Chapter 11: The Smothering of the Class Distinctions
Beneath the surface, the blood is still hot and red.
Translation
Will set fire to the caste
distinctions;
Will hoist our posts in the marketplace;
Will play in the street
partitions;
Will make relationship with
the unwanted homes;
—Pampatti Siddhar Hymn (123)
Left to his thoughts, Adhavan’s unwavering gaze lingered around Killivalavan, the galloping horse swiftly took a sharp turn at the end of the straight road, the whooping sound still rang in his ears, in fact, it grew louder and louder as though he was running alongside Killi, somewhere close to the feet of the horse. His mind then, slowly traversed back to the heavy dust, left by the passing stallion; listened intently to the soft buzzing of the tiny glassy particles, reciting memorable ode on nature’s grandeur; mingled with the rays of the glowing sun that glittered along with the fine dust particles; shone luminously with multiple hazy reflections set ablaze by the morning mist, mesmerized by such grand opulence, was easily seduced and nailed, unaware of, by the thin air, one can neither fully grasp by one’s hand nor could hold it longer by one’s vision, such was the immense beauty that one can suck out from simple day to day happenings. Wonder-struck, how close a fine observation of a simple life event can hook one’s mind, throw it into a deep trance, pull their soul out, dance around merrily without inhibitions, suspend it in a safe zone, enjoy every moment of it, unruffled by the wavering, sick, grave thoughts that prospered enormously on the sadness of million and million woe bidden hearts.
Thus greatly elated by the solemn nature, brimming with the divine bliss, he turned around and was surprised to see the absence of the crowd that came to send off Killi. They have left him to be on his own, lucky, he was left undisturbed, which otherwise would have grabbed away the joy of subtleties, showered on him this morning, happily he went inside the hut, found to his dismay, that everyone was back at their work, as though nothing had happened at all, nice to see that the whole group rummaged over the bits and pieces of information, they need to attend to, rather than gossiping incessantly about the speedy departure and the unexpected arrival. He was enthralled to see such a highly productive crowd, it says well about the leader of the working class, Sarutha—an animated, charismatic leader who has imbibed her good working traits onto her employees.
He slowly went inside, looked around for her, she was sitting across with her back to the walls, legs stretched and crisscrossed, amidst pool of strewn around palm scripts, especially heap of fresh ones. Seven young ladies were in siddhasana, all around her, each of them with a thin writing pad that would be a bit less than 2 feet X 2 feet, resting comfortably over their laps, on which they placed their palm manuscripts, copied inscriptions from the old ones. The group was involved in making the copies, they were all into this palmscript business. Obviously, one of the local tribal ladies was leading the group, getting things on, moving around quickly, passing over instructions, apparently doing much more than, what is not clearly perceptible in a first-time observation, she was highly spirited and energetic, hardly spent a minute in idleness, always caught in incessant continuous actions. Sarutha on the other hand was checking, counting the inflow of the new items to be copied, she was discussing it all with Punguzali, who wanted it, how many copies they would need, when they want it and so on, their talks were curt and precise to the point, as though, even an extra word would cost them a penny more, whereas, when Sarutha explained the same to her lead girl, she was all patient, kind and loving, as a mother would treat their youngest child, in return they were all ready to do anything she asked them to do. The kind attention, Sarutha gave them, not only improved their productivity, rather it largely improved on their relationships, especially, when it comes from the topmost of the hierarchy, it pumps in the additional shot required, that too, when the giver is of a highly commendable personality. The strictness enforced by Sarutha was at work, the quality of the work and the ethics governing the work environment, not on the person who was carrying out the work, such was the dream work society Sarutha was running, with a bunch of local female folks, most of them were married and were living a happy, prosperous life.
Adhavan knelt down close to her asked her, “How many work for you?”
Sarutha asked, “For me, no one is working for me, they are all working for themselves, for the well-being of their kids and their families?”
Adhavan replied, “I didn’t mean that, how many men and how many women are working for you? I saw so many people coming in and going out in the morning.”
Sarutha honestly said, “I don’t know?”
Adhavan hesitantly said, “What do you mean, I just don’t understand, how do you pay those people?’
Sarutha replied, “I don’t pay them, they are not working for me.”
Adhavan was confused, he reluctantly asked, “Who are these women folks, then?”
Sarutha smiled softly and replied, “I have employed them, they are all my employees, ten of them and I pay them.”
Adhavan hesitantly said, “I just don’t understand anything.”
