Medicine
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
marunteṉa vēṇṭāvām yākkaik karuntiya / taṟṟatu pōṟṟi yuṇiṉ.
If one eats only after making sure by its signs that what was consumed earlier has ended, then for that body there would come to be no need of any separate thing called medicine.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“No need of medicine to heal your body's pain, / If, what you ate before digested well, you eat again.”
“The body requireth no medicine if new food is eaten only after the old food is fully digested.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அருந்தியது அற்றது போற்றி உணின்= ஒருவன் முன்னுண்டது அற்றபடியைக் குறிகளான் தெளியவறிந்து பின் உண்ணுமாயின்; யாக்கைக்கு மருந்து என வேண்டாவாம்= அவன்யாக்கைக்கு மருந்தென்று வேறு வேண்டாவாம்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar turns the printed order around and reads the condition first. Two of his own words carry the gloss. One is குறிகளான் தெளிய அறிந்து, knowing clearly by the signs, which makes the ending something read off evidence rather than assumed from the passing of time. The other is வேறு, separate: what stops being necessary is a separate medicine, an additional thing fetched in from outside. The whole statement therefore stays inside its condition. It is said of the person who eats in that way, and it is neither a general claim about medicine nor a reason for anyone to do without care.