kuṛiñci class, Nature is described as if in sympathy with the heroine, for the sufferings and bleak aspect presented in Nature reflect the bleak and forlorn condition of the heroine who desires the hero's return. In other poems, Nature is presented as placing obstacles on the way of the lover's reunion, but the effect is produced by contrast, for the joy of the meeting of the lovers is great in proportion to the number of difficulties they overcome. Paranar mentions in an akam poem how the feasting in the village, the sleeplessness of the nurse or the mother, the watchmen, the barking of the dog, the moonlight bright as day, the hoot of the owl, the crowing of the cock may all in their turn hinder or delay the nocturnal tryst of lovers.¹³

The Pasture-lands

The landscape changes entirely when one descends from the mountain ranges of Tamil Naad to its mullai or pastoral regions. The terrain is more or less a sloping plain broken here and there by hillocks. The vegetation is sparse, consisting mostly of thorny bushes, and the ground is stony. Occasional clumps and groves of big trees break the monotony. The chief feature, however, is the jasmine creeper which revives with wonderful rapidity after the first showers of the seasonal rain. Tamil poetry contemplates these pastoral districts as they appear in the cloud season when the dark rain-clouds gather, or after the first showers of rain when bird and beast are supremely content at the freshness of new life that the rains have brought. The vermilion coloured velvety insects creep across the landscape; the temporary river hurries towards no destination in particular; the gazelles wander about the landscape; the wild-fowl draws patterns on the earth with its feet.

The shepherds keep to the meadows nearer to their villages, and return to the folds in the evenings. The sun has' set; the jasmines unfold their buds and fill the air with their fragrance; the tintinnabulation of the bells tied around the necks of the cows and calves is heard as they return to the fold, and the wail of the flutes of cowherds and shepherds

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   ¹³Akam; 122.