Kannadasan – A Realized Master (Part 12)

 

Since the days of Adam and Eve, sages have posed questions to prompt human reflection and foster clarity regarding love. The poet-sage Kannadasan, in particular, often pierces through with a barrage of questions across many of his songs. In some tracks, he provides answers, while in others, he embeds the answer within the question itself. For instance, in this song, he asks, "Kaadal illadha vaalibama!" (Film: *Anandha Jothi*) (“Paniyilladha Marghazhiyaa”): 

“Is it the month of Margazhi without dew?

A king without an army?

The three choice fruits without sweetness?

Or the three forms of Tamil without music?” 

The master of words has framed the answer itself as a question. Yet, in a single line, he has subtly hinted at the nature of their future married life—likening it to the lovers' tiff that follows a romantic union: 

“Restlessly running about,

Singing without a thought,

Speaking like an adversary—

Are these not the tales of youth?”

 

Referring back to her book “The Female Brain”, Louann Brizendine says, “Short- and long-term ‘chemistry’ between two people may seem accidental, but the reality is that our brains are preprogrammed to know better. They subtly but firmly steer us toward partners who can boost our odds in the sweepstakes of human reproduction.”

 

Once a person is in love, the cautious, critical-thinking pathways in the brain shut down. Evolution may have made these in-love brain circuits to ensure we find a mate and then focus in exclusively on that one person, according to Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University. Not thinking too critically about the loved one’s faults would aid this process.”

 

The 'King of Poets' describes this as the 'enchantment of twilight,' capturing the eagerness of couples to unite without wasting the day (Film: *Ooty Varai Uravu*): 

"For whom is the enchantment of twilight there?

For the two who are swooning right here!

If one waits for tomorrow to come,

Wouldn't a whole day go to waste?" 

He also playfully sings about the magnetic attraction between a man and a woman (Film: *Vennira Aadai*):

"He, a lover; she, a beloved—

Their bond called out, 'Oh-ho-ho,'

And beckoned, 'Come closer, come closer.'" 

The poet views the state of these young lovers as part of nature's grand design (Film: *Panathottam*):

"We were born as individuals,

But we have united as a pair;

God himself planted this garden,

Where sweetness is the only pursuit.

There is no such thing as 'tomorrow';

Life as it unfolds today is the only reality."

If we go back to Kaviyarasar’s “Etho Etho Etho Oru Mayakkam” song we covered earlier, the author Louann funnily reveals the secret of ‘Falling in love’, “as one of the most irrational behaviors or brain states imaginable for both men and women. The brain becomes ‘illogical’ in the throes of new romance, literally blind to the shortcomings of the lover. It is an involuntary state. Passionately being in love or so-called infatuation-love is now a documented brain state. It shares brain circuits with states of obsession, mania, intoxication, thirst, and hunger. It is not an emotion, but it does intensify or decreases other emotions. The being-in-love circuits are primarily a motivation system, which is different from the brain’s sex drive area but overlaps with it. This fevered brain activity runs on hormones and neurochemicals such as dopamine, estrogen, oxytocin, and testosterone.”

 

The poet compares this mental confusion due to chemical cocktail in brain to the thunder and rain of nature and says in this song that 'the door of the mind is opened' (Film: Needhikku Pin Paasam) (“Idi Idichu Mazhai Pozhinju..”): 

“The thunder roared, the rain poured down,

And then, everything fell still;

The gateway within my heart swung open,

And the two became one.” 

In another song (from the film *Nenjirukkum Varai*) (“Muthukkalo Kangal..”), he says:

“Are those eyes pearls?

Are those cheeks sweet?

At the moment we met,

I didn't even stop to think;

I surrendered myself.”

 

Vali captures this youthful infatuation in a song from the film *Major Chandrakanth* (“Oru Naal Yaaro...”) with these lines: “My heart gently awakened to follow the path of that song; a door slowly opened, and a connection beckoned me to come closer.”

 

Maruthakasi, earlier, in his song (Film: *Uthama Puthiran*) (“Mullai Malar Meley..”), wrote: “Like a bee hovering over a jasmine blossom, my heart communes with your love; before the wondrous *magudi* [snake-charmer's flute], I saw my mind sway like a cobra; as my thoughts shifted, I saw—just as my heart desired—bright red lips drawing near.”

 

But different brain structures also send warning signals to exercise caution from ‘falling in love’. In Louann’s words: “The insula is an area in an old part of the brain where gut feelings are first processed. The anterior cingulate cortex, which is larger and more easily activated in females, is a critical area for anticipating, judging, controlling and integrating negative emotions.” In the same “Oru Naal Yaaro” song, Vaali also says, “Shyness bids me stay, while desire urges me to leave; my heart is filled with a whirlwind of emotions—longing to speak to you, yet concealing the truth.”

 

In another song (from the film *Bharatha Vilas*)—"Minmini Poochigal Kangalil Thenpadum"—Vaali writes: "Shyness left me, saying 'Go, go,' while desire took hold of me, saying 'Come, come.” Instead of wandering off to 'Kasi' and wag our tail (‘Vaal’) during this interlude, let us return to Kannadasan's song, "Muthukkalo Kangal" (Are those eyes pearls?):

 

“A touch of desire, a touch of shyness—

Why do you look at me with such mingled feelings?” 

Louann says in her book, "Girls arrive already wired as girls, and boys arrive already wired as boys. Their brains are different by the time they’re born, and their brains are what drive their impulses, values, and their very reality…The brain shapes the way we see, hear smell, and taste. Nerves run from our sense organs directly to the brain, and the brain does all the interpreting." 

