Reserve Overcome
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paṉmāyak kaḷvaṉ paṇimoḻi yaṉṟōnam / peṇmai yuṭaikkum paṭai.
The soft, self-lowering speech of that thief who is master of a hundred deceptions — is that not the very army that breaks our womanhood open?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The words of that deceiver, versed in every wily art, / Are instruments that break through every guard of woman's heart!”
“It is the subdued speech of that false one skilled in many a wily art, that breaketh through all the defences of our womanly decorum.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நம் பெண்மை உடைக்கும் படை= நம் நிறையாகி அவர் அணை அழிக்கும் தானை; பன்மாயக் கள்வன் பணிமொழி அன்றோ= பல பொய்களை வல்ல கள்வனுடைய தாழ்ந்த சொற்கள் அன்றோ; ஆனபின் அது நிற்குமாறு என்னை, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reverses the couplet to put the answer first. What breaks our womanhood, he says, is an army, and the thing it is sent against is a dam; the dam is our reserve, and he names it with the word this chapter is built on. Then he says what the army is made of: the lowly words of a thief who commands many falsehoods. He does not call the words false. He calls the man false and the words low, which is a different charge, because the deceit stays with the speaker and what reaches her is only deference. He closes on a question he leaves unanswered: that being so, how is the dam to stand?