THE CONCEPT OF RELICISM IN INDIAN POETICS.

THE CONCEPT OF RELICISM IN INDIAN POETICS.

--- S. RAM MOHAN

Creative writers on all languages employ a number of devices to embellish their poetry and to convey subtle concepts and sublime feeling to the readers. Symbolism is a device that has been used to great advantage in all great creative works. It is of the most fundamental importance in Tamil Sangam poetry. While its importance is admittedly overwhelming, the present writer has noticed a tendency casually to club other things with symbolism. Thus good instances of a subtle concept that can be termed Relicism too get associated with those of symbolism though it can be shown that these two are really different entities. We shall first explain briefly the nature of symbolism with some examples and then examine Relicism deeply in order that we can grasp the inner import of this device.

A poet needs to refer to Entity A but rightly concludes that a direct reference to it will not be pleasing; he picks up Entity B which has some relationship with Entity A and by referring adroitly to the former in his work he makes the reader connect it mentally with Entity A which he relishes. As Entity B acts as a symbol for Entity A, the process gets the appellation symbolism. The poet will have to guard in utlising this device, against certain possibilities. One is that Entity B should not, in symbolising A, bring up any emotions associated with the relationship that run counter to the one the poet is attempting to arouse; for this will cause inner conflict and eddying of emotions which take away from the delight that might otherwise be produced. A second point, of course, is that the association of A with B should be fairly widely known as otherwise many readers may fail to make the connection and obtain the benefit of symbolism.

There are many kinds of symbolism. Many of them are discussed in seminal works like Sri A.V.Subramanian's Tamil book on it entitled "Symbolism in Sangam poetry", a pioneering work on the subject. One that is most widely known and is of fundamental importance in Sangam love literature is that in which a distinct part of the landscape is referred to (being Entity B) so that a stage of love which it represents may strike the mind of the reader (being Entity A). The hills with their slopes densely afforested can prove excellent cover for lovers to meet in secrecy and hence are used to symbolise the earliest stage of love, i.e., meetings of lovers in total secrecy.

Let us study a poem to illustrate how symbolism is used effectively by great poets.

Poem No.95 (Ref: 1) of Kuruntokai was composed by Kapilar, one of the greatest Sangam Poets. This represents the early stage of love between a mountain Chieftain and a girl of the hunter-farmer tribe; the friend of the Chief has noticed how his friend who was widely admired earlier for his reckless courage was becoming distinctly unsure of himself, even timid and apprehensive and queried him on this. The poem constitutes the hero's reply to his friend. The hero admits he was brave in the past but since meeting the girl, her cool, water-like personality has quite quenched the raging fires in him. This secret love between them has put many fears and apprehension in the hero's heart, making him timid. His new timidity is a measure of his great love for the girl, as this love has made him fear many obstacles, even positive threats from parents and others.

The poem starts with brief references to the mountain, its slopes, the waterfall and the may blooming flowers; these serve to link up previous aesthetic references to mountain slopes and the love drama described in earlier poems read and enjoyed by the reader; when the essential message of the poem is read, it enters a mind that is already filled with memories of secret love meetings reported in the earlier poems and is hence accorded a warm reception and its love sentiment gets much augmented and reinforced. If Entities A and B are associated in the minds of a very large number of readers, the symbolism making use of them is bound to succeed.

1. We now turn to the yet unrecognised category of Relicism. If one character recognises some material as something used by another in love with it or connected by some strong emotional relationship like mother and child and that material stirs up deep emotional springs in the first, we have a case of Relicism. For the emotional springs to be really opened up, the two characters should be separated and in anguish. In the case of Relicism, the relationship between the material and the other need not be widely known, as in the case of Symbolism. It is enough if the character observing it tells other characters and the reader about its emotional significance for oneself. While Relicism deals with one-to-one relationship, symbolism deals with one-to-many or two-to-many relationship.

2. Cases of Relicism will be found to be fewer than those of Symbolism. However, the emotional significance of a relic is far greater and deeper than that of an object symbolised. It is thus a potent weapon in the hands of an adroit poet who can get all the emotional reaction he needs for his poem naturally from Relicism without running the risk of being dubbed over-sentimental. Let us study some examples to get a clearer idea of this device.

3. Another girl, very much love with a young man who has left the village to acquire wealth is not as lucky as this. She very much misses him, spending the time going over in her mind all those meetings between them, even all those periods of anxious waiting for the loved one to arrive. The meetings had to be clandestine as the girl's parents should not come to know of them. They were fixed to take place at dead of night near the tree one ride of the girl's house. The boy would have arrived earlier, in his anxiety not to be late. The girl had to be careful in coming out of the house without waking up her mother or the others in the house and naturally was a little late to arrive at the rendezvous. The boy therefore had had to spend a long time very night near the tree.

