1114. Don't Go There!

"Have you ever regretted that rather than strolling in this garden, holding the hand of a prince, you are walking here, holding the hand of this poor poet?"

"Don't we have the legendary story of Princess Amaravathy falling in love with the poor poet Ambikapathy?"

"Oh, you are well-informed...Wait, don't go that side!"

"Why? We have gone there many times. We went there yesterday also!"

"Water lilies are there."

"What if they are there?"

"When we went there yesterday, it appeared to me that the water lily flowers were holding their heads down!"

"How can flowers hold their heads down? When the plants were shaken by the wind, or the branches were bent down due to the weight of the flowers, it might have appeared to you that the flowers were holding their heads down. Anyway, what has that got to do with our going there?"

"I will tell you. Yesterday, I read a verse in the Tamil epic Kamba Ramayana. After reading that, I got an insight."

"What did you read and what did you learn?"

"The poet Kambar describes the beauty of Marutham* region. Like a dance performance in the court of a king, there is a dance performance before Marutham, which is sitting on the throne like a king. The peacocks are dancing. The lotus stems holding the flowers present a sight of holding the lamps. The clouds sound like the percussion instruments and the bees are singing melodiously."

"What a beautiful imagination! I get the opportunity to listen to such poetic descriptions only because I love a poet."

"I have not finished. Kamban says some others also witness this dance performance."

"Who are they?"

"The water lilies! When I read the line, 'the water lilies watched the performance with their eyes wide open,' something struck me."

"What is it?'

"If the water lilies have the power of vision..."

"What if they have?"

"Yesterday, when we went to the spot, where there were water lilies, the water lilies would have looked at your eyes and hung their heads in shame, thinking 'Poets will compare the eyes of women to us. But we are no match to her eyes.' That is the reason I am stopping you from going there."

"Don't make me blush!" said the princess and lowered her eyes, whose beauty surpassed that of the water lilies. 

*Marutham - In Tamil literature, the landscape is divided into five regions. The plains are called Marudham. 

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 112
In Praise of Her Charms

Verse 1114 (in Tamil):
kANin kuvaLai kavizhndhu nilan nOkkum
mAnizhai kaN ovvEm enRu.

Meaning:

If only the kuvaLai flowers (water lilies) have the power of vision, they will hang their heads, feeling ashamed that their beauty doesn't match that of her eyes.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kamba rasam' by the same author.)

 Verse 1115 (Soon)
Verse 1113