Translation:Tolkappiyam/Clandestine love

by Tolkappiyar

use me to read Tamil

Source in Tamil

Note

The serial number at the end denotes the verse in the part of the literature

Translation

Example to the verse, cited by Elamburanar, an interpreter to the literature ‘Tolkappiyam’ who belongs to 11th century A.D. and others is given indented star-mark.

This chapter deals with the subject matters of the personal love before marriage.

Basic notes to follow

Personal love of human life has been divided into two parts; before marriage and after marriage. This chapter deals with the former leaving the other to the next chapter.

General points

• The love-union between man and woman in mutually realized love of five-fold behavior of strands is parallel with the union of celestial lyre-players, one among the eight forms union adopted in Vedic-literature. (1)
• A well matched man and woman fall in love and unite by Fate of union and diversity. Superiority in man-part is not to be put aside. (2)
• Incredulity (whether he or she is Heavenly figure of human figure) will arise while they appear in extraordinary beauty in each other’s view. Inferiority will never cause incredulity. (3)
• A swarm of bees (flying over the flower worn on head of her), the ornaments (she worn is moving), [vall’i] the body drawing (on her shoulder), flower (that she worn), eyes that winks timidly, etc. are the indications that break the incredulity. (4)
• Reciprocal glance in eager is a sign of acceptance to sexual union. (5)
• If her worm-sight fall on him, that will lead them in sexual union. (6)
• Male (hero) is an embodiment of nobility and robustness. (7)
• The feminine (heroine) quality comprises timidity, bashfulness, credulity and sensitiveness. (8)

Clandestine love

• The happenings in clandestine love are; amorousness, strong feelings, emaciation of mind and body, expressing the pain and pleasure, transgressing the bounds of modesty, seeing objects seem to be resembling his or her mind object, self forgetfulness, stupor and death-like anxiety. (9)
• The manifesting in clandestine love are; making bold to address the heroine, drawing her to listen his address, speaking of her graceful future, reading her mind through her streaks of smile, bringing his mind’s anguish, talking his cupid passion home to her and understanding her acceptance. (10)
• Further happenings in clandestine love are; learning by caressing her limbs, contriving feigned excess for his doings, embracing her at times, speaking of her reserve as impediment to union, his express regret at the union delayed, stress her joy of union, feeling of intimacy after union, (-the eight stages), (then happening citation) feeling the joy of union, bewildering on intervening separation, thinking past union, revealing the future happenings, clearing the clandestine-friend’s doubts, pointing night time to reunion, requesting her friend revealing his native and name, intermediation of her girl friend, his request on and on, reunion, on her friend’s disagree pointing the result his words about palmyrh-horse. (11)
• Furthermore happenings are; dodging reunion, distress at that time, accepting smile, bliss in reunion, obstacles happening, etc. (12)

His-friend [paangar]

• Boy-friend of the hero helps him in hero’s love course in twelve ways, the learned says. (13)
• Among the twelve the former three concerned with one-sided unrequited love on the part of hero who longs for reunion with the heroine. (14)
• Latter four concerned with deviant love. (15)
• The middle five concerned with the reciprocal love of five themes of habits of five strands. (16)

Hero’s [kil”avan] parts

• What are maters the hero speaks in the theme of clandestine love are; when he could not meet his lover in both day and night time as they have decided already, the time weighing him on next meeting with her, when his effort fails to get her union in her residence in his ambition, unexpected welcome to him in her residence, meeting her by her effort, departing her on her craving to meet after marriage, leaving her on modesty after conjugal union, when he receives insisting instructions from her she-maid, to clarify his intention to marry her, to clarify the difficulties at that time of event, when the she-maid of the heroine turn down his union with her, etc. (17)

Qualities of lust

• Lust appetite appears in woman’s part only by manifesting emotions (not in words) as the female quality is endowed with modesty and ignorance. (18)
• Her lust appetite appears in her glance. (19)

The response of heroine [kil”aththi]

• No-word never come in his part, but in her part. (20)
• The contexts of the heroine’s expression revealed are; pepping him out of his sight, showing her up before him, uttering indirect words in enormous lust appetite, defying his offering, accepting his offer at the end his adornment, harmless smile, baffling in his embrace, in flood of modesty, in his departure leaving her alone home, pinning down her without union, humiliating him on his emerge, his hesitating performance with sighing when leave her, defying his clarification by words without in action of marriage, fear in intervening time before marriage, depression over his detachment, happiness over his attachment, when the personal helpers revealing his difficulty of obstacles on his way to meet her, when the personal helpers intervening her reunion, explaining her grievance on separation, sighing as dyeing, to deny wedding with other person, concealing her secret union, safeguarding the relation of union by fate, when he speaks about the Palmyra-horse, when her maid consoles her, when the love-fog ceremonial game [ver’iyaaadu] is to be played, disappointment on folly sound of hero’s arrival, when her marriage has been decided, when her love-secret becomes be open, when her parents fortifying her (from conjugal union), when realizing her mistake that cause him return back without embracing her in their decided point, when he leaves her to earn wealth with her permission, annoying over the obstacles on his way to meet her, on overwhelming lust feelings, when his lust endowment brims, in her feeling of joy with shelter, etc. (21)
• The heroine expresses her vexatious mood when he leaves to earn postponing her marriage, when he impress her before marriage and when she wants to send her message to him through her maid-friend. (22)
• Accepting the Ancient’s theory she feels that her virtuous modesty is superior than her life and her virtuous chastity is superior than her modesty and reaches his (to whom she endowed her mind and body) residence. (23)

