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In this episode, we perceive the piercing pain of parting, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 305, penned by Vadama Vannakkan Peri Saathanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse sketches the changes in the season and the sounds in the breeze.
பகலினும் அகலாதாகி, யாமம்
தவல் இல் நீத்தமொடு ஐயெனக் கழிய,
தளி மழை பொழிந்த தண் வரல் வாடையொடு
பனி மீக்கூரும் பைதல் பானாள்,
பல் படை நிவந்த வறுமை இல் சேக்கை,
பருகுவன்ன காதலொடு திருகி,
மெய் புகுவன்ன கை கவர் முயக்கத்து,
ஓர் உயிர் மாக்களும் புலம்புவர்மாதோ;
அருளிலாளர் பொருள்வயின் அகல,
எவ்வம் தாங்கிய இடும்பை நெஞ்சத்து
யான் எவன் உளெனோ தோழி! தானே
பராரைப் பெண்ணைச் சேக்கும், கூர்வாய்,
ஒரு தனி அன்றில் உயவுக் குரல் கடைஇய,
உள்ளே கனலும் உள்ளம் மெல்லெனக்
கனை எரி பிறப்ப ஊதும்
நினையா மாக்கள் தீம் குழல் கேட்டே?
Rather than stepping onto that barren domain, we step into the lady’s heart, as we listen to her say these words to her confidante, when she receives the news that the man has parted away, in search of wealth:
“Without dispersing during the day, not ceasing at night too, bringing heavy floods, rainclouds pour down and then move away slowly, ushering in the cold and moist northern winds. On one such freezing midnight hour of suffering, imagine a couple, who lies on a mattress, bereft of poverty, stacked to many levels, with love that seems like a drink to be relished, intertwined in an embrace, tied by hands of desire, and seem to be made of one life. Even they would feel lonely!
While that is so, when that man without grace any has parted away in search of wealth, at this time, with an angst-ridden heart, where sorrow has taken residence, how can I bear this, my friend? Especially, as the solitary, sharp-beaked red-naped ibis, sitting on a rough-trunked palmyra tree, kneads me with its melancholic song, and without thinking that the burning embers in my heart will burst into flames when I hear that, those thoughtless people play on their sweet flutes?”
Time to let our empathy surface as we listen to this song of separation! The lady starts by talking about how the rains have poured, day in and day out, without taking a break even at night, and then decided to move away. Immediately following in their tracks, the northern winds had entered the scene, the lady adds. She declares that even a couple, inseparably intertwined in love, would feel lonely in those brief moments this northern wind assails them. Then as if saying ‘imagine my plight’, she goes on to talk about how the man has decided to leave at such a time, without thinking of the angst in her heart, which will have to host sorrow until his return. The lady concludes by telling her friend her pain is specially sharp when she hears the twin sounds of a solitary ‘Andril’ bird calling out to its mate, from atop a palmyra tree, and that of flutes being played by people, who spare no thought for the flames that erupt from the embers of her heart!
What is exquisitely beautiful in the world outside becomes extraordinarily painful, when the eyes within see it so! The only cure is for the rains of these pains to part and for the man to return like the timely northern winds, and make these sounds become the solace they truly are!