Sarutha sighed, her face was all soft and gleaming with heavenly glow, especially the softness was very peculiar and overwhelming, it could never hurt anyone, it was implausible to see a woman who had made fifteen children, could be still soft and delicate like the petals of newly blossomed roses. Her hair had not grayed a bit, except for few strokes here and there, all of it cascaded smoothly, all over her body, draping till her knees, sweeping the floor, amidst that engulfing darkness, her body with that beautiful oval face, was just a miniature of marble sculpture, continuously caressed by her dark, shiny, thick, soft, silky hair that ended with long curls, as it tapered down to her knees, the fall got impeccably aligned to her torso, that made her figure, slim down further, she looked much slimmer than most of the younger girls there, including Punguzali. Sometimes it is odd to grasp, as how a woman bigger than their size, can make themselves look much slimmer, just by their sheer, elegant disposition, her voluminous flowing hair had shrunk her body of her true size, it looked smaller when compared to her eye catching hair fall. Her enormous life experiences, its adversities, happy moments, tragedies had given her that overwhelming softness, care and benevolence, it reflected well in her postures, gestures, even in her soft whispers, it all came along well with her sweet feminine voice, all this together, could very well, literally melt a strong man, make him fall to his knees. Only the softest of the soft can yield the hardest of the hard, that too mostly notably, the natural softness that emanated from her, neither the cosmetic one, nor the made up softness, that could only make it worse, transform harder to be the hardest rather than making it all soft. In addition to her softness, her large roving eyes, never once looked at Adhavan, during all these talks, it was over the palm manuscript she was studying, diligently, her face was lit brightly by the glow of the divine lamp dwelling deep inside her, that could only profess genuine humbleness, motherly benevolence and unending kindness, the birth of each and every child has added to her softness by loads and loads of motherliness, the most protective form of love. Slowly, Adhavan came out of his contemplation on Sarutha, was surprised to see that everyone stopped their work and was looking at him quizzically, it might be odd for them to stare at someone so openly, even could be considered as rude.
Adhavan realized that he had abruptly stopped talking and was incorrigibly mesmerized by Sarutha’s overwhelming softness and inherent beauty.
Sarutha continued “Still do you want to know about the work we do here?”
Adhavan looked at her perfect oval face, replied earnestly, “Back home, I was herding cattle, now I want to learn other trades too, if you can teach me these as well as some of the outdoor ones and bit of what you are doing, I will be much obliged.”
Sarutha said, “Well, that is a bit long time happening, first I will take you through the economics of Laughing Hills, then you can decide for yourself about what do you want to do for your living. If you want to practice an art, you need to stay with your master, be an apprentice and learn their trade, when you have mastered it enough, you can go and practice it on your own, once you get your master’s approval.”
Adhavan hastily said, “I don’t want to be an apprentice and I am not interested in taking up a trade now, what I want to do is, to just learn about various things and gain worldly knowledge, about taking up a trade of my own, I need to talk with Macham. Hope you understand that.”
Sarutha softly replied, “Don’t worry; we will not force you into anything, that you wont like, especially, trade, love and marriage.”
Adhavan smiled and the whole group laughed heartily. Sarutha continued, “Won’t you have anything to eat?”
Adhavan replied, “No, I am not hungry.”
After serious thought, Sarutha said, “Well, during this morning session, you can spend time with Punguzali, she will take you through the work we all do here and how it is managed. After lunch, we both can go for a walk, visit few plantations, the backbone of the laughing hills economy.”
Adhavan looked at Punguzali, she had a strong resemblance to her mother, but her spirit was different in all other ways. He asked her humbly, “Will you teach me?”
