II. Porutpaal
II.7 Kudi-iyal
Athikaaram 97 Maanam
Kural 961
Indri yamaiyaach chirappina aayinum
Kundra varuba vidal.
English translation:
II. WEALTH
II.7. Chapter on "how to be a good citizen"
Chapter. 97 Honour / Dignity
Kural 961
Though linked to splendours man no otherwise may gain,
Reject each act that may thine honour's clearness stain.
Actions that would degrade (one's) family should not be done; though they may be so important that not doing them would end in death.
Kural - 962
Who seek with glory to combine honour's untarnished fame,
Do no inglorious deeds, though men accord them glory's name.
Those who desire (to maintain their) honour, will surely do nothing dishonourable, even for the sake of fame.
Kural - 963
Bow down thy soul, with increase blest, in happy hour;
Lift up thy heart, when stript of all by fortune's power.
In great prosperity humility is becoming; dignity, in great adversity.
Kural - 964
Like hairs from off the head that fall to earth,
When fall'n from high estate are men of noble birth.
They who have fallen from their (high) position are like the hair which has fallen from the head.
Kural - 965
If meanness, slight as 'abrus' grain, by men be wrought,
Though like a hill their high estate, they sink to nought.
Even those who are exalted like a hill will be thought low, if they commit deeds that are debasing.
Kural - 966
It yields no praise, nor to the land of Gods throws wide the gate:
Why follow men who scorn, and at their bidding wait?
Of what good is it (for the high-born) to go and stand in vain before those who revile him ? it only brings him loss of honour and exclusion from heaven.
Kural - 967
Better 'twere said, 'He's perished!' than to gain
The means to live, following in foeman's train.
It is better for a man to be said of him that he died in his usual state than that he eked out his life by following those who disgraced him.
Kural - 968
When high estate has lost its pride of honour meet,
Is life, that nurses this poor flesh, as nectar sweet?
For the high-born to keep their body in life when their honour is gone will certainly not prove a remedy against death.
Kural - 969
Like the wild ox that, of its tuft bereft, will pine away,
Are those who, of their honour shorn, will quit the light of day.
Those who give up (their) life when (their) honour is at stake are like the yark-deer which kills itself at the loss of (even one of) its hairs.
(Deer that dies if it looses even one hair is kavarimaan in Tamil. I persume Yark is that deer in English).
Kural - 970
Who, when dishonour comes, refuse to live, their honoured memory
Will live in worship and applause of all the world for aye!
The world will (always) praise and adore the fame of the honourable who would rather die than suffer indignity.
