Making the Signs Known
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peṇṇiṉāṟ peṇmai yuṭaitteṉpa kaṇṇiṉāṟ / kāmanōy colli yiravu.
To tell the sickness of love with the eye and not with the mouth, and so to ask: this, those who know say, holds a womanliness beyond a woman's own womanliness.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“To show by eye the pain of love, and for relief to pray, / Is womanhood's most womanly device, men say.”
“She telleth me of the pangs of separation and prayeth for permission to accompany me if I go: how she surpasseth womanhood’s self in delicacy to tell this only with her eyes!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
காமநோய் கண்ணினாற் சொல்லி இரவு= மகளிர், தம் காமநோயினைத் தோழியர்க்கும் வாயாற் சொல்லாது கண்ணினாற் சொல்லி அது தீர்க்கவேண்டும் என்று அவரை இரவாது உடன்போதல் குறித்துத் தம் அடியினை இரத்தல்; பெண்ணினால் பெண்மை உடைத்து= தமக்கு இயல்பாகிய பெண்மை மேலும் ஓர் பெண்மைஉடைத்தென்று சொல்லுவர் அறிந்தோர், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Women do not tell the sickness of love with the mouth, not even to their companions; they tell it with the eye. Nor do they beg the companion to end that sickness. Instead, with going away together in view, they make the plea with their own feet. Those who know say that this holds, over the womanliness natural to them, one more womanliness.