Not Offending the Great and Powerful
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kūṟṟattaik kaiyāl viḷittaṟṟā lāṟṟuvārk / kāṟṟātā riṉṉā ceyal.
For those without the power to initiate a hurtful act against those who possess it is like beckoning Death with one's own hand.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“When powerless man 'gainst men of power will evil deeds essay, / Tis beck'ning with the hand for Death to seize them for its prey.”
“Behold the weak man slighting men of might and power: it is as if he beckoneth to the God of Death to come to him.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
ஆற்றுவார்க்கு ஆற்றாதார் இன்னா செயல்= மூவகை ஆற்றலும் உடையார்க்கு அவை இல்லாதார் தாம் முற்பட்டு இன்னாதவற்றைச் செய்தல்; கூற்றத்தைக் கையால் விளித்தற்றால்= தானேயும் வரற்பாலனாய கூற்றுவனை அதற்கு முன்னே கைகாட்டி அழைத்தால்ஒக்கும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that when people lacking all three kinds of power themselves initiate hurtful conduct against those who possess those powers, it is like waving Death forward by hand before its natural arrival. The simile belongs to a severe classical political world. A less powerful person's criticism, rights claim, self-protection, or report of harm is not thereby ‘hurtful wrongdoing’; the target is initiated culpable harm.