In this episode, we listen to the lament of a lady, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 103, penned by Kaaviripoompattinathu Chenkannanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse describes the pain caused by the man’s parting away.

நிழல் அறு நனந்தலை, எழால் ஏறு குறித்த
கதிர்த்த சென்னி, நுணங்கு செந் நாவின்,
விதிர்த்த போலும் அம் நுண் பல் பொறி,
காமர் சேவல் ஏமம் சேப்ப;
முளி அரில் புலம்பப் போகி, முனாஅது
முரம்பு அடைந்திருந்த மூரி மன்றத்து,
அதர் பார்த்து அல்கும் ஆ கெழு சிறுகுடி,
உறையுநர் போகிய ஓங்கு நிலை வியல் மனை,
இறை நிழல் ஒரு சிறைப் புலம்பு அயா உயிர்க்கும்
வெம் முனை அருஞ் சுரம் நீந்தி; தம்வயின்
ஈண்டு வினை மருங்கின் மீண்டோர்மன் என,
நள்ளென் யாமத்து உயவுத்துணை ஆக
நம்மொடு பசலை நோன்று, தம்மொடு
தானே சென்ற நலனும்
நல்கார்கொல்லோ, நாம் நயந்திசினோரே?

More of the drylands here, and we hear the lady say these words to her confidante, as the man remains parted away:

“In those spaces, bereft of shade, an alluring male quail, with many beautiful little spots, appearing like sprinkled drops, having a small, red tongue and a crested head, marked by a bird of prey, wanting a safer place, rushes away from the thorny bushes, and runs towards a small hamlet, with cattle, to the town centre in the harsh land, and rests under an abandoned, soaring, wide mansion, looking at the path behind, in the shade of the roof, alone, letting out deep sighs, in that harsh and scorching drylands, to which he has left on account of fulfilling his task, leaving behind only pallor as my company in the dark dead of the night. Won’t the one I desire, he, who took away my beauty, render it back to me?”

Time to run along with a quail in the drylands! The lady starts by describing the scene where a little male quail that has fallen in the radar of a swooping scavenger bird, knowing the danger heading its way, rushes away from the bushes in the open ground and runs towards an ancient town, bereft of inhabitants, and rests sighing under the eaves of an abandoned mansion. Saying this is where the man treads now, the lady talks about how he seems to have stolen her health and beauty when he left and given her only the company of pallor in the middle of the night. She wonders sighing like that quail about whether and when the man would return what he took away from her!

Yet again, another song which talks about the helplessness of the lady without her man by her side. All these repeated songs about the woman’s dependence on the man makes me wonder what is the purpose behind them? What was the philosophy that made these Sangam poets pen verse after verse in the same theme? While we may not have clearcut answers to these questions, the thing to do is to feel grateful for the fact that the world has moved in a direction, where a woman does not need to let her love for another, hinder her enjoyment of all that life has to offer!