Quarrelling with the Heart
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taṉiyē viruntu niṉaittakkā leṉṉait / tiṉiya viruntateṉ ṉeñcu.
What is my heart here for? Only to eat me, when I sit apart from him and turn it over.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“My heart consumes me when I ponder lone, / And all my lover's cruelty bemoan.”
“What is my Heart good for? It is good for nothing else but to devour me when I am musing alone.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
என்னெஞ்சு இருந்தது= என்னெஞ்சு ஈண்டு இருந்தது; தனியே இருந்து நினைத்தக்கால்= காதலரைப் பிரிந்திருந்து அவர் கொடுமைகளை யான் தன்னொடு நினைத்தக்கால்; என்னைத் தினிய= அவ்வளவறிந்து என்னைத் தின்பதுபோன்று துன்பம் செய்தற்கே எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the couplet as the answer to a question nobody has asked aloud: what has my heart stayed here for? For this. When she is parted from her lover and sits alone recalling what he did, the heart knows all of it and uses it to hurt her, as though it were eating her. He notes that it is present for no other purpose than that.