Shame and Self-Respect
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nāṇakat tillā riyakka marappāvai / nāṇā luyirmaruṭṭi yaṟṟu.
The going about of people with no inner recoil from what is base is like a wooden figure worked by a string — the motion by itself is enough to make you take it for something alive.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“'Tis as with strings a wooden puppet apes life's functions, when / Those void of shame within hold intercourse with men.”
“The men that are dead to shame live not: they merely feign life even as wooden marionettes that are moved by strings.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அகத்து நாண் இல்லார் இயக்கம்= தம் மனத்தின்கண் நாண் இல்லாத மக்கள் உயிருடையார் போன்று இயங்குகின்ற இயக்கம்; மரப்பாவை நாணால் உயிர் மருட்டியற்று= மரத்தாற் செய்யப்பட்ட பாவை இயந்திரக் கயிற்றினான் ஆய தன்னியக்கத்தால் உயிருடைத்தாக மயக்கினாற் போலும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
The moving about of people who have no shame within them is like a wooden puppet worked by a cord, misleading you into taking it for a thing that has life. (It is the puppet that misleads; Parimelazhagar gives it no intent of its own.)