Sad Remembrance
.
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
yāmu muḷēṅko lavarneñcat tenneñcat / tōo vuḷarē yavar.
In my heart he is there, always, without a doubt. But am I there in his heart at all — am I even present in him?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Have I a place within his heart! / From mine, alas! he never doth depart.”
“Have I at all a place in his heart? As for him, there is never a doubt but he abideth in mine.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
எம் நெஞ்சத்து அவர் ஓஒ உளரே= எம்முடைய நெஞ்சத்து அவர் எப்பொழுதும் உளரேயாய் இராநின்றார்; அவர்நெஞ்சத்து யாமும் உளேங்கொல்= அவ்வகையே அவருடைய நெஞ்சத்தும் யாமும் உளம் ஆதுமோ, ஆகேமோ, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The woman says that in her own heart he is present always, and of that she has no doubt at all. But whether she in turn is present in his heart she simply cannot say. Two sides of one feeling are weighed here and found unequal: on the one side complete certainty, on the other complete doubt. Parimelazhagar lets the asymmetry stand as it is — her thinking of him is beyond question, while whether he thinks of her is exactly what she cannot know.