Kural Read online

  4. flower-embedded feet may refer either specifically to Aruhan the Jain God who is usually represented as standing on a flower, or to God in general whose seat is not only in heaven but also in the flower-shaped-heart of his devotees.

  5. Compare Milton’s Lycidas:

  Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil...

  But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes

  And perfect witness of all-judging Jove.

  Not only are bad deeds the result of delusion (success produced by hook or by crook turning to ashes in the mouth), but good deeds too, leading to heaven or rebirth on earth, come in the way of the soul’s release.

  6. The stanza is almost invariably interpreted as referring not just to anyone who has controlled his senses, but to the Supreme One—

  God. It may seem strange to refer to God as one who conquered the five senses as if this was for Him a matter of effort. But Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, like the Buddha, took birth as a man and achieved godhead by overcoming the temptations of the flesh.

  8. aravaazhi could mean either the “ocean of virtue” or the “wheel of virtue”, the dharma chakra. The latter meaning would be appropriate to the Jain God Aruhan who “caused and possesses the circle of virtue”. According to Ellis the dictionaries give the name antanan (Brahmin) only to two gods, viz., Brahma (from whom comes Brahmin) and Aruhan. With the meaning “the sea of virtue” the verse could be translated, “Except with that raft, the sea of virtue, other seas cannot be crossed”, the other seas being those of wealth and happiness.

  9. engunattaan could mean either “the one with the most desirable attributes” or “with the eight attributes”. Commentators seem to prefer the latter. Parimeelazhahar refers to three such lists, viz., self-existence, pure essence, etc.; the supernatural faculties mentioned in, among other places, the Amarakosa (reduction to the least, expansion to the largest etc.) and infinite wisdom, boundless sight, etc.

  17. tanniirmai kundrum: A pun seems to be intended on the word niirmai which may be derived from niir (water) and also means “nature, character”. The sea will diminish in the volume of its water, and also be less of itself in its properties, if the cloud absorbing its water does not return it as rain.

  23. irumai vahai terindu: “knowing the nature of the two”. The two could simply be the pleasures of worldliness and the rigours of renunciation. Parimeelazhahar interprets the two as birth and renunciation. The ascetic chooses the happiness of renunciation in order to avoid the misery of rebirth. At a first glance, the two would seem to be the involvements of worldliness and the freedom of otherworldliness. But Valluvar has the highest praise elsewhere for one who does not avoid the world. The temptation to associate “unreality” and “duplicity” with “the nature of the two” should be resisted, as there is little to suggest that Valluvar is an Advaitin.

  25. When Indra, king of heaven, seduced Ahalya, wife of the sage Gautama, the sage cursed him making him both obscene and impotent. The suggestion that it was Indra’s conquest over his senses that won him his heavenly kingdom is not convincing.

  28. For verbal resemblance, cf., Tolkaapiyam, Porul, 480.

  29. This is according to Parimeelazhahar’s text. An alternative reading kanamenung for kanameyung will give the meaning “won’t hold back even a second”.

  31. The translation of sirappu as release or moksha instead of the normal distinction or glory is in accordance with Parimeel azhahar’s linking of virtue with the two other purushaarthas, viz., wealth and release.

  37. Valluvar, like all Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, believed in the doctrine of karma and the working out in successive births the consequences of one’s action in a previous birth.

  41. “The three other orders”: student, vanaprastha (forester) and sanyasi. Parallelled by Manusamhita, III 77.

  42. Parimeelazhahar translates the first word of the couplet not as “ascetics” but as “the abandoned”.

  43. Cf., Manusamhita, III 80–81. The five mentioned there are the rishis, the manes, gods, animals and guests.

  49. A simpler rendering than Parimeelazhahar’s, “Domestic life is the truly virtuous; that other (viz., renunciation) only if blameless”.

  58. This accords with Ellis’ “Wedded love gives women a foretaste of heaven”. Parimeelazhahar interprets this to mean “Women who honour their husbands will be honoured by the gods”. Cf., Manusamhita, V 155.

