Where and why do the Vettuvas in The Legend of Ponnivala actually
enter the story action and participate in its events?
Throughout the first half of the Ponnivala tale these reticent
forest dwellers stay quiet. One can almost imagine that they
purposely hide, allowing a bunch of artisans who live in a service
village at the foot of their forested hills to serve as the farmers’
protagonists.
The agricultural settlers also have problems within
their own community. Their own cousins are their key rivals. But one small group of artisans, woodsmen and
carpenters by trade, join with these clansmen and together they try
to trick the farmers into a kind of self-suicide. It is clear
why the clansmen do this. They want their cousin’s land.
Why does one small group of woodworkers join them? It seems
that they want revenge (as do the clansmen) for what they consider to
be an unfair set of arrangements Lord Vishnu imposed on everyone in
the land. This event occurs near the very beginning of the story in
the presence of the leaders of the previous generation. The artisans
and clansmen involved in this incident (the flying temple chariot
story) all die.
They are quickly
punished by the goddess who rides the flying cart, for their lies and
deceptive behavior that wrongly implicate her. But my point here has
to do with the Vettuvas. They do not take part in the “Flying
Chariot Story" at all. Indeed, it takes three incidents and more
than half the Legend has been told before the Vettuvas make their
first appearance. These forest dwellers are portrayed as patient,
kind and gentle people… that is until they have been three times
provoked!
The Farmers’ Provocative Mistake Number One: The first
taunt the hunters must swallow comes just months after the twin
heroes and their sister are born together (as triplets). Because of
farmers’ own male cousins, jealous men who covet the family’s
farmland, the two just-born infant boys are in danger. The clansmen
would like to kill these babes in order to eliminate any chance they
could inherit their family lands later on. They do not care about
females born to the queen, because they assume a female will never be
able to lay claim to the family property.
As in many folktales
around the world, only the lives of the (first born) twin boys are in
danger. To protect them the
family goddess hides these young souls in a cave under her temple.
There she feeds them on tiger’s milk and also becomes their martial
arts teacher. For a full five years no one except the goddess even
knows that these boys exist. In contrast, the little sister Tangal
is raised in the palace as an ordinary child. She lives in plain
sight. So now, using the fact that the family has no male heirs as
an excuse, the jealous male cousins decide to attack the local palace
and its residents. They force the king, queen and their small
daughter out and send them into exile.
The couple head for the nearby hills where they think of
hiding for some time. During the first days of this exile, the king
and queen wander with their young daughter. Soon they reach the
hills that lie on the boundaries of Ponnivala. There they come
across a lovely palace. It belongs to a fierce ruler named Kali,
king of the forest hunters. Two Vettuva maids who have gone to fetch water find the exiled
Ponnivala couple resting under a tree near their palace entrance.
They lead the couple to the front porch to meet their powerful
employer. The two maids explain
that the couple need milk for their hungry baby daughter. The hunter
king offers a generous and polite response. Recognizing the couple’s
plight he invites them into his palace for a meal and a good rest.
But the Ponnivala visitors refuse. What is worse, they generate a
conspicuous lie about having “just eaten.” The Vettuva king
understands this refusal as a rude put down. Though not verbalized,
he understands very well that the couple are refusing food from his
hands because they consider him to be inferior (in caste terms) and
therefore believe that his food could “pollute” them. The
Vettuva king is angered by this insult and quickly retracts his offer
of food and shelter. Nonetheless he remains civil and understanding.
The story thus continues to portray him in a positive light.
Acting with generosity, he offers the couple shelter in a
small hut near his horse corral. He tells them they can live there
and that he will not trouble them. The young family will be free to
find their own food (in other words, to live and hunt in his forest,
taking up the lifestyle he and his relatives have already practiced
for centuries as accomplished hunters). The couple accept his
hospitality and settle down in this modest abode for several years.
But they never start to hunt.
Instead the wife (a humbled queen) now
accepts the hard physical job of pounding grain for a merchant
nearby. The now impoverished
farming couple still insist on their pride, however. At no point in
the story do they visit the Vettuva king nor interact with him in any
way. It is a standoff in which the Vettuvas get credit for their
magnanimity in offering the couple housing even after having had to
swallow an insult.
This is all we learn about the (presumed) parents of Viratangal
and their life of exile in the forest, with one exception. One day
the Vettuva king’s wife suddenly receives an unexpected pair of
winged guests. The strangers are
a pair of love-parrots sent down from heaven by Lord Vishnu and told
they should take up housekeeping in the great banyan tree growing
near the Vettuvas’ palace. But before settling in the parrots
politely visit the wife of the king. At this meeting they answer her
questions about where they have come from.
The Vettuva queen welcomes the parrot couple warmly and tells this
pair of birds they should set up their home in the great banyan tree
Lord Vishnu has already recommended to them. The Vettuva queen shows
the parrots the way and they quickly take up residence in a
comfortable nesting hole there. The
two birds are lovers and the “emotive story” of how they play
together and tease one another is charming and perhaps symbolic as
well. As virtually the only “love play” seen in this entire epic
story, these parrots’ role is significant. Perhaps they point to a
kind of forest paradise found in the Vettuva area (a Garden of Eden
in biblical terms). The two birds are innocent, happy and joyful as
they play. And they are always together, outwards expressing the
existence of a strong social bond between them. Later, alas, the
farmer-parents’ two sons will be the ones responsible for breaking
apart this beautiful love-bond.
