Aganaanooru 170 – A message to the man

In this episode, we perceive an attempt to enlist a unique messenger, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 170, penned by Madurai Kallitru Kadaiyathan Vennaakanaar. The verse is situated amidst the silent backwaters of the ‘Neythal’ or ‘Coastal landscape’ and etches exquisite scenes of life in this domain. கானலும் கழறாது; கழியும் கூறாது;தேன் இமிர் நறு மலர்ப் புன்னையும் மொழியாது;ஒரு நின் அல்லது பிறிது யாதும் இலனே;இருங் கழி மலர்ந்த கண் போல் நெய்தல்கமழ் இதழ் நாற்றம் அமிழ்து என நசைஇ,தண் தாது ஊதிய வண்டினம் களி சிறந்து,பறைஇ தளரும் துறைவனை, நீயே,சொல்லல் வேண்டுமால் அலவ! பல்கால்கைதைஅம் படுசினை எவ்வமொடு அசாஅம்கடற் சிறு காக்கை காமர் பெடையொடுகோட்டுமீன் வழங்கும் வேட்டம் மடி பரப்பின்வெள் இறாக் கனவும் நள்ளென் யாமத்துநின் உறு விழுமம் களைந்தோள்தன் உறு விழுமம் நீந்துமோ! எனவே. In this trip to the shore, we get to see the lady saying these words to an intriguing little denizen of the domain: “The seashore grove will not exhort him; The backwaters will not explain to him; The bee-buzzing fragrant laurel wood tree will not expound either; Other than you, I have no one, O crab! Desiring the wafting scent from the petals of the blue lotus, blooming like eyes in the dark backwaters, bees swarm around their cool pollen, and then brimming over with ecstasy, find themselves unable to fly. Such are the shores of the lord! Going to him, you need to tell him something. Upon the curving branch of the many-legged pandanus tree, with suffering, rests a little sea gull, along with its desirable mate, and dreams about white shrimp in the expanses, frequented by swordfish, when the fish hunt has ended, in the darkness of the midnight hour. Please go to him and ask him, ‘How can the one, who ended your sorrow at many such midnight hour, swim across through the sea of her own sorrow, caused by your parting, now?’” Ready to swim through the backwaters and eavesdrop on a conversation? Here we find the lady having a chat with a crab on the shore. She starts by lamenting to the crustacean about how neither the grove, nor the backwaters, nor the laurel wood tree is going to speak up in her defence, and tells the crab that she has no one else. What a way to make the crab feel special! Then, she describes the man’s domain by the seas and here we find bees drunk on the pollen of blue lotuses and unable to even flap their little wings, so sloshed in the sweetness of the nectar they are! Then, the lady insists to the crab that it must go to the man and remind him of how the lady had come to his rescue in the many hours of the deep darkness of night, when a sea gull dreams of feasting on shrimp, at a time when all the hunting of fish had ceased. She concludes by requesting the crab to question him about how the lady can bear her sorrow if he forgets all that she has done and continues to stay away!  Flying back to the scene of those intoxicated bees, struggling to fly, we understand that the lady has placed it as a metaphor for the man being drunk on the pleasures of temporary trysting and forgetting his duty of keeping her happy. Brimming with excessive love for the man, the lady thus expresses it to the elusive crab on the shore. The beauty of this verse is in how it highlights a human’s attempt to see a friend in an element of nature, reminding us that the world awaits with open ears and a ready shoulder, if only we can open our eyes and heart!