I want to be a Tortoise

     Evolution provided life forms with an exoskeleton to begin with. As we learnt in school, the exoskeleton is a hard rigid outer structure that protects the organism inside, supports its musculature and allows for basic functions such as ingestion, excretion and a limited level of sensing geared towards survival.

     Then evolution decided to turn us inside out. Quite literally. It pushed IN the hard skeleton and pushed OUT the softer muscles. So we (the mammals) along with reptiles and birds have to cope with having our softer muscles and tissues exposed to attacks while our tough bones stay inside. This design makes us far more thin-skinned than most of our insect cousins. They waltz around with their soft inner bodies safely enclosed inside a hard shell, protected from bumps and bruises as they go about their daily business, being sure any predator having designs on them will have to think twice.

     But for the rest of us with endoskeletons... life can be a little scary.  The environment rubs up against us. Every little thorn under our feet to even a degree of change in temperature is a potential threat.

     However, as always, evolution had very practical reasons for turning us inside out. Endoskeleton allows for a far greater leavel of flexibility than an exoskeleton ever could. That means a higher level of sensitivity, greater variety of movements and a greater potential for growth. In contrast, the very rigidity of the exoskeleton limits growth. The endoskeleton is also, paradoxically, much stronger than an exoskeleton. True, an outer shell can make the organism completely immune to minor hurt and protect it from serious injuries to a certain extent. But once a major injury damages the exoskeleton, the organism simply dies. In the case of the endoskeleton, however, the orgamism is easily hurt, even a little scratch can bleed. However, in case of a major injury, the endokeleton proves to be much hardier and more resilient. This gives the organism a chance to bounce back even if serious damage is done to its structure.

     Can the same principle be applied to our hearts and minds? Or rather, our emotions and intelligence?

     The people who have unshakeable emotions and a firm stand on their ideas. Those who are envied for their thick skins. Life's nasty little surprises roll off their backs easily. Their limited or suppressed sensitivity allows them to cope with a lot of things life throws at them and keep away the predators of their life's goals. Their hard shell allows them only to perform "functions", not dance and cart wheel. This steadiness allows them to be successful in many ways. However, when a major blow stomps hard on their exoskeleton.... they seem to fall apart.... not unlike the snail whose shell is torn away....

     Then there are those whose emotions are always on the surface. The ones who cry buckets over poetry, those who are hurt by every real and imagined insult, those who dance in the rain and come down with a cold the next day... they seem to survive the major blows better.

     Is it the same exoskeleton vs endoskeleton theory at work?

     Another thing I noticed is that people who cry easily are not quite tender hearted as they make themselves out to be.  In the book "Catcher in the Rye",  Holden describes a woman crying over a stupid movie all the while ignoring the little kid with her who was in discomfort. And in the 12 years since I read the book, I have found that statement to be a very accurate description of the so called "sensitive" people, always allowing for exceptions, of course.

     Would it be ideal to be like the tortoise? Which has both the shell as well as an internal skeletal structure? A predator may be put of by the hard shell whereas those who are privileged to flip them over get to experience the softness inside? Can the shell hide us from the scratches of a rough world while our internal structure gives us the strength to survive the major whacks?  Would this be the ideal emotional skeletal structure to maintain our sensitivity while not keeping our emotions so close to the surface that they lose their meaning and depth?

      Is this analogy making sense to anyone out there?

Kurunthokai

     In William Dalrymple's "Nine Lives" (if you haven't read the book yet, please do so NOW!), I came across a Tamil poem translated by A.K. Ramanujan (The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology, Ontario, 1975). Here it is:

Her arms have the beauty
Of a gently moving bamboo.
Her eyes are full of peace.
She is faraway,
Her place not easy to reach.
My heart is frantic
With haste.
A ploughman with a single ox
On land all wet
And ready for seed.


     After a little online trawling, this is what I found...

     Ettuthokai (Eight Anthologies) dated anywhere between 600 AD to 1200 AD are a collection of poems dealing with both Akam (Private life) and Puram (Public life). The poems were composed by many poets and annotated into anthologies. Kurunthokai is the second book of the anthology and deals with Akam. It consists of 401 poems loosely woven together to form a story of love, separation and longing.

     By the way, the "Interior Landscape" is not what you would think :-). In Classical Tamil poetry (especially in those dealing with love), description of the landscape was woven into poems to convey the many moods of the lovers. For example, mountains, water falls, winter months (the only pleasant season in Tamil Nadu even 2000 years back, I guess) and kurinji flowers form the backdrop for a lover's union. Forests, rivers, late summers and jasmine form the backdrop for the heroine patiently waiting for her lover to return from battle. When the lovers are separated and there is no hope of union, the landscape is seashore, salt water and water lily. When the hero goes on a dangerous mission from which he may never return, the background is parched desert, cactus and the dry summer season. Arguments between couples are depicted along with ponds (maybe because the water is stagnant), plains and valleys and (for some strange reason) mangoes and water buffaloes. Maybe the other party in the argument begins to look like a clumsy buffalo. And another interesting point, no season is assigned for arguments between couples. The poets must have noted that they happen irrespective of the time of the year. :-)


Here are a few of the other Kurunthokai poems I liked...

Poem# 132

She is always eager to embrace,
Her softly blossoming breasts and long tresses
kindle my desire.

