Silappadhikaram
11
Literary Appreciation
Silappadhikaram is an Epic.
It is the first Tamil Epic, Mudhanmai Kappium, as it is called.
Though all the three Tamil Kings, Chera, Chola and Pandiyan,
are involved, it is not the story of a king.
It is the story of a common woman, Kannagi.
We have seen how the author, Ilango Adigal has beautifully
narrated the story in poetic-prose style,
And dedicated at the feet of Tamil Language as the Anklet.
A dedicated and sincere effort by the god- gifted author
with command over the language, knowledge and the content.
Wonderful monolithic embodiment of the story
with beautiful and sharp portrayal of the characters.
For the common man though structurally hard with granite- like
vocabulary, the composition is with temple-like divinity.
When we name Silappadhikaram, the foremost thought that comes
to our mind is Kannagi, the heroine of the Epic and her fragrant
chastity. If we compare a lady to a flower , the beauty of the flower
is her essential outer attractive look and the fragrance of the flower is
her character, primarily her chastity, which she safeguards
and dedicates to her husband at their meeting in their first night.
She then remains dedicated to him life-long, maintains
her fidelity and remains chaste by body, mind and thoughts.
People then honored chaste women and offered the status
of divinity, why divinity, the various gods carried out
the orders of chaste women.
The great Tamil saint-poet, Thiruvalluvar says,
Pennin perunthakka yaula karpennum
Thinmai undaga perin.
meaning
There is nothing bigger in the world than the woman with
strong conviction to chastity
And
Deivam thozhaal kozhunan thozhuthu ezhuvaal
Peiyena peyyum mazhai.
meaning
If a woman with godly devotion and dedication to her husband
calls for rain, it will readily shower.
People believe in other parts of South India also that the chastity of
a woman saves the life of her husband. In Kerala the fishermen
believe that they are safe in any rough sea till their women
remain chaste on the shore. This was the idea in the famous
Malayalam story, Chemmeen by Tagazhi Sivashankaran Pillai.
Belief is based on experience, may not have any scientific basis.
Why then chaste Kannagi lost her husband in young age ?
The author, Ilango Adigal, conveniently calls it as fate,
yes, everything beyond our logic or comprehension is fate.
If married to a person the chaste women remained faithful
to him for ever, as the Tamil saying stands,
Kal aanalum purushan, pul aanalum purushan
Stone or grass, he is my husband.
Chastity is the purity of the character by body, mind
and thoughts - one man, one woman ideology.
Even in adversity this was the litmus test - fire test of Sita
as in the case of Ramayan.
Even with prevailing practice of polygamy, polyandry and
prostitution in vogue then, chastity and chaste women were
given utmost respect. People considered such women were having
extraordinary powers even to control the nature and
command over gods. They worshiped such women as deities
constructing exclusive temples for them.
Kannagi was one among them.
Though her name was revered with honor, why people
are not preferring to name their children as Kannagi ?
Is it because of her sustained sufferings in married life ?
Or that she had become a widow in young age ?
Instead why they prefer to name as Madhavi,
a women from the traditional family of prostitutes, called
parathiyar or devadasis ?
*****
...... 12
vocabulary, the composition is with temple-like divinity.
When we name Silappadhikaram, the foremost thought that comes
to our mind is Kannagi, the heroine of the Epic and her fragrant
chastity. If we compare a lady to a flower , the beauty of the flower
is her essential outer attractive look and the fragrance of the flower is
her character, primarily her chastity, which she safeguards
and dedicates to her husband at their meeting in their first night.
She then remains dedicated to him life-long, maintains
her fidelity and remains chaste by body, mind and thoughts.
People then honored chaste women and offered the status
of divinity, why divinity, the various gods carried out
the orders of chaste women.
The great Tamil saint-poet, Thiruvalluvar says,
Pennin perunthakka yaula karpennum
Thinmai undaga perin.
meaning
There is nothing bigger in the world than the woman with
strong conviction to chastity
And
Deivam thozhaal kozhunan thozhuthu ezhuvaal
Peiyena peyyum mazhai.
meaning
If a woman with godly devotion and dedication to her husband
calls for rain, it will readily shower.
a woman saves the life of her husband. In Kerala the fishermen
believe that they are safe in any rough sea till their women
remain chaste on the shore. This was the idea in the famous
Malayalam story, Chemmeen by Tagazhi Sivashankaran Pillai.
Belief is based on experience, may not have any scientific basis.
Why then chaste Kannagi lost her husband in young age ?
The author, Ilango Adigal, conveniently calls it as fate,
yes, everything beyond our logic or comprehension is fate.
If married to a person the chaste women remained faithful
to him for ever, as the Tamil saying stands,
Kal aanalum purushan, pul aanalum purushan
Stone or grass, he is my husband.
Chastity is the purity of the character by body, mind
and thoughts - one man, one woman ideology.
Even in adversity this was the litmus test - fire test of Sita
as in the case of Ramayan.
Even with prevailing practice of polygamy, polyandry and
prostitution in vogue then, chastity and chaste women were
given utmost respect. People considered such women were having
extraordinary powers even to control the nature and
command over gods. They worshiped such women as deities
constructing exclusive temples for them.
Kannagi was one among them.
Though her name was revered with honor, why people
are not preferring to name their children as Kannagi ?
Is it because of her sustained sufferings in married life ?
Or that she had become a widow in young age ?
Instead why they prefer to name as Madhavi,
a women from the traditional family of prostitutes, called
parathiyar or devadasis ?
*****
...... 12
No comments:
Post a Comment