Aganaanooru 58 – Flavours of absence and presence

In this episode, we listen to a lady’s angst-filled voice, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 58, penned by Madurai Panda Vaanikan Ilanthevanaar. The verse is situated in the soaring peaks of the ‘Kurinji’ or ‘Mountain Landscape’ and relays a subtle message seeking to change a person’s heart. இன் இசை உருமொடு கனை துளி தலைஇ,மன் உயிர் மடிந்த பானாட் கங்குல்,காடு தேர் வேட்டத்து விளிவு இடம் பெறாஅது,வரி அதள் படுத்த சேக்கை, தெரி இழைத்தேன் நாறு கதுப்பின் கொடிச்சியர் தந்தை,கூதிர், இல் செறியும் குன்ற நாட! வனைந்து வரல் இள முலை ஞெமுங்க, பல் ஊழ்விளங்கு தொடி முன்கை வளைந்து புறம் சுற்ற,நின் மார்பு அடைதலின் இனிது ஆகின்றேநும் இல் புலம்பின் நும் உள்ளுதொறும் நலியும்தண்வரல் அசைஇய பண்பு இல் வாடைபதம் பெறுகல்லாது இடம் பார்த்து நீடி,மனைமரம் ஒசிய ஒற்றிப்பலர் மடி கங்குல், நெடும் புறநிலையே. In this little trip to the mountains, we hear the lady speaking her heart to the man, when he returns to tryst with her, after a long interval. “With the sweet music of thunder echoing, as the heavy showers pour down, in the middle of the dark night, when all lives on earth seek rest, the fathers of mountain maiden, having honey-fragrant tresses and well-chosen ornaments, wishing to track and hunt in the forest, but finding no place to sleep there, turn to the striped tiger-skin beds in their homes, during this cold season, in your peaks, O lord! Pressing my sketched and etched young bosoms, and twisting my forearms clad in radiant bangles around the back, I have attained your chest now. Sweeter than this is my state of waiting for you, for a long time, when the compassionless, moist northern winds blew, as I lamented about your absence and lost my health every time I thought about you, and not attaining your warmth at the right time, I extended my hand and pulled a branch of the tree at home, making it fall apart, in that night, when many others slept!” Time to get soaked in the rain showers of the mountains! The lady starts by describing the man’s mountain country as one, where thundershowers are pouring down, and a time of the day, when all lives seek rest. At this time, there are some people, the fathers of mountain maiden, who seek to track and hunt animals. Since it’s pouring heavily, they find no place to sleep in the forest, and hence return home to their tiger-skin beds in the land of the lord, the lady describes. Then she goes on to talk about the state of how the man is embracing her bosom by twisting her hands around and pressing his chest, and concludes by saying this is not as sweet as her state during the long time she was waiting for him, anticipating his warmth, in that harsh cold season, when the northern winds tormented her, as she extended her arm to pull and break a branch of the tree at home, even as all those around her slept in peace. The lady impresses on the man in a subtle manner that the pain of parting in his absence was too great to bear. In the scene of the mountain men seeking their homes without finding a place to sleep, the lady places a metaphor for how the man sought her only when he wanted to tryst and was not taking the right steps to seek a permanent union with her. Here’s a unique way of expressing distress in the behaviour of another, without explicitly saying so, and gently nudging the other towards the right path.