Unendurable Separation
.
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
tuṟaivaṉ ṟuṟantamai tūṟṟākoṉ muṉkai / yiṟaiyiṟavā niṉṟa vaḷai.
The bangles that have slipped past the joint of my forearm — will they not proclaim it themselves, that the man of the shore has left me? Must I wait to be told?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The bracelet slipping from my wrist announced before / Departure of the Prince that rules the ocean shore.”
“Would not my close-fitting bracelets themselves that have slipped from my wrists raise the bruit of the parting of my lord?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
துறைவன் துறந்தமை = துறைவன் என்னைப் பிரியலுற்றமையை; முன்கை இறை இறவாநின்ற வளை தூற்றாகொல்= அவன் உணர்த்தாமல் தாமே உணர்ந்து என் முன்கையிறையினின்றும் கழலாநின்ற வளைகள் எனக்கு அறிவியாவோ, அவன் உணர்த்த உணர்ந்துவந்து நீ அறிவித்தல் வேண்டுமோ.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads this as the woman answering the companion who has come to break the news. The bangles slipping from the joint of her forearm understood it by themselves, without his saying anything, and she asks whether they will not have told her already that the man of the shore has begun to leave her. Must you, she goes on, hear it from him and then come and inform me?