Kalithogai 98 – A river bathing ritual fight

Sangam Lit

In this episode, we perceive the practice of bathing in the fresh waters of a river, as portrayed in Sangam Literary work, Kalithogai 98, penned by Maruthan Ilanaakanaar. The verse is situated in the ‘Marutham’ or ‘Farmlands landscape’ and portrays an element of the land in a new light.

தலைவி:
யாரை நீ எம் இல் புகுதர்வாய்? ஓரும்
புதுவ மலர் தேரும் வண்டே போல், யாழ
வதுவை விழவு அணி வைகலும் காட்டினையாய்,
மாட்டு மாட்டு ஓடி, மகளிர் தரத் தரப்,
பூட்டு மான் திண் தேர் புடைத்த மறுகு எல்லாம்
பாட்டு ஆதல் சான்ற நின் மாயப் பரத்தைமை
காட்டிய வந்தமை கைப்படுத்தேன், பண்டு எலாம்
கேட்டும் அறிவேன் மன் யான்.

தலைவன்:
தெரி கோதை அம் நல்லாய்! தேறீயல் வேண்டும்;
பொரு கரை வாய் சூழ்ந்த பூ மலி வையை
வருபுனல் ஆடத் தவிர்ந்தேன்; பெரிது என்னைச்
செய்யா மொழிவது எவன்?

தலைவி:
ஓஒ! புனல் ஆடினாய் எனவும் கேட்டேன்; புனல் ஆங்கே
நீள் நீர் நெறி கதுப்பு வாரும் அறல் ஆக,
மாண் எழில் உண்கண் பிறழும் கயல் ஆகக்,
கார் மலர் வேய்ந்த கமழ் பூம்பரப்பு ஆக ,
நாணுச் சிறை அழித்து நன்பகல் வந்த அவ்
யாணர் புதுப் புனல் ஆடினாய், முன் மாலைப்
பாணன் புணை ஆகப் புக்கு,
ஆனாது அளித்து அமர் காதலோடு அப் புனல் ஆடி,
வெளிப்படு கவ்வையை யான் அறிதல் அஞ்சிக்
குளித்து ஒழுகினாய் எனவும் கேட்டேன்; குளித்து ஆங்கே
போர்த்த சினத்தான் புருவத் திரை இடா,
ஆர்க்கும் ஞெகிழத்தான் நன் நீர் நடை தட்பச்
சீர்த் தக வந்த புதுப் புனல் நின்னைக் கொண்டு,
ஈர்த்து உய்ப்பக் கண்டார் உளர்;
ஈர்த்தது உரை சால் சிறப்பின் நின் நீர் உள்ளம் வாங்கப்,
புரை தீர் புதுப் புனல் வெள்ளத்தின் இன்னும்
கரை கண்டதூஉம் இலை

தலைவன்:
நிரை தொடீஇ! பொய்யா வாள் தானைப் புனை கழல் கால் தென்னவன்,
வையைப் புதுப் புனல் ஆடத் தவிர்ந்ததைத்
தெய்வத்தின் தேற்றித் தெளிப்பேன்; பெரிது என்னைச்
செய்யா மொழிவது எவன்?

தலைவி:
மெய்யதை மல்கு மலர் வேய்ந்த மாயப் புதுப் புனல்
பல் காலும் ஆடிய செல்வுழி, ஒல்கிக்
களைஞரும் இல்வழிக் கால் ஆழ்ந்து தேரோடு
இள மணலுள் படல் ஓம்பு, முளை நேர்
முறுவலார்க்கு ஓர் நகை செய்து.

Another imaginative comparison in this verse! The words can be translated as follows:

“Lady:
O man stepping into my home! Who are you? Akin to a bee that keeps searching ceaselessly for new flowers, you exude your wedding-like, festive adornments every day and run around hither and thither, to attain more and more women. In all the streets, where your sturdy chariot tied with horses strides through, the talk is all about you! I see how you have come here, proclaiming your famous betrayal of seeking courtesans. Even though I heard all about it previously, I didn’t understand then!

Man:
O maiden as beautiful as a garland of well-chosen flowers, know this well! I was delayed because I stayed back to bathe in the flower-filled, fresh waters of the Vaigai river, which surrounds and lays siege to its shores. Why do you keep talking about things I have not done?

Lady:
Is that so? I did hear about your bathing in the stream! There, in that stream, long and wavy tresses were heaped black sand, esteemed and exquisite eyes were leaping fish, well-tied flowers worn on the head were blooms gushing down the stream in the rainy season. Breaking the barriers of shame, came that prosperous fresh stream in the middle of the day, and of course, you bathed in it, with the bard as your raft in those early evening hours! I also heard of how showering your endless grace, you bathed in that stream with much love, and then fearing that I would come to know of the spreading slander, how you tried to hide it too.

When you did that, with rage rising, raising eyebrows like waves, anklets resounding ceaselessly, that new stream roared and blocked you from turning onto the right path, and pulled you within, say those who have seen this. That which pulled you within captured your esteemed heart, and still, it has not risen from the flawless fresh flood of that stream and reached the shore!

Man:
O maiden wearing well-etched bangles! In the domain of the Southern King, wearing well-etched warrior anklets and having an undefeated army of swords, flows the Vaigai, and I was delayed as I was bathing in the river’s fresh waters. I will swear this upon God to make you understand. Why do you keep talking about things I have not done?

Lady:
Indeed, it is true! But do take care when you journey on that path again and again to bathe in the bewitching fresh new stream, brimming with woven flowers, for there might be no one to save you, when your chariot wheels get stuck in the slushy mud, making those with bud-like smiles burst out laughing!”

Time to delve into the details. The verse is situated in the context of a love quarrel between the man and the lady, owing to the man’s seeking of courtesans. Here the man and lady are in conversation, with the lady acting as the primary speaker. The lady starts by asking the man in anger who was he to enter her home, and describes how he runs around like a bee seeking maiden day after day and it’s all talk about his behaviour in the streets that his chariot strides upon. The man, as expected, denies everything and says that he was delayed for all this while only because he was bathing in the fresh waters of the River Vaigai.

Now, the lady talks about how she knows all about that river the man was bathing in and goes on to describe a courtesan’s tresses as the river’s black sand, her eyes as the fish jumping about in it, her flowers as the rain-swept blooms from the mountains that fill a river after a downpour. She extends the simile taking about how the man bathed with much love in that stream, with the bard as his raft, implying the help rendered by this helper to bring the man and the courtesan together. She continues saying how the man suddenly came to his senses and feared the lady may come to know of this. Seeing the changes in the man, that courtesan, with her eyebrows moving up and down like waves and anklets roaring, rose as the bewitching stream and pulled the man back in, and from that time, he has not been able to escape the clutches and come ashore, the lady connects in a perfect parallel.

As a response to this, the man says that he would swear on God to prove that he was only bathing in the River Vaigai that adorns the domain of the conquering Pandya King. Not paying any heed to his words, the lady concludes by asking him to take care when he goes on that path again and again to bathe in that fresh stream, for one day, making maiden around laugh aloud, the man’s chariot wheels may get stuck in the slush, with no one to save him!

Though it is again the same bickering between the man and the lady with one saying ‘No, I didn’t’ and the other ‘Yes, you did’, what’s stunning here is the creativity and imagination of this poet who connects disparate elements such as river stream and a woman with perfection. Each element of this comparison sounds true and natural in this context. In the past few songs, the act of seeing something entirely different in a quail fight, riding horses, parading on elephants and even bathing in a river stream seems to tell us the profound truth that all life is connected in spirit!