Making the Signs Known
On feeling that shows without permission, and on the message a look is meant to carry.
Nothing here is said out loud. It is about signs that leave the body without permission, and about two people taking turns as the one who reads.
1271 sets the terms: even though you hid it, your eyes did not agree, and having gone past your hand they are setting out to say there is something. Parimelazhagar adds the sentence the couplet stops short of - now say it plainly yourself - and calls nothing a fault. 1272 says why he must read at all: the woman whose beauty fills the eye and whose shoulders are like bamboo has, in his gloss, more than the ordinary measure of maṭamai, the unknowing simplicity counted a virtue in women, so nothing reaches him in words.
The next two give the sign two depths. 1273 takes a strung crystal bead: the thread lies inside and is plainly seen from outside; something lies inside her adornment the same way. She is not said to be showing it: what makes it visible is what it lies within. 1274 shuts the bud: scent is in it while it is closed and not yet perceptible, and the sign inside her forming smile is at that stage, so he reasons from what kind of thing it is, not from anything detected. 1275 reads the withholding itself - the concealment she went away with holds the medicine for his grief - and he does not know what she is keeping.
From 1276 the reader is the woman. Her lover has come, has taken away most of the pain his going caused, and joins with her to her liking; in that joining she reads him bearing the same pain with difficulty and turning over a lovelessness still to come. Parimelazhagar stops there and never says the man has decided to go, while both translators move the thought to her - Pope: "It makes me think that I again shall live of love bereaved". 1277 gives it to an object: he had parted in mind while his body was beside her, and the bangles knew before she did. 1278 makes the body the statement: he left yesterday, and pale, she counts seven days. Parimelazhagar sets the two figures side by side and reconciles neither; he does not call the seven an exaggeration.
The last two build a whole message, then give the rule. 1279 is three glances with a reason each: her bangle, which will not stay on her wrist if he goes and she stays; her shoulders, which will waste for that reason; her feet, because he must walk and so protect her - take her along. They are steps standing on one another, not three moods; the request does not survive into either translator - Pope ends with "all this the lady did", and Aiyar with "these are the signs that she made to me". 1280: women tell the sickness of love with the eye and not the mouth, and what they plead for, with their own feet, is to be taken along. Aiyar keeps that plea here; Pope has only "for relief to pray". It is a womanliness laid over the womanliness they already have.
AI draft · pending review
Synthetic voices · Tamil couplet and V.V.S. Aiyar 1916
10 of 10 narratives drafted · all Tamil, Pope & Parimelazhagar sourced
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Synthetic voices · Tamil couplet and V.V.S. Aiyar 1916
📖 அதிகார விளக்கம் · About Chapter ▼
On feeling that shows without permission, and on the message a look is meant to carry.
Nothing here is said out loud. It is about signs that leave the body without permission, and about two people taking turns as the one who reads.
1271 sets the terms: even though you hid it, your eyes did not agree, and having gone past your hand they are setting out to say there is something. Parimelazhagar adds the sentence the couplet stops short of - now say it plainly yourself - and calls nothing a fault. 1272 says why he must read at all: the woman whose beauty fills the eye and whose shoulders are like bamboo has, in his gloss, more than the ordinary measure of maṭamai, the unknowing simplicity counted a virtue in women, so nothing reaches him in words.
The next two give the sign two depths. 1273 takes a strung crystal bead: the thread lies inside and is plainly seen from outside; something lies inside her adornment the same way. She is not said to be showing it: what makes it visible is what it lies within. 1274 shuts the bud: scent is in it while it is closed and not yet perceptible, and the sign inside her forming smile is at that stage, so he reasons from what kind of thing it is, not from anything detected. 1275 reads the withholding itself - the concealment she went away with holds the medicine for his grief - and he does not know what she is keeping.
From 1276 the reader is the woman. Her lover has come, has taken away most of the pain his going caused, and joins with her to her liking; in that joining she reads him bearing the same pain with difficulty and turning over a lovelessness still to come. Parimelazhagar stops there and never says the man has decided to go, while both translators move the thought to her - Pope: "It makes me think that I again shall live of love bereaved". 1277 gives it to an object: he had parted in mind while his body was beside her, and the bangles knew before she did. 1278 makes the body the statement: he left yesterday, and pale, she counts seven days. Parimelazhagar sets the two figures side by side and reconciles neither; he does not call the seven an exaggeration.
The last two build a whole message, then give the rule. 1279 is three glances with a reason each: her bangle, which will not stay on her wrist if he goes and she stays; her shoulders, which will waste for that reason; her feet, because he must walk and so protect her - take her along. They are steps standing on one another, not three moods; the request does not survive into either translator - Pope ends with "all this the lady did", and Aiyar with "these are the signs that she made to me". 1280: women tell the sickness of love with the eye and not the mouth, and what they plead for, with their own feet, is to be taken along. Aiyar keeps that plea here; Pope has only "for relief to pray". It is a womanliness laid over the womanliness they already have.
AI draft · pending review
கரப்பினுங் கையிகந் தொல்லாநின் உண்கண்
உரைக்கல் உறுவதொன் றுண்டு
நீ மறைக்க முயன்றாலும் உன் காதலை உன் கண்கள் எனக்கு வெளிப்படுத்திவிட்டன; இனி நீ மறைப்பதில் பயன் இல்லை என்று தலைவன் சொல்லும்போது, அவள் தலைகுனிந்து நாணினாள்.
