Namaste
by Rajesh Krishnan
| 133 : காமத்துப்பால் : கற்பியல் : ஊடலுவகை | ||
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| 1 | இல்லை தவறவர்க் காயினு மூடுதல் வல்ல தவரளிக்கு மாறு |
बाले नाथ विमुञ्च मानिनि रुषं रोषान् मया किं कृतं खेदोऽस्मासु न मेऽपराध्यति भवान् सर्वेऽपराधा मयि | तत्किं रोदिषि गद्गदेन वचसा कस्याग्रतो रुद्यते नन्वेतन् मम का तवास्मि दयिता नास्मीत्यतो रुद्यते || Amarushataka 53 |
| 2 | ஊடலி்ற் றோன்றுஞ் சிறுதுனி நல்லளி வாடினும் பாடு பெறும் |
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| 3 | புலத்தலிற் புத்தேணா டுண்டோ நிலத்தொடு நீரியைந் தன்னா ரகத்து |
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| 4 | புல்லி விடாஅப் புலவியுட் டோன்றுமென் னுள்ள முடைக்கும் படை |
श्रुत्वा नामापि यस्य स्फुटघनपुलकं जायतेऽङ्गं समन्तात्दृष्ट्वा यस्याननेन्दुं भवति वपुरिदं चन्द्रकान्तानुकारि | तस्मिन्नागत्य कण्ठग्रहणसरभसस्थायिनि प्राणनाथे भग्ना मानस्य चिन्ता भवति मम प्नर्वज्रमय्याः कदा नु || Amarushataka 57 |
| 5 | தவறில ராயினுந் தாம்வீழ்வார் மென்றோ ளகறலி னாங்கொன் றுடைத்து |
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| 6 | உணலினு முண்ட தறலினிது காமம் புணர்தலி னூட லினிது |
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| 7 | ஊடலிற் றோற்றவர் வென்றா ரதுமன்னும் கூடலிற் காணப் படும் |
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| 8 | ஊடிப் பெறுகுவங் கொல்லோ நுதல்வெயர்ப்பக் கூடலிற் றோன்றிய வுப்பு |
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| 9 | ஊடுக மன்னோ வொளியிழை யாமிரப்ப நீடுக மன்னோ விரா |
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| 10 | ஊடுதல் காமத்திற் கின்ப மதற்கின்பங் கூடி முயங்கப் பெறின் |
As a close conceptual parallel to the kural, I propose Amarushataka 53, which is an exquisite miniature of Shringara poetry presented as a conversation between a nayaka and a manini nayika. The nayaka tenderly asks her to abandon her anger and protests his innocence; when she insists that he has done nothing wrong, he asks why she is nevertheless weeping, whereupon she reveals that her tears arise from the doubt whether she is truly his beloved. The correspondence with the kural is remarkably close:
The final correspondence is deliberately indirect. The Sanskrit nayika does not explicitly say that she is sulking in order to obtain more of her lover’s affection. Instead, by professing doubt about whether she is truly his दयिता, she provokes precisely the response that the kural identifies as the purpose of ஊடுதல்: an increased demonstration of his love and attention. Her apparent grievance has no factual basis; it is a feint through which she elicits reassurance of her beloved status.
The difference in poetic expression and dramatic setting does not diminish the parallel: Valluvar states the principle aphoristically through the nayikā’s conversation with her confidante, whereas Amaru masterfully dramatizes it in the longer, more elaborate style of Shringara-kavya through a direct exchange between the lovers. In both, however, the heroine’s मान / ஊடுதல் is not occasioned by any real offence but functions as a means of eliciting a stronger demonstration of the lover’s affection. Amaru thus masterfully dramatizes the crux of the *kural: வல்ல தவரளிக்கு மாறு — ஊடுதல் as a means of eliciting greater loving attention from him.
The kural finds a close parallel in Amarushataka 57: कण्ठग्रहणम् corresponds to புல்லி, the act of embracing; स्थायिनि to விடா, staying without letting go; and मानस्य to புலவியுள், both denoting the offended reserve or feigned love-quarrel expressed. The inward response is given by मम चिन्ता, corresponding to என் உள்ளம், while भग्ना corresponds to உடைக்கும் and भवति to தோன்றும். The remaining image is especially suggestive: वज्रमय्याः depicts the nayika’s resolve as vajra-like, while भग्ना is its breaking; correspondingly, படை can mean a weapon, implement, means, or agency, making the embrace itself the “weapon” or means that breaks her adamantine resolve. The dual sense of vajra—both the adamantine/diamond-like substance and the thunderbolt, a weapon—thus resonates particularly well with Valluvar’s choice of படை.
The natural summary gloss given by the Kural Thiran website: காதலரைத் தழுவி விடாத ஊடலில் என்உள்ள உறுதியை உடைக்கும் கருவி தோன்றுகிறது corroborates this reading by unpacking the compressed kural as a situation in which, while the heroine remains in her ஊடல், there appears a means of breaking the firmness of her inner state: என் உள்ள உறுதியை உடைக்கும் கருவி. The gloss’s உறுதி is especially close to the Sanskrit वज्रमय्याः, making explicit the quality that Valluvar leaves implicit in உள்ளம்.
The first half of the Amarushataka verse goes further by establishing the nayika’s true mental and physical state: श्रुत्वा नामापि यस्य स्फुटघनपुलकं जायतेऽङ्गं समन्तात्दृष्ट्वा यस्याननेन्दुं भवति वपुरिदं चन्द्रकान्तानुकारि, that is, merely hearing his name causes goosebumps throughout her body, while seeing his face transforms her body into something resembling moonstone. Thus her मान or புலவி is a feigned love-quarrel rather than genuine resistance; given the intensity of her underlying attraction, it ultimately cannot withstand the nāyaka’s कण्ठग्रहण or புல்லி, the embrace that becomes the “weapon” of its undoing.