it stands for the commandment not to kill and not to damage.2 It has appropriated all the valuable ethical results of the thought of world and life negation. But in addition to this ethic of inwardness there appears in the Kural the living ethic of love, "The loveless man takes everything for himself; the man full of love gives even his own bones to others" (72).- "The life of a soul without love is like the sprouting of a dried-up tree on stony ground" (78).-"What help can all the outer limbs give, if the inner limb of the body, love, is wanting?" (79).-"If one weighs the value of the good deed done without consideration of the advantage : its kindness is greater than the ocean" (103).-"To assuage the deadly hunger of the poor is the treasury of the rich" (226).-"Wealth in benevolence is the wealth of wealths. Wealth in possessions the mob has also" (241). With sure strokes the Kural draws the ideal of simple ethical humanity. On the most varied questions concerning the conduct of man to himself and to the world its utterances are characterised by nobility and good sense. There hardly exists in the literature of the world a collection of maxims in which we find so much lofty wisdom. "If a kind man inherits property, it is as if a fruit-tree bears ripe fruit in the middle of village" (216).-"The child 'Mercy' born of love by the care of the well-to-do nurse 'Well-being'" (757)."The wealth of him who gives nothing to the poor is as if a very fine lady grows old in solitude" (1007). "The gift is not the measure of the gift: its measure is in the magnanimity of the receiver" (105). "Better than spending with a happy heart is to carry on sweet speech with a happy face" (92).-"For those who do not understand how to be friendly, the great wide world, even in bright daylight, lies in darkness" (999). "Among all treasures that may be gained none can compare with attaining to freedom from envying any man" (162). "To forget good is not good; immediately to forget what is not good is good" (108).-"Holy as a penitent is he who forgets bitter speech from the lips of one who is excited" (159). 'Self-control leads to the immortals; want of self-control rushes into thick darkness" (121).-"He who is not eager for pleasure, but knows that pain is natural, will remain free from distress" (628). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 In opposition to the Buddha, the Kural decides that one may not eat meat even when one is quite innocent of the slaughter of the animal. |