4. The girl, in poem 266 (Ref: 2) of Kuruntokai tells her girl companion, "He has not bothered to send me a message all these long months. But this tree was his only companion for long periods on many nights during that period when we were meeting secretly. Could he not have sent a message through a bird to the tree to which he had got attached-so many birds are coming to perch on the tree!"

5. Here the tree growing on the side of the house serves as a relic to the girl reminding her of the ardour of her lover who used to walk through the jungle where tigers and bears lurk every night so as to be with her. Even though the separation was very painful she could alleviate the pain through the recollections of those ecstatic moments she had spent with him - recollections spurred by the tree standing as a relic of those happy nights.

6. Perhaps the best example of Relicism is presented in verse 193 of the Tamil love anthology Kuruntokai. A girl, very much in love with a boy was expected to look emaciated as her lover had left the village to earn wealth and had not returned to her yet. But her girl companion finds her looking healthy and in good spirits, and so she asks her in considerable surprise how she was able to main her health and spirits during this long period of separation. The poem constitutes the reply of the girl.

She says, " In the night before he left he came to me and spent some time with me in the moon light. He had come adorned with mullai buds and we had a great time together. He left the Village, it is true and it is quite some time but my shoulders still give off that mullai smell and feel that he is present near her all the time. The aroma abides in the heart and it is this relic that has sustained her all through these dreary months of separation. Relicism is by its nature subtle; but in this example there is no physical relic, it is the ardently loving mind that has kept the relic of the mullai aroma all through; this reinforces the natural subtlety of the device and generates greater pleasure to the reader, for that reason.
7. Perhaps the best example of Relicism is presented in verse 193 (Ref: 3) of the Tamil love anthology Kuruntokai. A girl, very much in love with a boy was expected to look emaciated as her lover had left the village to earn wealth and had not returned to her yet. But her girl companion finds her looking healthy and in good spirits, and so she asks her in considerable surprise how she was able to main her health and spirits during this long period of separation. The poem constitutes the reply of the girl.

8. Relics turn up not merely in the lives of lovers but wherever there is true and deep emotion. Sangam poets have sung a number of poems on the emotional state of the members of the family of the girl who has eloped with her young lover. In Natrinai 143 (Ref 3A) the mother, unable to bear the separation from the daughter points to the bevy of small girls who bevy of small girls who used to play with her in the rand-spread front portion of the house and to the fence of orai trees around it, emphasising how they all are unhappy reminders, had relics of happier days when the girl was with them. Apart from these, the parrot petted so avidly by the girl, cries out in anguish, "O, my mother! wake up from your slumber!" and is not to be comforted.

The living articulate relic, the parrot is able to bring out the sorrow of the family more sharply then the now empty rand-spread playing field or the silent tress. It cries not in its agony and being a parrot, it is able to mouth it in discernible words. More importantly, the parrot is in the position of a child whom its foster-mother, the eloping girl is certain to miss; she would thus be in the same position as her mother who, she should have realised, would suffer torments as a result of the separation. "How I miss my pet the darling parrot! My mother back home will obviously be missing me badly! " would be the girl; train of emotion. Thus the relic here clearly provides a parallel of a suffering mother and is thus eloquently able to bring the emotional state of the sorrowing family on the morning after the elopement.

In Akananooru 165, (Ref: 4) the mother of the girl who has left the house the previous night with her lover finds the doll lying in the randy courtyard, neglected- the doll that was dear to her daughter. This relic brings to her mind the many incidents where her daughter had been seen tending to it lovingly as if it were her own daughter. The mother embraces the doll lamenting; she quite realizes that her daughter must have felt had to leave the doll behind; she must be missing her the same way as she herself, the mother was missing her daughter.

In the literature of later days, too, this concept of Relicism has been fully exploited by poets to bring out the sorrow caused by separation. Goda, known better as Andal in Tamil imagines herself to be a cowherd lass in deep love with Lord Krishna. But Krishna has other engagements and does not come to her to fulfil her passion. So, in desperation she cries out to her kinsmen to take her to various places frequented by Krishna earlier and leave her there as the very places would serve her as relics reminding her intensely of her lover. Among the places selected by her are the bank of the pond where the dreaded serpent Kaliyan was worsted by the Lord dancing on its hoods, the place in the woods, where, on the instructions of Krishna, his playmates stood waiting for the food to be brought by the Brahmin women every day and finally the courtyard of Nandagopan's house. These places have been selected for their special and close association with the lover who must have left his stamp of individuality on them, thus enhancing their relic value. Nammalvar beautifully brings out the concept of relicism in Thiruvaimozhi verse No.2447 (Ref: 5) . Here the mother torments the mental state of her daughter. The daughter is so much in love with the Lord that she finds the relic of Him in all the objects surrounding her, in every creation of the Universe. She puts her hand in the dust of the ground and says “this is the mud on the holy feet of Vamana had walked”. Thus the very insignificant mud itself serves as the relic which triggers the image of her beloved in her mind. She looks at the sky and essays that this is the direction where his abode of Vaikuntam exists. The very blue colour of the ocean reminds her of Him. The same idea is also expressed in the Upanishad where the beautiful expression of earth being shampooed with the holy dust of his feet is mentioned. (Ref 6)

