Declaring the Excellence of Love
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uḷḷuvaṉmaṉ yāṉ maṟappiṉ maṟappaṟiyē / ṉoḷḷamark kaṇṇāḷ kuṇam.
If I ever forgot her, then I could remember her — but I have never once known forgetting, so remembering never gets its turn. She is not something I recall; she is something I have never put down.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“I might recall, if I could once forget; but from my heart / Her charms fade not, whose eyes gleam like the warrior's dart.”
“The virtues of this maiden of the fair and battling eyes I certainly can remember, provided first I can forget them: but how to forget them I know not!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
ஒள்ளமர்க் கண்ணாள் குணம் யான் மறப்பின் உ்ளளுவன்= ஒள்ளியவாய் அமரைச்செய்யும் கண்ணினையுடையாள் குணங்களை யான் மறந்தேன் ஆயின், நினைப்பேன்; மறப்பு அறியேன்= ஒருபொழுதும் மறத்தலை அறியேன், ஆகலான் நினைத்தலையும் அறியேன்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains this couplet as the words of the hero about the heroine, whose bright eyes wage a kind of war. He says the hero's meaning is: if I were to forget the good qualities of this woman with the bright, battling eyes, then I would afterwards remember them. But I have never at any moment known forgetting; and because forgetting never happens, remembering never happens either.