Quarrelling with the Heart
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tañcan tamaralla rētilār tāmuṭaiya / neñcan tamaral vaḻi.
It is a slight thing that outsiders are no kin of ours — when the heart that is ours to own is no kin of ours either.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“A trifle is unfriendliness by aliens shown, / When our own heart itself is not our own!”
“When my own heart is not on my side, is it a wonder that strangers care not at all for me?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
தாம் உடைய நெஞ்சம் தமர் அல்வழி= தாம் உரித்தாகவுடைய நெஞ்சம், ஒருவர்க்குத் தமர் அல்லாவழி; ஏதிலார் தமர் அல்லர் தஞ்சம்= அயலார் தமர் அல்லராதல் சொல்லவேண்டுமோ, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar takes the second line first and makes it the condition. The one thing a person holds as properly their own is the heart; when that heart has stopped being theirs, he asks whether it needs saying that outsiders are not theirs either. He offers no argument about outsiders and lays no charge against them. He sets the point aside as something that follows without being stated. By adding ஒருவர்க்கு, to a person, he widens the claim beyond the woman speaking to anyone at all.