Making the Signs Known
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
karappiṉuṅ kaiyikan tollāniṉ ṉuṇka / ṇuraikka luṟuvatoṉ ṟuṇṭu.
You may hide it, but your dark eyes will not go along with the hiding. They have gone out past your hand, and there is something they are setting out to say.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Thou hid'st it, yet thine eye, disdaining all restraint, / Something, I know not, what, would utter of complaint.”
“Thou mayest try to conceal, my love, but thy eye refuseth to be restrained, and telleth me that there is some strange thought in thy breast.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கரப்பினும்= நீசொல்லாது மறைத்தாய் ஆயினும்; ஒல்லா கையிகந்து= அதற்கு உடம்படாதே நின்னைக் கைகடந்து; நின் உண்கண் உரக்கலுறுவது ஒன்று ஒண்டு= நின் கண்களே எமக்குச் சொல்லல் உறுவது ஒருகாரியம் உண்டாய் இராநின்றது, இனியதனை நீயே தெளியச்சொல்வாயாக, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the whole couplet as one speech made to her. Even though you said nothing and kept it back, your eyes did not agree to that. They have gone beyond your hand, and they are on the point of telling us that there is some matter. He then supplies the sentence the couplet leaves unsaid: so now say it plainly yourself. Nothing here is called a fault. The hiding is not blamed and the eyes are not called disloyal. The gloss records only that the decision to be silent does not reach as far as the eyes.