Love in the Valley - An Idyll

Love in the Valley

AN IDYLL

BY KAPILA

(Rendered from TAMIL by P. N. Appuswami)

Translator’s Note.–Over two thousand years ago, the Tamils possessed a large body of poetry remarkable for its beauty, range and variety. Their poets sang of war and love, of kings and of bards, of heroes and maidens, of truth and honour and all the noble virtues. Of religion too they sang, but, as far as could be judged from the anthologies, it was not the dominant note which it became in later ages.

Selections were made out of this poetic literature; and nine anthologies of verse were compiled nearly eighteen centuries ago, perhaps. Eight of these anthologies were of short poems, and the ninth the PATTU-P-PATTU (The Ten Idylls) consisted of ten long poems.

The piece of which a rendering is given here is the eighth poem in this anthology, and it is two hundred and sixty-one lines long in the original. It is called KURINCI-P-PATTU and its author is the reputed Kapila, friend and companion of Pari the Unique.

The language of the poem is archaic, and the social scene it depicts is different from ours, yet its sentiments are extraordinarily fresh and modern.

O mother dear! long live thee, mother dear. I pray thee hearken unto me.

My friend’s brow still gleams bright, and her soft tresses luxuriant wave, but on her lovely limbs a cruel malady, beyond the power of medicines to cure, loosens her peerless jewels.

Thou too sufferest, worried and uneasy, but knowing naught, art perplexed and distracted sore. All over the city, broad and wide, thou seekest to question the oracles who know, and thou payest homage to many gods, of varied shapes and forms,–praising them, worshipping them, strewing upon them a medley of flowers, and offering them incense and fragrant sandal.

Gone is my friend’s exquisite loveliness now; her sweet and shapely shoulders droop. Strangers, alas, notice her loosening bangles. An utter loneliness has come upon her, and torments her sore indeed. Within her dwells a deep melancholy, harboured by her in secret, sapping her very life.

Since it was too grave for words I kept my counsel till now with exceeding difficulty.

For, if jewels which were fashioned ever so well with pearl and gem and gold should snap and break, surely the fragments can be matched again. But if men should fail, in nobility, or excellence rare, or conduct exemplary, then to cleanse the stain of such infamy and, to restore their fame to former brightness were hard indeed even to the great seers–those learned men whose minds are free from doubt. Thus say those who know the ancient lore.

"Though my love and innocence together sought to restrain me, yet evading the rare and difficult watch of my father–he of the tall chariot–to wed thus did both of us choose, after due deliberation. If I should acquaint them with this, how can they blame me? If, however, they come not over to my side, I have resolved to suffer in patience–(till I die),–hoping that we shall at last unite again in another world." So mused she, my friend.

Her eyes, tranquil as a fawn’s, are flushed and perturbed. Utterly broken-hearted and too tender to bear the agony, she too pines in misery. Likewise seers who stand hesitant betwixt two mighty kings who wage fierce war against each other ere they seek to restore peace. So too stand I betwixt two great fears–which are too heavy for me to bear–afraid of you and afraid for her.

If thou givest her hand in marriage, everything will end happily, for both clans equal are in parity. Compare not, nor yet discuss what his merits are, or how endowed he. I have endeavoured to tell thee, that you may perceive it well, the whole course of this event–of this difficult deed that, alone, we have dared to do that we might save her life.

I pray thee be not wroth with us.

"Like elephants’ trunks, dangling betwixt their pearly tusks when they uplift their heads and look at the grain sprouting from the tip of the tall bamboo, seem the bent and downy crests of the little millet, which has put forth many a large ear of ripening corn which, but now, has its greenness lost. Go ye thither," saidst thou, "and drive away the birds which fall upon the corn, and when night falls, return ye here." And thou sentest us forth.

So we went and climbed upon the platform which tigers dread to see, the platform built by the watchman of the night, high among the noisy tree-tops. The whirling whistle, the riven rattle, the twanging toy-bow, and all other gadgets custom-designed to scare the parrots off were there prettily fashioned from the cane on those hill-slopes growing. We wielded them all as suited the occasion.

