Namaste
by Rajesh Krishnan
| 110 : காமத்துப்பால் : களவியல் : குறிப்பறிதல் | ||
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| 1 | இருநோக் கிவளுண்க ணுள்ள தொருநோக்கு நோய்நோக்கொன் றந்நோய் மருந்து |
व्यादीर्घेण चलेन वक्रगतिना तेजस्विना भोगिना नीलाब्जद्युतिनाऽहिना वरमहं दष्टो, न तच्चक्षुषा | दष्टे सन्ति चिकित्सका दिशि-दिशि प्रायेण धर्मार्थिनो मुग्धाक्षीक्षणवीक्षितस्य न हि मे वैद्यो न चाप्यौषधम् || Bhartrihari Shringarashataka 6 |
| 2 | கண்களவு கொள்ளுஞ் சிறுநோக்கங் காமத்திற் செம்பாக மன்று பெரிது |
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| 3 | நோக்கினா ணோக்கி யிறைஞ்சினா ளஃதவள் யாப்பினு ளட்டிய நீர் |
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| 4 | யானோக்குங் காலை நிலனோக்கு நோக்காக்காற் றானோக்கி மெல்ல நகும் |
सन्मुखं तं तु न वीक्षते | वीक्षिताव्रीडां दर्शयति | रुच्यमात्मनोऽङ्गमपदेशेन प्रकाशयति | प्रमत्तं प्रच्छन्नं नायकमतिक्रान्तं च वीक्षते || पृष्टा च किंचित् सस्मितम् अव्यक्ताक्षरमनवसितार्थं च मन्दं मन्दमधोमुखी कथयति। तत्समीपे चिरं स्थानमभिनन्दति | दूरे स्थिता पश्यतु मामिति मन्यमाना परिजनं सवदनविकारमाभाषते। तं देशं न मुञ्चति || Kamasutra 3.3.26-27 |
| 5 | குறிக்கொண்டு நோக்காமை யல்லா லொருகண் சிறக்கணித்தாள் போல நகும் |
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| 6 | உறாஅ தவர்போற் சொலினுஞ் செறாஅர்சொ லொல்லை யுணரப் படும் |
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| 7 | செறாஅச் சிறுசொல்லுஞ் செற்றார்போ னோக்கு முறாஅர்போன் றுற்றார் குறிப்பு |
भ्रूभेदो रचितः चिरं नयनयोरभ्यस्तमामीलनं रोद्धुं शिक्षितमादरेण हसितं मौनेऽभियोगः कृतः | धैर्यं कर्तुमपि स्थिरीकृतमिदं चेतः कथंचिन्मया बद्धो मानपरिग्रहे परिकरः सिद्धिस्तु दैवस्थिता || Amarushataka 92 |
| 8 | அசையியற் குண்டாண்டோ ரேஎர்யா னோக்கப் பசையினள் பைய நகும் |
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| 9 | ஏதிலார் போலப் பொதுநோக்கு நோக்குதல் காதலார் கண்ணே யுள |
स्निग्धं वीक्षितमन्यतोऽपि नयने यत्प्रेषयन्त्या तया यातं यच्च नितम्बयोर्गुरुतया मन्दं विलासादिव | मा गा इत्युपरुद्धया यदपि सा सासूयमुक्ता सखी सर्वं तत्किल मत्परायणमहो कामी स्वतां पश्यति || Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Shakuntalam 2.2 |
| 10 | கண்ணொடு கண்ணிணை நோக்கொக்கின் வாய்ச்சொற்க ளென்ன பயனு மில |
The correspondence between the kural and Bhartrihari’s Shringarashataka 6 is especially close in its construction of the woman’s நோக்கு as the cause of an explicitly medicalized affliction. In the concluding pada, मुग्धाक्षीक्षणवीक्षितस्य न हि मे वैद्यो न चाप्यौषधम्, the one who has been subjected to the ईक्षण of the charming-eyed woman has neither वैद्य nor औषध. This finds a particularly compact counterpart in Valluvar’s ஒருநோக்கு நோய்நோக்கு, where one நோக்கு is identified as producing நோய். While Bhartṛhari leaves the affliction without either वैद्य or औषध, Valluvar supplies the otherwise absent resolution: the second நோக்கு becomes the மருந்து for the நோய் produced by the first. On the other hand, Bhartrihari’s poetic ingenuity lies in the elaborate feint of the first three padas: he accumulates every conventional attribute of a serpent (व्यादीर्घ, चल, वक्रगत, तेजस्विन्, भोगिन्, अहि), only to overturn the entire image with न तच्चक्षुषा, revealing that the true bite was inflicted not by the serpent but by the woman’s eyes, and thereby allowing the medical vocabulary of दष्ट, चिकित्सक, वैद्य, औषध to carry the metaphor to its full force.
