In the ethics of the Kural, as in those of the Laws of Manu, the idea of reward has a place. The way of virtue is recommended because it leads to a better reincarnation or to liberation from rebirth. Alongside of this is found also' the naive view which is so conspicuous in Chinese ethics that moral behaviour results in earthly welfare and immoral in misfortune. Nevertheless, ethics in the Kural are not so entirely dominated by the idea of reward as in Brahmanism, Buddhism and the Bhagavad-Gītā. We already find here the knowledge that good must be done for its own sake. It shines out from various maxims.1 "Even though one should say, There is no higher world, it is still good to give"(222).-"True liberality asks nothing in return. What does the world give in return to the cloud that gives it rain?" (211). Whilst the Bhagavad-Gītā in a forced and chilly manner gives as a motive for remaining in active life that it is in accordance with the order of the Universe, the Kural justifies it-what an advance! -by the idea of ethical activity. Work and profit place a man in a position to do good. "All staying at home and waiting on the household have for their end hospitality and alms-giving" (81).-"All property gained by industrious toil is there for good men in order that they may practise well-doing" (212). AcĆoṛding to the Kural, duty is not confined, as in the Bhagavad-Gītā, to what the caste calling involves, but consists in general in "all that is good". Maxims about joy in activity, such as one would not expect from Indian lips, bear witness to the strength of the world and life affirmation present in the Kural. "Even if fate did not permit of success: the striving in itself rewards the exertion of one's body" (619).-"If one accepts the burden as joy, there emerges a splendour for which even one's enemies are eager" (630). Like the Buddha and the Bhagavad-Gītā, the Kural desires inner freedom from the world and a mind free from hatred. Like them ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 The quotations are from the German translation "Der Kurral" by Karl Graul, D.D., Leipzing 1856 (Derfling and Franke) and London 1856 (Williams and Norgate) (Bibliotheca Iamulica). |