Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | RSS | More
In this episode, we perceive the dilemma sensed in the middle of a journey, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 343, penned by Madurai Maruthan Ilanaakanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse sketches the people and spaces of this domain.
வாங்கு அமை புரையும் வீங்கு இறைப் பணைத் தோள்,
சில் சுணங்கு அணிந்த பல் பூண் மென் முலை,
நல் எழில் ஆகம் புல்லுதல் நயந்து,
மரம் கோள் உமண் மகன் பெயரும் பருதிப்
புன் தலை சிதைத்த வன் தலை நடுகல்
கண்ணி வாடிய மண்ணா மருங்குல்,
கூர் உளி குயின்ற கோடு மாய் எழுத்து, அவ்
ஆறு செல் வம்பலர் வேறு பயம் படுக்கும்
கண் பொரி கவலைய கானத்து ஆங்கண்,
நனந்தலை யாஅத்து அம் தளிர்ப் பெருஞ் சினை,
இல் போல் நீழல் செல் வெயில் ஒழிமார்,
நெடுஞ் செவிக் கழுதைக் குறுங் கால் ஏற்றைப்
புறம் நிறை பண்டத்துப் பொறை அசாஅக் களைந்த
பெயர் படை கொள்ளார்க்கு உயவுத் துணை ஆகி,
உயர்ந்த ஆள்வினை புரிந்தோய்; பெயர்ந்து நின்று
உள்ளினை வாழி, என் நெஞ்சே! கள்ளின்
மகிழின் மகிழ்ந்த அரி மதர் மழைக் கண்,
சில் மொழிப் பொலிந்த துவர் வாய்,
பல் மாண் பேதையின் பிரிந்த நீயே.
In this trip to the drylands, we get to see acts of compassion, as we listen to the man say these words to his heart, midway in his journey through the drylands, after having parted from the lady to seek wealth:
“Akin to curving bamboo are her thick arms with wide wrists. Her soft bosoms are decked with many ornaments and streaked with a few pallor spots. Wishing to embrace those beautiful bosoms of hers, you are about to part away, from this scorching, parched path in the middle of the scrub jungle, wherein as the wooden carts of salt merchants roll on, and their wheels chip away and ruin the edges of memorial stones etched on strong rocks, words inscribed by sharp chisels fade away, and render strange meanings to those wayfarers, who traverse by. Here, in the wide spaces, under the Yaa tree, with tender sprouts upon its huge branches, standing in its shade, which appears akin to a home, those traversing shake away the heat of their journey and remove the huge sack filled with items many on the back of their short-legged, long-eared male donkey, and render relief to its fatigue. To those who rest there, you intended for me to become a friendly companion and nudged me towards the noble task of seeking wealth. But now, you are thinking of leaving me behind! Long may you live, my heart! Aren’t you the one who dared to part away from that naive maiden, with many estimable qualities, and having red-streaked, rain-like eyes, akin to the intoxication of toddy, and a red mouth, which speaks but words few!”
Time to brave the arid spaces and listen to the man’s heartbeat! The man starts by talking about how his heart intends to go to his beloved, whose beauty he celebrates, reminiscing about her lovely arms and beautiful bosoms. Then, from his heart’s intentions, the man moves to describe the outer world he finds himself in. He sketches the formidable drylands region, where the hero stones installed with much care are now abandoned and how the rolling wheels of salt merchants’ carts have chipped away the edges, causing the letters to become ruined and thus rendering confusing meanings to wayfarers. Then, from that depressing mention of the loss of respect to memory, the man moves on to talk about how in this space, people tend to rest together under the shade of a Yaa tree, which seems to remind them of home, and here, how they would remove the load weighing down on the backs of the donkeys accompanying them. The man says his heart had decided that the man was going to be a companion for such people and had chased him to seek wealth. The man concludes by pointing out to his heart how it dared to leave the lady back then, and now wants to rush back to her, not letting him finish what he set out to do!
The man is simply verbalising the torment in the heart when there’s a lull in one’s determination and one part wants to go back and the other wants to push forward! Beyond this repeated theme, one thing in this verse that lingers in my mind is the mention of that tree in the middle of scorching drylands becoming a home to those traversing by, and in the shade of this tree, the kind of thoughtful acts those people seem to do to other lives around them. A subtle capture of the noble qualities that a tree possesses and inspires in this parched world!