The Farmers’ Provocative Mistake Number Two: Later in
the story, when the twin brothers reach sixteen years of age, their
sister begs them for a pet parrot. She says she is lonely and
complains that these two regularly leave her alone in the family
while they take off on exciting adventures. So the brothers decide
to catch their sister a pair of parrots. The young brothers soon
look to the Vettuva forest and the famous parrot tree there to find a
pair of beautiful birds. Meanwhile Tangal, their “little sister,”
changes her mind. She says she now realizes that her brothers should
not enter the Vettuvas’ territory on any account.
She predicts that this will cause trouble. Tangal thus asks
her brothers to cancel their hunting plan. They say it is too late
as their village supporters have already been called for the
expedition. They ask the local craftsmen for a large iron net to be
made, especially designed for this parrot-catching plan. However,
the artisans soon complain that the iron they have will not make a
good net. Now the heroes’ assistant, named Shambuga, steps in. He
says he knows the Vettuvas have a stash of very fine iron which they
keep near their Kali temple, deep in the forest. He says he will go
there and somehow, using trickery, he will bring this needed iron
stockpile back with him.
Shambuga enters the forest, finds the Vettuva palace and calls
Viratangal, the young Vettuva maiden, out to speak with him. He asks her politely if he may “borrow” her family’s
stash of iron rods. At first Viratangal says no, but Shambuga
gradually manages to persuade her. Viratangal now goes to ask her
brothers’ permission. They are hesitant. But because Viratangal
is a strong and pervasive speaker, they finally say OK, setting just
one condition: the iron be returned soon. Tangal, again expressing
Vettuva generosity, conveys the news to Shambuga that he may borrow
the iron. She asks him to bring a cart the next day.
But the minute she turns her back Shambuga magically lifts the
whole pile of metal rods onto his head and runs off. The Vettuvas
never see their iron again. The farmers have become thieves and they
are angry. The Vettuvas feel that they have been robbed. But still
this is not enough to make them seek revenge. These forest gentlemen
remain reserved, polite and well-mannered despite this second insult.
The Farmers’ Provocative Mistake Number Three: In folk
tales things often come in threes. In the Ponnivala story the
farmer’s third mistake is the act that finally makes the Vettuva
hunters decide to act. This incident begins the minute the
farmer-twins do not heed their sister’s advice. Despite her
warnings and her request that they cancel their hunt, the farmer
brothers decide to proceed anyway. They will pursue their quest for
a parrot hunt inside what they know to be Vettuva territory. And
what’s more, their sister Tangal soon loses her resolve to resist
her two siblings’ plan further. Despite her conscience telling her
otherwise, Tangal bends to brothers’ demand that she bless their
swords before they depart. Tangal does this but then stays back at
the palace as they set out on their hunt.
The hunting party is large. The Ponnivala village farmers are
accompanied by their powerful assistant Shambuga, and also a number
of local farm workers. It is their duty to help the twin
kings, their masters, on just such occasions. As this organized farmer expedition enters the forest the
group is first confronted by 5,000 tigers. Viratangal herself has
stationed these beasts along the path she knows the men will follow.
Her intent is to protect her beloved parrots from a raid. But her
magical control of those tigers cannot out power the heroes’ own
fighting skills. Remember… these men used to drink tigers’ milk
as children! Furthermore, they were raised by the goddess herself…
who taught them many fighting skills.
After the tigers are defeated Viratangal then sends 5,000
cobras to attack, with the same purpose in mind. But the farmers
manage to defeat these awesome forest guardians as well. When the
hunting expedition finally reaches the great banyan tree where the
parrots live, Shambuga climbs. Soon he finds a good spot from which
to throw his special net. Ironically, of course, this net has been
made from the Vettuvas’ own iron. The net files through the air
with ease but the parrots are forewarned. They have noticed all the
commotion occurring at the base of the very tree where they have
chosen to nest.
Thinking quickly, the parrot couple try to escape as the flying
net moves toward them.
(#28) But only
the male parrot succeeds in rising above this airborne metal trap.
Alas, the female parrot is soon captured and taken down the tree.
Meanwhile, her partner escapes. Once on the ground, at the base of
the great tree, the female parrot is transferred to a specially built
cage. Then she is carried back and presented to Tangal as a fine
gift. There is much fanfare. Tangal is happy to have this beautiful
companion.
She does not realize
how sad her new parrot is, and how this lovely bird is crying inside.
It is longing for its forest mate. Meanwhile, that parrot husband
flies to the Vettuva palace where he promptly complains.
Viratangal understands his language and she is told all about
the capture of the parrot’s sweetheart. She also learns how their
beautiful love-bond has been cruelly broken apart. Symbolically, the
story’s Garden of Eden has now been illegally penetrated and its
essence (freely given, natural love) is now destroyed.
This third violation is too
much. The Vettuva hunters can no longer bear the ever-increasing
escalation of insults. They are also incensed by the havoc it has
wreaked upon their beautiful forest domain. In response the Vettuvas
plot their answer. Their innocent female (parrot) has been kidnapped
and caged. So they now plan to capture the farmers’ own sister and
make her their kidnapped prize. Logically, this will be the exchange
of one trapped female for another. By this point one cannot say
that the Vettuvas are in the wrong by trying to equal matters out!
They have endured three provocative insults on their honor and pride.
It is time for them to react.
Ponnivala’s great and final war starts in this manner. As a
result the kingdom of Ponnivala is finally brought to ruin.
Ponnivala will be no more. But interestingly, as the story ends the
Vettuva kingdom is never destroyed. Unlike in Ponnivala, the Vettuva
palace is never burnt down. The Vettuva forest stands intact, but
the farmers’ fields lie in ruin. Only in Ponnivala is life as a
whole brought to an end. One can understand the story as quietly
celebrating a Vettuva victory. But one must read on to understand
this (somewhat hidden) ending and its still deeper significance.
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