Kural Read online

  “Stand and deliver”.

  553.

  A king who does not do justice daily

  Will daily lose his land.

  554.

  A thoughtless tyrant will lose at once

  His wealth and subjects.

  555.

  Won’t the tears of the oppressed allowed to flow

  Wear out a king’s wealth?

  556.

  Just rule stabilizes a king;

  Lacking it his glory fades.

  557.

  How fares the earth without rain? So fares

  Life under a ruthless king.

  558.

  Wealth under a lawless king

  Is worse than want.

  559.

  Where a king is unjust

  Rains are withheld.

  560.

  Cows yield less and the six professions* cease

  Where a protector does not protect.

  57. Terrorism

  561.

  Call him king who probes and whose punishment

  Is deterrent and proportionate.

  562.

  A wide sweep and a mild stroke ensures

  Enduring power.

  563.

  A tyrant indulging in terrorism

  Will perish quickly.

  564.

  A king decried as a tyrant will soon lose

  Both property and life.

  565.

  The wealth of one inaccessible and sour-faced

  Is no better than a demon’s.*

  566.

  The wealth of one harsh-spoken and cruel

  Fleets and dissolves.

  567.

  Harsh words and excessive punishments

  Are a file to a king’s iron might.

  568.

  That king will not prosper who does not

  Consult his ministers, and treats them rough.

  569.

  A king who neglects his defences

  Will die of fright in a war.

  570.

  The earth bears no heavier burden

  Than a tyrant hemmed in by fools.

  58. Compassion

  571.

  It is compassion, the most gracious of virtues,

  Which moves the world.

  572.

  Compassion is human; lacking it

  Men are a burden on earth.

  573.

  What use is a raga that cannot be sung?

  Or eyes without sympathy?

  574.

  What use are eyes that look like eyes

  But lack boundless sympathy?

  575.

  The jewel of the eye is sympathy; without it

  Eyes are but sores.

  576.

  Like trees earth-bound which cannot move

  Are eyes unmoved by pity.

  577.

  They are blind who lack sympathy;

  And those only eyes which have it.

  578.

  The world is his who does his job

  With sympathy.

  579.

  The rarer action is to sympathize

  Even with those that hurt us.

  580.

  Refinement will drink with a smile

  Even hemlock when offered.

  59. Espionage

  581.

  A king’s pair of eyes

  Are the classics on statecraft and spies.

  582.

  A king’s job is to know in time

  Everything that happens to everyone each day.

  583.

  A king uninformed by spies

  Cannot succeed.

  584.

  Employees, kinsmen and enemies

  Are the people a spy should cover.

  585.

  Spies should always be

  Unsuspected, intrepid and close.

  586.

  Garbed as a holy man a spy should go everywhere

  Withstanding all strain.

  587.

  A spy should know and make sure

  Of hidden things.

  588.

  What one spy has spied

  Must be confirmed through another.

  589.

  Let not one spy know another;

  And act when three spies agree.

  590.

  Never honour a spy in public

  Lest your secret should be out.

  60. Energy

  591.

  What is one’s own is one’s vigour:

  Without it what does one own?

  592.

  The real asset is a resolute mind—

  Riches and lands fleet.

  593.

  Those who have vigour will not lament

  The loss of goods.

  594.

  To a man of unshaken vigour

  Wealth will ask and find its way.

  595.

  The lotus rises with the water,

  And a man as high as his will.

  596.

  Always aim high—failure then

  Is as good as success.

  597.

  The strong-willed are not daunted by failure—

  Pierced with arrows an elephant stands.

  598.

  A weakling cannot gain the world’s esteem

  For strength.

  599.

  Huge and sharp-tusked though he be

  An elephant fears a tiger.

  600.

  Energy is a man’s wealth: the immobile

  Are trees in human form.

  61. Sloth

  601.

  The smoke of sloth will dim and destroy

  The light of inherent virtue.

  602.

  Those who would enhance their birth

  Should keep sloth at bay.

  603.

  A slothful fool’s household

  Will predecease him.

  604.

  The ease-loving sluggard ruins his house

  And multiplies sin.

  605.

  The pleasure-junks of destruction are four;

  Procrastination, forgetfulness, sloth and sleep.

  606.

  The slothful will not gain

  Even with powerful aid.

  607.

