Abstaining from Intoxicants
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uḷḷoṟṟi yuḷḷūr nakappaṭuva reññāṉṟuṅ / kaḷḷoṟṟik kaṇcāy pavar.
Those who drink secretly and whose awareness then droops will have the hidden act inferred by their own community and will be mocked continually.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Who turn aside to drink, and droop their heavy eye, / Shall be their townsmen's jest, when they the fault espy.”
“Behold the men who drink in secret and pass their days in torpid insensibility: their neighbours will soon find them out, and hold them in utter contempt.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கள் ஒற்றிக் கண்சாய்பவர்= கள்ளை மறைந்துண்டு அக்களிப்பால் தம் அறிவுதளர்வார்; உள்ளூர் உள் ஒற்றி எஞ்ஞான்றும் நகப்படுவர்= உள்ளூர் வாழ்பவரான் உள்நிகழ்கின்றது உய்த்துணர்ந்து எஞ்ஞான்றும் நகுதல் செய்யப்படுவர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains கள் ஒற்றிக் கண்சாய்பவர் as people who drink alcohol in concealment and whose awareness then slackens under intoxication. உள்ளூர் உள் ஒற்றி means that people living in the same town infer the hidden event from what becomes perceptible; the stated classical result is that the person is mocked continually. The verse is a severe warning that concealment may fail, not an endorsement of ridicule as care or treatment. A modern response must not surveil, out, film, label, or diagnose anyone, and no single appearance proves intoxication.