Folly
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kaḻāakkāl paḷḷiyuḷ vaittaṟṟāṟ cāṉṟōr / kuḻāattup pētai pukal.
A person who enters an assembly of the learned without fitting understanding or conduct is like placing an unwashed foot upon a clean, comfortable bed.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Like him who seeks his couch with unwashed feet, / Is fool whose foot intrudes where wise men meet.”
“Even as is the placing of an unwashed foot on the couch, even so is the entrance of the fool in an assembly of men of worth.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
சான்றோர் குழாஅத்துப் பேதை புகல்= சான்றோர் அவையின்கண் பேதையாயினான் புகுதல்; கழாஅக்கால் பள்ளியுள் வைத்தற்று= தூயவல்ல மிதித்த காலை இன்பந்தரும் அமளிக்கண்ணே வைத்தாற் போலும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar compares the unwise person's entry into an assembly of worthy people to placing an unwashed foot on a clean, comfortable bed. The force of the image is that unprepared, disrespectful conduct soils a carefully maintained setting for knowledge. In a modern reading, worth is not pedigree or degree: it is evidence, responsibility, listening, and willingness to revise. Language help, accessibility, orientation, and mentoring are bridges into the assembly, never reasons for exclusion.