The Kaman Pandihai (festival of Cupid) is one which has great popularity among the lower levels of society. But it has not always been so, as we find Andal herself praying to him. Many of the Tamil epics narrate stories of heroines offering worship to Kaman (Manmata). This angel of love has given rise to a number of conventions in poetic tradition. The dart which he aims at the lovers are traditionally the five – the lotus, the mango flower, the asoka, the jasmine and the nelumbiam (lily). There darts are aimed at the different parts of the love- sick girl’s body and they give rise to different emotions. The lotus aimed at the heart, makes her pine after the lover who has gone away from her for the moment, on some work or state errand. The mango flower aimed at her breasts* causes a tell- tale golden colour to appear thereon for the same reason; The Asoka aimed at the eyes, creates an aversion to all food. The jasmine aimed at her head stretches her on the bed while the lily actually takes away her life; The concept of Kama can thus be seen to have given rise in turn to quite a volume of poetic concepts.
There is also another tradition regarding the blossoming of the flowering shrubs and trees. When they do not bear blooms in profusion during the flowering season, the tradition says that they give out flowers in abundance at a particular act from a virgin girl. The popular tradition is expressed in many poems, when a virgin girl kicks a mara tree (white Indian oak) with her foot, it will bear flowers soon. If her shadow falls on a champaka tree, it will soon bloom. The mahizh (mimusops) will bloom if she casts a loving look on it. If she hugs an asoka tree or if it could hear her footfalls, it will bloom. The kura (wedera) tree blooms at her smile and laughter. When she befriends the palai tree it bears flowers. On the other hand, the padali tree will flower when she scolds it. When she takes food in the shade of a mango tree, the tree begins to flower. The madhavi (hiptage) plant will give out its fragrant flowers when she sings some tunes in it shade. The punnai tree (calophyllam) blooms when she dances before it. This fine poetic convention clearly illustrates how nature and people’s lives had been closely interwoven with mortal people’s lives, particularly with love.
All these are not mere whims of men of letters. They indicate how the people of those days were living a life in tune with nature and how they had a personal relationship with all of God’s creation including the plant world. All these poetic concepts are closely linked with vasantha, the festival of spring. The jasmine has always evoked fine feelings of tenderness and affection in the poets. Its pure white colour, fine arrangement of petals, its opening exactly at a specified hour of the evening and its lingering sweet fragrance have endeared it to poets. The Sangham poetry tells us that Pari, the great warrior patron of the period, returning from a hunt saw a large jasmine creeper mullai covering a small bush with its shoots. It was in full bloom., its snow-white flowers in sharp contrast with its own dark green foliage in the gathering evening dusk. As Pari looked at the mullai he saw it send out scores of shoots with buds, flowers, and foliage; it had covered the entire bush, and the shoots had no more support., but were stretching out into the void with nothing to hold on. His heart was touched by the condition of the plant. It was his duty as ruler of the land to lend support to those who needed it. His artistic mind at once took in the helpless state of the plant. With no hesitation he drove his chariot close to the bush, trained the shoots on the chariot and walked home. No greater tribute can be paid to the flower culture of the Tamils than this most poignant story.
In love poetry mullai is the symbol of purity and chastity and we have a fine story of a festival for the blooming of the mullai It is a poetic convention to say that a young girl expecting a marriage alliance, raises a mullai plant close to her house, with care and love. The belief is that when the plant blooms, she also would get her marriage solemnized. The mullai plant grew and very soon flower buds appeared on it and one fine evening it burst into bloom. Naturally the girl was very happy, and she celebrated the occasion by organizing a festival to celebrate the event. The Tamil Naidatam says that the uproar in the great city of Nala, when girls celebrated the mullai bloom festival in this manner and the great orchestra music celebrating the marriage of young men and women, even excelled the roar of the waves of the sea.
This concept of considering the plant in a human relationship is further extended in a verse in Natrinai (172). A lover going over to meet his lady love tries to flirt with her in the shade of a punnai tree. In her early years her mother had told her that the tree had been lovingly reared with milk and water and it stood in the relationship of a younger sister to the girl. She now remembers this and so tells her lover out of her own sense of modesty that they should not indulge in love pranks in the presence of the tree.