Unendurable Separation
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
toṭiṟ cuṭiṉallatu kāmanōy pōla / viṭiṟcuṭa lāṟṟumō tī.
Fire burns you if you touch it, and that is the whole of what it can do. Can it burn, the way the sickness of love burns, from far away? It cannot.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Fire burns the hands that touch; but smart of love / Will burn in hearts that far away remove.”
“Hath fire, which burneth only when it is touched the power, like love, to burn when it is far away?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
தீத்தொடின் சுடல் அல்லது= தீத் தன்னைத் தொட்டாற் சுடுமாயின் சுடுதல்அல்லது; காமநோய் போல விடின் சுடல் ஆற்றுமோ= காமமாகிய நோய்போலத் தன்னை அகன்றாற் தப்பாது சுடுதலைவற்றோ, மாட்டாது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The couplet compares fire with the sickness of love and settles which is the stronger, by asking a question. Fire, says Parimelazhagar, burns if it is touched, and burning on contact is the whole of what it does. Has fire the power to burn without fail from a distance, the way this sickness does? His answer is no, it has not. What can only burn you when you are near it is the weaker of the two.