And while the puissant rays of the sun scorched everything with their dazzling heat, and birds which circled in the sky fled in eager haste seeking desired nests, serried rows of clouds scampering on high altitudes scooped the waters of the ocean dark and full, shrinking it. Then were they huddled together by the blasts of wind, which blew across the wide and dark blue sky, and were into utter confusion thrown by the mighty thunder which rumbled sweet like a gently quivering drum. Like the shining lance of steel,–engraved with many a leaf-design which the red-hued god, owner of the sweet-toned drum, wearer of gleaming jewels, uplifted against his enemies, seemed the irregular lightning’s which flashed from the gathered clouds pouring their waters on the crests of the hill. From the high peaks of my chieftain’s hill the pellucid waters jumped down fluttering like snow-white linen sheets.

In those white cascades we bathed with unabated relish and utter abandon, and we plunged and dived in the spacious pools which seemed like liquid crystal poured, and carefree we sang on the hillside dense with rock. Like sapphires set against a golden ground seemed our black and braided tresses, which trailed and hung low against the small of our s. We wrung the water out and let them dry. And our eyes were shot with red through and through.

The bright red glory-lily with petals big, the delicate aniccha, the red nelumbo of the cool lake, the eruzham with flowers like fire, the fragrant sirisa, the flowers of the blue mussel-shell which seem like sapphire gems, the many petalled bottle-flower, the bunched flowers of the iron-wood tree, the wide open blossoms of the tanner’s senna, the small bamboo, the oblique leaved jujube, the woolly caper, the yellow trumpet-flower fragrant with honey, the wild jasmine, the champaka flowers large and cool, the jasmine which flowers in the night, and the large flowered jasmine too, the blue nelumbo bunches whose flowers gleam like sapphires while their honey scents the air, the glory-lily whose flower is like a flame, and other flowers which seem like vermilion spread, thick and beautiful,–all these in a medley grew*

Joyfully we wandered among the flowers; plucked them and piled them on a broad boulder fresh-washed by the rain; and on that rock encumbered mountain slope, full of sweet music played by warbling birds, ever and anon, with a loud voice, we shouted clear resounding words to scare the parrots off. We plucked the outer petals from the flowers and round her hip, broad like a snake’s hood, we donned a garment fashioned of leaves and flowers trimmed. Garlands of abiding beauty of many a varied hue and dye we strung among our soft black tresses, to adorn our head. We rested under the cool shade where honey drips from the flowers of the asoka tree whose lovely sprouts are tinctured like flames of fire.

And then–well oiled were his curly locks,–a mass of fragrant blackness. Daubed were they with a cooling pomade whose aroma spread around. Their wetness had been dried, and unravelled were their tangles by the caress of gently combing fingers; perfume laden were they with the fume of the sweet smelling core of the eagle-wood. Round his unguented locks bees, striped in beauty, hummed like melodious lutes. His black and bushy curls glistened like blue sapphire. Mountain flowers and flowers of the plain, blossoms that grew on twigs of shrubs and trees, and those which on the waters grew,–flowers of many a kind and many a hue were the choice flowers he had strung into cool and fragrant chaplets. Wreaths too plaited of fragrant screw-pine leaves which seem like silver ribbons, he wore on his fair crown.

We stood awed at his godly bearing.

A single strand of a garland woven with the fair-petalled flowers of the green-stalked jasmine lay as a circlet round his head. Behind an ear was jauntily stuck a sprig of asoka leaf whose bright flower is a red flame, its tender leaves fluttering against his massive shoulders. Smeared with paste of sandal was his broad and muscular chest–the abode of manly strength where fragrant garlands, emblems of his ancient clan lay among glittering jewels. Gripped firmly in the palm of his brawny hand well marked with auspicious lines, were a chased and banded bow and picked arrows too. A delicately embroidered belt he wore tied in a secure knot. Beautiful warrior-anklets of gold, fine-wrought and gleaming lay at his ankles, rising and falling with each swinging step. Like young warriors, armed with many spears and so mighty that none dare come near, laying waste enemy country making the foemen flee, flushing with swollen wrath, and blazing in anger as they closed with the enemy, seemed those big-clawed hounds of his. They encompassed us all around and rushed upon us with gleaming fangs white like bamboo-shoots, and frightful eyes which stared at us unwinkingly. Up we rose in haste with trembling limbs, and our steps quaked and faltered, while terror gripped our very hearts. Bewildered we sought to escape on to a neighbouring field.

