The Subtleties of Sulking
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vaḻuttiṉā ṭummiṉē ṉāka vaḻittaḻutāḷ / yāruḷḷit tummiṉī reṉṟu.
When I sneezed she blessed me, out of her own nature; then she wiped out her own blessing and wept — 'Which one of them was thinking of you, that you sneezed?'
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“She hailed me when I sneezed one day; But straight with anger seized, / She cried; 'Who was the woman, pray, Thinking of whom you sneezed?'”
“I sneezed and she blessed: but then she recalled her blessing and asked with tear-filled eyes, Who thought on thee now, that thou sneezedest?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
தும்மினேனாக வழுத்தினாள்= கூடியிருக்கின்றவள் யான் தும்மினேனாகத் தன் இயற்கைபற்றி வாழ்த்தினாள்; அழித்து யார் உள்ளித் தும்மினீர் என்று அழுதாள்= அங்ஙனவாழ்த்திய தானே மறித்து, நும்மை நினைத்து வருந்துகின்ற மகளிருள் யாவர் நினைத்தலான் தும்மினீர் என்று சொல்லிப் புலந்து அழுதாள், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the couplet as the man's own report. The woman who is with him blesses him when he sneezes, doing it from her own nature. Then that same woman reverses what she has just said: of the women who pine for you, she asks, which one was thinking of you when you sneezed — and, sulking, she weeps.