Punguzali must have been surprised, she was trying to pull some words from the thin air, that were getting lost, even before they were about to appear from nowhere, the whole bunch of female folks, looked up, at both of them, including Sarutha, they were all surprised to see a grown up man asking a woman to teach him, the sign of utmost humbleness. They all knew, need not say it out, Adhavan was lacking a very important thing, the least expected, the pride and arrogance of being a male, might have lost it very early, during his childhood, owing to her sister Matangi’s brought up. His words must have moved the lead of the pack, the tribal lady started sobbing. It didn’t surprise Adhavan, but all others have been taken back by that statement, back home, he has made women cry and ache for him, he has made them all fall in love with him pitilessly, his innate wit and wisdom has made them all look up to him desperately, he has touched the softest part of women, not their flesh, not their genitals, but their hearts, it made them all cry and whine out of happiness, born out of love in its purest form, which they have never felt before. His words have touched all the women folk there and he has moved one of them to tears, today. Of all, what women needs most, other than love, care and support, it is dear-heart, self-respect, that touches the softest, untouched part within them, the one they have been deceitfully deprived of, for many generations altogether. They were forbidden from active participation in social activities, expect few philanthropists, who not only talked to them, but allowed them to join hands with them. Throughout history, the womenfolk were never trained to be broader, they were all let to be narrower, they were not redeemed from the day to day profane gossips, rather they were forbidden from reaching out for anything beyond their family circle, so they clung passionately to whatever they can get a hold on to, getting themselves heartlessly branded as sentimental fools, unscrupulous idiots, narrow minded pigeons. The core reason of their social deprivation is their unsurpassable beauty, exquisite charm and inherent intelligence, all women in the prime of their age, can be grouped under this quintessential definition, which could wreck a man’s heart, tear him into pieces mercilessly. Only a strong male can withstand and resist heart-throbbing beauties, without falling prey to them, the blatant truth is, almost all of them are led by their cock, they can’t help fantasizing women after women, if they are allowed anywhere near them, their alluring beauty and appealing sex can woe men unsympathetically, make them shake their cocks in dark alleys and closed hideouts, that is the reason why women are forbidden from social appearance, it is not that they are weak, it is that they can make men overtly weak, they can be turned into a sex animal, who then, every time will somehow try to find a way to poke their dick into their deep fissure, under as many guises as possible, they will cry, they will fall to their feet, they will create a sympathy wave, they will buy extravagant gifts, they will curse, abuse, demote, exploit, cajole, all for only one thing, a place to park their dicks, then it becomes a matter of, just not strong ethics, but extraordinary will power on the female part, especially if they are married ones, to restrain themselves from all those cajoling, heart aching, love bidding. When men are enticed by voluptuous women, they even don’t mind turning their own mothers into whores, for getting an opportunity to shove their cocks into rich fantasy clits, this can lead to blasphemy of social and cultural integrity, that is the reason why women are not generally allowed beyond a certain level. Secondly, it is because of those women who willingly and knowingly bait such men, these mean kinds, know how to use their breasts, wavy hips, heavy buttocks and succulent fissures, to do the work, than relying on their brains and hearts. Thirdly, when women are elevated or rather if men fall to their feet begging for help, they are all strung by super ego philosophy, they become all powerful divine mothers, they will do anything for their subject, even accuse a good man for misbehaving with them, that thing, when men fall to their feet, creates a magic in them, it makes them all forgiving, all caring, all loving, holy mothers, their ethics and morality are torn off, their weakness is exposed and exploited by men, who know only one thing, cry if they want something, their cries are sign for weak women to burst out into becoming, holy scared mothers, who were deprived of even the meanest of self dignity they were worthy of, when stung by such nectars of sweet surrenders, they fall prey to it, tend do anything for their subject, even rescue them from atrocious crimes they have committed, such as, mean ones like stealing women’s personal belongings to mortal sins like raping a brother’s wife, hence entrusting women with greater role and responsibility, has always been deeply thought of, not because they are weak and unintelligent, it is because they are extremely strong, they can make great, brave men fall to their knees and plead for one time hot experiences with their flesh. That is the reason a good leader, apart from good ethics, strong morality, leadership qualities and administrative skills should not posses this weakness; in case of men they should not be led by cocks, in case of women they should not lead men by cocks and they should not fall prey to crying men by becoming their omnipotent divine mothers, which again, may easily make them overlook justice, the crux on which the goodness of society dwells.
Punguzali, was head over heels, she smiled, she kept smiling, she kept on smiling, the whole day, Adhavan had cast a magic, she was spellbound by his divine love, surplus energy, extraordinary talents and inherent masculinity, lured by the happy events of the day, the stifling pain in her heart started to vanish, he started to fill the engulfing emptiness of the deep abyss within her, wherever she turned to she remembered only him, he started to live inside her, rather than being outside, the very first day, Adhavan had done extremely well, what he was capable of doing to women, making them all think about him, fondly, only about him, all throughout the time. She started fighting away his thoughts, it magnetically drew her towards, softness, purity and love, the good virtues to be held closely to one’s bosom, very dearly, according to her, they were the most prohibited commodities in the world, since, they weaken her, melt her knees and most deplorably, woo her to fall in love. She fought bitterly, against his sweet unconditional love and charming face. She childishly presumed, that it will weaken her. She was under the wrong assumption that love is all weakness, as it may hurt her badly, if unreciprocated, a solid sign of psychological disturbance and negative motivations, so she continued to terribly fight against the goodness and love Adhavan was spreading around. The worst part is that she took pride in fighting against his genuine love, called it ardently, power and strength. He found lots and lots of repulsive thought patterns in her, something that doesn’t belong neither to Sarutha nor to Macham, in fact, has no place in Siddhars tradition, have started to creep on her beautiful lime soul, hiding well her true self.
