Praising Her Beauty
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muṟimēṉi mutta muṟuval veṟināṟṟam / vēluṇkaṇ vēyttō ḷavaṭku.
He praises her entirely by comparison: her skin the colour of a new leaf, her teeth pearls, her natural scent a perfume, her darkened eyes spears — and her shoulders like bamboo. Love makes every part of her borrow a name from something else, because plain description will not do.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“As tender shoot her frame; teeth, pearls; around her odours blend; / Darts are the eyes of her whose shoulders like the bambu bend.”
“Her arm is as the bamboo; her body is as the tender leaf; her smile is a very pearl; the sweetest of odours is in her breath; and her eye is piercing as the lance.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
வேய்த்தோளவட்கு= வேய்போலும் தோளினை உடையவட்கு; மேனிமுறி= நிறம் தளிர்நிறமாய் இருக்கும்; முறுவல் முத்தம்= பல்லு முத்தமாயிருக்கும்; நாற்றம் வெறி= இயல்பாய நாற்றம் நறுநாற்றமாயிருக்கும்; உண்கண் வேல்= உண்கண்கள் வேலாயிருக்கும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains the couplet as the words of the man about the woman he loves. To that woman, whose shoulders are like bamboo, the colour of her body is the colour of a tender new leaf; her teeth are pearls; her natural scent is fragrance; and her kohl-darkened eyes are spears.