The Solitary Anguish
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vīḻap paṭuvār keḻīiyilar tāmvīḻvār / vīḻap paṭāa reṉiṉ.
Even a woman whom everyone holds dear is without the one closeness that counts, if the man she loves does not love her.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Those well-beloved will luckless prove, / Unless beloved by those they love.”
“What if they are loved by others? If women receive not the affection of their beloved they know no happiness on earth.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
வீழப்படுவார்= கற்புடைமகளிரால் நன்கு மதிக்கப்படுவாரும்; தாம் வீழ்வார் வீழப்படார் எனின் கெழீஇ இலர்= தாம் விரும்பும் கணவரான் விரும்பப்படாராயின் தீவினையாட்டியர், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads வீழப்படுவார் as those who are well thought of by women of good character — a wide and genuine esteem. However wide it runs, he says, if such a woman is not desired by the very husband she desires, then the good of closeness is not hers. His word for her is தீவினையாட்டியர், a woman of ill deeds or ill fortune, which is harsh and is his own frame: in his world a love that fails to be returned is not merely a lack but the working out of an unlucky destiny. He does not say the wider esteem is false. He says it does not fill this one place.