Examining Friendship
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keṭuṅkālaik kaiviṭuvār kēṇmai yaṭuṅkālai / yuḷḷiṉu muḷḷañ cuṭum.
The friendship of those who desert one in ruin will burn the heart when remembered, even as death draws near.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Of friends deserting us on ruin's brink, / 'Tis torture e'en in life's last hour to think.”
“The friendship of men that betray in the day of disaster would burn the heart that thinketh on it even at the moment of death.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கெடுங்காலைக் கைவிடுவார் கேண்மை= ஒருவன் கெடுங்காலத்து அவனை விட்டு நீங்குவார் முன் அவனோடு செய்த நட்பு; அடுங்காலை உள்ளினும் உள்ளம் சுடும்= தன்னைக் கூற்று அடுங்காலத்து ஒருவன் நினைப்பினும், அந்நினைத்த உள்ளத்தைச் சுடும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that the former friendship of people who left a person at the time of ruin will burn the remembering heart even when Death approaches at life’s end. The image states the lasting intensity of the wound. Modern examples need not manufacture a deathbed scene; they may show the memory returning painfully long afterward. The statement does not command reconciliation, renewed access, or silence about harm.