Wealth Without Benefit
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cīruṭaic celvar ciṟutuṉi māri / vaṟaṅkūrn taṉaiya tuṭaittu.
The brief hard season of those whose wealth carries honour has the same nature as a rain cloud that has run dry.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“'Tis as when rain-cloud in the heaven grows dry, / When generous wealthy man endures brief poverty.”
“The distress of the man of wealth who hath emptied his resources by benefactions is only like the exhaustion of the rain-cloud: it will not continue for long.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
சீருடைச் செல்வர் சிறு துனி= புகழுடைத்தாய செல்வத்தினை உடையவரது, நிற்கும் காலம் சிறிதாய வறுமை; மாரி வறம் கூர்ந்து அனையது உடைத்து= உலகத்தை எல்லாம் நிலைநிறுத்தும் மேகம் வறுமை மிக்காற்போல்வதோர் இயல்பினை உடைத்து.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
When somebody whose wealth carries honour falls into want, Parimelazhagar says, the time that want lasts is short: it has the nature of the cloud that holds the whole world up, standing dry for a season. He does not say why the cloud is dry. That reading belongs to V.V.S. Aiyar, who renders the man as one who has emptied his resources by benefactions.