Relicism is not an idea confined to Tamil literature. There are many places where poets have made adroit use of this to enhance the emotional appeal of passages. Valmiki, the first of poets has made use of it in the Kishkindha kanda, 6th sarga (Ref 7) where he shows the monkeys bringing the jewels of Sita had tied up in an upper cloth, and thrown down from Ravana's chariot in which she was being carried away. These jewels with their intense physical association with Sita possessed great relic value for Rama whose love for her was unique, overwhelming. He is so moved by the light of the jewels, he is unable to identify them and so has the job done by Lakshmana. And, on his confirming that at least the leg ornaments were definitely hers, Rama goes into a trauma of lamentation, swearing terrible vengeance against the king of the rakshasas who took her away from him.

There are several more such instances in Valmiki Ramayanam. Let us savour one more instance of relicism from the Adi Kavya. Here, Sri Rama after the death of Sita and one the onset of spring season remarks on the happy state of all animals. Rama remarks that all animals are playing with their mates whom no demon had taken away. There is a trace of jealousy evident here. This verse is about a peacock.





In the verses 68-70, of the same sarga describe Rama's great anguish at the return of spring season by which nature reminds him of the earlier (previous) spring seas when he and Sita were so happy together. So here, the spring season is the relic which reminds him of the happiness with Sita during the previous spring season. This is a very subtle relic again more or like the Tamil Verse we have seen " ".




This is a clear statement of the spring as a memory relic comparing the unpahh7 present with the happy part, the other conditions remaining unchanged.

In the famous Kaya Svapnavasavvadattam there is a very beautiful reference to the relic.




King believes Vasavadatta to be dead. His men discover her favourite Siva Ghoshasvata in the forests much encrusted with birds emissions and bring it to him. He deplores its cruel fate; how having enjoyed an intimate association with the queen is now discovered neglected, lying in the forest. He likes it and it bring back powerful memories of the queeen playing on it earlier. At the same time he recalls enjoying it for the close association it had had with her lying on her lap and touching her bosom.

Similarly Periazhvar Thirumozhi verses 325 and 326 (Ref 7A) portray Relicism when they describe the occasion when Hanuman hands out the signet ring of Rama to Sita in Asoka Vana. The signet ring, which is the relic here, immediately sends Sita to raptures.

Similar relic-effect is also described by Kamban in verses 63,64 & 65 of Urukkattu Patalam (Ref 8) . Earlier in Kishkintha Kandam, the relic of Sita’s jewels, dropped by her during her airborne abduction by Ravana trigger a powerful emotional reaction in Rama. Kamban say that the very signet of these relics made the entire person of Rama melt away, as described in verses 5 & 6 of Kalan Kaan Patalam (Ref 9).

We have seen that the Relicism is not an idea confined to Tamil literature. There are many places where poets have made adroit use of this to enhance the emotional appeal of passages. Valmiki, the first of poets has made use of it in the Kishkindha kanda, 6th sarga where he shows the monkeys bringing the jewels of Sita had tied up in an upper cloth, and thrown down from Ravana's chariot in which she was being carried away. These jewels with their intense physical association with Sita possessed great relic value for Rama whose love for her was unique, overwhelming. He is so moved by the light of the jewels, he is unable to identify them and so has the job done by Lakshmana. And, on his confirming that at least the leg ornaments were defsinitely hers, Rama goes into a trauma of lamentation, swearing terrible vengeance against the king of the rakshasas who took her away from him.

Kalidasa in his celebrated play Sakuntalam makes adroit use of relicism, as he only can do it, in the III Act of the play. King Dushyanta had been in the company of Sakuntala for some time when she is called away by her foster-mother Gautami. The King misses her very much and seeking some substitute satisfaction, he happens to notice the flower-bower where she had been spending much of the time, waiting to meet him. He sees the flowery bed crushed by her lying on it; the letter she was writing to him on a lotus leaf with her nail as the pen was lying on the floor, faded; he could see the bangle-like ornament she had made of lotus stems and worn by her for some time now fallen on the floor. His eager eyes drank in these relics preventing him from leaving the bower, though now empty, bereft of her.





