Kural Page 5
40. Learning
391.
Learn well what should be learnt, and then
Live your learning.*
392.
Those called figures and letters, the wise declare,
Are eyes to live with.
393.
Only the learned have eyes—others
Two sores on their face!
394.
It is a pleasure to meet a scholar,
A pain to part with him.
395.
A scholar seeking knowledge stoops and is lofty;
The ignorant never stoop and are low.
396.
A well dug in sand yields water as dug—
So learning, wisdom.*
397.
Why does one stop learning till he dies
When it makes all lands and places his?
398.
The learning acquired in one birth
Helps a man in seven.*
399.
That what delights him delights others
Delights a scholar.
400.
The wealth which never declines
Is not riches but learning.
41. Ignorance
401.
To address an assembly ill-equipped
Is to play at dice without a board.
402.
As well might a child flat-chested pass for a woman
As one unlearned for an orator.
403.
Let him but hold his tongue before the wise,
And even a fool is fine!
404.
The learned will not acknowledge
An ignoramus’ occasional knowledge.
405.
A fool’s assurance collapses
When engaged in a discussion.
406.
The ignorant are like saline soil:
They are there, but useless.
407.
A handsome man with an untrained mind
Has the beauty of a mud-doll.
408.
The wealth of the ignorant does more harm
Than the want of the learned.
409.
The ignorant however high-born is lower
Than the low-born learned.
410.
The ignorant are to the learned
As beasts to men.
42. Hearing
411.
The wealth of wealths is the ear:
That wealth outtops all else.
412.
When there is no food for the ear
We may think of some food for the stomach.
413.
As gods in heaven are fed through fire
So men on earth are fed through their ears.
414.
Though unlettered, listen; you will find this
A great help in distress.
415.
The counsel of the just
Is like a staff on slippery land.
416.
Listen to the good however little
And gain that much.
417.
Those who have sought and heard much
Will not talk nonsense even by mistake.
418.
The ear shut to learning
Though open is deaf.
419.
Ears strange to refinement
Seldom go with modest mouths.
420.
What matters if they live or die
Whose taste is in their tongues, not ears?
43. Wisdom
421.
Wisdom is a weapon of defence,
An inner fortress no foe can raze.
422.
Wisdom checks the wandering mind
And pulls it from ill to good.
423.
Wisdom grasps the truth
Of whatever and by whomever said.
424.
Wisdom simplifies its subtlety to others
And others’ subtlety to itself.
425.
Prudence goes with the world, but wisdom
Is not a water-flower, now open, now shut.*
426.
As the world goes, so with the world to go
Is wise.*
427.
The wise know what comes next—
Fools cannot.
428.
Not to fear what should be feared is folly:
The wise know better.
429.
To the wise with foresight
There are no shocks.
430.
Those who have wisdom have all:
Fools with all have nothing.
44. Faults
431.
Those are truly noble who are free
From arrogance, wrath and pettiness.
432.
To be niggardly, touchy and biased
Are faults in a king.
433.
To one who would avoid a bad name
A millet of fault is as big as a palm fruit.
434.
Guard against error as you would guard wealth,
For error is a foe that kills.
435.
A life that does not guard against faults
Is a heap of straw before fire.
436.
How can a king be faulted who removes
His own fault before seeing that of others?
437.
A miser’s wealth unused does not increase
But is lost.
438.
Clinging miserliness stands out
Among other sins.
439.
Never flatter yourself, nor delight
In empty deeds.
440.
Keep your attachments secret,
And your foes’ plots will fail.*
45. Elders’ Help
441.
Value and secure the friendship
Of the virtuous, mature and wise.
442.
Seek them who can remove present ills
And prevent those to come.
443.
The rarest of rare things is to seek and secure
The friendship of the great.
444.
The greatest strength is kinship
With one greater.
445.
A king’s ministers are his eyes
To be chosen with care.
446.
No foe can do anything to one
Who has fit counsel and acts right.
447.
Who can injure a king who employs
Men who can rebuke him roundly?
448.
A king unguarded by trenchant counsel
Needs no foes to come to grief.
449.
There can be no gain without capital,
And no stability unpropped by wise counsel.
450.
Foregoing good counsel is tenfold worse
Than facing an army alone.
46. Mean Company
451.
The great avoid the low in whom
The low find their kin.
452.
The soil colours water, and one’s company
One’s mind.
453.
Perceptions spring from nature,
Character from company.
454.
Wisdom which seems to come from the mind
Comes really from one’s company.
455.
The pure thought and the pure deed
Come from pure company.
456.
The pure-hearted will leave a pure progeny
And bad deeds never spring from good fellowship.
457.
A good mind is an asset to everyone
While good company contributes to glory.
458.
A good mind is good, but is strengthened
By good company.
459.
A pure mi
nd ensures heaven, but even that
Is doubly ensured by good company.
460.
There is no greater aid than good company
Nor worse affliction than bad.
47. Action
461.
Act after taking into account
The cost, the benefit and the net.
462.
Nothing is impossible to those who act
After wise counsel and careful thought.
463.
It is not wisdom to lose the capital
For the sake of interest.
464.
Those who fear disgrace
Will not launch thoughtless ventures.
465.
A thoughtless foray only dresses
The enemy’s field for him.
466.
It is ruinous to do what should not be done
And ruinous to leave undone what should be done.
467.
Think and act; to act and then to think
Is folly.
468.
An ill-planned scheme, though aided much,
Will go awry.
469.
Even a good scheme ill-apportioned
Goes awry.
470.
None will approve what is not proper:
Act without incurring scorn.
48. Strength
471.
Weigh the strength of these before you act—
The deed’s, your own, your enemy’s and ally’s.
