The Solitary Anguish
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
nāṅkātal koṇṭār namakkevaṉ ceypavō / tāṅkātal koḷḷāk kaṭai.
What can the one I have loved do for me, when he takes up no such love for me himself?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“From him I love to me what gain can be, / Unless, as I love him, he loveth me?”
“How can I hope for any favour from my beloved if he loveth me not even as I love him?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நாம் காதல் கொண்டார் நமக்கு எவன்செய்பவோ= நம்மாற் காதல் செய்யப்பட்டவர் நமக்கு என்ன இன்பத்தைச் செய்வர்; தாம் காதல் கொள்ளாக் கடை= அவ்வாறே தாமும் நங்கண் காதல் செய்யாவழி, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar opens the question out as: what happiness will the person we have loved give us? Then he attaches the condition — when he does not likewise bear love toward us. His word for that state is செய்யாவழி, where வழி means place or occasion rather than a road. Where he does not so love, the commentary says, nothing he offers turns into happiness for her. It does not call him cruel and it lays no charge against him. It asks only what one-sided affection can be expected to yield.