Reserve Overcome
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
ceṟṟārpiṉ cellāp peruntakaimai kāmanō / yuṟṟa raṟivatoṉ ṟaṉṟu.
The great dignity that does not go after one who has turned away is not something known to those the sickness of desire has taken.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The dignity that seeks not him who acts as foe, / Is the one thing that loving heart can never know.”
“The stern self-respect that refuseth to seek the beloved though he hath cruelly deserted, is a thing unknown to the lovesick fair.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
செற்றார்பின் செல்லாப் பெருந்தகைமை= தம்மை அகன்றுசென்றார் பின் செல்லாது தாமும் அகன்றுநிற்கும் நிறையுடைமை; காமநோய் உற்றார் அறிவது ஒன்றுஅன்று= காமநோயினை உறாதார் அறிவது ஒன்றன்றி உற்றார் அறிவது ஒன்றன்று, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar first says what the dignity is. It is the steadiness that does not follow after those who have moved away, but keeps its own distance in return; he glosses the phrase with the same word this chapter uses for reserve. Then he sets the limit, and he sets it twice over. This, he says, is a thing known by those whom the sickness of desire has not reached, and not a thing known by those it has. The difference he draws is not between the strong and the weak. It is between two conditions, and knowledge belongs only to one of them.