Aganaanooru 46 – Return of the truant buffalo

In this episode, we listen to words of fury, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 46, penned by Alloor Nanmullaiyaar. Set amidst the lotus-blooming fields of the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’, the verse echoes a refusal to the man’s attempt at appeasement. சேற்று நிலை முனைஇய செங் கட் காரான்ஊர் மடி கங்குலில், நோன் தளை பரிந்து,கூர் முள் வேலி கோட்டின் நீக்கி,நீர் முதிர் பழனத்து மீன் உடன் இரியஅம் தூம்பு வள்ளை மயக்கி, தாமரைவண்டு ஊது பனி மலர் ஆரும் ஊர!யாரையோ? நிற் புலக்கேம். வாருற்று,உறை இறந்து, ஒளிரும் தாழ் இருங் கூந்தல்,பிறரும், ஒருத்தியை நம் மனைத் தந்து,வதுவை அயர்ந்தனை என்ப. அஃது யாம்கூறேம். வாழியர், எந்தை! செறுநர்களிறுடை அருஞ் சமம் ததைய நூறும்ஒளிறு வாட் தானைக் கொற்றச் செழியன்பிண்ட நெல்லின் அள்ளூர் அன்ன என்ஒண் தொடி நெகிழினும் நெகிழ்க;சென்றி, பெரும! நிற் தகைக்குநர் யாரோ? The quarrels of the farmlands fall on our ears again, and here, when the man returns home, after being with a courtesan, the lady’s confidante refuses entry to the lady’s home, with these words: “Disliking its state of dwelling in the mud, the red-eyed buffalo, in the dark of the night, when the town slept, severing its tight rope, breaking open the fence, made of sharp thorns, with its horns, enters a field filled with water, scares away the fish, tousles the beautiful, hollow-tubed ‘Vallai’ vines and feeds on the cool flowers of the bee-buzzing lotus in your town, O lord! Who are you to us? We shan’t quarrel with you! Akin to the long strands of rain in a downpour, shines the low-hanging, dark tresses of that maiden. Others say that you have brought this maiden home and united with her. That’s not what we want to say to you! May you live long, O lord! Even when enemies attack with their elephants in the fearsome battlefields, the great and famous Chezhiyan destroys all of them with his army, wielding shining swords. Akin to his town of Alloor, filled to the brim with heaped paddy, are her radiant bangles. Even if these are to slip away, let them. Be gone, O lord! Who is there to stop you?” Time to trace the footsteps of a buffalo in the farmlands! The confidante starts by describing the man’s town and do that she brings before our eyes, a buffalo standing in the thick mud. After a while, deciding it has had enough of being there, the buffalo breaks its rope and its fence of thorns, and makes its way to the well-watered fields, and here, it scares away the fish, entangles the vines, and then happily munches on the lotuses blooming there, the confidante elaborates. After this description, the confidante declares to the man that he is no one to them and so they have no right to sulk with him. It’s an angry statement echoing that the man’s actions of abandoning the lady for a courtesan has estranged him to them. She talks about how there’s much slander in town about the man’s involvement with a courtesan but she doesn’t want to talk about it at all. Launching into a description of King Chezhiyan, victorious in battle, and his town of Alloor, where mounds of paddy welcome every one, the confidante connects it to the lady’s bangles, and says even if those were to slip away, it does not matter, and the man can do as he pleases. The confidante concludes by asking the man to go where he wants for there was no one to stop him. In the description of the man’s town and the buffalo leaving its dwelling to go feed on the lotuses in the fields, that’s a metaphor for the man’s actions of disliking his state of being in his home, and shattering his sense of shame and modesty, and seeking the forbidden joy of being with courtesans. To me, the subtle but striking thread in this oft-repeated theme of a love quarrel is how when we want to rightfully ask someone why they did something, we need to have a connection to them, meaning they have to be somebody in our life. And here, the confidante is attacking that feeling of belonging in the man by declaring he’s no one to them and there’s no need for them to quarrel or demand things of him. This thought reiterates the profound truth that the polar opposite of love is not hate, but in reality, it’s apathy!