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In this episode, we listen to words of angst, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 371, penned by Eyinanthai Magan Ilankeeranaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse projects the pain in separation onto elements of nature.
அவ் விளிம்பு உரீஇய விசை அமை நோன் சிலை,
செவ் வாய்ப் பகழி, செயிர் நோக்கு ஆடவர்
கணை இடக் கழிந்த தன் வீழ்துணை உள்ளி,
குறு நெடுந் துணைய மறி புடை ஆட,
புன்கண் கொண்ட திரி மருப்பு இரலை
மேய் பதம் மறுத்த சிறுமையொடு, நோய் கூர்ந்து,
நெய்தல்அம் படுவில் சில் நீர் உண்ணாது,
எஃகு உறு மாந்தரின் இனைந்து கண்படுக்கும்,
பைது அற வெம்பிய பாழ் சேர் அத்தம்,
எமியம் நீந்தும் எம்மினும், பனி வார்ந்து,
என்னஆம் கொல் தாமே ‘தெண் நீர்
ஆய் சுனை நிகர் மலர் போன்ம்’ என நசைஇ
வீ தேர் பறவை விழையும்
போது ஆர் கூந்தல் நம் காதலி கண்ணே?
In this trip to the drylands, we get to see familiar sights, as we listen to the man say these words to his heart, in the middle of his journey through the drylands, having parted with the lady in the quest of wealth:
“Wielding a sturdy bow, with taut strings, an exquisite edge and red-tipped arrows, men with unmerciful eyes, had shot and killed a female deer. Thinking of its fallen mate, as their tall and short young ones frolic around, the male deer with twisted antlers, looking around, with its listless eyes in deep sorrow, refuses to graze, and filled with affliction, doesn’t even drink up the little water, puddling in the pits of that saline land. It lies down with pain, akin to those people, who have been wounded by spears, in that moisture-less, utterly barren, doomed drylands. Even more than me, traversing this path, all alone, filled with tears, wouldn’t the eyes of my beloved, who has long, flower-clad tresses, suffer more? What would be the state of those eyes, around which thinking those are ‘flowers that bloom amidst picturesque springs with crystal waters’, bees in quest of blooms, buzz around?”
Time to brave the barren spaces! The man starts by talking about how harsh-eyed robbers in the drylands have shot down a female deer with their well-etched weapons, namely a bow and arrow. Then, he shifts the focus onto the male deer which has lost its mate as it wallows in grief, even as the young kids leap about without any realisation. The deer refuses to graze or even have the little water, stagnating in a pit, the man etches, detailing the dreariness of the path he walks. The man concludes by declaring that though his suffering is great, it is nothing compared to the tearful state of the lady’s eyes, mistaken by bees for flowers that bloom in spring waters. Tender is the heart that goes beyond its suffering to reflect on the pain of another, and underscores all that is best about humanity!
