Wealth Without Benefit
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koṭuppatūun tuyppatūu millārk kaṭukkiya / kōṭiyuṇ ṭāyiṉu mil.
Where nothing is given away and nothing is enjoyed, a fortune stacked to the ceiling may as well not be there.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Amid accumulated millions they are poor, / Who nothing give and nought enjoy of all they store.”
“Behold the men that neither give unto others nor enjoy their wealth themselves: even if they possess tens of millions they really possess nothing.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கொடுப்பதூஉம் துய்ப்பதூஉம் இல்லார்க்கு= பிறர்க்கு ஈவதும் தாம் நுகர்வதுமாய இரண்டு செய்கையும் உடையர் அல்லாதார்க்கு; அடுக்கிய கோடி உண்டாயினும் இல்= பலவாகிய அடுக்கிய கோடி பொருள் உண்டாயினும் ஒன்றுமில்லை.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
For those who have neither of the two acts — giving to others, and enjoying it themselves — heaped crores may be there, and there is not one thing. Parimelazhagar's phrase இரண்டு செய்கையும், both acts, is the load-bearing one: with either of them present the reckoning does not apply.