Non-Injuring
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taṉṉuyirk kiṉṉāmai tāṉaṟivā ṉeṉkolō / maṉṉuyirk kiṉṉā ceyal
How can one who knows from experience what hurts one's own life choose to inflict that pain on another living being?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Whose soul has felt the bitter smart of wrong, how can / He wrongs inflict on ever-living soul of man?”
“He who hath felt what pain meaneth to himself, how doth he bring himself to inflict it on others?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
தன் உயிர்க்கு இன்னாமை தான் அறிவான்= பிறர்செய்யும் இன்னாதன தன்னுயிர்க்கு இன்னாவாம் தன்மையை அனுபவித்து அறிகின்றவன்; மன் உயிர்க்கு இன்னா செயல் என்கொல்= நிலைபேறுடைய பிறவுயிர்கட்குத் தான் அவற்றைச் செய்தல் என்ன காரணத்தான்!
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar frames the verse as a rhetorical contradiction: a person knows through experience how another's acts hurt personal life, so on what ground could that person do such hurt to another enduring living being? The question challenges choice; it does not blame survivors for later harm.