The Pleasures of Temporary Estrangement
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pulattaliṟ puttēṇā ṭuṇṭō nilattoṭu / nīriyain taṉṉā rakattu.
For those joined as water is joined to earth, is there any world of the gods that gives a pleasure like their sulking? There is none.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Is there a bliss in any world more utterly divine, / Than 'coyness' gives, when hearts as earth and water join?”
“Is there a higher heaven than bouderie, provided that the beloved is one with us, even as the water with the land whereon it floweth?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நிலத்தொடு நீர் இயைந்தன்னார் அகத்துப் புலத்தலின்= நிலத்தொடு நீர் கலந்தாற்போல ஒற்றுமையுடைய காதலர் மாட்டுப் புலத்தல் போல; புத்தேள் நாடு உண்டோ= நமக்கு இன்பந்தருவது ஒரு புத்தேள் உலகமும் உண்டோ, இ்ல்லை எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads it this way: in the case of lovers who have oneness, as water that has mixed with earth has oneness with it, is there even a single world of the gods that gives us pleasure the way their sulking does? His own answer is that there is not.