Long-Standing Friendship
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paḻakiya naṭpevaṉ ceyyuṅ keḻutakaimai / ceytāṅ kamaiyāk kaṭai.
What use is long-established friendship if, when an old friend performs a familiar act, one does not accept it as though one had done it oneself?
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“When to familiar acts men kind response refuse, / What fruit from ancient friendship's use?”
“Of what avail is friendship that is longstanding if it acquiesceth not in the liberties taken in its name?”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கெழுதகைமை செய்தாங்கு அமையாக்கடை= தாம் உடம்படாதனவேனும் நட்டார் உரிமையாற் செய்தனவற்றிற்குத் தாம் செய்தாற்போல உடம்படாராயின்; பழகிய நட்பு எவன் செய்யும்= அவரோடு பழையதாய் வந்த நட்பு என்ன பயனைச் செய்யும்?
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar asks what benefit a long-established friendship can have if one does not accept, as though one had done it oneself, an act performed by an old friend through familiar liberty, even when it was not discussed beforehand.