Aganaanooru 210 – The wounded fish

In this episode, we perceive a hidden technique of persuasion, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 210, penned by Ulochchanaar. The verse is situated amidst the leaping fish of the ‘Neythal’ or ‘Coastal landscape’ and reveals the changing attitude of a person. குறியிறைக் குரம்பைக் கொலை வெம் பரதவர்எறிஉளி பொருத ஏமுறு பெரு மீன்புண் உமிழ் குருதி புலவுக் கடல் மறுப்பட,விசும்பு அணி வில்லின் போகி, பசும் பிசிர்த்திரை பயில் அழுவம் உழக்கி, உரன் அழிந்து,நிரைதிமில் மருங்கில் படர்தரும் துறைவன்,பானாள் இரவில், நம் பணைத் தோள் உள்ளி,தான் இவண் வந்த காலை, நம் ஊர்க்கானல்அம் பெருந் துறை, கவின் பாராட்டி,ஆனாது புகழ்ந்திசினோனே; இனி, தன்சாயல் மார்பின் பாயல் மாற்றி,‘கைதை அம் படு சினைக் கடுந் தேர் விலங்கச்செலவு அரிது என்னும்’ என்பதுபல கேட்டனமால் தோழி! நாமே. This swim in the seas lets us hear the confidante say these words to the lady, pretending not to notice the man listening nearby, but making sure he’s in earshot: “Attacked by the sharp spear of those harsh killer fisherfolk, who live in huts with short eaves, the formerly happy fish, shedding blood from its wounds and changing the hue of the flesh-reeking sea, akin to the bow that adorns the sky, leaps and muddles the fresh foam of the waves brimming over, and then losing its resolve, floats near the side of the huge boat, in the shores of the lord. As for him, at that time, in the dead dark of the midnight hour, thinking about your bamboo-like shoulders, when he had come here, he had praised the beauty of the grove-filled shores in our hamlet ceaselessly.  But now, giving no room for your sweet sleep on his tender chest, he says, ‘Those dense branches of the pandanus tree block my speeding chariot and make my travel here impossible’. Haven’t we heard this once too often, my friend?” Let’s walk along the coast of emotions and read the waves! The confidante starts by describing the man’s shores, and to do that, she sketches an image of a fish that has been attacked by a spear, thrown by the fierce fishermen, and the way it spills its blood and reddens the sea, tries to leap like the rainbow, but soon falls without strength and limply floats near the boat. A scene with deep significance no doubt, but we will come to that shortly. Then the confidante goes on to talk about how in the beginning when the man wanted to tryst with the lady at night, he would not mind even the late hour and would come there, and praise the beauty of their shore. She concludes by contrasting how now the man seemed to be often blaming the thick branches of the pandanus tree for blocking his chariot and thus making his journey to the lady difficult! In that scene of the fish attacked by the spear, the confidante has placed a metaphor for the lady’s situation of uniting with the man, and causing the red blood of slander to spread all across town. In essence, the confidante seems to be telling the lady about the man, ‘before he was full of passion and now, only full of excuses’, so that the man listening nearby, would hear this and understand the error in his ways and seek to remedy the situation by seeking the lady’s hand. An effective technique of slaying complacency by pointing out the past fervour in the mission!