Madness of love Kuruntokai 136

136. குறிஞ்சி – தலைவன் கூற்று 

காமங் காமம் என்ப காமம் 
அணங்கும் பிணியும் அன்றே நுணங்கிக் 
கடுத்தலுந் தணிதலும் இன்றே யானை 
குளகுமென் றாள்மதம் போலப் 
பாணியும் உடைத்தது காணுநர்ப் பெறினே. 

-மிளைப்பெருங் கந்தனார்.

Kurunthokai 136

What he said

Love,love,

they say.Yet love

is no new grief

nor sudden disease; nor something

that rages and cools.

Like madness in a elephant,

coming up when he eats

certain leaves,

love waits

for you to find

someone to look at.

Poet:Milaipperunkantan

Translated by A.K.Ramanujan

Love is not a disease nor it is a feeling which will come and leave you after some time(effectively saying it is not a crush or infactuation). It is a feeling which is always hidden in you and get triggered suddenly. The trigger in case of love is when you see your lady love. All your hidden feeling takes complete control over you. This is is compared with madness(madam) of the elephant which is usually very calm creature. The madam is a very aggressive state similarly the poet is building an imagery that the madness of love is so aggressive(the love desire) that a person cannot take control over it. He dosent know when it occurs and will never know when it is going to go away.

 

Reference:

The Interior Landscape(Kurunthokai) , Love poems from a classical Tamil Anthology, A.K.Ramanujan,Indiana University Press.