You may hide it, but your dark eyes will not go along with the hiding. They have gone out past your hand, and there is something they are setting out to say.AI draft
கண்ணிறைந்த காரிகைக் காம்பேர்தோட் பேதைக்குப்
பெண்நிறைந்த நீர்மை பெரிது
கொடி போன்ற மெல்லிய இடையையுடைய இவளது மார்பகங்களை நோக்கும்போது, இவளது மைதீட்டிய கண்கள் என்னிடம் சொல்லாமல் மறைக்கின்ற ஒரு பெரிய குறிப்பு இருப்பதை நான் அறிகிறேன்.
Her beauty fills my eyes and her shoulders are shaped like the bamboo; and in this artless one the unknowing simplicity said to fill womankind is greater still.AI draft
மணியில் திகழ்தரு நூல்போல் மடந்தை
அணியில் திகழ்வதொன்று உண்டு
பளிங்கு மணியின் உள்ளே கோக்கப்பட்ட நூல் வெளியே தெளிவாகத் தெரிவது போல, இவளது மேனி அழகினுள் இவள் மறைக்க முயலும் காதல் குறிப்பும் எனக்குத் தெளிவாகத் தெரிகிறது.
Like the thread that shows through the crystal beads strung on it, there is something inside this woman's adornment that lies within and is visible from outside.AI draft
முகைமொக்குள் உள்ளது நாற்றம்போல் பேதை
நகைமொக்குள் உள்ளதொன் றுண்டு
மலரும் பருவத்து அரும்பினுள்ளே மணம் அடங்கியிருப்பது போல, என் காதலி என்னோடு மெல்லப் புன்னகைக்கும் அந்தப் புன்னகையின் உள்ளே ஓர் இனிய காதல் குறிப்பு அடங்கியிருக்கிறது.
As the scent is already inside a bud that has not opened, there is something inside the smile this artless girl is beginning to smile.AI draft
செறிதொடி செய்திறந்த கள்ளம் உறுதுயர்
தீர்க்கும் மருந்தொன்று உடைத்து
என்னிடம் சொல்லாமல் ஒன்றை மறைத்துவிட்டுப் போன என் காதலியின் அந்தப் பிரிவுச் செயலினுள்ளே, என்னை வாட்டும் காதல் நோயைத் தீர்க்கும் நல்மருந்து ஒன்று அடங்கியிருக்கிறது.
The concealment she of the close-set bangles practised on me and went away with holds inside it a medicine that will cure my great grief.AI draft
பெரிதாற்றிப் பெட்பக் கலத்தல் அரிதாற்றி
அன்பின்மை சூழ்வ துடைத்து
காதலர் வந்து தழுவி என் பிரிவுத் துயரத்தைத் தணித்தாலும், அவரது அந்தச் சேர்க்கையினுள்ளே அவர் மீண்டும் பிரியக்கூடும் என்ற அச்சமே மிஞ்சி நிற்கிறது.
He eases the whole of the grief his going caused, and comes to me made exactly to my liking. That joining has in it a man bearing his own grief with difficulty, and a lovelessness being turned over in his mind.AI draft
தண்ணந் துறைவன் தணந்தமை நம்மினும்
முன்னம் உணர்ந்த வளை
கடற்கரைத் துறைக்குரிய என் காதலர் உடலால் என்னோடு கூடியிருந்தபோதும் மனத்தால் பிரிந்துவிட்டதை, நான் உணர்ந்து அறிவதற்கு முன்னதாகவே என் கழன்ற வளையல்கள் அறிந்துவிட்டன.
The man of the cool, lovely shore had parted from me in mind while his body was still beside me; and my bangles knew it earlier than I did.AI draft
நெருநற்றுச் சென்றார்எம் காதலர் யாமும்
எழுநாளேம் மேனி பசந்து
என் காதலர் என்னைப் பிரிந்து சென்றது நேற்றுதான்; ஆனால் அவர் பிரிவால் என் மேனி பசலை பூத்து மெலிந்து வாடுவதோ, ஏழு நாட்களாய் நீடிப்பது போலத் தோன்றுகிறது.
Our beloved went away yesterday; and we, with the body gone pale, are already seven days old in this parting.AI draft
தொடிநோக்கி மென்தோளும் நோக்கி அடிநோக்கி
அஃதாண் டவள்செய் தது
காதலர் பிரிந்து செல்வதைக் கண்ட தலைவி, தன் வளையலையும் தோளையும் தன் அடிகளையும் நோக்கினாள்; அக்குறிப்பு, 'நீர் செல்லும்போது என்னையும் உடன் அழைத்துச் செல்ல வேண்டும்' என்பதை உணர்த்தியது.
She looked at her bangle, then at her soft shoulders, then at her feet. That was what she did there - and that was the message.AI draft
பெண்ணினால் பெண்மை உடைத்தென்ப கண்ணினால்
காமநோய் சொல்லி இரவு
காதல் நோயால் தவிக்கும் பெண்கள் தம் வாயால் அதைச் சொல்லாமல் கண்களாலும் அடிகளாலும் வெளிப்படுத்துவது, அவர்தம் இயல்பான பெண்மைக்கு மேலும் ஓர் அழகிய பெண்மையைத் தருகிறது.
To tell the sickness of love with the eye and not with the mouth, and so to ask: this, those who know say, holds a womanliness beyond a woman's own womanliness.AI draft