In this episode, we relish the micro-elements of expressed emotions, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 5, penned by the Chera King Paalai Paadiya Perunkadunko. The verse is situated in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’ and etches a striking portrait of an anxious heart.
அளி நிலை பொறாஅது அமரிய முகத்தள்,
விளி நிலை கொள்ளாள், தமியள், மென்மெல,
நலம் மிகு சேவடி நிலம் வடுக் கொளாஅ,
குறுக வந்து, தன் கூர் எயிறு தோன்ற
வறிது அகத்து எழுந்த வாய் அல் முறுவலள்,
கண்ணியது உணரா அளவை, ஒண்ணுதல்,
வினை தலைப்படுதல் செல்லா நினைவுடன்
முளிந்த ஓமை முதையல்அம் காட்டு,
பளிங்கத்து அன்ன பல் காய் நெல்லி,
மோட்டு இரும் பாறை, ஈட்டு வட்டு ஏய்ப்ப,
உதிர்வன படூஉம் கதிர் தெறு கவாஅன்,
மாய்த்த போல மழுகு நுனை தோற்றி,
பாத்தியன்ன குடுமிக் கூர்ங் கல்,
விரல் நுதி சிதைக்கும் நிரை நிலை அதர,
பரல் முரம்பு ஆகிய பயம் இல் கானம்
இறப்ப எண்ணுதிர் ஆயின் “அறத்தாறு
அன்று” என மொழிந்த தொன்றுபடு கிளவி
அன்ன ஆக” என்னுநள் போல,
முன்னம் காட்டி, முகத்தின் உரையா,
ஓவச் செய்தியின் ஒன்று நினைந்து ஒற்றி,
பாவை மாய்த்த பனிநீர் நோக்கமொடு,
ஆகத்து ஒடுக்கிய புதல்வன் புன் தலைத்
தூ நீர் பயந்த துணை அமை பிணையல்
மோயினள் உயிர்த்த காலை, மா மலர்
மணி உரு இழந்த அணி அழி தோற்றம்
கண்டே கடிந்தனம், செலவே ஒண்டொடி
உழையம் ஆகவும் இனைவோள்
பிழையலள்மாதோ, பிரிதும் நாம் எனினே!
Back to the drylands again but we get to witness the echoes of beating heart in this poem, vividly sketched by the profilic poet-king, whose verses we have encountered many a time in the other collections. Here are the words rendered by a man to his heart, at a moment when he must decide whether or not to part away from his wife:
“With a distant face that is not receptive to the grace rendered, without heeding my call, feeling isolated, walking so gently so as to leave no imprints of her beautiful feet on the land beneath, coming close by, showing her sharp teeth, she smiled an empty smile, bereft of truthful joy. Even before I realised that I intended to part, the maiden with a shining forehead was already showing how she disagreed with my parting away on a mission.
As if saying to me, “If you want to part away to that ancient forest with dried-up toothbrush trees, where marble-like gooseberry fruits lie scattered on wide, hard rocks, as if those are pawns collected for play; If you want to leave to those wide spaces, where the sun’s rays scorch, and where, as if shaped with a blade, segments of sharp-edged stones appear in rows and tear apart toe-ends of travellers, in those pebble-filled, useless scrub jungle, you are just proving that the age-old saying, ‘Parting away is an act of injustice’, is nothing but empty words, she expressed all this on her face, without words any. Constantly thinking about this one thing, she stood like a painting, with brimming tears, hiding her pupils. As she bent to smell the well-woven garland of waterlilies, plucked from the pure waters, adorning the head of her son, whom she held tightly on her bosom, she let out a sad sigh, and in that moment, those huge flowers lost their sapphire-hues. Seeing the ruined form of those flowers, I decided to put away my parting. For if my maiden wearing shining bangles suffers so much when I’m right next to her, how will she survive if I were to truly part away?”
Let’s go deeper into this scrub jungle of emotions! Taking a different route, the man in this verse starts by talking not about the drylands, where he’s usually expected to go, but instead on the expressions of his beloved. He talks about how distant she seems, how she is so lost that she doesn’t heed the call of her name, and when she comes close to him, walking so softly without any footprints, as if it would hurt the earth otherwise, she would give him a smile that he knows fully well is not her true, joyous smile. The man understands that all these effects are because the lady already senses that the man intends to leave even before the man himself has had that thought. After this, comes a vivid description of the drylands, and we get to see toothbrush trees again, as well as fallen gooseberries, which seem like small marbles or pawns that little children have collected to play with. The other striking element here are the effect of erosion on the rocky paths, that have turned these into sharp edges, waiting to gore the toes of travellers. The man connects these drylands to the thoughts of the lady, who seem to be saying to him, if you want to go there leaving me, you are not heeding the wise words of the ancients, who said ‘parting from a beloved is an act of injustice’.
The man then paints a picture of the lady as one who’s constantly obsessing over the thought that the man would leave, and she stands frozen like a painting, with tears brimming in her eyes. At this time, she bends down to smell the flowers on the head of her son, whom she holds close to her bosom, and as she does so, she lets out a sigh and the sadness of that sigh makes the blue hue of the flowers vanish and wilts them away. Seeing this moment, the man decides that he is not going to part away from the lady for if she suffers so much right when he’s near her, how will she be able to even bear a moment of actual separation!
The verse was a stunning instance of observation of micro-expressions and the inference of the momentous thoughts of the mind. What’s amazing to me is that the ancients seemed to have had so much time to delve so deeply into the nuances of the mind and its expressions! The way we sometimes fake a smile when sadness abounds inside, become unresponsive to the world outside and obsess over some event that is going to transpire, is all reflected so accurately in this verse from two thousand years ago, echoing the timelessness of emotions. A verse which shows us that indeed, true masters of the heart, our Sangam ancestors are!
