The Kural

some time. So he invited him to be his guest for a few days. One day as he and the guest were seated at their morning meal of cold rice and his wife was drawing water at the well in the yard, he called out to her saying that the rice was too hot for him to eat. Without questioning anything she left the water-pot even as she was drawing it up, and, hurrying to her husband’s side, fanned the rice that was served on the leaf. Wonder of wonders, steam rose from the cold rice as she fanned it and, what was still more miraculous, the pot that she had left to itself in order to obey her husband’s call remained hanging in mid air in the same position in which she had left it! Another day, in broad daylight, as he was working at his loom, Thiruvalluvar dropped the shuttle on the floor and called for a light to look for it. Vâsuki lit a light and brought it to him without even the slightest consciousness of the unreasonableness of the request. The sage had received the Poet’s answer: married life is the best even for scholars and searchers after truth if they can find a wife like Vâsuki; otherwise they had better continue single all their life.

The verse that is said to have escaped the lips of our Poet on the death of her who was the helpmate of his peaceful domestic life, is of a pathetic interest:

O loving one! O thou who usedst to cook delicious dishes for me and who hast never disobeyed me! who wouldst chafe my feet at night and sleep after I had slept and wake before I had waked! Art thou going away from me now, O artless one? When shall these eyes know sleep again?

These are about all the things that have come down to us regarding the life of one of the greatest geniuses of the world.

The Kural

Now as regards the work of the Master. It is divided into three parts, the first of which is devoted to Righteousness, the second to Politics, and the third to Love. These three things together with Heavenly Bliss as the fourth, are called by Hindu writers as the four objectives of life. Thiruvalluvar does not treat of the fourth objective separately and Hindus say that he has submitted himself to the orthodox rule that none but a Brahman should be a teacher of spiritual truth to mankind. But the first Part of the Kural, and especially the second section of it, inculcates every principle the following of which leads to self-realisation, which is the highest happiness that can be enjoyed by man here or hereafter.

Part I⁠—Righteousness

Under the title of Righteousness our author treats of the life of the householder and of the life of the ascetic. Every virtue that goes to make a good husband and a good father, a good neighbour and a good man, is inculcated by the poet in 19 chapters. 13 more chapters deal with the life of the ascetic and the virtues to be practised by him. The first four chapters of the Part serve as an introduction to the whole work; and the chapter that ends the section on the life of the householder is devoted to Fame as a great motive force to do good, while that which ends the whole Part treats of Destiny or rather the potential force which is behind every man impelling him to action good or evil, and which is the general resultant of all his thoughts and actions in his previous births.

Some of the grandest thoughts that have ever been uttered by man are to be found in this Part. Though it is difficult to select, we may specially mention verses 76, 115, 128, 156, 207, 247, 314, 341, 360 and 363.

What is the grand feature of the first Part is its healthy outlook on life. “The chiefest blessing,” declares our author, “is an honourable home, and its crowning glory is worthy offspring.” How charming is his love for children! “The touch of children is the delight of the body.” It is only they who have not listened to the prattle of their little ones that are attracted by the guitar and the flute! The Poet insists greatly on the love of mankind and the honouring of the guest as among the chief virtues of a man. The man that loveth not is like a dry tree in the wilderness. Kindness of speech is inculcated as a special virtue by itself. Such vices as fornication, envy, coveting, slander, vain speaking and injuring a neighbour are condemned, and such virtues as uprightness, forgiveness, obligation and good will to all, and charity, are recommended, and the first section ends with a chapter on Glory, for “they alone live who live without blemish: and they alone die who have lived without glory.” It will thus be seen that it is a cheerful, smiling, benignant humanity that Thiruvalluvar wants to produce in his country and in the world.

But the life of man ends not with this world. When man has fulfilled his duties towards society by living a life of usefulness and virtue, and by giving birth to children to take his place in the play of humanity, he has to think of another life, the life that is beyond death. The householder has ascended a few rungs on the ladder of life with the help of his righteous conduct, but from his more exalted position he sees a larger righteousness unfold itself before him. He has to go through a life of stricter discipline than before. He has now to practise mercy to all living beings, abjure flesh-meat, mortify his body and concentrate his thoughts, and thus obtain a higher spiritual power and vision, purify his mind by a strict adherence to truth, and conquer his anger and every temptation to injure or kill even