Impermanence
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pukki lamaintiṉṟu kollō vuṭampiṉuṭ / ṭucci lirunta vuyirkku
Has no lasting home yet been found for the life that has stayed as a lodger within the body?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The soul in fragile shed as lodger courts repose:- / Is it because no home's conclusive rest it knows?”
“Hath the soul no home of its own, that it taketh shelter in this worthless body?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உடம்பினுள் துச்சில் இருந்த உயிர்க்கு= வாதமுதலியவற்றின் இல்லாய உடம்புகளுள் ஒதுக்கிருந்தே போந்த உயிர்க்கு; புக்கில் அமைந்தின்று கொல்லோ= எஞ்ஞான்றும் இருப்பதோர் இல் இதுகாறும் அமைந்தில்லைபோலும்!
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar treats bodies as houses made from bodily elements in which life has repeatedly lodged. The rhetorical question wonders whether that life has still not found an enduring home, meaning liberation. It is a metaphysical question, not contempt for bodies or housing insecurity.