The Visions of the Night
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naṉaviṉā ṉalkāk koṭiyār kaṉaviṉā / ṉeṉṉemmaip pīḻip patu.
The cruel man grants me nothing in my waking hours — by what right does he come and torment me in my dreams?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The cruel one, in waking hour, who all ungracious seems, / Why should he thus torment my soul in nightly dreams?”
“The cruel one who pitieth me not while I am awake, why doth he haunt me in my dreams?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நனவினான் நல்காக் கொடியார்= ஒருஞான்றும் நனவின்கண் வந்து தலையளி செய்யாத கொடியவர்; கனவினான் எம்மைப் பீழிப்பது என்= நாள்தோறும் கனவின்கண் வந்து நம்மை வருத்துவது எவ்வியைபுபற்றி, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The cruel man who has not once come to show her tenderness while she is awake — by what connection, she asks, does he come day after day in dream and torment her? So Parimelazhagar unpacks the verse. The visiting itself is not the charge; the charge is that a man who never comes where coming costs him something comes daily where it costs him nothing.