Learning
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orumaikkaṭ ṭāṉkaṟṟa kalvi yoruvaṟ / keḻumaiyu mēmāp puṭaittu
The learning acquired in one birth becomes a protection for a person through seven births.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The man who store of learning gains, / In one, through seven worlds, bliss attains.”
“The learning that a man hath acquired in one birth will exalt him; even in all his succeeding incarnations.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
ஒருவற்கு= ஒருவனுக்கு; தான் ஒருமைக்கண் கற்ற கல்வி= தான் ஒருபிறப்பின்கண் கற்ற கல்வி; எழுமையும் ஏமாப்பு உடைத்து= எழுபிறப்பினும் சென்று உதவுதலை உடைத்து.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar takes the verse literally within a rebirth framework: knowledge cultivated in this life protects across seven lives because its dispositions follow the soul. This is a religious-philosophical claim, not an empirically demonstrable guarantee; in present life, learning can endure and protect in many ways while circumstances and institutions still matter.