Setting Reserve Aside
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kāma muḻantu varuntiṉārk kēma / maṭalalla tillai vali.
When longing has worn a person down and every private strategy has failed, the only strength left is to stop hiding it and say it openly, whatever that costs. The verse calls that last resort a protection, not a disgrace.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“To those who 've proved love's joy, and now afflicted mourn, / Except the helpful 'horse of palm', no other strength remains.”
“To those who are torn from their loved one and suffer the pangs of their passion there is no other resource left but the riding of the palmyra stalk.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
காமம் உழந்து வருந்தினார்க்கு= அரியராய மகளிரோடு காமத்தை அனுபவித்துப் பின் அதுபெறாது துன்புற்ற ஆடவர்க்கு; ஏம மடல் அல்லது வலி இல்லை = பண்டும் ஏமமாய் வருகின்ற மடல் அல்லது இனி எனக்கு வலியாவது இல்லை.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that for a man who has known love with a woman hard to win, and then suffers because that love is no longer within reach, there is no remaining strength except the madal — the recourse that has always served as his protection. In Parimelazhagar's reading, the man himself is speaking: riding the madal is the one strength he has left.