The fact that the king was unable to leave the bower though Sakuntala had left it earlier is a clear indication of the power of relicism, as he was able to derive some satisfaction contemplating the objects used by her, especially the love-letter expressing her emotional state, remaining undelivered.

In Sanskrit dramaturgy this situation is broadly termed bindu which helps to keep up the love intact when there is a threat to it - which is a very general description of relicism as we have discussed here. The definition given in the Dasarupaka is as follows:


It may be seen that it makes bindu a major category in which not only relicism but many other an readily fit in with space for more. Relicism itself has not been identified as a device and described with examples in the works on aesthetics in Sanskrit or Tamil in the past.

In conclusion we may analyse the main features of relicism which are characteristic of the device: in this we may refer to the creator of the relic as A and the person utilising its relic value as B:-

a) An effective relic should have powerful personal emotional association with A for it to affect B and be valued by B as a relic.
b) Relic value is heightened if, in addition to the emotional association which the relic has with A, it has some association with B too. Thus the tree under which the hero stood awaiting his girl and which therefore is emotionally associated with him is clearly important to the girl as it was their rendezvous.
c) The value of a relic arises on account of its unique association with A and of the fact that only B recognises this. Its relic value is reduced, may be wholly lost, if it is used, loved or respected by a number of persons besides A. Here, it can be seen that relicism is diametrically opposed to symbolism where the symbol can be of value only if it is recognizable by many.
d) The relic itself need not be intrinsically valuable; it may be of no value to other; its value arises only because of its unique emotional association with A.
e) Contrary to the common standards of valuation, the relic value of an object is much heightened if it reveals neglect or Lack of attention and care bestowed on it by other after A leaves it, if it is faded and not likely to survive, as in the case of the plants nurtured by the girl prior to elopement, if it is totally useless and fit to be thrown away as in the case of the lotus stalk ornaments worn by Sakuntala. An extreme case is that of the physically non-existent mullai smell which lives on in the girl's heart months after the lover leaves; the relic here is a physical non-entity; but despite that or perhaps because of that, it possesses a high relic value for the girl.
f) An elementary condition for an object to possess relic value is that its user A is away and is not using it now. Its relic value is heightened if the chances of reunion between A and B are not high or do not appear high in B's estimation.
g) Another basic condition for an object to come to possess relic value is that it should be left behind by A and B is able to come by it. An object does not get the relic status, unless it is left behind by the user; and it does not come to possess value unless B finds it.
h) And, finally a relic comes to possess value only if there is deep emotional attachment between A and B, as otherwise in most cases it has not intrinsic value and may be regarded as rubbish fit to be thrown out.

i) An effective relic should have powerful personal emotional association with A for it to affect B and be valued by B as a relic.
j) Relic value is heightened if, in addition to the emotional association which the relic has with A, it has some association with B too. Thus the tree under which the hero stood awaiting his girl and which therefore is emotionally associated with him is clearly important to the girl as it was their rendezvous.
k) The value of a relic arises on account of its unique association with A and of the fact that only B recognises this. Its relic value is reduced, may be wholly lost, if it is used, loved or respected by a number of persons besides A. Here, it can be seen that relicism is diametrically opposed to symbolism where the symbol can be of value only if it is recognizable by many.
l) The relic itself need not be intrinsically valuable; it may be of no value to other; its value arises only because of its unique emotional association with A.
m) Contrary to the common standards of valuation, the relic value of an object is much heightened if it reveals neglect or Lack of attention and care bestowed on it by other after A leaves it, if it is faded and not likely to survive, as in the case of the plants nurtured by the girl prior to elopement, if it is totally useless and fit to be thrown away as in the case of the lotus stalk ornaments worn by Sakuntala. An extreme case is that of the physically non-existent mullai smell which lives on in the girl's heart months after the lover leaves; the relic here is a physical non-entity; but despite that or perhaps because of that, it possesses a high relic value for the girl.
n) An elementary condition for an object to possess relic value is that its user A is away and is not using it now. Its relic value is heightened if the chances of reunion between A and B are not high or do not appear high in B's estimation.
o) Another basic condition for an object to come to possess relic value is that it should be left behind by A and B is able to come by it. An object does not get the relic status, unless it is left behind by the user; and it does not come to possess value unless B finds it.
p) And, finally a relic comes to possess value only if there is deep emotional attachment between A and B, as otherwise in most cases it has not intrinsic value and may be regarded as rubbish fit to be thrown out.

King believes Vasavadatta to be dead. His men discover her favourite Siva Ghoshasvata in the forests much encrusted with birds emissions and bring it to him. He deplores its cruel fate; how having enjoyed an intimate association with the queen is now discovered neglected, lying in the forest. He likes it and it bring back powerful memories of the queen playing on it earlier. At the same time he recalls enjoying it for the close association it had had with her lying on her lap and touching her bosom.