The Rumour
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kavvaiyāṟ kavavitu kāma matuviṉṟēṟ / ṟavveṉṉun taṉmai yiḻantu.
The town's gossip is what makes this love spread and bloom; if the talk stopped, the love itself would lose its nature and shrink.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The rumour rising makes my love to rise; / My love would lose its power and languish otherwise.”
“This clamour hath increased my passion for her: without it it would have been but a stale affair.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
காமம் கவ்வையால் கவ்விது= என் காமம் இவ்வூர் எடுக்கின்ற அலரானே அலர்தலை உடைத்தாயிற்று; அது இன்றேல் தன்மை இழந்து தவ் என்னும்= அவ்வலர் இல்லையாயின் தன் இயல்பு இழந்து சுருங்கும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads this as the heroine speaking of her own love. Her love, he explains, has come into full flower because of the rumour the town raises about her; and he adds that if that rumour were absent, her love would lose its own nature and shrink.