Compassion
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alla laruḷāḷvārk killai vaḷivaḻaṅku / mallaṉmā ñālaṅ kari
Those governed by compassion have no affliction; the great, fertile world through which the wind moves is witness.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The teeming earth's vast realm, round which the wild winds blow, / Is witness, men of 'grace' no woeful want shall know.”
“Affliction is not for the merciful: the teeming air-encircled earth is a witness thereto.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அருள் ஆள்வார்க்கு அல்லல் இல்லை= அருள் உடையோர்க்கு இம்மையினும் ஒரு துனபம் உண்டாகாது; வளிவழங்கும் மல்லல் மா ஞாலம் கரி= அதற்குக் காற்று இயங்குகின்ற வளப்பத்தை உடைய பெரிய ஞாலத்து வாழ்வார் சான்று.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar takes the claim emphatically: people governed by compassion have no suffering even in this life, and the inhabitants of the vast, fertile, wind-swept world stand as witnesses. The modern explanation must preserve that classical assertion while not using it to deny illness, grief, oppression, or hardship, or to blame anyone who suffers.