Gambling
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kavaṟuṅ kaḻakamuṅ kaiyun tarukki / yivaṟiyā rillāki yār.
The dice, the gaming hall, and the skill of their own hands — the men who were proud of all three and let go of none of them had once been men of substance, and became men with nothing.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“The dice, and gaming-hall, and gamester's art, they eager sought, / Thirsting for gain- the men in other days who came to nought.”
“Many there have been who were proud of their skill in the throwing of dice and were mad after the gambling-house: but there hath not been a single man of them that did not come to grief.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
இல்லாகியார்= முற்காலத்துத் தாம் உளராகியே இலராகி ஒழுகினார்; கவறும் கழகமும் கையும் தருக்கி இவறியார்= கவற்றினையும், அஃதாடும் களத்தினையும், அவ்வாடற்கு வேண்டும் கைத்தொழிலினையும் மேற்கொண்டு கைவிடாத வேந்தர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar separates and names all three: the die, the ground on which it is played, and the manual craft that playing requires. His gloss settles that the third item is a skill and not an object. The subject of the couplet is the ruler who took up all three and would not let go of any — the refusal is what is being described. He then puts the outcome as a sequence in time: these were men who formerly had, and who came to be men who had not.