Not Offending the Great and Powerful
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kuṉṟaṉṉār kuṉṟa matippiṟ kuṭiyoṭu / niṉṟaṉṉār māyvar nilattu.
If mountain-like ascetics resolve that someone should fall, those who seem firmly established in the world will perish together with their household.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“If they, whose virtues like a mountain rise, are light esteemed; / They die from earth who, with their households, ever-during seemed.”
“Behold the princes who look as if they are established on an everlasting foundation: even they will perish with all their kin if men who are mighty as the mountain but will their doom.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
குன்றன்னார் குன்ற மதிப்பின்= குன்றத்தை ஒக்கும் அருந்தவர் கெட நினைப்பாராயின்; நிலத்து நின்றன்னார் குடியொடு மாய்வர்= அப்பொழுதே இந்நிலத்து நிலைபெற்றாற் போலும் செல்வர் தம் குடியொடும் மாய்வர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that if rare ascetics, like a mountain in stature, resolve that someone should be ruined, wealthy people who appear permanently rooted in this world will disappear together with their household or lineage. This is severe classical spiritual rhetoric granting ascetic resolve household-wide force. Modern justice rejects inherited guilt: spouses, children, relatives, and workers require individual evidence, due process, appeal, and protection of livelihood and safety.