Abstaining from Flesh
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uṇṇāmai yuḷḷa tuyirnilai yūṉuṇṇa / vaṇṇāttal ceyyā taḷaṟu
The continuance of embodied life rests upon not eating flesh; if one eats it, the hell that swallows that person will not open its mouth to release them.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“If flesh you eat not, life's abodes unharmed remain; / Who eats, hell swallows him, and renders not again.”
“In non-eating of flesh is Life: if thou eat, the pit of hell will not open its mouth to let thee out.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உயிர் நிலை ஊன் உண்ணாமை உள்ளது= ஒருசார் உயிர் உடம்பின்கண்ணே நிற்றல் ஊன் உண்ணாமை என்கின்ற அறத்தின்கண்ணது; உண்ண= ஆகலான், அந்நிலை குலைய ஒருவன் அதனை உண்ணுமாயின்; அளறு அண்ணாத்தல் செய்யாது= அவனை விழுங்கிய நிரயம் பின் உமிழ்வதற்கு அங்காவாது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar says that the bodily continuance of a class of living beings rests in the virtue of not eating flesh. If someone eats that flesh and disrupts this order, the hell that has swallowed the person will not open its mouth to cast the person out. This is the commentary's explicit otherworldly warning, not a scientific claim that abstention guarantees health or earthly longevity. Accuracy does not authorize threats, coercion, or confident judgment of a named person's afterlife.