The Kural

shame.

Four are the attributes of the true gentleman: a smiling face, a liberal hand, sweetness of speech, and condescension.

Men of family would not tarnish their name even for the sake of tens of millions.

Behold the men of ancient family: they give not up their liberality even when their means of munificence are diminished.

Behold the men who are anxious to keep pure the honourable traditions of their family: they will never take to deceit nor descend to ignoble deeds.

The fault of a man of noble family will show conspicuously even as the spot in the body of the moon.

If rudeness of speech showeth itself in a man coming of a good family, people would even suspect the legitimacy of his descent.

The nature of a soil is known by the seedling that groweth therein: even so is the family of a man known by the words that come out of his mouth.

If thou desire virtue, thou must cultivate the sense of shame: and if thou want to honour thy family, thou must be respectful unto all.

XCVII

Honour

961. Forbear from those things that would lower thee, even though they should be indispensable for the very preservation of thy life.

962. Behold the men that desire to leave an honoured name behind them: they will not do that which is not right even for the sake of glory.

963. Cultivate modesty in the day of prosperity: but in the day of thy decline hold fast to thy dignity.

964. Behold the men that have soiled a name that was honourable: they are even as the locks of hair that have been shaven off the head and thrown away.

965. Even men who are grand as a mountain will look small if they do an ignoble thing, though it should be only of the measure of a kunri seed.

966. It bringeth not glory, neither doth it open the way unto heaven: why then doth a man try to live by fawning on men that despise him?

967. It is better for a man to meet his doom at once without any ado than to maintain himself by hanging on to those that scorn him.

968. Is the skin immortal, that men desire to save it even at the cost of honour?

969. The kavarima giveth up its life when it loseth its wool: there are men who are as sensitive and they put an end to their lives when they cannot save their honour.

970. Behold the men of honour who refuse to outlive their good name: the world will join its hands and worship at the altar of their glory.

XCVIII

Greatness

971. An aspiration for noble achievement, that is what is called greatness: and littleness is the thought that sayeth, I shall live without it.

972. The manner of birth is the same for all men: but their reputations vary because they differ in the lives that they lead.

973. Even if they are noble, those that are not noble are not noble; and even if they are lowborn, those that are not low are not low.

974. Even as chastity in a woman, greatness can be maintained only by being true to one’s own self.

975. Those that are great have the puissance to employ adequate means and achieve things that are impossible for others.

976. It is not in the grain of small men to revere the great and earn their good will and favour.

977. If fortune falleth to the lot of the little-minded their insolence will know no bounds.

978. Greatness is ever unpretending and modest: but littleness vaunteth its merits before all the world.

979. Greatness showeth condescension unto all: but littleness is the very acme of insolence.

980. Greatness is always for screening the infirmities of others: but littleness will talk nothing but scandal.

XCIX

Worth

981. Behold the men that know their duties and want to cultivate worth in themselves: everything that is good will be a duty in their eyes.

982. The comeliness of the worthy is the comeliness of their character: the comeliness of the body addeth nothing to their comeliness.

983. Love to all, sensibility to shame, complaisance, indulgence to the faults of others, and truthfulness, these five are the pillars that support the edifice of a noble character.

984. The virtue of the saint is non-killing: and the virtue of the worthy man is the abstaining from scandalous speech.

985. It is humility that is the strength of the strong: and that is also the armour of the man of worth against his foes.

986. What is the touchstone of worth? It is the acknowledgement of superiority when it is found even in men who are otherwise one’s inferiors.

987. Where is the superiority of the worthy man if he doth not do good even unto those that work him injury?

988. Poverty is no disgrace to a man if he possesseth the wealth that is called character.

989. Behold the men that would not swerve from the path of rectitude even if all else should change in a general convulsion: they will be called the very palladium of worth.

990. Verily even the earth itself will not be able to support the burden of human life if the worthy were to fall from their worth.

C

Courteousness

991. Courteousness, they say, cometh easily to those who receive all men with open arms.

992. Courteousness cometh of the combination of the two virtues of kindness and good-breeding.

993. Men are likened to each other not by the cut of their personal appearance, but by the similarity of their manners.

994. Behold the men who love justice and righteousness, and who are of a helpful disposition: the world setteth a high value on their manners.

995. Disparaging words pain a man even when uttered only in jest: the well-bred therefore are never discourteous even to their foes.

996. The world goeth on smoothly because of the men of good-breeding: verily, but for them all this harmony would be dead and buried in the dust.

997. Though they are sharp as files, the men that are lacking in good manners are no better than mere wooden stocks.

998. Discourtesy is unbecoming in a man, even were it only against men who are unfriendly and unjust.

999. Behold the men