The Country
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nāṭeṉpa nāṭā vaḷattaṉa nāṭalla / nāṭa vaḷantaru nāṭu.
That deserves to be called a country where resources reach residents without painful searching; a land that yields only after exhausting pursuit does not.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“That is a land that yields increase unsought, / That is no land whose gifts with toil are bought.”
“That alone deserveth to be called country which produceth abundantly without the labour of the people: that which yieldeth only unto labour deserveth not that name.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நாடா வளத்தன நாடு என்ப= தங்கண் வாழ்வார் தேடி வருந்தாமல் அவர்பால் தானே அடையும் செல்வத்தை உடையவற்றை நூலோர் நாடு என்று சொல்லுவர்; நாட வளம் தரும் நாடு நாடு அல்ல= ஆதலான் தேடி வருந்தச் செல்வம் அடைவிக்கும் நாடுகள் நாடாகா.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that a country has wealth which reaches its residents without their searching in distress; a place that yields wealth only after painful pursuit is not a country.