In comparison with other Sangam-era works, Nedunalvaadai is an exemplary work that depicts sorrow caused by both love and war, said well-known debater Prof Ku Gnanasambandan, in a talk-series held here on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Sangam-4 Tamil talk series, Gnanasambandan said, “There are many different versions saying that Nedunalvaadai is a literature that speaks only about Agam (love) not Puram (war) and vice-versa”. He spoke on the topic of ‘Punaiya Oviyam – Feminine Beauty : An altenative narrative in Nedunalvaadai’.
Nedunalvaadai, one of the Sangam literatures, comes under the category of Pathuppaattu. It is the 188 lines of poetry, written by Madurai Kanakkaayanar Maganar Nakkeeranar. It mentions no King’s name, but one of the lines says that neem flowers were tied to the spear – Vembu thalai yaaththa none kaazh yeghamodu (168 – 177 lines) and since Pandiya kings wore neem garlands, most of the Tamil scholars accept that the song is about the former.
The words Punaiya Oviyam are taken from this song – Punaiya oviyam kaduppa, punaivu il (136 – 147 lines) and Gnanasambandan chose these words as the topic to describe the aesthetic sense of the situation depicted in the song.
“If you take any Sangam literature, you will see that the poets dedicated their works to this world. In Nedunalvaadai too, the poet dedicates his work to the people by saying Vaiyagam panippa valan erpu valaiyi (1 – 8 lines). It was a long (Nedu) winter (vaadai) period for the queen and it was good (nal) for the king, because he was doing what he supposed to do as a warrior” he said.
He added that, “If literatures of the olden days are musicalised, it will have a better reach among the people. Also the Urai, an explanation for the songs must be simplified”.
Earlier, noted marine researcher Siva Balasubramani spoke on the topic of Panguni Aamaigal, which dealt with Olive Ridley turtles and Karthikeya Sivasenapathi, of Senapathy Kangeyam Cattle Research Centre, spoke on Kangeyam Kaalaigal, dealing with the recent research carried over to conserve Kangeyam bulls.
