Lamenting at Evening
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mālainōy ceytaṉ maṇantā rakalāta / kālai yaṟinta tilēṉ.
In all the time before the man I married went away, I never knew that evening could inflict pain.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The pangs that evening brings I never knew, / Till he, my wedded spouse, from me withdrew.”
“Alack the day! I never knew the sting of the evening so long as my beloved was by my side.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
மாலை நோய் செய்தல்= முன்னெல்லாம் எனக்கு நட்பாய் இன்பம் செய்துபோந்த மாலை இன்று பகையாய்த் துன்பம்செய்தலை; மணந்தார் அகலாத காலை அறிந்தது இலேன்= காதலர் பிரிதற்குமுன்னே அறியப்பெற்றிலேன், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Evening used to come to her as a friend and give pleasure, Parimelazhagar explains; today the same evening comes as an enemy and gives pain. Her real point is the last one: before her husband parted from her she had no knowledge of this at all. While he was there she had no way of learning what evening was capable of. Not knowing was not a fault of hers; the occasion for the knowledge had simply never arrived.