Folly
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orumaic ceyalāṟṟum pētai yeḻumaiyun / tāṉpuk kaḻuntu maḷaṟu.
Within one birth, a person can commit a deed that, in the verse's moral cosmology, sinks them in hell through seven births.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The fool will merit hell in one brief life on earth, / In which he entering sinks through sevenfold round of birth.”
“The fool hath the gift of sowing in one birth the seeds of misery for all his future incarnations.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
பேதை= பேதையாயினான்; எழுமையும் தான்புக்கு அழுந்தும் அளறு= வரும் பிறவிகள் எல்லாம் தான் புக்கு அழுந்தும் நிரயத்தினை; ஒருமைச் செயல் ஆற்றும்= இவ்வொரு பிறப்புள்ளே செய்துகொள்ள வல்லனாம்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar says that within this one birth, a person acting in folly can perform a deed whose result is hell in which that person sinks through all seven coming births. Seven births and hell belong to the commentary's rebirth-based moral cosmology; they should not be presented as a measurable prediction or used to terrorize anyone.