'What She said' and other Poems - Sangam Era Poems

Tamil language is considered as one of the oldest living languages still in active use. Sangam literature, a classical Tamil Poetry is dated from around 300 BCE to 300 CE. They belong to 'Akam (interior) poetry that deals with the theme of love. These poems are divided into 'Tinais' (Sections). 'Tinais' represent different landscapes and its nature and mood. They are Kurinji (hilly region), Palai (dry lands) Mullai (pastoral land) Marutham (agricultural land) Neithal (Coastal area). The natural world has a symbolic connection with the inner life of the individuals, living there. So, the Sangam poets use nature as a medium to express love, longing, separation and social dynamics in their poem.

A K Ramanujan (1929-1993), the renowned Indian poet and translator in his 'Poems of love and war' has translated a multitude of poems from Sangam literature. Among them, 'what she said' by Tevakulattar from  'Kurunthokai' is a poem where the lady love compares her love towards her lover from Kurinji, with nature. She says her love is bigger than the earth, higher than the sky, and deeper than the sea. Then she explains the place of her lover as a place where the bees make rich honey from Kurinji flowers. In another poem of Kapilar from 'Akananooru' with the same title 'What She said', the lady love makes a request to her lover.  She also describes the Kurinji land where elephants roam and thunder rumbles. It is a place with fruitful hills and musical waterfalls.  Then she requests him as he has to walk through the path of snakes and tigers after their meeting, he should blow the horn on his reaching home.

In the poem of 'What her girl friend said the lover within earshot, behind the fence' by Uloccanar, the girl friend of the lady love expresses her doubt whether her love will perish. She talks about the ripped apart nets of the fishermen, by the angry sea, the noisy, unfair town with full of gossips and the watchful mother. She knows very well her friend's lover overhears everything that she says. She also asks whether their love will be washed away like the loosened petals fallen on the mud of the back water by the waves of the sea. Thus Sangam poems use nature to express emotions.  They depict the interconnectedness of  sound, landscapes and human emotions. In this way, Sangam poems are relevant to be considered even now as they echo ecocritical discussions on human-nature relationships.