Tiruviruttam 11 · verse 2488 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The hero speaks.) What I see today is something rare! O you who are lovely as Kannan's heaven, when I spoke of parting, of going many long leagues for wealth, these large shoals of carp, your eyes, each the size of a cupped palm, came moving, holding bright pearls of tears and the fresh gold of pallor, treasures worth the whole world.
Word by word
- ariyaṉa
- rare things
- kaṇṇaṉ viṇ aṉaiyāy
- O you who are lovely as Kannan's heaven
- poruṭkō pirivu
- parting, for the sake of wealth?
- oṇ muttum paim poṉṉum
- bright pearls (tears) and fresh gold (pallor)
- kuṭaṅkaip
- the size of a cupped palm
- keṇṭaik kulam
- a shoal of carp, her eyes
Tiruviruttam 12 · verse 2489 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks.) Her lustrous, gem-dark complexion is fading; pallor spreads over her like mire; the nights crawl on like ages. All this is of one kind: the singular riches given her, before he went away, by the good-hearted one whose heart clings to the cool, lovely tulasi of Kannan, our Lord who bears the cutting discus.
Word by word
- maṇi māmai
- her gem-dark complexion
- aḷḷal payalai
- pallor spreading like mire
- ūrkiṉṟatu kaṅkul ūḻikaḷē
- the nights crawl on like ages
- īrkiṉṟa cakkarattu
- with the cutting discus
- cārkiṉṟa nal neñciṉār
- the good-hearted one whose heart clings to it
- taṉi vaḷamē
- singular riches (said in sorrow)
Tiruviruttam 13 · verse 2490 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) The fiery-mouthed king, the sun, who wielded his lone, ever-growing sceptre, has gone out. Darkness, with its cold sceptre, sits enthroned over the whole earth. The cool north wind, which has stirred through the tulasi for which my love grows into sorrow, strikes at me. Who now will keep my bangles from slipping off? How many ages these nights are, each one cutting me!
Word by word
- taḻal vāy aracu aviya
- the fiery-mouthed king, the sun, going out
- iruḷ vīṟṟiruntu
- darkness sitting enthroned
- tuṉi vaḷar kātal
- love that grows into sorrow
- tuḻāyait tuḻāvu taṇ vāṭai
- the cool north wind that has passed through the tulasi
- vaḷai kāppavar ār
- who will guard my bangles?
- ūḻikaḷ īrvaṉavē
- ages that cut me
Tiruviruttam 14 · verse 2491 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The hero speaks.) Like spears that cut, like lovely carp, these flash upon my very life. Are they things that merely move about? No, they are the great radiance of the arrows of the good divine archer, Kama. O you who are like the goddesses who ride their chariots in the heaven of the Lord whose body sheds a flowing blue radiance, are these rich carp your eyes?
Word by word
- īrvaṉa vēlum
- spears that cut
- uyirmēl miḷirntu
- flashing upon my life
- teyva nal vēḷ kaṇaip
- of the arrows of the good divine archer, Kama
- nīlac cuṭar viṭu mēṉi
- body shedding a blue radiance
- teyvam aṉṉīra
- you who are like goddesses
- ceḻuṅ kayalē
- rich carp, her eyes
Tiruviruttam 15 · verse 2492 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks to the hero.) You stand there asking, 'Did an elephant pass this way? Are your eyes carp?' What talk is this, if outsiders come to know of it? You are no acquaintance of ours, here in the forest fields of Venkatam of the Lord coloured like the dark rain-cloud that roams with the clouds which drank up the sea. And the days we guard this field are many yet.
Word by word
- kayalō numa kaṇkaḷ
- are your eyes carp?
- kaḷiṟu viṉavi
- asking after an elephant
- ayalōr aṟiyilum
- if outsiders come to know
- koṇṭal vaṇṇaṉ
- He who is coloured like the rain-cloud
- puṉa vēṅkaṭattu
- in the forest fields of Venkatam
- payalō ilīr
- you are no acquaintance of ours
- kollai kākkiṉṟa nāḷum
- the days we guard the millet field
Tiruviruttam 16 · verse 2493 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to her friend.) This spreading darkness becomes many, many ages; or else it becomes one tiny part of a moment broken into many, many pieces. O you who are lovely as Kannan's heaven! Whether our beloved stays with us for many days or leaves us, either way we waste away. Alas, this spreading darkness has many, many wiles!
