Short Paper: The Amarusataka

Love throughout the Ages

Romantic relationships are much the same in the twenty-first century as they were in the seventh.  Amaru, a master of the short lyric, or muktaka genre of love poetry from seventh century India (W., A., and James 940-44), emphasizes point of view and conflict over setting in The Amarusataka to portray various stages of romantic and sexual relationships between men and women.  While the material trappings and social conventions of courtship and marriage have changed drastically in just the last few decades, the emotions and conflicts of love and sexual relationships have not changed in almost three millennia.

In Amaru’s poems about romantic conflict with one’s self, the speakers are often looking on or obsessing over the person that they desire to be with.  In poem 34, an older, experienced man finds himself tongue-tied and clumsy at the sight of a sexually bold teenage girl.  His fainthearted inability to move properly is one of the many “flaws/that shelter themselves/in another” (lines 11-13).  Men are still attracted to bold, younger women in the twenty-first century as well.  Hugh Hefner is a case in point, although he does not have trouble with his coordination when he is around his “playmates.”  Also, until more recent decades, older men still married younger women, and within the last few months a sixteen-year-old girl received permission from her parents to marry her boyfriend who was already into his sixth decade.  Modern lovers also obsess over the seeming omnipresence of their paramours, as in poem 102, where “there is no reality for [this lover]/other than she she/she she she she/in the whole reeling world” (lines 9-12), and have such pleasurable sexual experiences that either one or both lovers cannot remember “who [he] was, /who I was, /or how It was,” as in poem 101 (lines 11-13).

Conflicts with one’s lover, both spoken and unspoken, are the same in the Amarusataka as in modern-day romance.  The silence and chilliness in the aftermath of a fight between companions, told from a third-person perspective in poem 23, illustrates how—almost three millennia ago, as well as today—people have always let their pride keep them from reconciling with those they loved the most.  One disappointed lover, in poem 38 reflects the plight of many who have been in a relationship for a long time.  They remember when it was so easy to make up with just “a mutual smile,” and mere glance from the other person was “a gift” (lines 6 and 8).  For even the most modern lover who can remember how easy it used to be to be in love, having been together so long that they no longer talk about the good times, and instead berate their groveling suitors (lines 11-12) without the ability to stop, is extremely frustrating.

While Indian marriages in the seventh century were mostly arranged, partners in those marriages still had feelings, and wanted to be loved, as does the woman in poem 57, who starts out angry.  As her lord—her husband—asks her what he’s done to offend her, she says that she’s angry at herself.  She realizes that she is not her lord’s “darling” (line 12), and that she has fallen in love with him, although subconsciously she knows he does not love her.  This situation is not an uncommon occurrence even in modern-day America, even though most adults choose their own partners today.  The individuals in a relationship often have different reasons for being in that relationship, and sadly, love may not be one of those reasons.  If one partner is in love, and the other is not, then there is a high probability for heartache in the future, as with the woman from poem 57.

Even more wrenching is losing someone’s love to coldness and cruelty, as the woman in poem 69 laments.  This woman has become the wife—here, the meaning is closer to slave—of her husband, “the master” (line 7), but she remembers the passion of their early courtship and wonders what comes next, as no doubt many lovers—not just women—have asked themselves over the millennia.  While not prevalent in America, there are still many countries which are very patriarchal when it comes to marriage and family; in these countries, the husband is very much like a master—allowed to beat his wife without punishment, to mistreat her or to cherish her as he deems fit.  The pain of love lost—or the wish for a love that never existed—as illustrated in the Amarusataka has its mirror in the modern day lives of lovers the world over.

Without a resolution of conflict, no relationship would survive, whether in ancient India or anywhere on modern-day Earth.  Yet not all of the conflict in the Amarusataka is resolved.  Some of the lovers, such as the elder gentleman in poem 34, wonders at his clumsiness and inability to act, but does not do anything about it.  His conflict with himself is not resolved, like that of so many other would-be lovers, pining after the ones they most desire.  The speaker in poem 101 does not remember her encounter with her lover, and yet seems content for the experience to remain a pleasurable blur, lost in the afterglow and the morning after.  There is also a bit of exaggeration in that she cannot even remember “who I was” (line 12), which is also characteristic of modern lovers who have just had a peerless sexual encounter.  The man in poem 102 loses himself in the reality of “she” (line 10), and in that way becomes one with his unattainable paramour.

The chilly consequences of the fight between lovers are lost in humor, as portrayed many times in modern media such as movies in the romantic comedy genre, as well as in real life.  The lovers turn toward each other—the reason why is so insignificant that it’s not even mentioned—and something about the way the other looks at that moment reminds them how absurd their pride and stubbornness are; they reconcile with spontaneous laughter.  In contrast, some lovers cannot break a cycle of pride and anger once it has gained momentum, as in poem 38.  Not only do conflicts remain unresolved, but they remain unforgotten as well.  Many couples divorce over each partner’s inability to let go of a grudge, especially in the present day.

The woman in poem 57 consciously learns something which she subconsciously knew all along—that her lord does not love her.  In a way, she has resolved this conflict with her lord, but also has not.  Both she and the man now know that he does not love her, and that is why she was angry and in tears—but in the end, he still does not love her, which continues to tear at the woman’s emotions, another unresolved conflict.  No amount of couples’ counseling will help keep a couple together when one partner does not feel the same as the other.  Finally, the woman in poem 69 is left wondering what comes next in her marriage.  She knows how her relationship got to this point, but she has no way of knowing how “our lives/as hard as diamond” (lines 11-12) will affect her marriage from this point forward, and that is the dilemma of all couples everywhere—and every when.

The Amarusataka was written in a time when women were second-class citizens and men were the masters, but there was still love and romance in India.  The conflicts presented involving secret lovers, lovers’ quarrels, and the absence of love in Amaru’s work are still relevant to twenty-first century relationships, despite Amaru’s omission of background imagery and the timing for each poem.

Teacher Comments and Grade: Excellent work Darcy!  Sharp, clear, focused discussion that is thoughtful and well worked out.  Fine job.  A