Like when a lusty bull, who has fought his rival off and humbled their haughty pride, spies a new cow standing in a neighbouring field and walks gracefully up to her, so strode he towards us.

While we stood dazed and terror-struck, with anxious solicitude sweet and gentle words he spoke that fell aptly on our ears. Our braided locks he praised and our beauty that was rare. And then he said, ‘O young maidens with shining bangles, and lissom limbs that are a-tremble, and fair navels that are rounded, and liquid eyes, so artless yet so wanton too! I came here seeking a quarry of mine which has eluded my pursuit.’

But when we spake not in reply, he felt sore distressed and abashed, and he said, ‘O gentle fair! If my quarry you may not betray, should you even your speech deny? Is that sinful too?’

Then he broke off a flowery branch full of leaves, round whose blossoms with open petals eager beetle and covetous bees lingered humming harmonious notes which were as sweet as the perfect melody evoked by a skilful lutanist when he plucks with his hand the strings of his lute. Like a tusker snatching up its goad, which it has snapped in twin, he raised his twig aloft and in threatening splendour stood silencing the harsh tumult of the baying hounds besetting us. And thus he stood expectant awaiting the moment of our speech.

In their short pillared and lowly hovels thatched with stalks of millet, when their housewives with eyes soft as a dove’s offered them the clear wine distilled from honey, the watchmen drank, and in their delight and joy forgot their careful watch, the while a tusker thrust a vast and devouring mouth and consumed the big field’s yield, leaving but a few straggling crops. Unable to bear that sight, they strung their shapely bows, which seemed like snakes, and with grief welling in their hearts, and with a strength born of furious rage, flushed with anger, they shot their arrows and sounded the bamboo rattles, and rolled their tongue and whistled shrill till all the forest re-echoed. Other noises too they made, explosive, loud; and confronted the elephant, which trumpeted loud like the puissant thunder heard during the seasonal rains.

The elephant smote the hard ground with its massive trunk, black and rough, –worthy limb of a worthy form. Flushed with anger and with frenzy maddened, it uprooted the trees and in utter bewilderment rushed upon us like death.

We knew not whither to seek refuge. And impulsively, forgetting our modesty,–with palpitating hearts, our dainty fine-wrought bangles clinking, we quickly ran and joined him, and stood shuddering like peacocks possessed by spirits.

A long-shafted arrow he chose, one that was feathered well, and bending his bow to the full, swiftly, he planted the arrow deep on the beautiful forehead of that elephant, the leader of a herd. The blood sprouted from the wound, and overspreading the animal’s face streamed down in a flood. Mangled was its forehead, once spotted and streaked with beauty. It stood not its ground, but growing faint and weary 1urned tail and fled.

Thereafter, making that place seem like the sacred dance floor of the sybils possessed by the spirit of the tall god, we held one another’s hands, so that our arms seemed like the festooning garlands hung round the massive stem of the firm trunk of the sacred kadamba. Thus clasped, we jumped into the foaming flood. We were caught in its seething billows and were tossed about and floundered like plantain, trees standing on a crumbling shore, when that excellent and worthy gentleman shouted, ‘O lovely maid with straying curls, be quiet and still, and fear not, for f shall presently hold thy fair loveliness.’ (He gathered her up from the flood) and stroking her spotless gleaming brow, was long lost in thought. Then he looked up at my face and smiled.

While thus he stood holding her close, her modesty and timid fear asserted themselves and she sought to spring apart. But he wouldn’t let her go, and clasped her in closer embrace crushing her body into his own.

There in the long hollows among the rocks strewn with ripe pepper fruits, the honied juice which gushes forth from delicious fruits dropped from the boughs of the mango with massive trunk, and driving off the sipping bees, mixes with the clear honey of the sweet smelling jack-fruit, mellow and succulent. Then it gathers into a stream. The peacocks drink of it imagining it to be water. As in the broad and open spaces of the sportive plain of a large city celebrating a festival, while the sweet instruments sound peal upon peal of melody, fair dancers upon the tight-rope tire when the rhythm quickens, so tire the peacocks dancing in that valley. The cool and fragrant flowers of the red glory-lilies, which grew on the peaks whose tops battle with the skies, are crumpled by the mountain-nymphs, and seductive lie overspreading the ground and making it seem like a field covered with many a fine garment.

