Tamil Wisdom

TIRU VAL LUVAR
TAMIL WISDOM
Traditions concerning Hindu Sages
AND
SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS

TI R U VALLUVAR.
TAMIL WISDOM
Traditions concerning Hindu Sages
AND
SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS
EDWARD JEWITT ROBINSON
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
REV. ELIJAH HOOLE,D.D.
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hirst PuDiisnea: London, 1873
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TAMIL WISDOM;
Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages
AND
SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS.
BY
EDWARD JEWITT ROBINSON.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE LATE
REV. ELIJAH HOOLE, D.D.
“As certain also of your <Jwn poets have said.”—Acts xvii. 28.
‘One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, s^ld.”—Titus 1. 12.
LONDON:
WESLEYAN CONFERENCE OFFICE,
2, CASTLE-STREET, CITY-ROAD ;
SOLD AT 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Public.Resource.Org
https://archive.org/details/tamilwisdomtradiOOedwa
CONTENTS.
Introduction, by the Rev. Dr. Hoole. - - vii.

Language and Literature i
The Outcast Children 7
Song of the Seven - - - - 11
The Life of Valluvar - - - 14
Cural - - - - - 33
Life of Ouvvay - - - - 53
Muthuray - - - - 70
Attisudi - - - 78
Conday-venthan - - - - 83
Garland of Advice for Women - - 87
Memorials of Cabilar, etc. - - - 91
Cabilar-agaval - - - - - 94
The Unerring Judge - - - - - 101
Mariyathay-Raman .... ic6
a 3
>
INTRODUCTION.
/'J''HIS little volume of Heathen morals and learning
affords an additional illustration of the truth
of the Apostle’s words that “ the world by wisdom
knew not God.” Some of the sayings which are here
rendered into English are probably as old as the
earliest writings of the Old Testament. We have
no evidence that the art of writing was practised
before the Deluge; but it is demonstrated that in
many lands it was commenced very soon after that
event. The earliest records we have are those of
Egypt. These were known to Moses, who was “learned
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” In the Egyptian

Vlll. INTR OD UC TION.
records, alphabetical letters were mixed with hiero-
glyphical signs. The Phenicians appear to have
selected a few of these letters for mercantile pur¬
poses, from which all the alphabets of Europe in due
time were formed. The written characters of India,
those of Tamil among the number, appear to have
been derived from Deva-Nagiri, which probably had
the same origin. In those early days, it is evident,
there was communication from one part of the world
to another more free than in later times. The system
of alphabetical writing did not occur to the Chinese.
They use signs, not letters. But the relationship of
those remote people to the western nations is now
receiving new proof from the labours of the Rev. J.
Edkins, who is publishing a series of papers on the
“ Connection of Chinese and Hebrew/’ Encouraged
by the success of the process adopted by Mr. Edkins,
another gentleman versed in the Chinese has begun a
series of papers, under the signature of Ossian, proving
the connection between the Gaelic and the Chinese !

INTROD UCTION. IX.
Words and idioms occur in Tamil which remind the
student of parallels in Hebrew.
There are very few historical records in the Tamil
language. Fables and moral sayings in verse, having
a strong hold on the memory, have been preserved
through the revolutions of four thousand years, while
history has perished. Perhaps if we had the songs
and sayings of our ancestors of four thousand years
ago, they would be equally interesting.
The acquisition of the language in which the
remains of Tamil wisdom are preserved, is no easy
task. Aptitude, genius, industry, perseverance, are
necessary to the Tamil scholar. . . . Next to taking
the Gospel to the Heathen, ... he who brings them,
in their manners and minds, to the knowledge of the
followers of Christ, confers on them a benefit which it
is not easy to estimate.
The reader will acknowledge that God “ left not

X. INTRODUCTION.
Himself without witness ” among the Tamil people.
“ There is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the
Almighty* giveth them understanding.” The maxims
and morals of the ancients, preserved in the traditions
of the people, prevented society from falling into
entire barbarism, and in principle, at the least, anti¬
cipated the Christian rule which now prevails to the
great advantage of all classes of the natives of India.
ELIJAH HOOLE.
8, Myddelton Square,
30th March, 1872.
Note.—The foregoing interesting and instructive Introduction
was kindly written by the late senior Secretary of the Wesleyan-
Methodist Missionary Society, at the considerate suggestion of
the Rev. Dr. Jobson, to whom, therefore, as well as on other
grounds, thanks are sincerely tendered. It is the more valuable
as possibly the latest production of the able pen of the ac¬
complished and honoured minister, the news of whose death
sent a pang to many hearts, not in England only, but in the
country in which he was formerly a laborious and successful

TAMIL WISDOM;
TRADITIONS CONCERNING HINDU SAGES, AND
SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS.
Imtgttng? nnit littrnto.
AMIL is to be respected as having been the

