப,
தெறி மறி பார்க்கும் குறு நரி வெரீஇ,
முள்ளுடைக் குறுந் தூறு இரியப் போகும்
தண் நறு புறவினதுவே நறு மலர்
முல்லை சான்ற கற்பின்
மெல் இயற் குறுமகள் உறைவு இன் ஊரே.
In this trip to the forest, we get to see a denizen of the domain at work, as we listen to the man say these words to his charioteer:
“Quaking the vast skies, the sky roars, ruins snakes and falls as huge drops of the downpour. In the midnight hour of this season, to protect his herd of sheep with swaying heads, lighting up a small flame on a fire-stick, as many, little drops of rain soak him on one side, the man who has a sturdy pot hanger, pots and a bed of leather, leans on a firmly planted stick, and standing all alone, bends his tongue and lets out a sharp whistle, which makes a little fox, which had been lying in wait to snatch a leaping sheep kid, scuttle away into the thorny bushes, in the cool and fragrant forest. Herein lies the delightful town of my chaste, gentle-natured maiden, adorned with fragrant wild jasmine flowers.”
Time to hear the man’s passionate plea! He starts by revealing the season of rains, which thunders in the sky, rains down and according to their belief, kills snakes. Then he talks about a sheep herder, who is etched as having cords around him to hold pots and the way he carries a layer of leather to serve as his bed. The man tells us it’s the middle of the night and so as to keep the flock safe, the herder lights up a flame and lets out a sharp whistle. Hearing the sound of this whistle, a fox which had been biding its time to seize a sheep kid, runs away in fear, into the bushes. The man then connects and concludes by saying such is the forest, where the hamlet of his beloved, jasmine-clad maiden is to be found.
Through that scene of the shepherd’s whistle and the scuttling fox, the man places a metaphor for how the sound of his chariot’s arrival would make the fox of pining, which had been preying on his beloved and waiting to finish her, to rush away in fear. In essence, the man is dropping the location of his loved one to his charioteer, and impressing on the need for speed!