  61. The literal translation of the heading is “On Begetting Sons”, and Parimeelazhahar at any rate, if not Valluvar himself, has a pronounced preference for boys.

  62. All seven births: These, according to Parimeelazhahar in some of the manuscripts, are plants, reptiles, marine creatures, birds, beasts, humans and gods. They could also be interpreted to mean the seven successive births one may undergo.

  63. For the pun on “property” (possession) and “properties” (characteristics) I am indebted to Ellis’ rendering of the prose.

  64. Cf., Puranaanuuru, 188.

  68. The verse could also mean “A son surpassing his father in wisdom delights all the world”.

  73. Since it is not possible to make love without a body, the soul has to be encased in bones. Another interpretation is that the human form is the result of the love a creature bore in its previous manifestations.

  74. According to Parimeelazhahar, “The love one bears to one’s kindred extends to others and becomes priceless friendship”. Or, more succintly, “Love begets desire and that the immeasurable excellence of friendship” (W.H. Drew). But Rajaji’s emendation of nannbu (friendship) to nanbu (enlightenment) seems justified to me in the light of his quotation from Bhuutataazhwaar’s andaadi stanza I, and I have no hesitation in accepting it.

  76. For vice Rajaji suggests valour. “It also strengthens valour”.

  85. God will provide for him. Or his hospitality will make him cook the very seed-grains.

  90. aniccam: an extremely sensitive flower.

  101. Spontaneous aid: Aid given not as a recompense for previous aid. A variant reading should be translated, “Aid given to those not capable of returning it”.

  108. Parimeelazhahar interprets nanru as “virtue”, “virtuous”, but the English word “good” is good enough in this context.

  111. Justice M.M. Ismail would render this:

  Caught in diversities

  It is good to stick to virtue.

  113. According to M.M. Ismail the meaning rather is:

  Avoid at once even the good

  Wrought by evil means.

  114. This could refer either to their progeny or to their fame. If to their progeny, either to good and bad children, or to children and no children at all!

  126. Cf., Bhagavad Gita II 58. The five in the case of the tortoise are his head and four legs, in the man his five senses.

  135. Parimeelazhahar cites verse 116 in this connection. But could not the idea be that the envious never feel rich, however rich they may actually be?

  154. Ascetics, if they curse when provoked, will lose the fruits of their penance.

  167. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, rose out of the sea when it was churned. But she was preceded by Muudeevi, the goddess of poverty.

  168. The father is the envious man who loses both here and hereafter.

  169. The suggestion is that they must be the result of the deeds in a previous birth,

  212. An equally valid translation would be:

  Wealth hard-earned is only to help

  The deserving.

  220. Such poverty is worth procuring even by selling onself.

  223. Or:

  To give before hearing “I lack”

  Is the mark of the well-born.

  236. Parimeelazhahar interprets this to mean, “If you are born as a man, have those qualities which will distinguish you from a beast. Failing which, better you were born as a beast”.

  239. Will become less and less fertile.

  255. As he swallows the animals, so hell will swallow him. As once c
onsumed he cannot give them life again, so hell will never give up the sinner which it has swallowed.

  256. The meat-eater cannot say that it is the butcher who is responsible for the killing of the birds and the animals that he consumes. Life is made impossible for these creatures because of the meat-eater’s appetite tor them.

  271. Within: Both within him (constituting his body) and within themselves (unknown to him).

  277. kunri: A carob seed, bright red but with a black tip.

  295. The Parithiar reading tanattotu meaning “better even than a monetary gift” is to be preferred for better rhyme.

  306. The Sanskrit for fire is aasryasan (the destroyer of the near).

  311. “Even for supernal gifts” (Parimeelazhahar).

