PART I. VIRTUE - Domestic Virtue

Chapter. 21. Dread of Evil Deeds

Kural-201
With sinful act men cease to feel the dread of ill within,
The excellent will dread the wanton pride of cherished sin.
Those who have experience of evil deeds will not fear, but the excellent will fear the pride of sin.

Kural-202
Since evils new from evils ever grow,
Evil than fire works out more dreaded woe.
Because evil produces evil, therefore should evil be feared more than fire.

Kural-203
Even to those that hate make no return of ill;
So shalt thou wisdom's highest law, 'tis said, fulfil.
To do no evil to enemies will be called the chief of all virtues.

Kural-204
Though good thy soul forget, plot not thy neighbour's fall,
Thy plans shall 'virtue's Power' by ruin to thyself forestall.
Even though forgetfulness meditate not the ruin of another. Virtue will meditate the ruin of him who thus meditates.

Kural-205
Make not thy poverty a plea for ill;
Thy evil deeds will make thee poorer still.
Commit not evil, saying, "I am poor": if you do, you will become poorer still.

Kural-206
What ranks as evil spare to do, if thou would'st shun
Affliction sore through ill to thee by others done.
Let him not do evil to others who desires not that sorrows should pursue him.

Kural-207
From every enmity incurred there is to 'scape, a way;
The wrath of evil deeds will dog men's steps, and slay.
However great be the enmity men have incurred they may still live. The enmity of sin will incessantly pursue and kill.

Kural-208
Man's shadow dogs his steps where'er he wends;
Destruction thus on sinful deeds attends.
Destruction will dwell at the heels of those who commit evil even as their shadow that leaves them not.

Kural-209
Beware, if to thyself thyself is dear,
Lest thou to aught that ranks as ill draw near!
If a man love himself, let him not commit any sin however small.

Kural-210
The man, to devious way of sin that never turned aside,
From ruin rests secure, whatever ills betide.
Know ye that he is freed from destruction who commits no evil, going to neither side of the right path.

Chapter. 22. The knowledge of what is Befitting a Man's Position

Kural-211
Duty demands no recompense; to clouds of heaven,
By men on earth, what answering gift is given?
Benevolence seeks not a return. What does the world give back to the clouds ?

Kural-212
The worthy say, when wealth rewards their toil-spent hours,
For uses of beneficence alone 'tis ours.
All the wealth acquired with perseverance by the worthy is for the exercise of benevolence.

Kural-213
To 'due beneficence' no equal good we know,
Amid the happy gods, or in this world below.
It is difficult to obtain another good equal to benevolence either in this world or in that of the gods.

Kural-214
Who knows what's human life's befitting grace,
He lives; the rest 'mongst dead men have their place.
He truly lives who knows (and discharges) the proper duties (of benevolence). He who knows them not will be reckoned among the dead.

Kural-215
The wealth of men who love the 'fitting way,' the truly wise,
Is as when water fills the lake that village needs supplies.
The wealth of that man of eminent knowledge who desires to exercise the benevolence approved of by the world, is like the full waters of a city-tank.

Kural-216
A tree that fruits in th' hamlet's central mart,
Is wealth that falls to men of liberal heart.
The wealth of a man (possessed of the virtue) of benevolence is like the ripening of a fruitful tree in the midst of a town.

Kural-217
Unfailing tree that healing balm distils from every part,
Is ample wealth that falls to him of large and noble heart.
If wealth be in the possession of a man who has the great excellence (of benevolence), it is like a tree which as a medicine is an infallible cure for disease.

Kural-218
E'en when resources fall, they weary not of 'kindness due,'-
They to whom Duty's self appears in vision true.
The wise who know what is duty will not scant their benevolence even when they are without wealth.

Kural-219
The kindly-hearted man is poor in this alone,
When power of doing deeds of goodness he finds none.
The poverty of a benevolent man, is nothing but his inability to exercise the same.

