The Pallor of Longing
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cāyalu nāṇu mavarkoṇṭār kaimmāṟā / nōyum pacalaiyun tantu.
My grace and my modesty he took with him when he went — and in exchange he gave me this sickness and this pallor.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Of comeliness and shame he me bereft, / While pain and sickly hue, in recompense, he left.”
“My comeliness and my modesty he hath taken away, giving in exchange nought but the pangs of the heart and my pallid hue.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கைம்மாறா நோயும் பசலையும் தந்து= பிரிகின்ற ஞான்றே அவ்விரண்டற்கும் தலைமாறாக இக்காமநோயினையும் பசலையையும் எனக்குத் தந்து; சாயலும் நாணும் அவர் கொண்டார்= என் மேனியழகினையும், நாணினையும் அவர் கொண்டுபோயினார், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar lays the couplet out as a trade. On the very day of the parting, the man carried off with him her bodily grace and her modesty. Nor did he leave empty-handed in the other direction: as the price of those two, says the commentary, he handed her this love-sickness and the pale colour now spread on her body, and then he went. Nowhere in the exchange is there a moment where she agreed to the terms, and that is the sting of it.