Medicine
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
uṟṟavaṉ ṟīrppāṉ maruntuḻaic celvāṉeṉ / ṟappāṉāṟ kūṟṟē maruntu.
The one the illness has come upon, the one whose work is to end it, the remedy, and the one who stays at hand and carries it out without error — medicine is precisely these four parts held together.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“For patient, leech, and remedies, and him who waits by patient's side, / The art of medicine must fourfold code of laws provide.”
“The patient, the physician, the medicine, and the apothecary, on these four doth all cure depend: and four again are the attributes of each of them.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
மருந்து= பிணிக்கு மருந்தாவது; உற்றவன்= அதனையுற்றவன்; தீர்ப்பான்= அதனைத் தீர்க்கும் மருத்துவன்; மருந்து= அவனுக்குக் கருவியாகிய மருந்து;உழைச்செல்வான் என்ற அப்பால் நாற்கூற்றே= அதனைப் பிழையாமல் இயற்றுவான் என்று சொல்லப்பட்ட நான்கு பகுதியையுடைய நான்கு திறத்தது.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Medicine is made of four parts: the one who has fallen ill, the physician who removes it, the remedy, and the attendant who carries it out without error.