Van: INDOLOGY [indology-bounces@list.indology.info] namens George Hart [glhart@berkeley.edu]
Verzonden: donderdag 1 augustus 2013 20:44
To: Indology List
Onderwerp: Re: [INDOLOGY] Sacrificial Tortoise?

Thanks to everyone for intriguing and useful replies. The poem is interesting enough, I think, to quote in its entirety, along with the text (from Project Madurai). I am grateful to V. S. Rajam for pointing out the use of words that is the key to the poem.  The original says "flowers that do not char," not "flowers that do not wither," as the commentators would have it, and the gods are described as periyōr, "great ones," probably with sarcastic intent.  One can imagine the gods coming and consuming the poor tortoise that has been cooked alive in the pit without even their flowers getting scorched by the heat.  It is also notable that the sacrifice is likened to the wilderness, a barren, uncivilized place, while the pond from which the tortoise has been taken is compared to the civilized, family life that the hero has left behind.  I would certainly agree with Jean-Luc that our sympathies are supposed to be with the tortoise.  George

361. Pālai

The hero, who has left (the heroine) to go for wealth, speaks to his heart as he is going.

As they dart on her lovely face, the cool, exuberant eyes of my woman

are like dark-petaled waterlily flowers tied together

over the pure flower of a lotus. Her wrists wear fine bangles, her lips are beautiful.

She gets angry if there is even the distance of a thread separating us

when I embrace her ample breasts encircled by a band. 5

But when I told you kindly that there is nothing more wonderful

than knowing the joy of such great passion, you didn’t agree,

O deluded heart so anxious to acquire wealth!

Now, you must not be like the tortoise longing to go

to its wide, shadowed pond after it’s been put in a fiery sacrificial pit 10

as food for the great beings whose flowers never char in the heat.

You must stop thinking of the arms

of our woman whose words are few,

whose teeth are like thorns,

for we have suffered and crossed into the wide wasteland 15

filled with mountains and burning hills.

Eyiṉantai Makaṉār Iḷaṅkīraṉār

This poem seems to be a subtle but effective put-down of the Vedic sacrifice, perhaps because its author was influenced by Jaina or Buddhist thought.  It is notable that the sacrificial pit with its fire is compared to the wilderness while the tortoise who is about to be burned alive normally lives in a place likened to civilized, family life.

5. “Band” is vār, which was apparently tied around the breasts to keep them from sagging, much like a brassiere.

9. “You must not be” is added.

11. One of the characteristics of the gods in Hinduism is that their garlands never fade.  “Great beings” is periyōr, “great ones,” probably used here with sarcastic intent, and “never char” is kariyā, which the commentaries take as “unwithering” (even though that is not one of its meanings).  I am grateful to V. S. Rajam for pointing out that the commentators seem to have missed the sarcastic intent here.  One can imagine the gods coming and consuming the poor tortoise that has been cooked alive in the pit without even their flowers getting scorched by the heat.