It is remarkable how the 'Poet King' (Kaviarasar) has sung about a woman's emotions by empathizing with them as if he were a woman himself (Film: *Thayai Katha Thanayan*) (“Kaaveri karai irukku”): 

“There lies the bank of the Cauvery, and upon it, a flower blooms;

Like that flower, there is a maiden—and if understood, a bond awaits. 

I feel a strange sensation; my heart is in a peculiar state;

Thoughts surge like the river's flood, yet shyness holds me back.”

 

Revealing the internal brain structures that make this emotional flooding, ‘The Female Brain’ lists: “For both sexes, the emotional gatekeeper is the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain. The amygdala is like the brain’s Homeland Security Alerting and Coordinating System, switching on the rest of the body systems-the gut, skin, heart, muscles, eyes, face, ears and adrenal glands – to look out for incoming emotional stimuli. The first relay station for emotion from the amygdala to the body is the hypothalamus.”

 

Kavignar takes us to the next natural stage which is culmination of desires into matrimonial coupling of the romantic pair, in the following lines:

 

“The drums will be playing

The platform will call me

The evening will be fragrant

A dark day will come

 

The word lover

It turns out to be a husband

The one who said a Girl

Will say wife”

 

George Bernard Shaw funnily said, “Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut and a woman who can't sleep with the window open" pointing to the incompatibility of opposite sex. Ogden Nash gave another advice to couple "To keep your marriage brimming... whenever you're wrong, admit it; whenever you're right, shut up."

 

Jokes apart, giving an extensive analysis of why men & women behave the way they do at different times of their lives, based on sound research over decades on neuroendocrinology, Louann Brizendine offers compassionate inside view of their brains. After all, they are differently-wired from birth to sustain life on this planet. Marriage a natural progression in societies to further the generation of new lives. Eckhart Tolle says, “why the male-female union is the universally sought after pursuit/phenomenon is that it offers a tantalizing glimpse of heaven on earth, although for a short duration of time!”

 

Kannadasan furthers the family bond of duties and responsibilities between husband and wife, in black and white (no..red!) (Film: Parisu) (“Koondal Karuppu, Kungumam Sigappu”):

 

"Jet-black tresses—aha! Crimson vermilion—oho!

And her face—a blooming rose."

 

"From this day forth, you are mine; The palace of my heart is yours.

The ringing of the temple bell, Blesses our united hearts to flourish.

 

Come what may, whatever happens, I shall remain by your side;

Through sorrow or grief, I shall stay with you always."

 

Here are some of the most famous witty and paradoxical quotations on marriage from celebrated Western Thinkers & Writers: Oscar Wilde said, "Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience." About marrying more than one, Oscar Wilde quipped: "Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same." But he also pointed to our everyday truth like this, "The only happy marriages are those that are based on mutual misunderstanding." He also has a piece of advice for men: "Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood."  

 

To the men and women in Western countries who—after multiple divorces and remarriages—continue to seek 'something' in their new partners, the poet-sage offers a truth born of experience (“Manmatha leelai mayakkuthu aalai”) (Film: *Manmadha Leelai*):

 

"The play of Cupid bewitches the soul,

And the young man spins like a spellbound dervish.

 

No matter which vessel holds the wine,

The taste remains the same;

There is no difference in the ornate chalice itself—

The difference lies only in your own mind!"

 

H. L. Mencken, another thinker remarked about the smart unmarried, "Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't, they'd be married too." Wise George Bernard Shaw observed, "Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity." About men's attitude towards matrimony, Groucho Marx questioned, "Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?" However, Samuel Johnson is logical. He observed:  "Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures."

 

So, what next, Sir? "Shall we set a wedding date?" (“Kalyana naal parka sollalama?”) the couple asks. "Shall we join hands?" (“Kaiyodu Kai serthu kollalama?”) (Film: *Parakkum Paavai*). Don't be in a rush to assume it's time for the wedding drums... If we hastily declare, "This is the auspicious day—the wedding day for the maiden and her beloved," (“Naalaam naalaam thiru naalaam, nangaikkum nambikkum mana naalaam”), the couple might later complain, "We never even had time for romance" (Film: Kathalikka Neramillai). As the song goes, "As one utters the name of the beloved, stones and thorns slowly turn into flowers," (“Kanna-dasan ennum mannan perai solla solla”) and "As the boat of desire sails on..." (Film: *Vennira Aadai*), let us give these couples some time to romance each other.

 

The poet-sage Kannadasan also describes the 'intoxicated' state of the lovers in this manner (Film: *Paatha Kaanikkai*):

 

"Men who fall in love are to be pitied;

their good sense vanishes without warning.

The whole town gossips the moment they are spotted, and

they begin to look a quarter-mad!

 

The cure for this madness lies

in the feast found in a woman's gaze;

if these 'healers' simply cast their eyes upon them,

the ailment will fly away"

 

After all, "How long does romance last? (“Kaathal enpathu ethu varai?”) Until the time for marriage arrives. How long does marriage last? Until the *Thali* (sacred thread) is tied around the neck. How long does a woman's youth last? Until two children are born. How long does a man's handsomeness last? Only until the day he is finally won over."

 

Let us see whether they ‘found what they were looking for’ (“Thedinen vanthathu”) (Film: Ooty Varai Uravu) and if the ‘door opened’ to that cherished relationship finally…. in the next episode.

 

-J Jeyes (www.jeyes.in)