Aganaanooru 176 – The crab’s rushed return

In this episode, we listen to a pointed refusal to a request, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 176, penned by Marutham Paadiya Ilankadunko. The verse is situated amidst the flourishing fields of the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and presents a precise portrait of the other woman. கடல் கண்டன்ன கண் அகன் பரப்பின்நிலம் பக வீழ்ந்த வேர் முதிர் கிழங்கின்கழை கண்டன்ன தூம்புடைத் திரள் கால்,களிற்றுச் செவி அன்ன பாசடை மருங்கில்,கழு நிவந்தன்ன கொழு முகை இடை இடைமுறுவல் முகத்தின் பல் மலர் தயங்க,பூத்த தாமரைப் புள் இமிழ் பழனத்து,வேப்பு நனை அன்ன நெடுங் கண் நீர்ஞெண்டுஇரை தேர் வெண் குருகு அஞ்சி, அயலதுஒலித்த பகன்றை இருஞ் சேற்று அள்ளல்,திதலையின் வரிப்ப ஓடி, விரைந்து தன்நீர் மலி மண் அளைச் செறியும் ஊர! மனை நகு வயலை மரன் இவர் கொழுங் கொடிஅரி மலர் ஆம்பலொடு ஆர்தழை தைஇ,விழவு ஆடு மகளிரொடு தழூஉ அணிப் பொலிந்து,மலர் ஏர் உண்கண் மாண் இழை முன்கைக்குறுந் தொடி துடக்கிய நெடுந் தொடர் விடுத்ததுஉடன்றனள் போலும், நின் காதலி? எம் போல்புல் உளைக் குடுமிப் புதல்வற் பயந்து,நெல்லுடை நெடு நகர் நின் இன்று உறைய,என்ன கடத்தளோ, மற்றே? தன் முகத்துஎழுது எழில் சிதைய அழுதனள் ஏங்கி,வடித்தென உருத்த தித்திப் பல் ஊழ்நொடித்தெனச் சிவந்த மெல் விரல் திருகுபு,கூர்நுனை மழுகிய எயிற்றள்ஊர் முழுதும் நுவலும் நிற் காணிய சென்மே. A long song and trip to this prosperous but troubled landscape, where we get to hear the confidante, say these words to the man, when he comes seeking entry into the lady’s house, after being in the company of a courtesan for a while: “Appearing like a sea, as far as the eyes can see, spreads the land. With deep roots, akin to mature tubers that split the earth, with hollow thick stems, appearing akin to bamboos, green leaves, akin to an elephant’s ears, fleshy buds, bursting in between here and there, akin to upraised stakes, are the many lotus flowers that sway here and there in between, like smiling faces. In this field, blooming with lotuses and resounding with bird songs, having tall eyes, akin to neem flowers, a water crab fearing a white bird that’s searching for prey, scuttles on dark, muddy spaces, where rattle-pods have sprouted thickly, and making marks, akin to pallor spots, rushes to hide inside its water-filled mud pits. Such is your town, O lord! Wearing a fine garment of leaves and flowers, woven with thick vines of ‘vayalai’ creepers, growing in the house, and radiant flowers of white lily, glowing with the beauty of dancing together with maiden at the town festival, having flower-like, beautiful, kohl-streaked eyes, and forearms, decked with fine jewels and small bangles, that lover of yours seems to have sulked with you when you happened to simply loosen your long embrace! She has been crying with yearning, ruining the painted beauty of her face, making pallor spots, akin to melted gold, spread on her form. Cracking her knuckles many, many times, she makes her delicate fingers turn red. That maiden, whose sharp teeth are blunted, now roams the town entire in search of you! Does she have the fate like the lady, to live patiently without you, after bearing and rearing your son, who has a grass-like tuft of hair, and to be shut within the expense of this grain-filled, wide mansion?” Let’s chase some field crabs and learn what’s cooking in this part of the world! The confidante starts with a long description of the man’s town, bringing before our eyes, the expansive fields, where lotuses are blooming, and she builds a stack of similes calling the bloomed lotus flowers as smiling faces, the buds standing tall as stakes, the leaves as elephant’s ears, the roots as firm and mature tubers and the land itself as the vast and spreading sea. After setting the scene, she zooms on to a particular creature there, a crab, who tall eyes are compared to neem flowers. She then depicts how this animal fears a hovering bird, looking for prey, and rushes to hide in its little mud hole. Such is your town, the confidante tells the man. No doubt she means to conceal some meaning here but we’ll get to that in a moment! Then she goes on to talk about a particular woman, a courtesan who happens to be the man’s lover. She etches the flowers and leaves that the woman wears, and how the courtesan dances exuberantly in the town festivities. Then, she describes the woman’s eyes and bejewelled forearms. After all the framing, the confidante comes to the crux and says how that courtesan had started quarrelling with the man, just because he happened to loosen his embrace. That lover of his seems to have been filled with much agony, as visible from her tears that ruined her painted beauty, the golden pallor spots and her cracking of the knuckles too many times, reddening those slender fingers. The confidante talks about how that courtesan is searching all over town, to catch hold of the man again. She contrasts the state of the lady, who after giving birth and rearing the man’s child, had to stay within their wealthy mansion, no matter where the man went or what he did, and concludes by sarcastically remarking that the courtesan has no such restrictions!  In the scene of the scuttling crab and the hovering bird, the confidante places a metaphor for how slander spread by the townsfolk had driven the man back to his home, seeking the lady’s company, and it’s not true love that has brought him there. In essence, it’s a refusal to allow the man to return back, after his escapades with the courtesan. Yet again, the natural world echoes the relationship dynamics vividly. The verse also presents the implicit societal rules in the contrasting behaviour of the lady and the courtesan, the former, characterised by patience and restraint, and the latter, by freedom and impulsiveness!