Friendship
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
uṭukkai yiḻantavaṉ kaipōla vāṅkē / yiṭukkaṇ kaḷaivatā naṭpu.
As the hand moves at once when a person’s garment slips, friendship goes there and then to remove a friend’s distress.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“As hand of him whose vesture slips away, / Friendship at once the coming grief will stay.”
“Behold the hand of the man whose garment hath been blown aside, how it hurrieth to re-cover his limbs: that is the symbol of the true friend that hasteneth to succour a man in his misfortune.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உடுக்கை இழந்தவன் கைபோல= அவையிடை ஆடை குலைந்தவனுக்கு அப்பொழுதே கைசென்று உதவி அவ் இளிவரல் களையுமாறு போல; ஆங்கே இடுக்கண் களைவது நட்பாம்= நட்டவனுக்கு இடுக்கண் வந்துழி, அப்பொழுதே சென்று உதவி, அதனைக் களைவதே நட்பாவது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar compares friendship to the hand that immediately corrects a slipped garment in public and removes the person’s embarrassment. Friendship likewise goes at once when distress arrives and acts to remove it.