The Mahasubhashitasamgraha verse 5979S provides an erotic resolution of the same pathology: इन्दीवराक्षि तव तीव्रकटाक्षबाणपातव्रणे द्वितयमौषधमेव मन्ये \। एकं तवाधरसुधारसपानमन्यदुत्तुङ्गपीनकुचकुङ्कुमपङ्कलेपः ||. Here the तीव्रकटाक्षबाण produces a व्रण, for which the poet identifies two remedies: अधर-सुधारसपान and कुचकुङ्कुमपङ्कलेप. In the context of a work whose காமத்துப்பால் is nevertheless framed within the larger ethical architecture of the Thirukkural, Valluvar’s formulation is more restrained: rather than resolving the affliction through physical means, he makes the remedy another glance, allowing the entire movement from affliction to relief to remain within the refined economy of the lovers’ gaze.
Kamasutra 3.3.26-27 parallels the visual etiquette underlying the Kural and its interpretation by மணக்குடவர். யானோக்குங் காலை நிலனோக்கு corresponds closely to संमुखं तं तु न वीक्षते । वीक्षिता व्रीडां दर्शयति: when he is directly before her, she does not look at him, but manifests व्रीडा, for which நிலனோக்கு is a particularly apt behavioral realization. நோக்காக்கால் றானோக்கி then corresponds to प्रमत्तं प्रच्छन्नं नायकम् अतिक्रान्तं च वीक्षते: she looks at the hero when he is प्रमत्त (inattentive), प्रच्छन्न (out of sight), or अतिक्रान्त (having gone past). The kural compresses the three different circumstances into the single elegant condition நோக்காக்கால். The opening सस्मितम् of 3.3.27 further supplies the kural’s மெல்ல நகும், completing the sequence of bashful aversion, opportunistic gaze, and subdued smile.
This non-verbal language is corroborated by Bhartrihari Shringara Shatakam verse 7: स्मितेन भावेन च लज्जया भिया पराङ्मुखैरर्धकटाक्षवीक्षणैः | वचोभिरीर्ष्याकलहेन लीलया समस्तभावैः खलु बन्धनं स्त्रियः ||. The movement स्मितेन … लज्जया … पराङ्मुखैरर्धकटाक्षवीक्षणैः brings together the kural’s மெல்ல நகும், நிலனோக்கு, and oblique glance. It is also corroborated by the Amarushatakam verse 4 with क्षणमभिमुखैर्लज्जालोलैर्निमेषपराङ्मुखैः. Neither specifies the man’s visual state as explicitly, and moreover, the Amarushatakam verse does not include the स्मित element.
Kalidasa’s Kumara Sambhava verse 8.3 provides an excellent literary parallel that captures most of the same choreography: कैतवेन शयिते कुतूहलात् पार्वती प्रतिमुखं निपातितम् | चक्षुरुन्मिषति सस्मितं प्रिये विद्युदाहतमिव न्यमीलयत् ||. Parvati directs her gaze toward the apparently unobservant beloved, and when he opoens his eyes with a smile, she immediately averts her gaze as if struck by lightning. It therefore closely reproduces the kural’s movement from looking when unobserved to averting when observed. The differences are that Kalidasa introduces the playful circumstance of Shiva’s feigned sleep, and that smile belongs to Shiva when his eye opens, whereas the kural’s மெல்ல நகும் applies to the woman.
The correspondence between the kural and Amarushataka verse 92 is remarkably close: भ्रूभेदो चिरं + नयनयोर् आमीलनम् + रोद्धुं हसितम् corresponds to செற்றார்போல் நோக்கும், the hostile-looking frown, eyes, and suppressed smile producing the appearance of one who is estranged; मौने corresponds to செறாஅச் சிறுசொல்லும், since silence and curt words are two sides of the same coin of verbal expression–the former passive, the latter actively withholding or hostile. The sequence रचितः + अभ्यस्तम् + शिक्षितम् + अभियोगः कृतः corresponds as a whole to உறாஅர்போன்று உற்றார், for these deliberate acts of construction, practice, training, and undertaking constitute the lover’s conscious dissembling as one who is not attached. Finally, कथञ्चिन्मया … सिद्धिस्तु दैवस्थिता leaves open whether this carefully constructed appearance will actually succeed, thereby leaving the குறிப்பு—-the sign by which the underlying attachment is apprehended—-to be caught by the observer rather than explicitly stated. While the poetic expression varies between the two works, the crux of the kural is closely matched by the shloka.
Bhartrihari’s Shringara Shataka verse 7 (presented earlier) corroborates the kural’s செறாஅச் சிறுசொல்லும் by likewise presenting speech colored by jealousy and quarrelsomeness as an erotic mode of apparent hostility (वचोभिरीर्ष्याकलहेन).
