Elephants

[N. Ganesan]

Taking advantage of Dominique, Aphrodite, and so on.

Once Dominique asked:

*        I'd like to take advantage of this return of the elephant to
*ask again if the elephant is renowned in Indian tradition for a
*specially high sexual power. I'm particularly interested by the
*ability to have many intercourses. Not only reality but also
*litterary, or even popular, metaphors would be useful to me.


 Ciivaka CintaamaNi, a late 9th - early 10th century Tamil
Jaina epics has many poems of interest. CintaamaNi was
edited by U. V. Saaminaataiyar before he went onto Sangam classics.

  mOTTu iLam kurumpai an2n2a mulaik kaTAk kaLiRu, muttam
  cUTTiya OTai pogka, nAN en2um tOTTi mARRi,
  ATTiya cAntam en2n2um muka paTAm azittu, vempOr
  OTTaRa OTTip, paintAr uzakki iTTu, vanta an2RE.   (Poem 1688)

My attempt at translation:

  A young tusker was inexperienced in war;
    Once adorned with pearls on its forehead ornament,
    it became overjoyed, overpowered the controlling goad;
   In the battlefield, it didn't mind the forehead jewellery
    getting destroyed and emerged victorious by destroying
    the front array of armed soldiers.

Likewise:
   A young lady was inexperienced;
     Her breasts were adorned with pearls(/kiss),
     they became overjoyed; overpowered the natural shyness;
    In the bedfield, the sandal paste on them got destroyed;
     they emerged victorious by smacking the
     beautiful garland on the hero's chest!

Both the meanings are contained in this poem of imagery.
I don't know how to condense it.

                     Metaphors
                    ------------
        1)    breasts --> war elephant
        2)    pearls/kisses --> pearls on a tusker's head jewels.
        3)    shyness   --> aGkuzam (tOTTi in Tamil, prod)
        4)    sandal paste --> forehead ornaments
        5)    bed --> battlefield
        6)    enemy's front row of soldiers (taar in Tamil)
                     --> Fresh, perfumed garland on hero (taar in Tamil)

Note that the heroine is aggressive and the performer
of war in the bedfield! The poet does not explicitly
say that the battle he is talking about is sex.

Would love to hear similar poems in Sanskrit,
both in original and in translation. Thanks.

Regards,
N. Ganesan










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