Reading the Signs
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
nōkkiṉā ṇōkki yiṟaiñciṉā ḷaḵtavaḷ / yāppiṉu ḷaṭṭiya nīr.
She looked first, and then she looked down. The look and the looking away, taken together, were what made the feeling grow.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“She looked, and looking drooped her head: / On springing shoot of love 'its water shed!”
“She looked, and then she bowed: that was the watering of the young plant of love that was springing between us.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நோக்கினாள்= யான் நோக்காவளவில் தான் என்னை அன்போடு நோக்கினாள்; நோக்கி இறைஞ்சினாள்= நோக்கி ஒன்றனை யுட்கொண்டு நாணி இறைஞ்சினாள்; அஃது யாப்பினுள் அவள் அட்டிய நீர்= அக்குறிப்பு இருவேம் இடையும் தோன்றிய அற்புப்பயிர் வளர அதன்கண் அவள் வார்த்த நீராயிற்று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Before I could look at her, she looked at me with affection; then, holding something in her mind, she felt shy and lowered her head. That sign of hers became the water she poured on the young crop of love that had sprung up between the two of us. Parimelazhagar explains the couplet as the man's words.