rivers are so clear that ornaments which have fallen off from those sporting in the river may be seen lying deep down on the sands. The clear waters are an indication of the unsullied record of his rule.¹⁴ This mode of praise occurs in the panegyric poetry, both in explicit terms and by suggestion.

Nature’s reflection of ethical conduct is not due to the actions of the sovereign alone. It may be due to deeds of individual chiefs as well as the deeds of a people of the entire village. An amusing and significant poem of the Kali odes presents a young lady and her companion as apparently wondering that Nature could be so luxuriant in the country of her lover who has not kept his tryst. The inference is that since he has not kept his word he cannot be an upright man, and consequently Nature cannot appear lovely in his land.

She continues to express her surprise in similar language about the other beauteous and beneficent aspects of Nature, for she would expect that the land of one who has been false to her would be deprived of Nature’s beauty and Nature’s bounty.¹⁵

   Another poem in the same collection is an imaginary exhortation to relatives of a young lady not to refuse her hand in marriage to the brave young man who has rescued her from being swept away by the waters of the river. In rescuing her, he has had to clasp her to himself, and according to the Tamil code, it was but proper to get her married to the one who was first to touch her. It was the ancient ideal that a young lady should not touch or be touched by anyone else than the one who was to be her partner in life. The speaker who counsels her people threatens that, unless propriety is observed in this regard and the young lady be given in wedlock to the one who had clasped her for the first time-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   ¹⁴Patir; 86.

   ¹⁵Kali; 41, 42.