  313. Even righteous indignation is hurtful, to one’s self as much as to the provoker! Cf,, note to verse 154.

  317. Wilfully hurting: Manikkudavar’s text gives the meaning, “hurting even in thought”.

  328. Said perhaps with particular reference to animal sacrifices.

  336. The usual translation is

  Here yesterday, gone today

  Such greatness is the earth’s

  but cf., Emerson’s “Hamatreya” based on the Vishnu Purana: “Earth endures... but where are old men?”

  350. Even to God.

  354. According to Parimeelazhahar:

  The conquest of the five senses is vain

  Without realization.

  365. Renunciation is of the mind, not of the body; of desires, not of material things. The first “free” could also mean “free of future birth”.

  371. Fated to amass wealth one is energetic, fated to lose it, lazy. But this Fate itself is not a capricious thing but, as Ellis acutely perceives, one’s own inescapable past deeds.

  391. The second half rendered, “Stop, as beseems”, though admissible according to the words and certain philosophies, would contradict note 397 below.

  396. Cf., Manusamhita, II 218

  397. Cf., Puranaanuuru, 192 and Pazhamozhi, 116.

  398. This should be taken in continuation of couplet 397; learning unlike riches accompanies a man from one birth to another.

  425. Parimeelazhahar, making no distinction between odpam and arrivu, interprets the “world” as “the high”, “the noble”, to whom a wise man should be constant. My interpretation, perhaps a poor one, is my own. It is certainly less forced than Parimeelazhahar’s and does not really contradict note 426 below which should be read with my note on it.

  426. It is wise, especially for a king, to take into account public opinion and neither ignore nor defy it.

  440. Applied to a king, these refer to his amours and the need to guard himself against betrayal to his enemy by keeping him in the dark regarding them.

  501. Cf., Kautilya’s Arthasastra, Book I Chapter 10.

  530. This could mean either that he should be cautious against treachery, or that he should investigate whether he had given some cause for the earlier defection which could have been just.

  550. Cf., Manusamhita, VII 110.

  560. Ploughing, weaving, ministering, ruling, trading and teaching. But a better rendering perhaps is “The Brahmins forget their lore”.

  565. Buried wealth, supposed to be haunted by its dead owner, was not good to him when alive, nor now when he is dead! Cf., 1002.

  610. An allusion to one of Vishnu’s avatars when as Vamana (the Dwarf) he begged of the asura, King Bali, for three feet of earth. Having obtained his request he expanded into the huge Trivikrama, measured off the earth with one step, the heavens with another, and for the third foot was offered Bali’s head.

  617. Vide note to 167.

  627. To the wise, according to Rajaji, their body is the target of distress; their soul ignores it.

  662. “The wise” seems to be mean Sanakya and Kamantaka.

  665. This is according to Parimeelazhahar. But according to Dharumar and accepted by Rajaji, the second line should read “Do not repeat it”.

  675. Cf., Kautilya’s Arthasastra, Book I Chapter 15.

  679. Rajaji however would translate “Make up mis-understandings with your friends in view of the big fi ght ahead”.

  687. The translation given here is of the text of Parimeelazhahar, who in his commentary applies this apologetically to an envoy. But Kalingars text reading uraipatam tuutu instead of uraippaan talai dispenses with the need for any apology and follows the pattern set by verses 685 and 686, and is also in keeping with verse 690.

  702. Cf., Hamlet: “In apprehension how like a god!”

  716. Cf., Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: “There was a way to hell even from the gates of heaven”.

  727. Literally, a hermaphrodite’s.

  737. Surface and subsoil.

  760. Virtue and happiness. Vide 754.

  763. An army of rats: The word pakai meaning “hostility” is almost certainly a mistake for padai meaning “an army”. The whole chapter deals with army, not like chapter 87 with hostility. Kamban is almost certainly referring to this kural when in Ayodhyakaandam XII 10 Guha says:

  eli elaam ippadai, aravam yaan

  (To this army of rats I am the serpent.)

  We owe this admirable emendation to M. ShanmukamPillai.

