The Rumour
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malaraṉṉa kaṇṇā ḷarumai yaṟiyā / talaremak kīntativ vūr.
The town has no idea how far out of his reach she is, so it gossips about the two of them as though they were an ordinary, settled pair. That careless talk turns out to be a gift: it says out loud the sentence he could never have said himself.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The village hath to us this rumour giv'n, that makes her mine; / Unweeting all the rareness of the maid with flower-like eyne.”
“These village folk know not the rare virtues of my beloved with the flower-like eyes: for they have given her cheaply to me by raising this clamour.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
மலர் அன்ன கண்ணாள் அருமையறியாது= மலர்போலும் கண்ணையுடையாளது எய்தற்கு அருமை அறியாது; இவ்வூர் அலர் எமக்கு ஈந்தது= இவ்வூர் அவளை எளியளாக்கி அவளோடு அலர்கூறலை எமக்கு உபகரித்தது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The speaker of this couplet is the man in love; the woman he desires is the heroine. Parimelazhagar explains: this town does not know how hard she is to attain, the woman with flower-like eyes. Not knowing it, the town has made her seem within easy reach and has handed him, as a favour, the rumour that speaks her name together with his.