Kalithogai 20 – The together deer

Sangam Lit

In this episode, we perceive the lady’s persuasive words, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kalithogai 20, penned by the Chera King Paalai Paadiya Perunkadunko. The verse is situated in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’ and etches the value of togetherness.

பல் வளம் பகர்பு ஊட்டும் பயன் நிலம் பைது அற,
செல் கதிர் ஞாயிறு செயிர் சினம் சொரிதலின்,
தணிவு இல் வெங் கோடைக்குத் தண் நயந்து அணி கொள்ளும்
பிணி தெறல் உயக்கத்த பெருங் களிற்றினம் தாங்கும்
மணி திகழ் விறல் மலை வெம்ப, மண் பக,
துணி கயம் துகள் பட்ட தூங்கு அழல் வெஞ் சுரம்

‘கிளி புரை கிளவியாய்! நின் அடிக்கு எளியவோ,
தளி உறுபு அறியாவே, காடு?’ எனக் கூறுவீர்!
வளியினும் வரை நில்லா வாழு நாள், நும் ஆகத்து
அளி என, உடையேன் யான்; அவலம் கொண்டு அழிவலோ?

‘ஊறு நீர் அமிழ்து ஏய்க்கும் எயிற்றாய்! நீ உணல் வேட்பின்,
ஆறு நீர் இல’ என, அறன் நோக்கிக் கூறுவீர்!
யாறு நீர் கழிந்தன்ன இளமை, நும் நெஞ்சு என்னும்
தேறு நீர், உடையேன் யான்; தெருமந்து ஈங்கு ஒழிவலோ?

‘மாண் எழில் வேய் வென்ற தோளாய்! நீ வரின், தாங்கும்
மாண் நிழல் இல, ஆண்டை மரம்’ எனக் கூறுவீர்!
நீள் நிழல் தளிர் போல நிறன் ஊழ்த்தல் அறிவேன்; நும்
தாள் நிழல் கைவிட்டு யான் தவிர்தலைச் சூழ்வலோ?

என ஆங்கு,
‘அணை அரும் வெம்மைய காடு’ எனக் கூறுவீர்!
கணை கழிகல்லாத கல் பிறங்கு ஆர் இடை,
பணை எருத்து எழில் ஏற்றின் பின்னர்ப்
பிணையும் காணிரோ? பிரியுமோ, அவையே?

The lady takes the spotlight in this verse. The words can be translated as follows:

“Drying up the productive land with much prosperity that fed many, the hastening rays of the sun scatter seething rage. In this hot summer lacking compassion, desiring coolness, wanting to overcome the deep affliction that surrounds, herds of elephants ascend the sapphire-hued, strong mountains but even those mountains swelter in the heat. The earth is parched, dust covers the once-clear pond and flames hang around in the hot drylands.

You say to me, ‘O maiden, who speaks akin to a parrot! Would it be easy for your feet to tread upon that drylands jungle that knows not what rain is?’. However, the days of one’s life is more uncertain than the fleeting wind. I see your heart as the source of my grace; Should I be destroyed by despair here?

You say to me, ‘O maiden, who sheds nectar in your mouth! To quench your thirst, the rivers there have no water’. However, youth fades away, akin to the flow of river water. I see your heart as the source of my water. Should I be ruined by suffering here?

You say to me, ‘O maiden, who has exquisite arms that win over even bamboos! If you are to come with me, the trees there offer no shade’. However, I will lose my colour, akin to a shrub growing in a thick shade; I see your feet as the source of my shade. Should I be scorched by separation here?

Even when I say all this, you say, ’The drylands jungle would be unbearably hot for you!’. In that formidable path, filled with rocks, so dense that arrows cannot pierce through, haven’t you seen the fine male deer with a thick neck being followed by its female? Do they ever separate?”

Time to delve into the nuances. The verse is set in the context of the man’s parting from his lady after marriage. When he conveys his intent to the lady, she replies to him with these words. The lady starts with a searing description of the drylands, talking about how the once-fertile land has turned barren because of the sun’s harsh rays. This tells us that there was no separate desert or drylands tract in Sangam times, but only climate-induced variation in these hills, forests or farmlands. Returning, next she talks about how elephants seeking coolness attempt to climb to higher altitudes but even these hills have not been spared by the summer’s heat. In a crisp portrait, she talks about how the earth is broken and parched, only dust spreads over the once-lush ponds and wild fires tease the air in that drylands.

After sketching the drylands so, the lady talks about how the man insists that her feet will not be able to bear the heat of the drylands, how there would be no water to quench her thirst and how the trees would have no shade to offer, in his attempt to dissuade the lady from accompanying him to the drylands. To these declarations, the lady responds that the days of life fleet away like the wind, youth like flowing water and that she was sure to lose her health and beauty, as pallor spreads on her, like that on a plant growing in the shade of a huge tree. She emphatically says to the man that he is her source of grace, her elixir and her shade, and that she was not ready to suffer alone without him. As the final punch, she takes him to those drylands paths, so dense and formidable and points to the scene of a female deer following its male, and ends with the piercing question, as to whether these deers ever separate! Although it’s again a song of ‘Take me with you’, the sensory images of a breeze brushing past, river water gushing by, a shrub in the shade and the together deer are etched in our minds vividly, echoing the truth of how the world around us can show the way for the inner journey of our hearts!