Quarrelling with the Heart
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keṭṭārkku naṭṭāril leṉpatō neñcēnī / peṭṭāṅ kavarpiṉ celal.
You will not stay with me; you go after him exactly as you please. Is that because you hold that the ruined have no friends, my heart — or is it simply what you are?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“'The ruined have no friends, 'they say; and so, my heart, / To follow him, at thy desire, from me thou dost depart.”
“Thou followest him at thy own sweet will and pleasure, my Heart: dost thou also teach me that those who are unfortunate have no friends?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நெஞ்சே= நெஞ்சே; நீ பெட்டாங்கு அவர்பின் செலல்= என்மாட்டு நில்லாது நீ விரும்பியவாறே அவர் மாட்டுச் செல்லுதற்குக் காரணம்; கெட்டார்க்கு நட்டார் இல் என்பதோ= கெட்டார்க்கு நட்டார் உலகத்து இல்லை என்னும் நினைவோ, நின்னியல்போ, கூறுவாயாக, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar turns the couplet into two questions put to the heart. She names the one thing it is doing — not staying with her, going after him exactly as it likes — and asks it for the cause. Is the cause the common saying, that a person who has come to ruin is left with no friends anywhere? Or is it simply your own nature? He leaves both open and has her tell the heart to say which.