472.
Nothing is impossible for him
Who knows his task and strength, and is well set.
473.
Many led not by knowledge but zeal
Have perished midway.
474.
The unadaptable, ignorant and proud
Have speedy ends.
475.
A peacock’s feather can break the axle-tree
Of an over-loaded cart.
476.
A climber’s zeal taking one step more on a tree
Breaks the branch and kills him.
477.
Give within your means: that way
Wealth is preserved.
478.
No harm if income is narrow
If outgoings are not broad.
479.
A spendthrift’s life
Is a phantom that will fade.
480.
The limits of his fortune are soon reached
Who is generous beyond his means.
49. Time
481.
A crow can defeat an owl by day:
Kings need the right time to win.
482.
The rope that binds Fortune
Is deeds done at the right time.
483.
What is impossible
For right means at the right time?
484.
The whole world is his who chooses
The right time and place.
485.
A world-conqueror bides his time
Unperturbed.
486.
The backward step of a battering ram
Is vigour restrained.
487.
The wise do not burst with rage—
They hold it for the right time.
488.
Bear with your enemy till the time comes
To topple him.
489.
When the rare chance comes, seize it
To do the rare deed.
490.
Bide your time like the stork, and like it
When time serves, stick your prey.
50. Place
491.
Don’t despise your foe, nor start action
Till you find a place to hem in and finish him.
492.
A fortress is a great advantage
Even to men of valour.
493.
Even a weak man will win if he chooses
The right place for defence and attack.
494.
A careful approach from the right place
Will outwit the enemy.
495.
The crocodile wins in deep waters—
Coming out others win against it.
496.
A mighty chariot cannot run in the sea,
Nor a boat navigate land.
497.
With details not neglected and place well-chosen
Courage is enough to win.
498.
A large army in a small place
Is demoralized and ruined.
499.
Men on their own ground are hard to tackle
Even when they lack fortress and strength.
500.
A tusker which defies spearmen
Is killed in a bog by jackals.
51. Selection
501.
Choose your men after the quadruple test—
Virtue, wealth, enjoyment and fear of death.*
502.
Choose one well-born, free of fault
And afraid of sin and scandal.
503.
Even the widely-read and faultless
When scrutinized show gaps.
504.
Examine merits and defects,
Strike a balance, and choose.
505.
A man’s conduct is the touchstone
Of his greatness and littleness.
506.
Do not choose men who have no commitments—
Unattached they dread no shame.
507.
To favour the incompetent out of love
Breeds inefficiency.
508.
To choose a stranger untried
Will trouble one’s line without end.
509.
Trust none untried, and after trial
Assign without distrust.
510.
Trust without trial and distrust of the tried
Lead to endless trouble.
52. Employment
511.
Scan the good and the bad, and then employ
Those who have done good.
512.
Employ those who widen income’s ways,
Add wealth and remove checks.
513.
Loyalty, wisdom, a clear head and contentment—
These four well-possessed are the right qualifications.
514.
Many pass all tests and yet
Change in office.
515.
To prefer personal loyalty to knowledge and diligence
Is not the way to employ.
516.
Weigh well the agent, the task and the time
Before you act.
517.
Assured this man will do this task this way,
Leave it to him.
518.
Having found the man for the task
Make him responsible.
519.
Fortune deserts him who distrusts
A diligent worker.
520.
Let the king be alert, his servants upright,
And the state will not swerve.
53. Kindred
521.
Only our kin stick for old sake’s sake
Even in adversity.
522.
Unestranged kinship breeds
Unabating wealth.
523.
The life of an unattached man
Is a pond unpounded running to waste.
524.
The use of wealth is that it draws
A man’s kin around him.
525.
Gifts and sweet words enable a man
To be circled by circles of kin.
526.
None has a larger kinship than he
Who is liberal and curbs his wrath.
527.
Crows trumpet their finds and share them—
Gains accrue to such natures.
528.
A king with discrimination
Attracts followers.
529.
Deserters will come back
When the cause is removed.
530.
A king should be careful before taking back those
Who leave him without cause and return.*
54. Slackness
531.
Worse than too much wrath is the laxity
Due to too much exultation.
532.
Laxity kills fame as a hand-to-mouth life
Kills the intellect.
533.
All writings in the world conclude,
“Fame is not for the lax”.
534.
There is no fortress for the coward,
Nor luck for the lax.
535.
Too late he repents who is lax
Against impending danger.
536.
Nothing can equal never being lax
With anyone at any time.
537.
Nothing is impossible to a man
Armed with vigilance.
538.
Pursue excellence—there is nothing but ill
In all seven births for the slack.
539.
Remember when drunk with happiness
Those who fell through laxity.
540.
All aims are easy to achieve
To those that persist.
55. The Unswerving Sceptre
541.
Searching enquiry, an impartial eye, punishment as prescribed
Are the ways of justice.
542.
The world looks up to heaven for rain
And his subjects to their king for justice.
543.
The king’s sceptre provides the base
For scripture and right conduct.
544.
The king who rules cherishing his people
Has the world at his feet.
545.
The king who rules according to the law
Never lacks rain and corn.
546.
Not his spear but a straight sceptre
Is what gives a monarch his triumph.
547.
The king guards the land, and his own rule
Will guard him if he is straight.
548.
A king inaccessible, unprobing and unjust
Will sink and be ruined.
549.
For a king who would guard and cherish his people
To punish crimes is a duty, not defect.
550.
The king who punishes wicked men with death
Is a farmer weeding the tender crops.*
56. Misrule
551.
A sinful and oppressive king is worse
Than a murderer.
552.
A king’s request for gifts is a bandit’s demand,