Kural-220
Though by 'beneficence,' the loss of all should come,
'Twere meet man sold himself, and bought it with the sum.
If it be said that loss will result from benevolence, such loss is worth being procured even by the sale of one's self.

Chapter. 23. Giving

Kural-222
Though men declare it heavenward path, yet to receive is ill;
Though upper heaven were not, to give is virtue still.
To beg is evil, even though it were said that it is a good path (to heaven). To give is good, even though it were said that those who do so cannot obtain heaven.

Kural-223
'I've nought' is ne'er the high-born man's reply;
He gives to those who raise themselves that cry.
(Even in a low state) not to adopt the mean expedient of saying "I have nothing," but to give, is the characteristic of the mad of noble birth.

Kural-224
The suppliants' cry for aid yields scant delight,
Until you see his face with grateful gladness bright.
To see men begging from us in disagreeable, until we see their pleasant countenance.

Kural-225
'Mid devotees they're great who hunger's pangs sustain,
Who hunger's pangs relieve a higher merit gain.
The power of those who perform penance is the power of enduring hunger. It is inferior to the power of those who remove the hunger (of others).

Kural-226
Let man relieve the wasting hunger men endure;
For treasure gained thus finds he treasure-house secure.
The removal of the killing hunger of the poor is the place for one to lay up his wealth.

Kural-227
Whose soul delights with hungry men to share his meal,
The hand of hunger's sickness sore shall never feel.
The fiery disease of hunger shall never touch him who habitually distributes his food to others.

Kural-228
Delight of glad'ning human hearts with gifts do they not know.
Men of unpitying eye, who hoard their wealth and lose it so?
Do the hard-eyed who lay up and lose their possessions not know the happiness which springs from the pleasure of giving ?

Kural-229
They keep their garners full, for self alone the board they spread;-
'Tis greater pain, be sure, than begging daily bread!
Solitary and unshared eating for the sake of filling up one's own riches is certainly much more unpleasant than begging.

Kural-230
'Tis bitter pain to die, 'Tis worse to live.
For him who nothing finds to give!
Nothing is more unpleasant than death: yet even that is pleasant where charity cannot be exercised.

Chapter. 24. Renown

Kural-232
The speech of all that speak agrees to crown
The men that give to those that ask, with fair renown.
Whatsoever is spoken in the world will abide as praise upon that man who gives alms to the poor.

Kural-233
Save praise alone that soars on high,
Nought lives on earth that shall not die.
There is nothing that stands forth in the world imperishable, except fame, exalted in solitary greatness.

Kural-234
If men do virtuous deeds by world-wide ample glory crowned,
The heavens will cease to laud the sage for other gifts renowned.
If one has acquired extensive fame within the limits of this earth, the world of the Gods will no longer praise those sages who have attained that world.

Kural-235
Loss that is gain, and death of life's true bliss fulfilled,
Are fruits which only wisdom rare can yield.
Prosperity to the body of fame, resulting in poverty to the body of flesh and the stability to the former arising from the death of the latter, are achievable only by the wise.

Kural-236
If man you walk the stage, appear adorned with glory's grace;
Save glorious you can shine, 'twere better hide your face.
If you are born (in this world), be born with qualities conductive to fame. From those who are destitute of them it will be better not to be born.

Kural-237
If you your days will spend devoid of goodly fame,
When men despise, why blame them? You've yourself to blame.
Why do those who cannot live with praise, grieve those who despise them, instead of grieving themselves for their own inability.

Kural-238
Fame is virtue's child, they say; if, then,
You childless live, you live the scorn of men.
Not to beget fame will be esteemed a disgrace by the wise in this world.

Kural-239
The blameless fruits of fields' increase will dwindle down,
If earth the burthen bear of men without renown.
The ground which supports a body without fame will diminish in its rich produce.

Kural-240
Who live without reproach, them living men we deem;
Who live without renown, live not, though living men they seem.
Those live who live without disgrace. Those who live without fame live not.