Manly Exertion
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muyaṟci tiruviṉai yākku muyaṟṟiṉmai / yiṉmai pukutti viṭum.
Effort develops prosperity-producing work; lack of effort lets want enter. This does not make poverty proof of personal failure: opportunity, health, injustice, and disaster also shape outcomes.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Effort brings fortune's sure increase, / Its absence brings to nothingness.”
“Industry is the mother of Prosperity: but Indolence only bringeth forth Misery.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
முயற்சி திருவினை ஆக்கும்= அரசர்மாட்டு உளதாய முயற்சி அவரது செல்வத்தினை வளர்க்கும்; முயற்று இன்மை இன்மை புகுத்திவிடும்= அஃது இல்லாமை வறுமையை அடைவித்துவிடும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that effort makes the kind of work that increases wealth, while absence of effort admits poverty. The accountable sphere is work we can actually undertake—maintenance, learning, records, completion, and adaptation. The claim must not be reversed into blaming people in poverty; opportunity, illness, wage injustice, care burdens, disaster, and other external conditions profoundly shape material outcomes.