Word by word
- palapala ūḻikaḷ
- many, many ages
- ōr nāḻikaiyaip
- a single moment
- kūṟiṭṭa kūṟu
- a fraction of a broken piece
- kaṇṇaṉ viṇ aṉaiyāy
- O you who are lovely as Kannan's heaven
- yām melitum
- we grow thin and waste away
- palapala cūḻal
- many wiles, many tricks
- pāy iruḷē
- this spreading darkness
Tiruviruttam 17 · verse 2494 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to the sea.) O dashing sea, with great waves like darkness spread out, long may you live! Do not fill up the path of the chariot of my beloved, who left me in the dark. You are the sea where dwells the Lord of radiance that spreads through darkness, lying on the serpent bed like a dark blue sun shedding its rays.
Word by word
- iruḷ virintāl aṉṉa
- like darkness spread out
- tēr vaḻi tūral
- do not fill up the chariot's path
- aravu aṇaimēl
- upon the serpent bed
- nīlak karu nāyiṟu
- a dark blue sun
- iruḷ viri cōtip perumāṉ
- the Lord whose radiance spreads through darkness
- eṟi kaṭalē
- O sea with dashing waves
Tiruviruttam 18 · verse 2495 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The mother speaks.) The sky has risen carrying the sea; and beyond that sky, her tears have spread on like another sea. Is this, then, that time of deluge when the sea rose up and swallowed Kannan's earth and heaven? Or is it the season of rain? This lovely girl's tears, deep as an ocean, keep pouring like waterfalls.
Word by word
- kaṭal koṇṭu eḻuntatu vāṉam
- the sky rose up carrying the sea
- maṇṇum viṇṇum
- earth and heaven
- ak kālam kolō
- is it that time of deluge?
- puyal kālamkolō
- or is it the rainy season?
- kaṭal koṇṭa kaṇṇīr
- tears that hold an ocean
- kārikaiyē
- this lovely girl
Tiruviruttam 19 · verse 2496 of the four thousand
Meaning
Even in this season when the clouds come gathering and the rain beats the drum, proclaiming, 'Who can guard the restraint of women now?', long may they live, the Lord of the cool, lovely tulasi, who rides the circling bird, does not call her to Himself and show her grace. And so, for my soft-spoken girl, it has ripened into slander passing from hand to hand through the street.
Word by word
- kārikaiyār niṟai kāppavar yār
- who can guard the restraint of women?
- māri kai ēṟi aṟaiyiṭum
- the rain rises and beats the drum
- cārikaip puḷḷar
- He who rides the bird that wheels in circles
- kūy aruḷār
- does not call her and show grace
- cēri kai ēṟum paḻiyāy
- into slander passed from hand to hand in the street
- cilmoḻikkē
- for the girl of few, soft words
Tiruviruttam 20 · verse 2497 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks to the mothers.) This sickness of the soft-spoken girl is the work of a very great God. It is not some lesser deity, who listens to household talk and says the illness is of this kind or that. O soothsayer, stop! Listen to my words, my mothers: bring the famed garland of cool, lovely tulasi of Him who swallowed all seven worlds, and place it on her.
Word by word
- cilmoḻi nōyō
- the sickness of the soft-spoken girl
- kaḻi perun teyvam
- a very great God
- iḷan teyvam aṉṟu
- not a lesser deity
- vēla nil nī
- O soothsayer, you stop!
- ammaṉaimīr
- O my mothers
- ulaku ēḻum uṇṭāṉ
- He who swallowed the seven worlds
- taṇṇam tuḻāykoṇṭu cūṭṭumiṉē
- bring the cool tulasi and place it on her
Verse text: the word-separated e-text of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Project Madurai, checked verse by verse against its second edition. Meanings are simple renderings in the light of the acharyas' commentaries, written for this site, and are awaiting a scholar's review.