Pining and Complaint
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
uḷḷampōṉ ṟuḷvaḻic celkiṟpiṉ veḷḷanīr / nīntala maṉṉōveṉ kaṇ.
If my eyes could travel the way the mind travels, to the place where he is, they would not be swimming in this flood of their own water.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“When eye of mine would as my soul go forth to him, / It knows not how through floods of its own tears to swim.”
“If my eyes can run, even as my heart runneth, to where he is, they need not now be swimming in a sea of tears.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உள்ளம்போன்று உள்வழிச் செல்கிற்பின்= மனம்போலக் காதலர் உள்ள தேயத்துக் கடிதின் செல்லவல்லனவாயின்; என்கண் வெள்ளநீர் நீந்தல மன்னோ= என் கண்கள் இங்ஙனம் வெள்ளமாகிய தந்நீரை நீந்தா.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The woman states the difference between her eyes and her mind. If her eyes were able to travel swiftly to the country where the beloved is, as the mind does, Parimelazhagar writes, they would not be swimming as they are in the flood that is their own water. The eyes that cannot go are left swimming instead, and the water they swim in is the water they themselves have shed.