Setting Reserve Aside
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toṭalaik kuṟuntoṭi tantāṇ maṭaloṭu / mālai yuḻakkun tuyar.
Before her, I did not know that a particular hour of the day could hurt, and I did not know the reckless public gesture people reach for when it does. She gave me both at once.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The maid that slender armlets wears, like flowers entwined, / Has brought me 'horse of palm,' and pangs of eventide!”
“This fair one who weareth tiny bracelets and who is tender as a flower, it is she that hath given me the palm-stalk and the anguish of eventide.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
மாலை உழக்கும் துயர் மடலொடு= மாலைப் பொழுதின்கண் அனுபவிக்கும் துயரினையும், அதற்கு மருந்தாய மடலினையும் முன்னறியேன்; தொடலைக் குறுந்தொடி தந்தாள்= இதுபொழுது, எனக்கு மாலைபோலத் தொடர்ந்த சிறுவளையினை உடையாள் தந்தாள்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
In Kural 1135 the speaker is a man in love, and the woman he loves wears small bangles linked like a garland. Parimelazhagar explains that the man says he formerly knew neither the suffering endured at evening nor the palmyra-stem ride that serves as its remedy, and that the woman with those small bangles has now given him both of these.