Sad Remembrance
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
niṉaippavar pōṉṟu niṉaiyārko ṟummal / ciṉaippatu pōṉṟu keṭum.
A sneeze rose in me as if it would come, and then it died away. Is he, in the same way, only seeming to think of me, and then not thinking at all?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“A fit of sneezing threatened, but it passed away; / He seemed to think of me, but do his fancies stray?”
“I was about to sneeze, but the fit passed away: is it that he was about to think of me but did not?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
தும்மல் சினைப்பது போன்று கெடும்= எனக்குத் தும்மல் எழுவது போன்று தோன்றிக் கெடாநின்றது; நினைப்பவர் போன்று நினையார்கொல்= அதனாற் காதலர் என்னைநினைப்பார் போன்று நினையார் ஆகல்வேண்டும், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The woman says a sneeze rose in her as though it would come and then subsided without coming. Old Tamil belief held that a sneeze means someone is remembering you. Working from that belief, she reaches a conclusion: just as the sneeze started as if to arrive and then faded, perhaps the man she loves began to think of her and then, before the thought was complete, stopped. It is not an accusation. It is the delicate longing of a parted lover reading one small sign to measure whether she is being remembered at all.