Adhavan on the other hand was much intrigued by the way these palm scripts were made, though, they didn’t, properly segregate it, there were three major stages to it, first is the preparation of the palm scripts, which was done by Mathivathani, left on her own, behind a partition, she boiled, all neatly cut tail-pot palm leaves in a big pot, when it reached the right color and softness, she pulled them all out, spread them around, allowed them to dry on its own, she then fed the second lot of palm leaves into the hot boiling water, in between, she was consumed with smoothing and polishing the dried ones with conch shells, she did that so slowly and carefully, but steadily without interruptions, as though she was bathing a newborn child, the very first time. She resembled much of her father, with her dark complexion, sharp, delicate nose and sensuous lips, especially the sparkle in her eyes, though she was smothered by sweltering heat, choking smoke and tough work environment, she always managed to look fresh like water lilies, that anyone would like to embrace, softly to their heart and inhale the sweet fragrance in it. More than all of that, it is her soul, its pristine beauty, the epitome of human attractiveness, whoever had the chance to get a minute glimpse of her soul were forcefully pulled towards her inherent goodness, love, motherliness and affection, that sometimes reflected openly in her alluring smiles, especially whenever she smiled, head bit down, looking into the space before, eyes slanted a bit, it was like she was breathing and smiling through her eyes. She was so methodical, in performing her tasks, she was content with whatever she was doing, her rhythm was never disturbed by the happenings around, when there wasn’t much work she joined the group that had more work to do.
The second stage started when the polished palm leaves were cut to specific dimensions as required, by the lead lady, Senthamarai, who willingly did her jobs with unwavering sincerity and high fervor, she was very sensitive, even to minute changes, interrogated them immediately, rolled out a list of actions to mitigate any possible risks in the promised deliveries, she naturally exhibited the good qualities of an exemplary worker, hence was rightfully chosen to lead the pack, her good qualities have infiltrated the co-workers, they, very naturally formed a highly productive group. She collected, neatly cut palm scripts, handed them over to various employees, as per the tasks assigned to them, they in turn used the pointed stylus to copy the information from the original manuscripts, then these copies were grouped, inscriptions were smeared with lampblack to increase the readability, then, they were collected and arranged sequentially, two holes were drilled at their edges, cords were run around the holes to bind them, so that the palm scripts can be flipped over, one by one, making it easy for reading.
Kayalvizi was responsible for the third stage, involved in balancing load and capacity of the production, in addition to the frequent help requests she gets from Senthamarai on understanding the language in the original manuscripts; ease difficulties in copying them; list out methods to exactly replicate the crafted manuscripts and pictorial representations, she obviously took to, training people as an additional responsibility, taught them two widely used languages, Tamil and Sanskrit, extensively, to read and to inscribe. Presently she was training two young girls, gearing them up for live jobs. Evidently, training didn’t suit her much, whereas she had that strong inclination towards research; understanding the matter on the dried leaves; conducting controlled experiments; pondering over the results; deducing conclusions. She had such a beautiful, rounded face, mischievous grin, gracious elegance, impeccable style, loaded with loads and loads of feminism, especially cartful of possessiveness and jealousy, ready to be unleashed on any vulnerable prey she can get her hands on. She adorned herself with wild flowers, bright colors, rich decorated ornaments, but internally, she ached for love, care and mostly, deep born self-respect, she too was awfully troubled a lot, looking out for ways and means to empty her anger, frustrations and humiliations. Her dark complexion went well with her beautiful features that wore a peculiar combination of both Sarutha’s and Macham’s, in fact, she looked as though she was distantly related to them than their own children. She is very sensitive to words, especially, over the comments and gossips, that easily, find their way to her, she feels highly elated, when she gets enough attention, she would feel like diva, floating high in the skies, dancing with the goddess of her own choice, she is not a happy person, but a nice person, earnestly seeking out for happiness, security and trust, mostly non-judgmental love that she alone can have and that need not be shared with anyone.
In fact, there wasn’t any fourth stage around, but for few meager tasks Punguzali performed, other than that, she was engrossed in talking, talking and too much of talking, she was the only one who met with her customers, through their personal perceptions, she started to see the outside world, unknowingly, her fertile mind, started taking in the seeds of the objective desires, which threatened to sprout, massively, at any time, killing the inherent spirit, already hidden and being sucked out by parasitic creepers. She was always seen talking to some or other of her customers, only very few, came to see Sarutha, mostly to get her blessings. For Adhavan, the whole morning session went around smoothly, understanding the various processes, mostly the people behind it, for him, more than the process, it is the people, who interested him much, with whom he actually wanted to spend a lot of time. Almost four hours had passed by, since the morning session, the sun was in the high skies towards the west, he had had enough time with the girls, he understood them all, perfectly, as well as the work, they were all doing. He slowly went to Sarutha, who was still busy over the same manuscript, she was going through in the morning, as he approached him, she flipped the last leaf and read it aloud for everyone to hear, she then gave it to Adhavan and said, “This is yours, ‘Theshai’ by Roma Rishi. Yesterday late evening, you had left it near the pond, so carelessly, this place is so good, devoid of any evil, even if you absentmindedly, leave your gold coins in the middle of the forest, the one who finds it, will look out for you, find you wherever you are, slap you hard, as much as he likes to, then, give back, all your things to you, without regret, nothing would miss, that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of it and be negligent, make sure you keep your things safe.” She pointed her fingers and said, “You can share the rack, Killivalavan uses.” Only then Adhavan realized, that it was missing, he was very happy to have it back, he took it from her and said, “I would like make a copy of this, all by myself, can I do it?” Sarutha nodded approvingly. She stood up, walked gracefully, slowly, in small steps into the kitchen.
