Pasuram 4.6.7

Tamil text and transliteration:

அணங்குக்கு அரு மருந்து என்று அங்கு ஓர் ஆடும் கள்ளும் பராய்
துணங்கை எறிந்து நும் தோள் குலைக்கப்படும் அன்னைமீர்,
உணங்கல் கெடக் கழுதை உதடு ஆட்டம் கண்டு என் பயன்?
வணங்கீர்கள் மாயப் பிரான் தமர் வேதம் வல்லாரையே.

aṇaṅkukku aru maruntu eṉṟu aṅku ōr āṭum kaḷḷum parāy
tuṇaṅkai eṟintu num tōḷ kulaikkappaṭum aṉṉaimīr,
uṇaṅkal keṭak kaḻutai utaṭu āṭṭam kaṇṭu eṉ payaṉ?
vaṇaṅkīrkaḷ māyap pirāṉ tamar vētam vallāraiyē.

English translation of verse 4.6.7:

Ye, elders, you think it is a cure rare and dear,
For this young lady’s sickness when you offer
Unto the inferior deity, sheep and liquor and, in distress, witness
Men with trembling shoulders in awkward dance;
Could you the moving lips of a donkey keep admiring
As it eats up the paddy, spread out for drying?
Better worship Vedic scholars, the holy men of the wondrous Lord.

Notes:

(i) The mate disconcertingly asks the elders what exactly they mean by persisting in all that tom-foolery, at the expense of Parāṅkuśa Nāyakī. What they do is like admiring the movement of the lips of a donkey noted for its ugliness, as it eats up the boiled paddy spread out in the open for sun-drying, unmindful of the loss of paddy. She advises them to worship the holy men who realise that Lord Śrīman Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme God and revere Him. There and there alone lies the cure for this God-sickness.

(ii) The mate feels distressed that the women-folk should indulge in such futile exercises, ill-conceived and disastrous, notwithstanding their special religious background and their ingrained belief that a single salutation by them would be deemed by the Lord, too heavy a burden imposed on Him.