  The ease-loving sluggard must endure

  Censure and contempt.

  608.

  Sloth enslaves a house

  To its enemies.

  609.

  Inherent defects can be changed

  By exertion.

  610.

  An energetic king can get at once

  All that Trivikrama bestrode.*

  62. Manliness

  611.

  Do not give up saying, “It is impossible”.

  Effort will overcome.

  612.

  The world gives up those who give up:

  Stick to your task.

  613.

  To the persistent belongs the pride

  Of doing good to others.

  614.

  A weakling’s philanthropy is a sword

  In a eunuch’s hand.

  615.

  A comfort to his friends and a pillar is he

  Who scorns delight and loves labour.

  616.

  Exertion leads to wealth,

  Lack of it to want.

  617.

  The black elder sister dwells on a slothful lap

  And the lotus-throned, they say, attends on zeal.*

  618.

  Ill-luck is never blamed—what is blamed

  Is knowledge without exertion.

  619.

  Even if Fate will not, exertion will pay

  The wages of effort.

  620.

  Those that strive undaunted will see

  The back of Fate itself.

  63. Fortitude

  621.

  Laugh at misfortune—nothing so able

  To triumph over it.

  622.

&nbs
p; Misfortune may rise like a flood—

  A bold thought will quell it.

  623.

  Those whom grief cannot grieve

  Will grieve grief.

  624.

  Trouble is troubled by him who bull-like

  Drags his cart through every hurdle.

  625.

  The man who can defy ceaseless trouble

  Troubles it.

  626.

  Will they whine, “We have nothing”.

  Who never crowed, “We have much?”

  627.

  The wise are never perturbed to whom

  Their body is but a butt of distress!*

  628.

  He will never be sad who scorns delight

  And takes sorrow in his stride.

  629.

  He who never exulted in joy

  Will not be depressed by sorrow.

  630.

  To take pain as pleasure

  Is to gain your foe’s esteem.

  (ii) The Limbs of the State

  64. Ministers

  631.

  Call him minister who best contrives

  The means, the time, the mode and the deed.

  632.

  Firmness, concern, learning, judgement and effort—

  These five should mark a minister.

  633.

  To part, combine and reunite

  Should come easy to a minister.

  634.

  Enquiry, deliberate action and advice

  Should mark a minister.

  635.

  A helpful counseller knows the codes,

  Is learned in discourse and ever resourceful.

  636.

  What can oppose a keen intelligence

  Combined with learning?

  637.

  However well-versed in books,

  Be practical.

  638.

  It is a minister’s duty to advise aright

  Even an ignorant foe to learning.

  639.

  Better seventy crore open foes

  Than one treacherous minister.

  640.

  The inefficient will leave undone

  Even well-planned schemes.

  65. Persuasiveness

  641.

  Persuasiveness is a great gift

  Rich beyond all else.

  642.

  Speech can both make and mar, and hence

  Should be guarded well.

  643.

  Eloquence charms the hearer and fills with longing

  Those who have not heard.

  644.

  Speak fittingly than which there is

  No greater virtue or wealth.

  645.

  Speak so that what you say

  May never be gainsaid.

  646.

  To persuade and gain by what others say

  Mark good counsellers.

  647.

  A good speaker, tireless, unforgetful and bold

  Is hard to quell.

  648.

  The world will run and listen to a speech

  Sweet and well-set.

  649.

  Those fond of talking much

  Cannot be brief and faultless.

  650.

  The learned lacking expression

  Are flowers without scent.

  66. Honest Dealing

  651.

  A man’s friends bring him worldly goods:

  His good deeds all he needs.

  652.

  Avoid always what does not lead

  To fame and virtue.

  653.

  Those who seek greatness must avoid

  What will stain their name.

  654.

  They will not be mean even in distress

  Who see life steadily.

  655.

  Do not do what you will regret; and if you do,

  Do not regret.*

  656.

  Do not do what the wise condemn

  Even to save your starving mother.

  657.

  Better the poverty of the wise

  Than wealth got with infamy.

  658.

  Those who do what is forbidden

  May get their ends but will come to grief.

  659.

  Goods gained with others’ tears are lost with one’s own:

  Well-got, even when lost, help hereafter.

  660.

  To stock ill-got wealth is to store

  Water in unburnt clay.

  67. Efficiency

  661.