Adhavan on his part, took the palm manuscripts, started reading it by heart, the verses were woven intricately by elusive words, that hid deep within it, the age old wisdom of the Siddhars, profoundly said in a soft rhythm, that matched delicately with the flow of the language and innate style of the Siddhar Roma Rishi. He was sitting exactly at the location where Sarutha was sitting, the only difference was, he was in siddhasana with stiff and erect back, he flipped a few leaves, picked up one verse from the middle, read the very first line, contemplated on it for a few minutes, then next and then the next line, it went on and on, moments passed, his contemplation grew intense, the whole set of spiritual jargon was so solidly constructed, that technically each word and each line could mean something very different, but if put together as one single verse, the whole meaning of it would change, sometimes drastically, for the ones who have experienced the state, it would shed greater insights, but alarmingly, those who not have experienced this state, it might even turn them into ignorance, could possibly astray them from the grand truth as they are trying to understand what they have not seen before. Inevitably, these types of verses, written by the Siddhars, should be cantillated either in their presence or in the presence of the experienced ones, not only to understand the meaning behind it, but to first to strike upon the truth behind it, unaware of the passing moments, his mind probed further, travelled beyond the truth of the said matter.
While he was in the thought metamorphosis, he was disturbed by the sounds of the mugs, saucepans and incessant chattering of the young ladies, he opened his eyes, turned around, to see boiled tapioca roots being served with vegetable curries, he too was shoved a plate, along with a cup of big roasted mushrooms. They leisurely had their meals without rush, slowly, savoring the taste of it, relishing it along with their stories and gossips, about their near and dear ones. The topics, mostly circled around their personal things, their families, their relationships, their personal opinions, few a times, they also talked about market, food, poultry, cattle, farm etc. but, very rarely about work and their spiritual inclinations. That day, all 14 of them sat on the floor, without distinction of class, either by birth or by status, they all formed a neat circle, together they had their lunch. Food was placed in the center, it was passed around, whenever it was requested for. Of all 14 heads around, he was the only male figure, who sat in between Sarutha and Senthamarai, there wasn’t any gender distinction too, they all had their food together, they all had the same food daily, not just on one day but daily, thus it became the employers responsibility to make sure their employees are well fed and looked after with care, this was the practice, in all home grown industries spread across the Laughing hills.
Once they all had enough food, they were given ample time to assemble together for work; in less than half an hour’s time, they all grouped again and started working, the only difference was Mathivathani, who have now joined, Senthamarai and her girls, she helped them all with some copies, they all worked in harmony with one another. Distancing her well from the crowd of working class, Punguzali had alighted herself, in front of a high desk, though she was sitting on the floor, she gave a presence of queen sitting on the royal helm, though she was not given any authority, she had that look of authority, which was not seen in Sarutha’s dispositions, that doesn’t belong to the family trait too, it was a question that was really troubling Adhavan, how then did she get that attitude, that she was better than all other female folks over there, just because few heads were reporting to her, including her own sisters. This contempt is slowly being injected into her spirit by some venomous beast who had greater plans that she was not aware of, that is going to cause this family a big hemorrhage, as Adhavan was thinking about Punguzali, right at the same moment Sarutha called, “Let’s go visit the places here.” As they walked out, Athiperunar and Mathurarayar, entered into the hut, they smiled at Sarutha and said, “We came to collect the copies we asked for our personal libraries.” Sarutha nodded approvingly, but she had her own personal doubts, pushing aside those thoughts, she told Adhavan, “I should get you a pair of nice slippers made of soft leather.”
As they stepped outside, they saw big highly decorated chariot, run by four big stallions, standing out majestically, guarded well by their horsemen and Sarutha started talking about the economics of the Laughing Hills.
