Sulking
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ūṭali ṉuṇṭāṅkōr tuṉpam puṇarvatu / nīṭuva taṉṟuko leṉṟu.
Inside the sulk itself there is a pain of its own — the thought, will the coming together be put off from here, or will it not?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“A lovers' quarrel brings its pain, when mind afraid / Asks doubtful, 'Will reunion sweet be long delayed?'”
“There is a pain that belongeth unto bouderie: for one asketh oneself whether reconciliation is near or yet a far way off.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
புணர்வது நீடுவது (கொல்) அன்றுகொல் என்று= இனிப்புணர்ச்சி நீட்டிக்குமோ, நீட்டியாதோ என்று கருதலான்; ஊடலின் ஓர் துன்பம் உண்டு= இன்பத்திற்கு இன்றியமையாத ஊடலின்கண்ணேயும் ஒருதுன்பம் நிகழும், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar takes the couplet's second half first. His sentence is 'இனிப்புணர்ச்சி நீட்டிக்குமோ, நீட்டியாதோ என்று கருதலான்' — because one considers whether the union from here on will be prolonged or will not be. The considering is the cause and the pain is its effect; the print puts the effect first and the cause second, and he simply reverses them. His second move is a matter of where he puts the pain. He writes 'இன்பத்திற்கு இன்றியமையாத ஊடலின்கண்ணேயும் ஒருதுன்பம் நிகழும்' — within the sulk, which is indispensable to pleasure, a pain too occurs. The locative is doing work: the pain is not produced by the sulk and suffered elsewhere, it happens inside it. And he does not use the observation against the sulk. In the same clause in which he places a pain there, he calls the thing indispensable. Third, he leaves the question unanswered. Prolonged or not prolonged stands as a question, and it is precisely because he does not close it that the pain remains a pain.