  771. A reference to engravings on, or monuments in stone to commemorate dead warriors.

  774. To use an enemy’s weapon against him in this fashion seems to have been a common practice.

  777. Referring to the ornaments worn traditionally by heroes.

  796. “Spread out as in measuring cloth so that defects if any may be disclosed”, (Rajaji).

  806. True friends: Generally rendered, “Friends who stand within the bounds”. But would not the meaning rather be, “Those who have savoured the utmost of friendship?”

  821. Instead of supporting you, they help in your destruction.

  840. A Tamil commentator suggests that more than ordinary dirt is implied here.

  847. Or blurting out what should be hidden.

  876. The idea is that you never know whose help you may need or who may betray you.

  887. “Is like broken copper which cannot be welded”, (Rajaji).

  913. This could refer to a Nambudri custom mentioned by Abbe Dubois that if amongst them a girl who had attained puberty died unmarried, a man was paid to have a connexion with the corpse, so that the parents might be exculpated of the sin of not having got her married in time. But that such a custom existed has been denied. In any case it does not obtain any longer.

  936. The original Tamil word for gambling was mukadi, meaning literally the elder sister. Since the goddess of Poverty is in mythology the elder sister of Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, a new name suudu was given to gambling so as to avoid an ominous association.

  941. Wind, bile and phlegm.

  951. To 1080. This section is also called “Lineage” and numbered (iv), (ii) being sections 64–73 “Ministers”, and (iii) 74–95 “The Limbs of the State”.

  1021. The Tamil word kudi is generally understood as “family” or “clan” but Rajaji translates it as “community”, the social unit in which members participate. This seems to be what Valluvar had in mind. Hence the chapter heading “Social Service”.

  1050. It is better for them to die than be a burden to others.

  1103. Vishnu the second in the Hindu Trinity is always referred to as the “Lotus-eyed”.

  1107. “Though I have yet to reach that stage by marrying her” is to be understood.

  1114. The water-lily.

  1115. Even that tender flower will be too much of a burden for her slender waist.

  1129. Accusing him as the cause of her sleeplessness.

  1131. A lover, driven to proclaiming his love so that he could marry his lover, drew a portrait of her, put down on it her name, the place as well as his own, and mounting a horse made of palm leaves drew it publicly, so that the villagers, the girl’s parents or the king might pity him and effect the marriage. Thi
s was the ancient practice of madal.

  1140. Cf., Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene 2 Line 1: “He jests at scars that never felt a wound”.

  1151. The entire section except the first verse is addressed by the heroine to her friend. Even the first verse, which in the accepted text has nin meaning “your” has an alternative reading tan meaning “his”. This is the translation here for the sake of consistency.

  1157. A convention in ancient Tamil poetry was that separation from her lover makes a woman’s hands thin and her bangles loose.

  1181. Pallor is a marked change which overtakes a woman’s complexion when separated from her lover. This plays a significant role in Tamil love poetry.

  1203. A popular notion that sneezing is caused by someone thinking about you.

  1208. Said in irony.

  1209. “It is his cruel indifference, not his absence, which kills me”.

  1210. Lovers however far separated, both looking at the same moon, meet there. V.M. Gopalakrishnamachariar in this context refers to a sloka from Valmiki’s Ramayana.

  1252. Love, the offspring of the heart, puts his mother to work when all the world sleeps.

  1257. The “we” is to include the friend who is surprised at the heroine’s yielding to her husband.

  1262. Addressed to her friend and with reference to future births.

  1279. As much as to say that in his absence her bracelets will slide, and her shoulders grow thin and pallid. Her feet should help her by going with him.

  1312. The usual formula to avert mishap. Cf., gesundheit.

  1315. Thinking I didn’t want her in my next.

  1317. Vide 1203 and the note on it.

  1330. The Kural begins with a the first letter of the Tamil alphabet and, in the most authoritative version, ends with en, the last letter.

  The Kural

  * Lines marked by an asterisk are explained in the notes at the back of the book.