“You know the whole place is self sustained now, except for few goods that they are still seeking from the outside supplies, that is fine, as long as the dependency on the external economics is less, when compared to the surplus of the internal economics, when I came here, this place was a wild dense forest. I talked to the tribal heads, persuaded them to level the safer grounds with bigger plantations in mind. We started with horticulture and large-scale farming, each family was given a piece of their own land, they ploughed their lands, guarded their plantations, reaped their harvests, they took, whatever they wanted to, dumped the remains of the harvest, which then, they traded internally for goods they didn’t have, but wanted to buy, very rarely, they bought goods using gold, generally they traded goods against goods, for if you have brought 100 cows, you can trade them for 500 goats of your own choice, since we host the platform for their trade and regulate it with agreed norms, they pay us a tribute of 1, for every 100 sales, in case of the previous trade we will get 1 cow and 5 goats, which we could either keep it for ourselves or again trade it for the goods that we would like to have, so the list goes on, this is all about our internal trade, in the Laughing Hills. Each of the other seventeen tribes, located in the various places in Velir Thopu, has their own internal trade centers, the market that runs at Parinadu on the third day after every full moon day, is the hub, not only for these eighteen tribes, to sell the surplus, but an open market for the traders all over the plains, to come and trade their goods too. Merchants like Yuvaninathan, amassed great wealth out of it. This market is known as “Pari Santhai”. This is hosted and regulated by Velir Kings, they get the same tribute, similar to what we get, but in a much bigger scale, this is in addition to the yearly royalty, they get from the tribal heads. These royals have much bigger and wider spread of land, than all the eighteen tribes put together, in fact, they all together form the Velir constituency, they royals own very few plantations, they are more than self sufficient for them and their royal descendants, actually they are very generous people, they always give away their surplus grains, to the poor and the needy. Velir kings are well known and renowned for their nobility and generosity, they never pushed their people hard, rather they accepted whatever they were given to, they ruled by general sovereign norms, if they have harvested more than what they needed, they gave it back to their people, they never traded with them, in fact, they accepted their yearly royal tributes, just to please them, they were all humble, devoted, willing to surrender even their lives as a gift for their precious royal lineage, such was the grandness and nobility of the Velir Kings, they are very generous patrons of many poets and highly talented artisans, even poets from the plains come to see these Velir Kings, for they were the most benevolent patrons of the time unknown. They have their own small armies which by the solemn pact, has to join Vendhars, on call, in all their deadly wars, they fight side by side along with them. Other than the plantations here, we have other trades too, like potters, goldsmiths, iron-smiths, sculptors, painters, architects, asans, vaithyars, warriors, hunter gatherers, etc. Though they all together constitute a handful of people who religiously kept to the sanctity of their profession, they are either kept prosperous by the people who go to them or taken in by their royal patrons who cherish their services.”
Sarutha took some time, she has been talking continuously, she took a few deep breathes and then continued,
“So this place has everything the plains have, let me take you to my seventh son, Thendrankilli’s plantation, one of the biggest in the Laughing Hills, he and his sons have ploughed almost half of the valley here, they have planted all crops, from food crops to long unending vineyards, even they have started an herbal plantation, recently.”
There was a momentary pause, they crossed a smooth flowing, narrow canal, throughout the crossing time they remained silent and paid their attention in crossing the rapid flow, when they were above to enter the Guava plantation, Adhavan asked, “Is it not difficult to trade in hundreds, how will you split, if it comes to some odd numbers? Like, if I have traded 50 cows and have got 250 goats, how many cows and goats, will I give to the trade house?”
Making sure, they were going in the right path, Sarutha replied softly,
“That technically, will give you only a half a cow, and two and half goats, so it’s not possible to share so they will either leave me one cow and three goats in advance, very rarely they do it, else they will take enough goods from me and leave me with one cow and three goats. In this case I may opt to transact with, 10 bags of paddy for half a cow and 1 bag of ragi for half a goat, that is the way it generally happens.”
Adhavan probed further and asked, “What if I don’t want to buy a goat at all?”
Sarutha smiled and replied, “I know where you are trying to get to, but here, if we don’t want that goat, we just trade it with the one who wants the goat. Very rarely, we transact things for Gold, it happens when we have something equivalently rich and costly to trade with. Most of the palm scripts we copy are paid in gold, and silver, very few trade things for it, as there are mostly needed by kings, royal patrons, learnt scholars, big chieftains, army commanders and rich merchants who would like to transact in Gold.”
Adhavan asked, “How do you pay the one who wrote it?”
Sarutha replied, “I will buy the rights from him or I will pay him for every copy.”
Adhavan asked, “What if I am taking a copy of Roma Rishi’s, ‘Theshai’, whom should I pay for?”
Sarutha laughed heartily and said, “He has given it to you for free.”
