In this episode, we understand perspectives about the pursuit of wealth, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 29, penned by Vellaadiyanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse echoes the emotions of the one who parted away and the one waiting for their return.

“தொடங்கு வினை தவிரா, அசைவு இல் நோன் தாள்,
கிடந்து உயிர் மறுகுவதுஆயினும், இடம் படின்
வீழ் களிறு மிசையாப் புலியினும் சிறந்த
தாழ்வு இல் உள்ளம் தலைதலைச் சிறப்ப,
செய்வினைக்கு அகன்ற காலை, எஃகு உற்று
இரு வேறு ஆகிய தெரி தகு வனப்பின்
மாவின் நறு வடி போல, காண்தொறும்
மேவல் தண்டா மகிழ் நோக்கு உண்கண்
நினையாது கழிந்த வைகல், எனையதூஉம்,
வாழலென் யான்” எனத் தேற்றி, பல் மாண்
தாழக் கூறிய தகைசால் நல் மொழி
மறந்தனிர் போறிர் எம்” எனச் சிறந்த நின்
எயிறு கெழு துவர் வாய் இன் நகை அழுங்க
வினவல் ஆனாப் புனைஇழை! கேள் இனி

வெம்மை தண்டா எரி உகு பறந்தலை,
கொம்மை வாடிய இயவுள் யானை
நீர் மருங்கு அறியாது, தேர் மருங்கு ஓடி,
அறு நீர் அம்பியின் நெறிமுதல் உணங்கும்
உள்ளுநர்ப் பனிக்கும் ஊக்கு அருங் கடத்திடை,
எள்ளல் நோனாப் பொருள் தரல் விருப்பொடு
நாணுத் தளை ஆக வைகி, மாண் வினைக்கு
உடம்பு ஆண்டு ஒழிந்தமை அல்லதை,
மடம் கெழு நெஞ்சம் நின் உழையதுவே!

It’s the drylands again but the good news is that the man’s back home. Here, he’s trying to appease the remnants of anxiety in his beloved’s heart, after he has returned to her fold. The man’s words to the lady are:

“O maiden wearing well-etched ornaments, burying your sweet smile within your red mouth with shining teeth, you turn to me and ask me, ‘Having an unfaltering determination that never gives up on a task begun, even if it were to languish and lose its life, a tiger doesn’t feed on the elephant, which happened to fall on its left. Stronger than this tiger in resolution, is your unbending heart that parted away to exceedingly excel at its task of gathering wealth. Remember those fine and noble words that you spoke, with esteem and humility, consoling me, saying, ‘Akin to a fragrant green mango cut perfectly into two with an iron knife, with so much beauty, are your joyous, kohl-streaked eyes, which never lets the delight of those who see those eyes diminish. The days I spend thinking not of these eyes, are days in which I live not!’? Did you forget those words of yours when you parted away?’ Listen to me now.

In those fiery wide spaces, filled with relentless heat, upon a path that has lost its beauty, walks an elephant, not knowing where to find water, and seeing a mirage, rushes to it, and then falls down with dejection, lying there like a boat stranded in a waterless spot. In such a fearsome path, which makes even those who think about it to tremble in fear, unable to bear the mockery of others, with an intention of bringing back wealth, bound by a sense of shame, to complete that noble task, it was my body that had parted away thither. Don’t you realise that my foolish heart was with you, all this while, right here?”

Let’s go on and take a walk across those searing drylands and listen to this story! The man starts by revealing the question the lady had asked him. Without her usual smile, the lady seems to have asked the man whether he forgot certain words he had said to her, when he left on his mission to earn wealth in the drylands. To etch his unwavering decision to go to the drylands, the lady talks about how a tiger, no matter how famished, would never feed on an elephant that fell on its left. This depiction of a choosy tiger would no doubt make us scratch our heads! What it does it matter if the prey falls on the left or right, we may ask! But it’s just one of those quirky beliefs the Sangam people had. How they came to this conclusion would be a highly challenging but fascinating research idea! This also reminds me of a contemporary Tamil proverb involving a tiger, ‘Puli pasithaalum pul unnaathu’, meaning ‘Even if a tiger is hungry, it won’t eat grass’. At least this we can understand considering the wild cat is a pure non-vegetarian- a carnivore! In any case, the core thought here is the firmness of the decision that bends not to anything. So, the lady is talking about how with even more firmness than that tiger, the man went off to the drylands. He was the one, who had earlier told her that any day spent not looking at those split-mango-like eyes of hers was a day in which there was no life in him. Fancy words indeed! Spoken no doubt in the passion of love! Our lady has jotted them well and is now asking the man whether he forgot those words of his. 

In reply to this pointed question from his beloved, the man responds by first talking about the drylands, and describing it as a place, where there’s nothing but endless heat. Here, you can see elephants searching for water and lying there deceived by mirages, appearing like a mud-stranded boat, he says. After that sketch of that dreary place, the man goes on to list his reasons for leaving in search of wealth, and these include the taunts of others, his sense of duty to bring back wealth, and his discipline not to give up halfway what he started. The man concludes by saying even though the reasons were noble, it was just his outer form, his body that had left to those drylands, whereas his heart was right there, with the lady, all that time he was away! In short, the man’s response is ‘That’s just my outer shell that went thither. Hither, with you, stayed my loving heart’. No doubt these buried smiles will bloom again on the lady’s face on hearing these passionate words! The highlight to me in this verse is the subtle focus on the balance between aspects of work, such us never giving up on a task begun, and aspects of love, such as taking the time and effort to make those we love understand why we do what we do!