Wealth Without Benefit
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poruḷāṉā mellāmeṉ ṟīyā tivaṟu / maruḷāṉā māṇāp piṟappu.
Believing that wealth brings everything, he gathers it and gives none away, clinging in delusion. That delusion earns an unworthy birth.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Who giving nought, opines from wealth all blessing springs, / Degraded birth that doting miser's folly brings.”
“Behold the miser that thinketh that wealth is all in all and hoardeth it without giving to any: he will be a demon in his next birth.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
பொருளான் எல்லாம்ஆம் என்று= பொருள் ஒன்றும் உண்டாக அதனால் எல்லாம் உண்டாம் என்று அறிந்து அதனை ஈட்டி; ஈயாது இவறும் மருளான்= பின் பிறர்க்கு ஈயாது பற்றுள்ளம் செய்யும் மயக்கத்தாலே; மாணாப் பிறப்பு ஆம்= ஒருவனுக்கு நிறைதல் இல்லாத பேய்ப்பிறப்பு உண்டாம்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Knowing that wealth is one thing from which everything else follows, he gathers it; then, out of the attachment that gives nothing away, a delusion takes hold. From that, Parimelazhagar says, comes பேய்ப்பிறப்பு - a birth among the never-satisfied - and his qualifier is the part that carries the meaning: நிறைதல் இல்லாத, one in which fullness never comes. Aiyar's 1916 translation renders பேய் as demon; that is his English, not the commentator's word. This is what the text teaches, reported as its teaching and not as a forecast about anyone.