Adhavan smiled sheepishly, they walked towards the big house, far across the Guava plantations they have been walking through, where it ended, it started with plantations of golden chrysanthemums, jasmines, wild roses and many other wild flowers, that were oddly recognizable, but for their bright colors, purple, orange and brilliant whites, petals of many different sizes and styles, pattern of various kinds, all their fragrances mixed proportionately, rushed into their lungs, creating an excellent satisfaction to their olfactory senses, they crossed all that and entered their backyard. On seeing their grandmother, kids ran forward to her, she met all of them with a wide open arms, they all rushed and clung to her, each trying hard to get her attention, soon the youngest of them, found his way up to a comfortable position in her hips, they all flocked around her, the naughtiest one got close to Adhavan, pinched his arms, then shot forward, hid behind Sarutha, slowly he looked at him from her sides, smiled at him mischievously, rushed forward to touch him again, Adhavan caught him this time, lurched him up to the skies, they both laughed aloud together, soon it weaved itself a bigger wave of laughter, the cows lowed, goats bleated, chickens clucked, crows cawed, dogs barked, these sounds brought the whole family to the backyard, they were all so happy to see Sarutha, they all came rushing to her, Thendrankilli, leading them in the front, followed by his sons and the women folks, they all welcomed her inside, only then Adhavan realized that Sarutha never used to be around these places, it has always been the other way around, they all come and visit her, so on seeing her in their backyard, must have shot adrenaline into their bloodstreams, they were all up on their feet, energetically running around. Adhavan was awestruck to see the elation and respect she got from her descendants.
After an hour of talking, she requested Thendrankilli to allow her take Adhavan through their plantation, he said, “Amma it is your farm, you have given us this, please do whatever you want to. If I can be of any assistance, please let me know.”
Sarutha replied, “No, let me take him through the plantation.”
So Adhavan and Sarutha spent next two hours together, they walked fast, wandering around Thendrankilli’s plantation, that stretched and touched the horizons, his plantation consisted of 3 different cereals, 7 types of spices, 21 types of vegetables and roots, 18 types of flowers, 12 different types of edible fruits, 5 varieties of herbs, 2 types of fibers, 17 wells, 3 canals, 91 cows, 227 goats, 194 chickens, 5 hunting dogs and 27 horses. His potato farm and carrot were the biggest of all, that stretched for acres and acres together. They reached the courtyard of Thendrankilli’s big house, worn out by fatigue, let themselves to take some rest, before the onset of the return journey, slowly, the topic on plantation continued to the trading of goods, as Sarutha was talking to Adhavan, Thendrankilli, brought a basin full of cold water, started washing her feet, his women came forward and wiped her feet with fresh, clean, cotton cloth, then one after another, starting from the youngest till the oldest, each fell to her feet, sought her blessings, on her part, Sarutha took a handful of jasmine, placed it on the crown of each one’s head and chanted five times, “Sivahyaa Namahaa” Adhavan was happy, that he was not venerated this time, didn’t have to fuss about giving blessing, that part is all for Sarutha and Macham, so he happily started counting heads, it ended at 31 when two men older than Thendrankilli also prostrated before her feet and got her blessings, but the chanting continued, so Adhavan remained silent, till she was done with it, they all were so devoted to her. Moments drifted away, he lost patience, he talked straight from his heart, as though said aloud, Sarutha turned around and gently slapped him on his cheeks, warned him, “You’re not pulling me out like this again. Learn to be patient.” Adhavan immediately replied, but earnestly, “But you didn’t complete the trade part.” Sarutha can’t help laughing, they all laughed together. Sunset has lit the horizon with an orange glow, it was time for the return journey, realizing that Sarutha got up, all the kids flocked around her, requested her to stay with them, some of them broke into desperate cries, started clinging to her wildly, she again blessed these kids, fondled them, kissed them all, the ladies came forward, took their kids, started cajoling them. The whole family watched both of them leaving, irrespective of the age difference, they looked like free birds, without worldly worries, pure souls drifting along each others path, bestowing divine grace on everything they came across, blessing everything they touched, eased and elated souls their eyes laid upon, they all wanted to just follow them without questions, they can’t help envying their state of mind and their spiritual outlook.
After a momentary pause Adhavan continued, “How do they trade their goods?”
