battles. The division is known as tumbai from a sea-side flower (leucas linifolia). Commentators have usually explained the propriety of this division by saying that clear, level and open land is necessary for pitched battles, and that such places are obtained only in the maritime tracts. An additional reason too may be advanced, namely, that in the old days, most of the attacks or invasions of the Tamil kingdoms were made by sea, and that most of the historic and memorable battles were fought on the beaches. Just as articulate sorrow is the keynote of neytal, so is it also the keynote of this puṛam division, since pitched battles result in loss of lives on both sides, and those who fall in battle are mourned by the respective armies and by all those who see the battle-field after the conclusion of truce.16 The paalai regions were symbolic of long separation, and while mullai represented the heroine's virtuous suppression of grief, and neytal the pitiful expression of grief, the paalai represented the pangs of long separation and emphasized the element of fear and anxiety that one experienced as a result of separation. Between these three regions there is a progressive length of separation, a progressive element of danger, and consequently progressive sorrow. The explanation is partly historical. In the kuriñci region, the men might leave their homes ordinarily to hunt, but they would not be out of home for long. Hence that region was eminently suited to represent meetings and union of lovers. In the pasture-lands, the shepherds invariably spent the whole day in the grazing grounds, and would return home only for the night. During certain months, they had to lead their flocks to distant pastures, and consequently spent longer periods away from home. The seaboard represented longer separation than the pasture-land because the fishermen went a fishing at night, and were involved in an occupation that contained greater element of danger. Further, the Tamils were great seafarers, and their commercial expeditions lasted weeks and months. The paalai was representative of the longest and most dangerous separation, as the journey of separation was supposed to lead through unknown regions further than the limits of ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16 T. 1015. |