  Efficiency is but strength of mind:

  All aids mere aids.

  662.

  To shun ruin, and ruined not give up

  Are the two rules the wise prescribe.*

  663.

  Let ends reveal deeds: a hand disclosed

  Breeds endless woe.

  664.

  It is easy for anyone to talk,

  But hard to act thereon.

  665.

  Efficient deeds inspired by fame

  Redound to the king and win esteem.

  666.

  All one aims at can be gained

  If one is but firm.

  667.

  Don’t despise by looks: the linchpin holds

  The huge wheel in place.

  668.

  Decide clear-eyed and act firmly

  Without delay.

  669.

  However great the hardship,

  Pursue with firmness the happy end.

  670.

  The world has no use for those however strong

  Who have no use for firmness.

  68. Modes of Action

  671.

  The end of deliberation is decision:

  To decide and dawdle is bad.

  672.

  Delay where delay is needed, but do not delay

  When you must act.

  673.

  Strike where possible; elsewhere

  Consider other means.

  674.

  Aggression or enmity left half-way

  Is fire half put out.

  675.

  Five things should be pondered over before you act:

  Resources, weapons, time, place and deed.*

  676.

  Weigh well before you plunge

  The inputs, impediments and gain.

  677.

  The way to do a thing is to get

  Inside an insider.

  678.

  Let one action get another

  As an elephant an elephant.

  679.

  More urgent than helping friends

  Is making friends with the enemy’s foes.*

  680.

  If you are weak and fear internal trouble

  Seize conciliation.

  69. Envoys

  681.

  Amiability, breeding and ways that attract kings

  Are essential in an envoy.

  682.

  An envoy’s three essentials

  Are loyalty, intelligence and sagacious speech.

  683.

  An envoy should be expert in knowledge

  To succeed with the powerful.

  684.

  Let him go as envoy who has sense,

  Personality and scholarship.

  685.

  An envoy’s words should be compact, unoffending,

  Pleasant and useful.

  686.

  An envoy should be well-read, not nervous,

  Persuasive and resourceful.

  687.

  It is best to know one’s job, time and place,

  And rehearse one’s words.*

  688.

  Morality, sociability, courage and truth

  Should characterize a messenger.

  689.

  A king’s herald will not even negligently

  Utter words that leave a stain.

  690.

  A good envoy will maintain his ki
ng’s good

  Even risking boldly his own life.

  70. To Move with Kings

  691.

  Courtiers round a king, like men before a fire,

  Should be neither too far nor too near.

  692.

  The way to gain gifts from a king

  Is not to covet what he covets.

  693.

  Beware and ward off faults—suspicion roused

  Is hard to clear.

  694.

  Avoid before the great

  Whispers and knowing smiles.

  695.

  Neither eavesdrop nor pursue a king’s secret—

  Wait till he tells himself.

  696.

  Speak to him shunning the unpleasant

  And according to his mood, time and likes.

  697.

  Tell the useful and even when asked

  Avoid always the useless.

  698.

  Don’t treat him lightly as young or kin

  But act as befits his splendour.

  699.

  The level-headed do not presume on esteem

  And do wrong.

  700.

  To presume on an old friendship and do wrong

  Is to court disaster.

  71. Mind Reading

  701.

  He is a jewel on this sea-girt earth

  Who can read a thought without being told.

  702.

  The sure apprehension of another mind

  Is the mark of a god.*

  703.

  He is worth any price who by intuition

  Can read another’s thought.

  704.

  Only in their limbs do other men resemble

  A thought reader.

  705.

  What use are eyes that cannot read

  A man’s thoughts on his face?

  706.

  As a mirror shows what is in front

  So the face reveals the full mind.

  707.

  What is as informed as the face

  The index in front of joy and sorrow?

  708.

  Just stand and look before a feeling heart

  To have your woes redressed.

  709.

  The eyes will reveal to those that can read them

  Both love and hate.

  710.

  The astute, you will find, use for their gauge

  Nothing but eyes.

  72. Knowing an Assembly

  711.

  Meticulous masters of words

  Must suit them carefully to the council.

  712.

  Orators who wish to do good

  Should study the occasion with care.

  713.

  Those are poor orators, unavailing,

  Who speak without knowing their audience.

  714.

  Sparkle mid the sparkling, and be chalk-white,

  Among the blank.

  715.