Longing for the Beloved
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ilaṅkiḻā yiṉṟu maṟappiṉeṉ ṟōṇmēṟ / kalaṅkaḻiyuṅ kārikai nīttu.
You whose jewels are shining: if I let him go from my mind for even this one day, my beauty will walk out on me, and the bangles will slip from my arms.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“O thou with gleaming jewels decked, could I forget for this one day, / Henceforth these bracelets from my arms will slip, my beauty worn away.”
“What if I forget today, my maid? My beauty hath already left me and my bracelet hath slipped off my arm.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இலங்கு இழாய்= விளங்காநின்ற இழையினையுடையாய்; இன்று மறப்பின்= காதலரை யான் இன்று யான் மறப்பேனாயின்; மேல்காரிகை நீத்து என்றோள் கலங்கழியும்= மேலும், காரிகை என்னை நீப்ப என் தோள்கள் வளை கழல்வனாவாம், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the line as an address and an answer. First the person spoken to: you who are wearing bright jewellery. Then the condition, and he is careful about who is forgetting whom, glossing it as, if I were to forget the beloved today. Then the price, and he adds a word the couplet leaves implicit, mēl, meaning beyond this, on top of everything already lost. His order puts beauty first and the bangles second, so the slipping is presented as a result of the departure and not as a separate misfortune: beauty leaves her, and because it has left, the rings on her arms have nothing to hold them.