Sangam Lit

Aganaanooru 56 – Laughing at trouble
In this episode, we listen to a mirthful tale, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 56, penned by Madurai Aruvai Vaanikan Ilavettanaar. Set amidst the blooming lilies and bubbling ponds of the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’, the verse presents a unique technique of refusing a request.
நகை ஆகின்றே தோழி! நெருநல்
மணி கண்டன்ன துணி கயம் துளங்க,
இரும்பு இயன்றன்ன கருங் கோட்டு எருமை,
ஆம்பல் மெல் அடை கிழிய, குவளைக்
கூம்பு விடு பல் மலர் மாந்தி, கரைய
காஞ்சி நுண் தாது ஈர்ம் புறத்து உறைப்ப,
மெல்கிடு கவுள அல்குநிலை புகுதரும்
தண் துறை ஊரன் திண் தார் அகலம்
வதுவை நாள் அணிப் புதுவோர்ப் புணரிய,
பரிவொடு வரூஉம் பாணன் தெருவில்
புனிற்றாப் பாய்ந்தெனக் கலங்கி, யாழ் இட்டு,
எம் மனைப் புகுதந்தோனே. அது கண்டு
மெய்ம்மலி உவகை மறையினென் எதிர்சென்று,
”இம் மனை அன்று; அஃது உம் மனை” என்ற
என்னும் தன்னும் நோக்கி,
மம்மர் நெஞ்சினோன் தொழுது நின்றதுவே.
It’s a tour of the farmlands, and as expected, we listen to the ripples of a love quarrel involving a courtesan, through these words of the lady to her confidante:
“It makes me laugh so much, my friend! Muddling the crystal clear waters of the pond, appearing akin to sapphire, a black-horned buffalo, whose horns appear as if cast with iron, tearing the delicate leaves of the white waterlily, feeds on the blue waterlily’s blooming buds, and then with its moist back, covered with the fine pollen of the portia tree on the shore, with a masticating lower jaw, enters its shed in the cool shores of the lord. Yesterday, the bard, who always comes with the caring thought of uniting new maiden, clad in ornaments, with the garlanded, wide chest of the lord, startled by the pouncing of a cow, which had just given birth, dropped his lute, and rushed into our house. Seeing that, hiding the mirth that was brimming over within, I stood before him and said, ‘This isn’t the house you seek; There, over there, is your preferred place’. Looking back and forth, with a distressed heart, he stood before me, in a humble stance, with his hands folded!”
Time to trail behind that jaunty buffalo and learn more! The lady starts by talking about how one incident made her laugh so much. Instead of telling what it is, the lady launches into a description of the man’s town, where we get to see a black buffalo, whose horns are mentioned to be so solid, looking as if made of iron, and this buffalo, decides it wants to feed on the lilies in the pond, and not caring about tearing the leaves of the white lily, goes for the young buds of the blue waterlily. And when satisfied, the buffalo, with its back covered in the pollen of the portia tree, growing on the shore, walks back, slowly moving its lower jaw, no doubt displaying the digestive process we have learnt about in our biology classes, the one called rumination, wherein bovine animals bring back the cud and chew it over and over again.
This buffalo, at the end of its escapade, returns slowly to its shed at home, the lady describes. Then she goes on to talk about how the bard, whom she mentions sarcastically as having the noble aim of uniting the lord with many new women, was walking down their street, and suddenly a cow, which had just given birth, with its motherly instincts on an edge, seemed to have pounced on him. Shocked by the charge, the bard had dropped his lute and rushed into the first house in sight, which happened to be the lady’s home. Seeing this, hiding her laughter, with a serious face, the lady seemed to have gone in front of him and said, ‘You’ve got the wrong address. You must be searching for the courtesan’s house, over there’. Hearing this, ashamed and with a guilty look, the bard took on an apologetic stance, with his hands folded, and this is the incident that made her laugh so much, the lady concludes.
Returning to the scene of the buffalo having a jolly feast in the pond, that’s a metaphor for the man’s escapades with the courtesans, and the buffalo’s walk back to the shed, is the man seeking permission to the lady to return home. These words are the lady’s refusal to her confidante to allow the man back home. Though it’s the same old theme of the meandering man, the aspect I would like to focus on here is how even in such a society, where wealth and status resided in the hands of men, who seemed to have done what they pleased, the woman still had the power and strength to refuse the lord of the town, showing she was the queen of her abode!