An excellent parallel for the kural is provided by Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Shakuntalam 2.2. Here वीक्षितम् अन्यतः अपि corresponds to ஏதிலார் போலப் பொதுநோக்கு: the glance appears to be directed elsewhere, while नयने प्रेषयन्त्या supplies நோக்குதல், the directing of the eyes. The concluding कामी स्वतां पश्यति corresponds with காதலார் கண்ணே யுள: what is outwardly अन्यतः, the lover कामी uniquely perceives as स्वताम्. The Tamil கண் is especially economical, simultaneously denoting the lover’s eye/sight and the locus of perception (locative case), while கண்ணே marks that perception as belonging to the lover.
An injunction to maintain socially appropriate conduct between the two lovers in a public setting – such as in the presence of a Guru (गुरुसन्निधौ), or when the occasion is inapporpriate (न कालोचितः) for a more explicit visual exchange – is provided by Amarushatakam verse 79: लोलद्भ्रूलतया विपक्षदिगुपन्यासेऽवधूतं शिरस्तद्वृत्तान्तनिरीक्षणे कृतनमस्कारो विलक्षः स्थितः \। कोपात्ताम्रकपोलभित्तिनि मुखे दृष्ट्या गतः पादयोर्उत्सृष्टो गुरुसन्निधावपि विधिर्द्वाभ्यां न कालोचितः ||.
Vatsyayana provides a technical catalogue of such covert signals in Kamasutra verse 5.2.7: दर्शने चास्याः सततं साकारं प्रेक्षणं केशसंयमनं नखाच्छुरणमाभरणप्रह्लादनमधरोष्ठविमर्दनं तास्ताश्च लीला वयस्यैः सह प्रेक्षमाणायास्तत्सम्बद्धाः परापदेशिन्यश्च कथास्त्यागोपभोगप्रकाशनं सख्युरुत्सङ्गनिषण्णस्य साङ्गभङ्गं जृम्भणमेकभ्रूक्षेपणं मन्दवाच्यता तद्वाक्यश्रवणं तामुद्दिश्य बालेनान्यजनेन वा सहान्योपदिष्टा द्व्यर्था कथा तस्यां स्वयं मनोरथावेदनमन्यापदेशेन तामेवोद्दिश्य बालचुम्बनमालिङ्गनं च जिह्वया चास्य ताम्बूलदानं प्रदेशिन्या हनुदेशघट्टनं तत्तद्यथायोगं यथावकाशं च प्रयोक्तव्यम् ||. The passage need not be restricted to the lovers’ gaze. The kural’s ஏதிலார் போலப் பொதுநோக்கு நோக்குதல் may be understood more broadly as “regarding one another with the common, ordinary, or indifferent regard appropriate to strangers who have nothing to do with each other.” On this reading, பொதுநோக்கு describes the lovers’ outwardly conventional manner of regarding one another, while காதலார் கண்ணே யுள marks the private significance intelligible only to the lovers. Vatsyayana’s catalogue likewise extends beyond साकारं प्रेक्षणम्, encompassing gestures and forms of speech through which an outwardly innocuous expression conveys a meaning intended for the beloved. In particular, परापदेशिन्यः कथाः describes stories ostensibly referring to another, while स्वयं मनोरथावेदनम् अन्यापदेशेन explicitly describes communicating one’s own desire by means of another pretext. The correspondence is therefore not confined to the lovers’ exchanging looks, but lies more broadly in the use of outwardly conventional conduct to conceal a private communication understood by the lovers.
The ten Kurals describe a grammar of romantic signaling through the eyes, and Sanskrit Shringara poetry has a technical vocabulary that matches well.
Bhartrihari’s Shringara Shataka verse 6, we get, मुग्धाक्षीक्षणवीक्षितस्य न हि मे वैद्यो न चाप्यौषधम्, the gaze causing an affliction for which there is no medical remedy. Then verse 7, स्मितेन भावेन च लज्जया भिया पराङ्मुखैरर्धकटाक्षवीक्षणैः | वचोभिरीर्ष्याकलहेन लीलया समस्तभावैः खलु बन्धनं स्त्रियः ||, provides a catalog: eyes contracted/turned, sidelong glance, affectionate speech, laughter ending in bashfulness, and slow/playful movement.
The Amarushataka verse 4, अलसवलितैः प्रेमार्द्रार्द्रैर्मुहुर्मुकुलीकृतैः क्षणमभिमुखैर्लज्जालोलैर्निमेषपराङ्मुखैः | हृदयनिहितं भावाकूतं वमद्भिरिवेक्षणैः कथय सुकृती कोऽयं मुग्धे त्वयाद्य विलोक्यते || aligns with kurals 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10. The eyes are languidly moving, moist with love, repeatedly closing, for a moment turned toward him, trembling with bashfulness, then turned away at the moment of blinking, and the eyes communicate (without words) the feeling hidden in the heart.
tags: kuralmatch