The Pleasures of Temporary Estrangement
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ūṭutal kāmattiṟ kiṉpa mataṟkiṉpaṅ / kūṭi muyaṅkap peṟiṉ.
Sulking is love's pleasure; and the pleasure of that sulking is the embrace — if they come together and get to hold each other.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“A 'feigned aversion' coy to pleasure gives a zest; / The pleasure's crowned when breast is clasped to breast.”
“Bouderie is the charm of love: and the charm of that again is the sweet embrace at its close.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
காமத்திற்கு இன்பம் ஊடுதல்= காமநுகர்ச்சிக்கு இன்பமாவது, அதனை நுகர்தற்கு உரியார், ஆராமைபற்றித் தம்முள் ஊடுதல்; அதற்கு இன்பம் கூடி முயங்கப்பெறின்= அவ்வூடுதற்கு இன்பமாவது, அதனை அளவறிந்து நீங்கித் தம்முள் கூடி முயங்குதல் கூடுமாயின் அம்முயக்கம், எ-று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar reads the couplet in two steps. On the first he says that the pleasure of love's enjoyment is that the people entitled to that enjoyment fall out with each other. He also gives the reason they fall out, and that reason is his most important word here: ஆராமை, not having had one's fill. The sulk comes of never having enough of each other, not of a fault found in the other person. On the second step he asks what the pleasure of that sulking is, and answers that it is the holding — if, knowing its measure, they leave the sulk off, come together and clasp each other. Two conditions sit inside that answer. The measure has to be known and the sulk laid down in time; and after that the embrace has still to be got. His word கூடுமாயின், 'if it should come about', keeps the whole of it a condition rather than a promise.