Renown
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vacaiyilā vaṇpayaṉ kuṉṟu micaiyilā / yākkai poṟutta nilam
The Kural poetically says that the land bearing a body without renown will see its blameless, abundant yield diminish.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The blameless fruits of fields' increase will dwindle down, / If earth the burthen bear of men without renown.”
“Behold the land weighed down beneath the tread of an inglorious people: its riches, even though renowned in the past, will wane away.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இசை இலா யாக்கை பொறுத்த நிலம்= புகழ் இல்லாத உடம்பைச் சுமந்த நிலம்; வசை இலா வண் பயன் குன்றும்= பழிப்பு இல்லாத வளப்பத்தை உடைய விளையுள் குன்றும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar personifies the land as bearing a body without praise and says the land's rich, faultless produce will decline. This is forceful moral-poetic imagery linking human worthiness and earthly abundance, not an agricultural mechanism or a judgement that any person's body physically harms soil.