Knowing One's Duty to Society
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oppuravi ṉālvaruṅ kēṭeṉi ṉaḵtoruvaṉ / viṟṟukkōṭ ṭakka tuṭaittu
The verse says that if public-minded service brings material loss, that loss is worth purchasing—even through the extreme image of selling oneself.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Though by 'beneficence,' the loss of all should come, / 'Twere meet man sold himself, and bought it with the sum.”
“If ruin cometh as a result of complaisance, it is worth courting even by selling one’s own self into slavery.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
ஒப்புரவினால் வரும் கேடு எனின்= ஒப்புரவு செய்தலான், ஒருவனுக்குப் பொருட்கேடு வரும் என்பார் உளராயின்;; அஃது ஒருவன் விற்றுக்கோள் தக்கது உடைத்து= அக்கேடுதன்னை விற்றாயினும் கொள்ளும் தகுதியை உடைத்து, என்றவாறு.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar preserves the chapter's climax: even if beneficence is said to cause loss, the loss is so worthy that one might buy it through the poem's severe self-sale image.