The Subtleties of Sulking
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
kōṭṭuppūc cūṭiṉuṅ kāyu moruttiyaik / kāṭṭiya cūṭiṉī reṉṟu.
Even if I do no more than put a garland of branch-flowers in my hair, she flares up: you wore it, she says, to show it to some particular woman.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“I wreathed with flowers one day my brow, The angry tempest lowers; / She cries, 'Pray, for what woman now Do you put on your flowers?'”
“Even if I wear a garland she would go off in a pique saying, Thou wantest to look smart in some damsel’s eyes!”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கோட்டுப் பூச் சூடினும்= யான் கோடுதலைச் செய்யும் மாலையைச் சூடினேன் ஆயினும்; ஒருத்தியைக் காட்டிய சூடினீர் என்று காயும்= நும்மால் காதலிக்கப் பட்டாள் ஒருத்திக்கு இப்பூவணி காட்டல் வேண்டிச் சூடினீர் என்று வெகுளாநிற்கும், இத்தன்மையாட்கு ஒரு காரணம் வேண்டுமோ? எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar splits the couplet in two. In the first piece he expands the man's words as 'I did no more than wear a garland', and his ஆயினும், 'even so', is what marks the act as empty of any purpose. In the second piece he unfolds her charge: you wore it because you wanted to show this flower-ornament to a woman you love. The couplet never says who that woman is; it is the commentator who describes her as நும்மால் காதலிக்கப் பட்டாள், one loved by you. His gloss வெகுளாநிற்கும் is a habitual present, which tells us this is what she regularly does rather than something that happened once. He then adds a question of his own: இத்தன்மையாட்கு ஒரு காரணம் வேண்டுமோ — does a person of this sort need a reason at all? That aside is Parimelazhagar's. It is not in the couplet, and the amusement in it belongs to him.