சுட்டும் விழிச் சுடர் தான் - Part III

சுட்டும் விழிச் சுடர் தான் - Part III

சாத்திரம் பேசுகிறாய் கண்ணம்மா சாத்திரம் ஏதுக்கடீ
ஆத்திரம் கொண்டவர்க்கே கண்ணம்மா சாத்திரமுண்டோடீ
மூத்தவர் சம்மதியில் வதுவை முறைகள் பின்பு செய்வோம்
காத்திருப்பேனோடீ இது பார் கன்னத்து முத்தமொன்று

Aththiram pEsugiRAy kaNNammA sAththiram EthukkadI
Aththiram koNdavarkkE kaNNammA sAththiramuNdOdI
mUththavar sammathiyil vathuvai muRaigaL pinbu seyvOm
kAththiruppEnOdI ithu pAr kannaththu muththamonRu

Meaning per word
rules/(you)speak/kaNNammA/rules/wherefore
impatience/(those who)have it/kaNNammA/(do) rules exists
elders/if agree/marriage/rituals/later/(we shall) do
will I be waiting?/here/look/of cheek/kiss/one
These last few lines seductively push the kaNNammA in our minds into a complete acquiescence. Here She is sitting opposite to our Barathi. She is already enchanted by his sweet words describing Her beauty and Her smile. Her face sports a gentle blush as Barathi says vAlaik kumariyadI kaNNammA maruva kAthal koNdEn. And then, Barathi springs this. Yet, Her heart protests feebly. And that is when Barathi speaks.

'Who needs rules?', he asks. Observe how the question comes in the poem. He speaks to his beloved kaNNammA like a mother very gently reasoning with her kid. 'Yes', he says, 'You speak of rules, but why rules? Do we, who have been driven to madness by passion, have to worry about rules?' The word he uses for impatience is an excellent choice. Besides bringing out a rare usage of the word Aththiram, he also manages the perfect rhyming with sAththiram and Aththiram. Also, notice how he repeats the name kaNNammA kaNNammA in both these lines to completely thrall the attention of his beloved. Do you notice his subtle guile? Do you notice how like saying to a kid 'My dear child, yes you think so. But my dear child it is not so.' he entices kaNNammA into his arguement?

And then comes the promise. The heart of a man longs for union above everything else. It is blindly led by desire into action, like a mad river hurtling towards the sea. The woman comes here as the guiding light. She harnesses and leads man into better action and better desire, like tha banks of the river. Hence, when it comes to the soft drama of love, men always desire union while women always desire the rules of tradition be met. Barathi here promises his lover that he shall marry Her. But he adds an 'if elders agree'. To understand this addition we need to understand the age in which Barathi lived. This was an age when the Tamil community, especially the brahmins had coiled up themselves in meaningless tradition. It is perhaps surprising to believe that a community that once laid down separate rules for love poetry had gone through a period when they considered love between a man and woman sacrilege. Hence, Barathi says 'if the elders agree'. But what if they don't agree? Barathi provides no answer for that. Because kaNNammA, already enchanted by his words, does not ask such questions.

Besides Barathi does not say he will marry kaNNammA. Rather he says he shall do the rites, the rituals and the procedures of marriage. He does not say vathuvai seyvOm. Instead he says vathuvai muRaigaL seyvOm. Why? Because marriage, which is the union of two loving hearts, is already over between Barathi and kaNNammA. It happened the day their eyes met; the day their hearts met. All that is left is now mere procedures and rituals - external actions to be done for the sake of the society.