Non-Injuring
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piṟarkkiṉṉā muṟpakaṟ ceyyiṟ tamakkiṉṉā / piṟpakaṟ ṟāmē varum
The verse warns that pain deliberately done to another will return to the doer of its own accord, as surely as afternoon follows morning.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“If, ere the noontide, you to others evil do, / Before the eventide will evil visit you.”
“If a man injureth his neighbour in the forenoon, evil will come to him in the afternoon of its own accord.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
பிறர்க்கு இன்னா முற்பகல் செய்யின்= துறந்தவர் பிறர்க்கு இன்னாதனவற்றை ஒருபகலது முற்கூற்றின்கட் செய்வாராயின்; தமக்கு இன்னா பிற்பகல் தாமே வரும்= தமக்கு இன்னாதன அதன் பிற்கூற்றின்கண் அவர் செய்யாமல் தாமே வரும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar presents a compressed certainty: if the renunciant causes another pain in the morning, pain will come back of itself by afternoon. The time image gives ethical-karmic force; it is not a clock prediction that every act receives an identical same-day event.