Lack of Learning
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
uḷareṉṉu māttiraiya rallāṟ payavāk / kaḷaraṉaiyar kallā tavar
The verse severely says that the unlearned merely ‘exist’ and, yielding no benefit, resemble barren land.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“'They are': so much is true of men untaught; / But, like a barren field, they yield us nought!”
“Like unto a wasteland that yieldeth no harvests is the man that hath neglected instruction: all that men can say about him is that he liveth, and nothing more.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கல்லாதவர்= கல்லாதவர்; உளர் என்னும் மாத்திரையர் அல்லால்= காணப்படுதலான் இலரல்லர் உளர் என்று சிலர் சொல்லும் அளவினர் ஆதலன்றி; பயவாக் களர் அனையர்= தமக்கும் பிறர்க்கும் பயன்படாமையால் விளையாத களர்நிலத்தோடு ஒப்பர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains the severe comparison: because the unlearned benefit neither themselves nor others, they resemble unproductive saline land, and little more is said than that they exist. This rhetoric must remain visible, while a modern reader must reject using it to deny human dignity, informal knowledge, disability, or the effects of blocked educational access.