The Solitary Anguish
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paruvaralum paitaluṅ kāṇāṉkol kāma / ṉoruvarka ṇiṉṟoḻuku vāṉ.
Does he not see the wasting, does he not see the colour going out of her — this Kaman, who takes his stand at one of the two and keeps at his work there?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“While Kaman rushes straight at me alone, / Is all my pain and wasting grief unknown?”
“The God of Love assaileth only me: is it because he hath no eyes for my sorrows and sufferings?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
ஒருவர்கண் நின்று ஒழுகுவான் காமன்= காமம் நுகர்தற்குரிய இருவரிடத்தும் ஒப்பநிற்றல் ஒழித்து, ஒருவரிடத்தே நின்று பொருகின்ற காமக்கடவுள்; பருவரலும் பைதலும் காணான்கொல்= அவ்விடத்துப் பசப்பானாய பருவரலும் படர்மிகுதியும் அறியான்கொல்லோ, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar's reading turns on a duty abandoned. Kaman, the god of desire, ought to stand equally at both of the two who are to share in love; instead he has given that up, stationed himself at one of them, and gone to work there. What he leaves at that station, the commentator says, is a distress that has reached the colour of the body and an anguish that keeps growing. Her question is whether he does not see it. It is put as a question but expects no answer; it is a way of laying a charge. The fault is not placed on her, and not on the man she loves. It is placed on the force that settled on one of them and not the other.