The Pleasures of Temporary Estrangement
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
illai tavaṟavark kāyiṉu mūṭutal / valla tavaraḷikku māṟu.
There is no fault in him — and even so, sulking has the power to bring out the very way he shows me his tenderness.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Although there be no fault in him, the sweetness of his love / Hath power in me a fretful jealousy to move.”
“Even if he is free from faults, it is only bouderie that giveth me a taste of his conciliatory grace.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அவர்க்குத் தவறு இல்லையாயினும்= அவர்மாட்டுத் தவறு இல்லையாயினும்; அவர் அளிக்குமாறு ஊடுதல் வல்லது= நமக்கு அவர் தலையளி செய்கின்றவாறு, அவரோடு ஊடுதலை விளைக்கவற்றாகின்றது, எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar splits the couplet in two. The first piece is அவர்க்குத் தவறு இல்லையாயினும், which he expands as அவர்மாட்டுத் தவறு இல்லையாயினும் — the fault is absent in him. This is not a charge raised and then set aside; there is nothing there to raise. For the second piece his gloss runs: நமக்கு அவர் தலையளி செய்கின்றவாறு, அவரோடு ஊடுதலை விளைக்கவற்றாகின்றது. Two of his words carry the reading. தலையளி is not affection in general but the particular, direct care shown to the person in front of you — a stronger word than the couplet's own அளி. And விளைக்க வற்றாகின்றது means becomes capable of producing: he reads வல்லது as a power the sulking has, not as something that merely tends to happen. His commentary conceals none of the three hard parts — that the man is at no fault, that the sulking is deliberate, and that it works.