Sarutha smiled and continued, “You won’t leave me, until I tell you everything.” She sighed, and continued, “Ok listen, some of the harvests are done daily, some of them are seasonal, some of them are periodical, whether it is close to the market day or far away from it, whatever the case might be, they bring their goods to our home, they trade from early morning till mid-noon, sometimes external traders come to our home, during the time the owners were there, looking out for some surplus goods. The trading goes on daily, whatever left-out will be counted in groups and bunches, in whatever appropriate quantity they are measured by, they are all collected and stored in our hut and our cattle farm nearby. Mostly, the trade is all done in the first two hours, after the sunrise, very rarely it goes on till mid-noon. The next day morning, or in the next visit, they, first, trade the stored goods, before selling the fresh ones they have brought in, as you know very few items are brought inside the hut, as most of them would have been traded outside, along the roadside, where they bring their goods in the loaded carts. People come into our home, to mostly tell us how much they have sold, how much they are paying us, how much they would like to store for the next day, etc. My girls, you saw, along with my daughters, manage and run the show on their own, nowadays they don’t bother me with petty, day to day routine activities, so that I could focus on my readings; manage overall trade and home business; counsel the folks coming to me; spend some of my daily time in leisure, watching the flowers dance to the breezes, children shrieking and playing with dirt, cattle feeding on the green pastures, glorious setting of the sun, what not, that bring in peace and harmony to my little heart.”
Adhavan questioned, “What if the stored goods are spoiled over a period of time?”
Sarutha replied,“Word will be sent to the concerned, if we spot any rotting, we may dumb them for those who make manure, if they don’t turn around by the next day morning, after the close of the market. You know very rarely goods get spoilt, some of them take them back to their cattle and farm, nothing goes waste here.”
Adhavan queried, “How do they trade in Pari Santhai?”
Sarutha continued, “They just do the same there, but on a larger scale, you know what, from the previous day night, our hut will be packed with people coming and going, collecting all their stored items, gearing up for an early journey, generally they all come here late night and leave early morning, as a group towards the market.”
Adhavan questioned, “Oh, it all perfectly falls into picture, so beautiful they way people live here, what does Killi do?”
Sarutha smiled, “He is a warrior, he keeps everything to himself, never opens up to anyone, he runs his things secret, whenever he is at home, he is either out, at our cattle or in the mountains with his tribal friends.”
Adhavan replied,”You allow him to mingle with the tribal people.”
Sarutha shot it out, “What do you mean?”
Adhavan replied fast, “I don’t mean anything wrong, at home, we were not allowed, even talk to others, I just wondered, how come that bad practice does not exist here.”
Sarutha sarcastically said, “You know the people in the plains, they are very civilized, that is the reason they don’t mingle with ‘others’, here we look at their hearts and their soul, not their caste, religion, color, work, status and position. Of my 15 kids, 11 of them are married except Killi and my 3 daughters, of the married, 3 were married to the tribal women, 7 were married to the Velir royal descendants, 1 got married to a woman from the plains, he is living with them, so it all goes fine, even the two elderly men in Thendrankilli’s house, were elder brothers of his two wives, both he took from the same family.”
Adhavan replied, “That is great, Just great.”
After that, there wasn’t any exchange of spoken words, a web of comfortable silence spread over them, they continued to walk with the rise of the moon, birds and men were going back to their warm nests, the silence of mountains and the chillness of the nights crept in stealthily. Adhavan broke the comfortable silence, by asking, “You didn’t answer the questions I asked about Vipuruthi Ammal, earlier that day, If I recollect correctly, these were the pending questions,
How was she buried?
Who were the great four?
Why were they considered auspicious?
Is her spirit still here, in this forest?
Have you met her, personally?
How old was Macham when he buried her?”
Sarutha was totally taken back, she smiled and it broke into heavenly laughter, she said, “You never forget anything, you keep this list of unanswered questions pinned to your heart or what.” For which Adhavan replied smilingly, “It is not that I wanted to keep listing it, rather I use to contemplate on it, so I always use to remember, unfinished business, unending lines and unanswered questions.”
Sarutha broke into continuous laughter, Adhavan was infected by it, also broke into heavenly laughter, all too sudden, she stopped and gasped for breath, she almost fainted, took the hands of Adhavan, looked at the big chariot, it was almost night, in all those years she has been in the laughing hills, chariots of her customers have never used to stand out before their hut, so long, especially after the sunset. The team would have left an hour before the sun set and the place would have been empty but for Macham’s family. The evenings and nights were always personal. It took some time for her come to her normal senses, on realizing that Punguzali will be all alone with Athiperunar and Mathurarayar, her heart ceased to beat, ached with a deep stifling pain, she let go of the firm grip on Adhavan’s arms and ran wild into the hut. Adhavan ran after her.
(To be continued...)
Written on Dates: 04/03;04/04;04/05;04/06;04/07;04/08/2015
Chapter 01 The Realization of the Vocation
Chapter 02 The First Glimpse of the Third Eye
Chapter 03 The Complete Surrender
Chapter 04 The Sacredness of the Divine Incarnation
Chapter 05 The Veneration of a Guru
Chapter 06 The Immortality
Chapter 07 The Art of Dying
Chapter 08 The Good Cause
Chapter 09 The First Dissemination
Chapter 10 The One behind the Spiritual Transformation
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