Some women poets like A ̄n.d.a ̄l (eighth century) tease Kr.s.n.a as “a prankster who
knows no dharma” (Nacciyar Tirumoli14: 4) and Namma ̄l
̄
va ̄r, in anger, speaks
of Vis.n.u as the “cruel, wicked one” (Tiruva ̄ymoli 5.3.5). Namma ̄l
̄
va ̄r, in the voice
of a woman, also threatens to “ride the ‘palmyrah horse’ ” (Tamil: matal) to show
the extremity of “her” passion for Vis.n.u:
Lifting my modesty, stealing my heart
the Lord of the divine ones reaches the high heavens.
My friend, this I swear:
I shall shock all the earth,
I shall do weird deeds
and like a wild woman
ride the palmyra stem like a horse.
With no sense of shame, I shall ride
the palmyra stem through every street in town
and women from all the lands will cheer me on
And I shall demand from the Lord
a cool blossom from the tulai plant
and adorn my head with it.
(Tiruva ̄ymoli 5.3.9–10)This is an allusion to a ritual in which a manpublicly proclaimed his love for a
woman by making an artificial horse using sharp palmyra leaves and “riding it”
through the village. The ritual is described in Tamil literature in the first two cen-
turies of the common era. The lover, the hero, was now willing to throw all cir-
cumspection to the winds and publicly announce his love for a young girl. The
heroine, the village leaders, and families of the young man and woman, would
all be convinced of his passion, and hastily facilitated his union with his beloved.
This ritual threatened to hurt the man physically and was considered to be an
extreme step; the villagers, witnessing it, would be convinced that he had to get
married to his love immediately and arrange for the wedding. “Riding a palmyra
horse” was supposed to have been practiced only by men; Tamil texts describing
love proscribed it for women. The act, even for men, was considered to be “scan-
dalous.” In Namma ̄l
̄
va ̄r’s poem, we have a “double” crossing over – Namma ̄l
̄va ̄r,
a male, speaking as a woman, who wants to act like a male. The “essentializing”
of women that may be perceived in the figure of a love sick girl of Tamil poetry
is teased into other modes of behavior. We see a different twist in this scenario
in a poem by Tirumankai A ̄l
̄
va ̄r, also around the ninth century ce. Tirumankai,
also in the voice of a “girl,” wants to ride the palmyra horse, but acknowledges
that a woman resorting to this act is against the rules of love, at least according
to Tamil conventions. He says:
It is true we have heard and understand that in southern texts that it is not fit for
young girls, girls with glances soft as a fawn, girls with the gait of a swan, to discard
their shame and modesty and ride the matalfor their men. But we do not accept it.
We hold up the path shown in the north. (Periya tiru matal 21)574 vasudha narayanan