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In this episode, we listen to words of persuasion, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 356, penned by Paranar. The verse is situated amidst the flowing rivers in the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and narrates scenes from history to change a person’s course of action.
மேல் துறைக் கொளீஇய கழாலின் கீழ்த் துறை
உகு வார் அருந்த, பகு வாய் யாமை
கம்புள் இயவன் ஆக, விசி பிணித்
தெண் கண் கிணையின் பிறழும் ஊரன்
இடை நெடுந் தெருவில் கதுமெனக் கண்டு, என்
பொற் தொடி முன்கை பற்றினனாக,
‘அன்னாய்!’ என்றனென்; அவன் கை விட்டனனே,
தொல் நசை சாலாமை, நன்னன் பறம்பில்
சிறுகாரோடன் பயினொடு சேர்த்திய
கற் போல் நாவினேனாகி, மற்று அது
செப்பலென் மன்னால், யாய்க்கே; நல் தேர்க்
கடும் பகட்டு யானைச் சோழர் மருகன்
நெடுங் கதிர் நெல்லின் வல்லம் கிழவோன்
நல்லடி உள்ளானாகவும், ஒல்லார்
கதவம் முயறலும் முயல்ப; அதாஅன்று,
ஒலி பல் கூந்தல் நம்வயின் அருளாது,
கொன்றனன்ஆயினும் கொலை பழுது அன்றே
அருவி ஆம்பல் கலித்த முன்துறை
நன்னன் ஆஅய் பறம்பு அன்ன
மின் ஈர் ஓதி! என்னை, நின் குறிப்பே?
In this trip to this complex domain, we are let into a puzzling maze, as we listen to the confidante say these words to the lady, at a time when the man had left the lady in pursuit of a courtesan but was now back seeking entry to the lady’s house, by winning the confidante’s confidence:
“As vessels containing toddy had been washed upstream, to drink up the flowing nectar, a turtle waits with its mouth open downstream. As the marsh hen stands in, as the playing musician, akin to a tightly wound ‘Kinai’ drum in front of him, the turtle rolls around in the town of the lord.
Once before, in the middle of the street, seeing you, he caught hold of your forearm, adorned with golden bangles suddenly, making you shout, ‘Mother!’. He let go of your hand, in spite of his desire for long. At that time, akin to a stone, glued tight with wax by a whetstone-maker in the ‘Parambu’ country of Nannan, you stood transfixed, with your tongue, speechless, and you never shared what happened to Mother.
Even though that heir of the Chozhas, with proud and strong elephants and fine chariots, the leader of ‘Vallam’, filled with soaring crops of paddy, is such a good person, his enemies would try to capture and subdue him; While that is so, if the lord does not render his graces towards your luxuriant tresses, and inflicts suffering upon you, that act will not be considered wrong. O maiden, having thick, shining tresses, akin to the exquisite ‘Parambu’ country of Nannan, where river shores brim over with white-lilies, blooming in the cascades, what do you say to my words?”
Time to make sense of this puzzle in the land of plenty! The confidante first talks about the man’s town, and to do that, she talks of how people would wash the vessels that had toddy in them upstream, and as if it knows this nectar will flow in the water, a turtle apparently waits with its mouth agape downstream, and after enjoying that drink, it rolls around, as a marsh hen stands nearby, and this appears like a musician and his ‘Kinai’ drum, the confidante sketches. From the sound of it, the turtle is most probably the ‘Indian Flapshell Turtle’, one which lives near South Indian rivers. True that so far, there are no complications. Just the usual Sangam description of place!
At this point however, the confidante launches into an incident in the past and she talks as if the man pulled her hand and she shouted Mother’s name, startled, but when Mother came, she refused to tell her what happened, and to depict the transformation of her tongue, she calls in a whetstone-maker in Nannan’s Parambu country and the well-made, unshakeable stone in his hands. This was the part that confused me the most. What is the man doing pulling the confidante’s hand, I was wondering! And then it occurred to me, the confidante has launched into her usual style of narrating something, as if she’s the lady herself. In fact, that incident was something that had happened in the lady’s past, when the man was courting her with much love and desire. The confidante brings up this story to remind the lady how much the man had sought the lady and how much the lady had reciprocated his love then.
Changing tracks, the confidante then goes on to talk about the ruler of ‘Vallam’ and how he was such a noble and good person. Even so, that did not stop his enemies from attacking him, the confidante adds. Then, she goes on to say that even if the man did not grace the lady and rendered only suffering, he was not wrong to do so. I fell off the chair at this point, seeing the way the confidante was normalising the man’s truant behaviour! Let’s come to that in a moment! The confidante concludes by praising the lady’s tresses and calling it in parallel to Nannan’s glowing Parambu country once more, and asking the lady what was her take on this view of things!
A friend, who says these words, would not even be considered a friend today! However, let’s try to understand with the lens of the past. In that era, a man courting courtesans was an accepted norm, and perhaps even considered as the duty of the leader of that town to support the livelihood of those maiden. That’s what the confidante is hinting when she says the suffering the man had inflicted on the lady, by courting those courtesans, was not wrong. In talking about the noble leader of Vallam, who nevertheless gets attacked by his enemies, the confidante equates to the lady’s situation, by saying, ‘Even though you are good and proper, it’s the man’s nature to err’. So, the confidante means to insist to the lady to stop her sulking and accept the man. Now you know why this was one of the most difficult verses to understand and break down, considering the way it’s narrated and its inner meanings, which have not stood the test of time. Still, it turned out to be a mental exercise in understanding people, who are different from who we are, and that’s always an enriching experience in life!