Activities of heroine’s Abigail [thoo’l”i]

• Activities of the abigail (heroine’s girl-friend) are eight stages in the first phase. They are she behaves obedient as usual even after reading her heroine’s sexual union with her beloved by way of seven measurements 1 sexual smell in her body, 2 sexual changes in her body, 3 sexual after math in her behavior, 4 reduced measurement of food consuming, 5 hiding activities, 6 loneliness in wandering and 7 loneliness between their intimacy, she tries to divert her heroine in some other worldly matters, turning back the hero without the knowledge of her heroine, advising him the worldly procedure of marring, making postponing their reunion, advising him to meet her some other times with the knowledge of her heroine, joking on him, speaking about their maiden sexual union, alarm them of aftermath panic and making arrangements to their reunion on their request. In the second phase it has thirty two stages. They are, pretending before the hero leaving them to enjoy in reunion, adorning him after hero-heroine lust enjoyment, mockery defying on their conjugal desire, helping them in better ways in better result, tricking on their behavior, [oo’mbadaik-kil’avi] encouraging words where she require union and where she dislike union, where she require her assistance, having known about union pretending unknown, - all these encouraging will be sweet-bitter, incline her towards reunion, depression over the obstacles on the way in which the hero comes to meet the heroine, parent’s protect that cause her do nothing to help, conveying her heroine’s points where and when they meet to the hero, conveying his native location, village, home, family, the nobility of birth, etc. to her heroine, conveying his words to her, impressing her mother to lock her on wedding, nullifying her mother’s doubts, leading the heroine to the place of meeting, when other person trying to wed her, when the hero postponing marriage, to impress the hero to marry her is his duty and to marry her is virtuous deed, revealing their secret union to mother, to avoid the betrothal with other bride-groom, etc. (24)

Contexts of utterance by two mothers

• The foster-mother of the heroine utter her words in thirteen and more contexts; as the clandestine love career comes to the subject of public gossip, as the heroine’s passion of love exceeds the bounds, as the heroine’s feature betrays unwonted flowering, as she runs into the heroine’s rendezvousing with the hero, as she hear sooth saying by [veee’lan] by means of rolling Moluccas beans and frenzied dance, as the heroine babbles in dream, when she want to inquire her girl-friend, to pray God on her behalf, knowing elopement enquiring her girl-friend, when she leave the heroine to follow the wedded chastity life, pondering the past remembrance along with her, thinking about the dignity of both families, etc. (25)
• The above fields of utterance are applicable to the mother of the heroine. (26)
• The two mothers in their eager wants to know their daughter’s activities from the dignitaries who knows her position after elopement because her beloved does not know his lover. (27)

Some other points

• The lover does not reveal her thrust of lusty feelings before her beloved. It appear as water oozing from the raw pot of earth-ware. (28)
• As the lust meeting is secret, the following meetings may also proceed without media person. (29)
• Pointing rendezvous is the duty of lover as the beloved is capable of reaching anywhere and anytime. (30)
• Rendezvous, sometimes may also pointed by her girl-friend. (31)
• The re-lust meeting with the help of mediators may be appointed for three times. (32)
• Mediating rendezvous happen on the part of heroine. (33)
• In clandestine love affairs the word ‘mother’ denotes ‘foster-mother’. (34)
• The ‘she-friend’ of the heroine is the daughter of heroine’s foster-mother. (35)
• She-friend will always be with the heroine to whom the heroine discus with. (36)
• Reading the lust-meeting has three stages; 1 hero’s petition to heroine, 2 changed demeanors in the part of heroine, 3 sighting each others. (37)
• Only after reading as above, she-friend proceed her dealings. (38)
• In her dealings, she-friend encourage meeting too. (39)
• Rendezvous rest in day or night time. (40)
• Rendezvous at nighttime will be an adjacent place to heroine’s home where the sound be heard from the house. (41)
• Rendezvous in daytime is somewhat far away. (42)
• Mistaking sound in rendezvous point, she approaches in vain. (43)
• Then and there love meeting also happens. (44)
• Good day and good time may also be adopted in re-union. (45)
• The difficulties of his route, disheartening and fear do not deprive hero’s rendezvous love meeting. (46)
• The father and brother know the heroine’s love-behavior by inference. (47)
• Knowing by mother is as the foster-mother knowing. (48)
• Hero is the cause for the private and public hush-hush (gossip) on secret meeting of lovers. (49)
• Wedding is of two kinds; 1 before gossip and after gossip. (50)
• Public gossip is considered as wedding life. The hero do not have rights to part except the three occasions (earning, learning, worshiping). (51)