How could I bring myself
to forget her?
The dusky maiden looks at me with shy longing. 
Like a new born calf raising his trembling head
to search for his mother whose milk he seeks.




Poem# 101

The weight of this entire earth filled with great oceans and rolling waves
And the next world which few could hope to reach, put together,
Cannot compare with the delight I feel 
When I lay in the arms of my girl with golden skin,
kohl-lined eyes like lotus blossoms
And slender thighs freckled with beauty spots.




Poem# 119

Just as the young offspring
of the small white snake
with its pretty stripes
can wound a wild elephant,
this petite girl
with bright milky teeth
and arms laden with bangles
has wounded me.




Poem# 54

He has gone - and I am alone -
my Lord of the hill country
where a wild elephant,
startled by the whistling of stones
from the slings of watchmen
in the millet fields,
releases a green bamboo stem
so that it springs back
like a fisherman's rod landing a catch.
And with him has gone
all that I am worth as a woman.




Poem# 62

Like an exquisite, skilfully wrought garland
of white kantal flowers
and bright green buds of jasmine, yet to unfold,
interspersed with fragrant petals of blue water lilies
is my sweet one's fragrant body,
more delicate than a mango tree's tender shoots
and more delightful yet to embrace.




Poem# 116

My love has made for her
a dwelling-place in my heart.
Her tresses, besieged by honey-bees,
are like long ripples
in the fine dark sand
on the broad shores of Urantai
where the rich Chola Kings
make their dwelling place,
so sleek, fresh and so fragrant.




Poem# 168

Her dusky body
is fresh and fragrant,
like a green basket –
woven from the tender young leaves
and filled with the plump rain-drenched buds,
which, in the early morning,
burst open and scatter
under the monsoon's heavy downpour.
Her shoulders, slender as bamboo,
glide like a boat on the water.
I can neither embrace them
nor be separated from them.
And were I to depart from here,
to live at all
would be equally impossible.




And the most famous Sembula Peyaneer (Red Earth and Rain):


Poem# 40

What could my mother be
to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
did you and I meet ever?
But in love our hearts are as red
earth and pouring rain:
mingled
beyond parting.

Who wrote Thirukkural?

Thirukkural, a classic of tamil literature. is a collection of couplets. 1330 of them, in fact. "Kural" means a short verse and "Thiru" is a prefix used to denote respect. The text is divided into three chapters, The first deals with individual character, the second deals with character becoming of a person in public life and the third deals with private life within the family.

We know very little about the exact date when the text was composed. Historians believe the text to have been written anytime between the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, more commonly referred to as the "Sangam" period (the Golden Age of Tamil literature). We know even less about the authorship of the text. We do not know who wrote it or even if it was composed by just one individual.

In present day Tamil Nadu, if you stop anyone walking down the street and ask who wrote Thirukkural, the reply will be "Thiruvalluvar". This is the general belief and this notion is propogated through the education system. Many legends have sprung around this belief, encouraged by the Dravidian movement in the 20th century. However, there is no evidence to suggest someone called Thiruvalluvar existed or that he wrote the text. The image of Thiruvalluvar as a venerable bearded old man sitting cross legged with palm leaf manuscripts in his hand is an artist's imagination created during the latter half of the 20th century.

There are many versions as to who could be the author. Some suggest that such an exhaustive work consisting of 1330 perfectly worded couplets about subjects ranging from ruling a kingdom, giving alms, spying, agriculture, education and making love could not have been composed by one individual. While the first two chapters could be written by either a man or a woman, some couplets in the third chapter, dealing with intimate relationships are written from a woman's perspective. Example:

Kural 1186:
விளக்கற்றம் பார்க்கும் இருளேபோல் கொண்கன்
முயக்கற்றம் பார்க்கும் பசப்பு.

Explanation:

(A woman in love laments)

As darkness waits for the lamp to be extinguished,
Weakness threatens to engulf me as soon as I am out of his embrace.


In Indian poetry, it is not unusual for men to write from a woman's prespective. This is quite prevalent in religious poetry where the male poet imagines himself to a woman in love with the male deity (notably Shiva or Krishna, the former known for his sexual prowess culminating in millennia long love making with his wife Parvati and the latter being a charming ladies man.)

Anyway, getting back to the topic :), in Thirukkural, the love and longing is not directed towards any deity. It is for, by all accounts, a normal man to whom the lady has lost her heart. So were some couplets composed by women poets?

As we know, during the Sangam period, women poets contributed to Tamil literature and poetry. Most notably, Avvaiyar. "Sangam" means "confluence" or "assembly". The Tamil Sangams were, quite literally, assemblies were poets gathered. And some of them were definitely bound to be women. Is it possible that, given that the Thirukkural covers almost every aspect of private, social and public life, many poets (both men and women) contributed? And the best verses were chosen and compiled into what is today known as Thirukkural?

Assuming various men & women contributed to making Thirukkural what it is, why is that such an intriguing thought? Because, in that case, the credit for composing such a timeless classic does not rest with one venerated individual (with magical powers, if some legends are to be believed) but with an entire society consisting of ordinary men and women who could create verses that are as true today as they were a thousand years ago.

And for what makes Thirukkural so special (beyond what was taught to us at school, of course)...my next post....