Praising Her Beauty
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aṟuvāy niṟainta vavirmatikkup pōla / maṟuvuṇṭō mātar mukattu.
Even the moon at its fullest carries a dark patch, and it had to shrink and refill to get there. Her face has no such mark — so the comparison, offered as praise, actually falls short.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“In moon, that waxing waning shines, as sports appear, / Are any spots discerned in face of maiden here?”
“But is there a spot in the face of this fair one even as in the moon which hath rounded up only today its deformities of yesterday?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
(அம்மீன்கள் அங்ஙனம் கலங்குதற்குக் காரணம் யாது?) அறுவாய் நிறைந்த அவிர்மதிக்குப் போல= முன் குறைந்த இடம் வந்து நிரம்பியே விளங்கும் மதிக்கண்போல; மாதர் முகத்து மறு உண்டோ = இம்மாதர் முகத்து மறு உண்டோ?
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar sets this couplet as the answer to a question raised by the previous verse: why do the stars wander in confusion? The speaker, the man who loves this woman, replies that the moon fills up only after having been diminished, and even when it shines full it carries a blemish. Is there any such blemish, he asks, on this woman's face?