"tUya peru-neer": The 3 Perspectives of Rain (Part 2 of 3)

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

The second perspective of Rain in the TiruppAvai is far less global

than the first. It is what we might call a local, rather provincial

perspective of Rain. It is indicated in the expression "teenginri

nAdellAm tinggaL mummAri peyydhu..." appearing in Stanza No: 3. In

this stanza AndAl speaks of rainfall in the context of "nAdellAm",

and not "ulagellAm" -- i.e. she speaks of Rain as it happens in the

countryside; not Rain in the larger ecological or global sense of the

term we saw above.

 

The Tamil word "nAdu" has a distinct local flavour to it. It means

"country", "province", "district" etc. For e.g. we say

"BhAratha-nadu" to localize the country of India from the rest of the

world; we say "Tamil Nadu" to localize it from the rest of India just

to indicate that Tamil-speaking peoples live in that part of the

country; and within T.Nadu, "Rama-nAdu" becomes the local province

surrounding the town of Ramanathapuram... and so on, so forth. In

every case, the term "nAdu" is used as a suffix for the purpose of

localization. So, might we say that the phrase "nAdellAm mummAri

pEyydhu" too has a distinctly local or provincial focus to it. Who

knows, ANdAL perhaps was talking here about the provinces surrounding

her own native SriVilliputtur!

 

What is revealing about this perspective is that it points us to the

delicate but deep-rooted link existing between Rain and the local

ethos of societies and communities. It is a link that any modern

anthropologist would recognize immediately, understand completely and

attest readily. But we don't really need Anthropology to explain it.

A single epigram of the "tirukkural" will simply do instead.

 

The great Tamil poet, Tiruvalluvar comes to our aid in understanding

the perspective of AndAl's expression, "nAdellAm mummAri peyydhu". In

his immortal classic "Tirukkural" ("adi:2"; "vAn sirappu": "se:9")

Tiruvalluvar wrote:

 

"dAnam tavam-irandUn tangA viyanUlagam vAnam vazhangA-dhenin"

 

"Neither Charity nor 'tapas' (self-discipline and austerities) will

abide in the society of man if heavens should hold back their

showers!" (Kural translation by Sri.V.V.S.Iyer).

 

Tiruvalluvar states that it is Rain and Water (the "peru-neer" of

AndAl) which sustain and nourish all deeply held human values of

Charity ('dAnam'), Self-Discipline and Self-Restraint ('tavam').

Without such values no society or community can survive or prosper

for long. Everything that is noble in human community viz. family

life, mutual respect and caring, good neighbourliness, amity,

fraternity, etc., all these fine and lofty qualities to which Man

aspires in human society, all of them would be impossible to realize

if there was no Rain.

 

If you happen today to be a citizen (or ex-resident, as I am) of the

city of Madras, India, you would not need to look far beyond the

circumstance and experience of living in that unfortunate city in

order to have the truth and wisdom of Tiruvalluvar's terse

observation confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt.

 

Madras today is chronically rain-deficient. The monsoon, alas, fails

it repeatedly, year after year. Drinking water has become acutely

scarce. The wells are dry. The temple-tanks are absolutely dry. No

"teppOtsavam-s" (temple "float-festivals") are celebrated anywhere

anymore! The city's water-lines run empty for most part of the year.

In some local neighbourhoods people scramble daily from pillar to

post, trying to somehow grab their meager daily-rations of water, be

it for drinking, washing or gardening!

 

It is a terrible and wretched sight indeed to see the common

women-folk of Madras, who are otherwise known for demure

self-restraint, abusing each other and coming to blows, out in the

streets and alleys, while waiting their turn at the long water-queues

that form at community wells!

 

It is tragic to see normally courteous neighbours in large

apartment-blocks in the city, overnight turning hostile towards each

other. They cannot anymore bear to look upon each other as good,

next-door friends since, come morning, they will be facing each other

as bitter contestants for the day's water-rations!

 

Perhaps the most heart-rending of all sights however is to see young

Brahmin boys in Madras homes telling their fathers and mothers, "Why

do you keep pestering me to perform the daily 'sandhyAvandam' rite? I

always regarded it as a waste of time. Can't you see now it is waste

of precious water too!"

 

The folks of Madras (at least those I knew in the neighbourhood I

once used to live in) were once a warm, generous and courteous

society. Today, they are anything but that. Their charitableness,

good-nature and fine human qualties are things of the past. They have

become today a somewhat coarse, surly and uncharitable lot. But the

fault is not all theirs. I believe it truly has something to do with

the Rains ("peru-neer") that kept failing them all these years...

Looking at them I know that Tiruvalluvar could not have been more

right in his wise observation: the culture of a community does

degenerate rapidly when the "heavens hold back their showers!"

--"dAnam tavam-irandUn tangA viyanUlagam vAnam vazhangA-dhenin".

 

******** *********** ***********

 

If we have grasped this important message from the Tirukkural, and if

we are able to appreciate how profoundly cultural values of human

communities or provinces are shaped and influenced by Rain, then we

should have no difficulty at all understanding the perspective

underlying AndAl's famous words in the TiruppAvai:

 

"teengginri nAdellAm tinggal mUmmAri peyydhu... niraindhu elOr!"

 

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(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

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