The Solitary Anguish
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
vāḻvārkku vāṉam payantaṟṟāl vīḻvārkku / vīḻvā raḷikku maḷi.
What rain from the sky is to people who live by nothing else, the tenderness a loved one grants is to the one who loves.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“As heaven on living men showers blessings from above, / Is tender grace by lovers shown to those they love.”
“What the rain is to all the world, that is the tenderness of the beloved to her that loveth.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
வீழ்வார்க்கு வீழ்வார் அளிக்கும் அளி= அறமும் பொருளும் நோக்கிப் பிரிந்தால் தம்மை இன்றியமையா மகளிர்க்கு அவரை இன்றியமையாக் கணவர் அளவறிந்து வந்துசெய்யும் தலையளி; வாழ்வார்க்கு வானம் பயந்தற்று= தன்னையே நோக்கி உயிர்வாழ்வார்க்கு வானம் அளவறிந்து பெய்தாற்போலும், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar sets the verse in a separation undertaken for duty and for livelihood. On one side is a wife who cannot do without her husband; on the other a husband who cannot do without her, and who comes and shows her tenderness of the highest degree — his word is தலையளி — knowing the measure. That last phrase is the point of the comparison. The sky, he says, rains on those who live by it alone in exactly the same way: knowing how much.