The Visions of the Night
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naṉaviṉā ṉannīttā reṉpar kaṉaviṉāṟ / kāṇārko livvū ravar.
This town says he has left me and gone. Can it be that they do not see him — the way he comes to me, unfailing, in my dreams?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“They say, that he in waking hours has left me lone; / In dreams they surely see him not,- these people of the town;”
“These village folk say that he hath parted from me: is it that they see him not in dreams?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இவ்வூரவர் நனவினான் நம்நீத்தார் என்பர்= இவ்வூரின்மகளிர் நனவின்கண் நம்மை நீத்தார் என்று நம்காதலரைக் கொடுமைகூறாநிற்பர்; கனவினாற் காணார்கொல்= அவர் கனவின்கண் நீங்காதுவருதல் கண்டறியாரோ, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Seeing only that he does not come in waking, the women of this town speak ill of her beloved, saying he has left her and gone; but do they not know, she asks, that he comes to her unfailingly every night in dream? So Parimelazhagar explains. It is because those who watch from outside have no knowledge of her nightly evidence that they pass such a verdict.