His country abounds with such hills gleaming with beauty. He is ever beloved of us-that great warrior.

Understanding well the state of my friend’s feelings (thus he spoke):

"Like one celebrating a feast large pots of boiled rice we shall give unstintingly to all who come, that our rich mansion may shine in splendour. Its gates shall be opened wide enabling multitudes to come in and feed. Blameless high-born men of noble birth, and all their kinsmen too shall we feast with cooked rice soaked in the fat dripping from fresh-cooked meat. And what they leave unconsumed I shall deem an honour to share with thee. So help me Righteousness!"

So spake the worthy gentleman her doubts dispelling. He invoked the God enthroned on the topmost crest of that high range of hills and prayed to him with folded hands, and by that god he swore a fearful vow. Whereat she was troubled greatly, but he calmed her saying that he would keep his promise, and for a token drank that lovely water clear and sweet.

Her mind was quieted then.

Then in a flower-laden grove, beloved of the shining gods whose mansions are in heaven, they spent the entire day among the secret mountain caves, cementing the bonds of their love engendered by that elephant.

As the day departed, the myriad-rayed sun, driving his seven horses downward, reached the mountains and vanished from sight; deer herds crowded round the foot of trees; throngs of lowing cattle calling to their calves crowded into the homestead; the anril with curving beak and voice like a sounding horn cried to its mate in the feathery perch of the black and stately palm; the serpent spat out its jewel, oft, from many sides, the shepherd swains evoked on sweet melodious lutes the clear ambal note; the lily’s beautiful petals slipped their buds and bloomed; in prosperous homes maidens wearing lovely bracelets lit the flaming lamps, while Brahmins performed the evening rites; on perches touching the sky foresters kindled a faggot fire; round the mighty mountains the lowering clouds grew dark; the forest resounded with many noises; and the birds sang. Like an angered king going to the war evening came on apace.

When he saw that, again he spoke, "O lovely maid with gleaming jewels, when thy relatives bestow thee grasping the palm of thy shapely hand, we shall celebrate a grand wedding that all the world may know. Yet for a short while, be patient and worry not." True words and kind he spoke and soothed was her unquiet then.

Like a stately bull protecting a herd he escorted us down to the ancient city gates with their never silent drum. At the drinking pool he left us returning the way he came.

From then on, with a love as great as at the first meeting, every day, habitually, he comes to us at night. And whenever he comes, should the watchmen hasten on their rounds, or should a dog bark angrily, or shouldst thou awake from sleep, or should the moon appear, denied to him is the sweet rest on her soft shoulders fair like the bamboo. If we of our assignation fail, he grows not impatient. He is in the full prime of manhood; and his riches have not caused him to be untrue himself. Oft has he reflected upon his stealthy entry into this city of ours, so full of peril; and his mind is now made up.

Full of dangers is the night. Giant tigers which block and fill their caves; monstrous leo-phants; bears; wild buffaloes with hollow horns; elephants; and angry thunders, cruel and murderous and destructive in their might; malignant deities; deadly serpents creeping after their prey; cavernous pools, dark and deep in whose eddying waters crocodiles, alligators and other dreadful beasts lie in wait; gruesome spots where fell bandits pile their slain victims in a heap; slippery paths; and blind cul-de-sacs horrible goblin shapes; and pythons huge;–these and many other hazards far deadlier than they teem in the depths of the caves of his hill, where lofty peaks jostle each other. Her large and wanton eyes, soft as any dew, wilt like a flower struck by heavy drops of hail. Her eye-lids droop and her inflamed eyes are wet with tears. From their straining lashes tears drop like rain upon her bosom. Day after day her beauty is passing away like that of a peacock. She quails again and again whenever she thinks on his dangers.

This is our story, mother dear.

* This paragraph is greatly condensed. The Tamil poet describes with a joy that is apparent all the flowers which grew in that valley. His description reminds one of ‘Spring Flowers’ in James Thomson’s "The Seasons,’ ‘The Sensitive Plant’ by Shelley and ‘The Idle Flowers’ by Robert Bridges.