Monday, June 6, 2016

Thirukkural Chapter 128 - The Reading of the Signs


Couplet 1271 
Thou hid'st it, yet thine eye, disdaining all restraint,
Something, I know not, what, would utter of complaint
Explanation
Though you would conceal (your feelings), your painted eyes would not, for, transgressing (their bounds), they tell (me) something

Couplet 1272 
The simple one whose beauty fills mine eye, whose shoulders curve
Like bambu stem, hath all a woman's modest sweet reserve
Explanation
Unusually great is the female simplicity of your maid whose beauty fills my eyes and whose shoulders resemble the bamboo

Couplet 1273 
As through the crystal beads is seen the thread on which they 're strung
So in her beauty gleams some thought cannot find a tongue
Explanation
There is something that is implied in the beauty of this woman, like the thread that is visible in a garland of gems

Couplet 1274 
As fragrance in the opening bud, some secret lies
Concealed in budding smile of this dear damsel's eyes
Explanation
There is something in the unmatured smile of this maid like the fragrance that is contained in an unblossomed bud

Couplet 1275 
The secret wiles of her with thronging armlets decked,
Are medicines by which my raising grief is checked
Explanation
The well-meant departure of her whose bangles are tight-fitting contains a remedy that can cure my great sorrow

Couplet 1276 
While lovingly embracing me, his heart is only grieved:
It makes me think that I again shall live of love bereaved
Explanation
The embrace that fills me with comfort and gladness is capable of enduring (my former) sorrow and meditating on his want of love

Couplet 1277 
My severance from the lord of this cool shore,
My very armlets told me long before
Explanation
My bracelets have understood before me the (mental) separation of him who rules the cool seashore

Couplet 1278 
My loved one left me, was it yesterday?
Days seven my pallid body wastes away
Explanation
It was but yesterday my lover departed (from me); and it is seven days since my complexion turned sallow

Couplet 1279 
She viewed her tender arms, she viewed the armlets from them slid;
She viewed her feet: all this the lady did
Explanation
She looked at her bracelets, her tender shoulders, and her feet; this was what she did there (significantly)

Couplet 1280 
To show by eye the pain of love, and for relief to pray,
Is womanhood's most womanly device, men say
Explanation
To express their love-sickness by their eyes and resort to begging bespeaks more than ordinary female excellence

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