We had better remark at once here that every verse in the second part (excepting the first one hundred verses of section ii which apply in the first instance to the Minister) applies to the Prince as the ruler of his State, whether the author specially mentions him or only gives a rule or makes a remark that applies to all mankind. To give an example, verse 531 reads, “Worse than excessive rage is the unguardedness that cometh of self-complacency.” This is a general remark applicable to all men. But in the intention of the poet, this rule is addressed in the first instance to the Prince, the whole second part being intended by the poet to formulate rules for the proper and efficient conduct of the State. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the verses of this Part apply to ordinary men of affairs as well. There is no question as to the fact that those verses that address themselves to or speak of all men in general do apply to all men whether prince or peasant. But even those counsels which are specially given to princes or ministers are intended also for all men of the world wherever they are applicable. Verse 462 is an example.
Having made these necessary observations we shall make a few remarks as to the contents of Part II. The author is fully convinced, as all right-thinking statesmen ought to be, of the necessity of preserving order in the State, and has a great abhorrence of anarchy (735) and misgovernment (740 and 551–70). The prince, he says, should not be above the law and should be impartial and just (Ch. 55). He should give full liberty of speech to his subjects and to his ministers to criticise him and his rule when he goes wrong (389, 447, 448). The king should not loll in luxury but should be alert and watchful and accessible to all who demand justice, should develop the resources of his kingdom, and protect his subjects from internal and external enemies (Chh. 39, 54, 60, 61, & 62 and verses 549, 550). He should be learned in all the arts of peace and war. He should choose his friends from among the good and the great and avoid the company of the low and the vulgar (Chh. 45 and 46). He should examine his own mind constantly and never allow any vice to enter and obtain a foothold in it (Ch. 44). He should select his officers with due care (Chh. 51 and 52) and supervise everything personally (520 and 553) as well as by means of secret agents (Ch. 59). He should look after his kindred and treat them worthily. And being almost all-powerful in the State, he should cultivate the quality that should be an automatic check on the extravagant use of his power, the quality, namely, of considerateness towards all (Ch. 58). But above all he should be firm and daring, and should never be weak or irresolute in his purposes.
As to the Minister, he should be a man of affairs, clever and shifty, pure-minded, devoted to the Prince, and skilful in reading the hearts of men. He should be a courtier in the best sense of the term, knowing when to speak and what to speak, and when to hold his tongue. When representing his master in foreign courts he should be respectful to the prince to whose court he is appointed, and polite and social with the high functionaries of that court; but at the same time and above all, he should have an ever watchful eye to the interests and honour of his prince. And lastly he should be well versed in all the arts of the forum (Chh. 64–73).
The members of the body politic are six according to all Indian writers and they are adopted by Thiruvalluvar. The minister is one of them. The other members are, as enumerated in verse 381, the people, resources, allies, the army, and fortresses. In 22 chapters the author gives the most salient features of these five Members of the body of the State in their positive as well as negative aspects. The people are treated under the heading, Country (Ch. 74). Chapters 91 to 94 are taken by the commentator Parimêlajahar, who is responsible for the division of the several parts of the book into sections, as speaking of those who are unfit to be friends or allies to the Prince, and chapter 95 treats of the art of the physician who must be in loco amici to the Prince. Independently of this, however, these chapters are also meant, as indeed every other chapter of the first and second parts of the book, to give wholesome counsel for regulating the private conduct of prince and peasant alike.
In the section entitled “Miscellaneous,” the poet treats in 13 chapters of various subjects which cannot be included under the first two headings of Part II but which are too important to be omitted from his book. His verses on Honour and Worth are especially remarkable.
Part III—Love
After considering the subject of Politics which claims such a large portion of the activities of man, the poet comes to treat of the third of the four great objectives of life, namely Love. The whole part is taken by the great commentators of the Kural as the romance of a single couple from the time when
