the fold, he purses his lips in a loud whistle.27 At night he wears his dew-dripping garlands, and with a firebrand and his whistle keeps the jackals away.28 The Lay of the Larger Lutanist (Perumpaaṇaaṛṛuppaṭai)which contains long descriptions of the five regions presents a minute picture of the daily life in the shepherd home. The shepherdess wakes early with the birds and works with the churning rod "that doth resound like a tiger's roar". With the butter-milk and ghee she supports her kith and kin. Beyond her village are the fields of the mullai tracts, where, not rice is grown as in the marutam regions, but mostly cereals like varaku. These fields belong to farmers, but farmers of the pastoral lands. Within the description of shepherd life occur interesting observations regarding their close life with Nature. The shepherd wears garlands but since he lives out in the jungle, he has a choice out of a variety of flowers. The wreath which he wears on his head is said to be "of various flowers from branch and from creeper."29 He has his flute the stops of which he himself has made by branding the reed with the fire that he kindled from his fire-sticks.30 The shepherd's flute and his music in the pastoral regions is not a mere poetic convention as in much of modern poetry, but was a reality, even far more than it was in Italy at the time when Vergil wrote his eclogues. The kali odes present special features of pastoral life in the Tamil country. They describe the kind of bull-fighting and bull-baiting that was common, and is yet to be found in modified forms, in some districts like Chetty Naad. The shepherds showed their prowess by mastering the strongest bulls that would be driven helter-skelter from sheds where they were congregated. This was a favourite pastime, and young shepherdesses would marry or be given in marriage to those who mastered the bull pointed out to them for conquest. The maidens would watch with eagerness and anxiety for the young men of their choice to subdue them.31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27 Cfr. Kur; 221; Cirupaan; 164 ff; Perumpaan. 166, Akam; 276, 8-9. 28Akam; 94. | 29Perumpaan; 174-175. | 30Ibid., 177 ff. |
31Lectures on Kalittokai (Tm), Tirunelveli, 1943, pp. 20-22. |