Wealth Without Benefit
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vaittāṉ vāycāṉṟa perumporu ḷaḵtuṇṇāṉ / cettāṉ ceyakkiṭanta til.
He stored up wealth enough to fill the whole house and does not use it. He is dead: nothing is left that he can do with it.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Who fills his house with ample store, enjoying none, / Is dead. Nought with the useless heap is done.”
“Behold the man who hath laid by in his home treasures in abundance but enjoyeth them not: he is as good as dead, for he maketh no use of them.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
வாய் சான்ற பெரும்பொருள் வைத்தான் அஃது உண்ணான்= தன் மனை அகலம் எல்லாம் நிறைதற்கு ஏதுவாய பெரும்பொருளை ஈட்டிவைத்து உலோபத்தால் அதனை உண்ணாதவன்; செத்தான் செயக்கிடந்தது இல்= உளனாயினும் செத்தானாம், அதன்கண் அவனால் செயக் கிடந்ததோர் உரிமை இன்மையான்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
He gathered wealth enough to fill the whole extent of his house and, out of miserliness, does not consume it. Though he is alive, he is spoken of as dead — for no right over that wealth is left for him to exercise. Parimelazhagar's own qualifier does the careful work here: உளனாயினும், though he exists. The verse is not a statement about dying but about a man who, as far as what he stored is concerned, is not there.