JL adopted tongue of Beschi, Ziegenbalg, Schwartz,
and Fabricius. It was the first of the languages of
India studied by Protestant Missionaries, and is that
with which the Jesuit propagandists have been mostly
exercised. It has attracted the attention of many
learned civilians; and Europeans have probably spoken
and written more in it, especially in the common or
lower dialect, than in any other eastern language.
The oldest treatise on Tamil was composed by a
sage called Agastya, who is therefore regarded as its
founder, and is honoured as a god. As its name
imports, it is truly a sweet tongue. The Tamils call
Sanscrit “ Vada-morlyi,” the northern speech, supposing
it to have originated in the north, and their own
language “ Ten-morlyip the southern speech, because
B
2 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
Pothiyamalay, the mountain in which Agastya lived,

is in the south of India. A sufficient reason for the
name is, that in fact Tamil is the southern language,
being used by ten millions of people, in that part of
Hindustan formerly comprising the Chera, Chola, and
Pandiya kingdoms, and in the northern half of the
island of Ceylon.
Cities conversed in it centuries before the Christian
era; and, as might be inferred from its beauty and
finish, it boasts an ancient and honoured literature.
In a valuable publication from the Jaffna press,* a
native gentleman records the names of one hundred
and ninety-six Tamil authors, The history of not a
few of them is inextricably blended with fable, and
many of their compositions are irrecoverably lost;
but they have bequeathed writings of a character
inviting close examination, and sufficiently copious to
demand persevering research.
There are two orders of Tamil classics ; Ilakkanam,
philology and the art of composition, and Ilakkiyam,
correctly executed works, mythological, epic, and
didactic. The most respected of the moral poems
are those which, like the Cural, obtained the approval
of the celebrated Madura College.
“ The inducements held out to poets, and the
rewards bestowed on them by the long line of
Pandiya kings, who graced the throne of Madura
from the ninth century before to the fourteenth century
* The Tamil Plutarch. By Simon Casie Chitty, Esq.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 3
after Christ, were most liberal, and might have done

honour even to the court of Augustus. These kings
had three different Sanga?ns, or colleges, established in
their capital at three different periods, for the promo¬
tion of literature, more or less corresponding in
character with the Royal Academy of Sciences
founded by Louis XIV. at Paris; and made it a rule
that every literary production should be submitted to
their Senatus Academicus before it was allowed to
circulate in the country, for the purpose of preserving
the purity and integrity of the language. It may be
well imagined how favourably these Sangams operated
on the talent and genius of the nation. From every
part of Southern India poets crowded into the Sanga-
mandapam, or College-hall, to recite their compositions;
and the successful candidate, besides winning the
smiles of Royalty, was rewarded with something more
enduring and substantial. Neither were the kings of
Chera and Chola backward in patronizing poets, for
they had a certain number of them always attached
to their courts. There can be no doubt that an
infinite number of works in the different departments
of science and literature was composed during this
brilliant age ; but in the early part of .the fourteenth
century, when the Mohammedan hordes, poured into
Southern India, and Prakrama-Pandiyan was led
away captive to Delhi, the Tamils had to deplore the
loss of almost all their literature ; for those ruthless
fanatics, amongst other outrages, ransacked all the
E 2
libraries in the country, and committed to the flames

‘ all that genius had reared for ages.’ ” *
Some of the papers following have already seen the
light; but the work that contained them had scarcely
begun to circulate, when the copies in stock perished
in a fire. The translations of the Cural and
Mariyathay-Raman in this volume are now published
for the first time. The concluding paper is a render¬
ing of a prose composition in the spoken language.
The versions of the Cural,, Muthuray, and Agaval are
from writings in the poetic dialect and form, in which
all the most ancient Tamil books extant, on whatever
subject, are composed.
Few as are these samples of eastern wit and story,
the writer deems it his duty to give them to the
public. He would have them regarded as a hint of
much work of the sort remaining to be done by mis¬
sionaries and other Christian residents in the Tamil
country. They are particularly commended to the
notice of the friends of Missions, as indicating a
peculiar feature in the character of the Hindus, their
superiority in civilization and culture to the heathens
of other lands, and the delicacy and difficulty of the
work of the missionary in India. Let the evangelist
only call them to a virtuous life, and they will reply
that their own moral maxims are as good as his, and,
the conduct of some Europeans on their shores and
in their towns considered, not less effective. They
* Tamil Plutarch.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 5
need more than to be pointed to the remaining flowers

of the ancient paradise, and charmed by Vedantic
teaching like Rammohun-Roy’s and Chunder-Sen’s.
It is necessary to tell them of the Lamb, by Whom only
they can obtain forgiveness of sins, and power to
keep God’s eternal law. The young missionary does
much who simply describes and recommends the
Gospel. To cry aloud, with praying zeal, “ God so
loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life,” is to awake attention, touch
the heart, and win souls to Christ. The evident
sincerity of the preacher commands respect for both
himself and his message ; and for a certain class of
estimable ministers it is better that they should con¬
tinue only to proclaim the naked truth in Jesus, and
not fetter themselves by affecting a knowledge of
Hindu literature and opinion. But it would be a
calamity if there were no experienced missionaries
intimately acquainted with the admirable writings of
which the people are justly proud, and respecting
which the remark may be sometimes encountered, that
they are comparable with the Book of Proverbs and
the Sermon on the Mount.
As the wise sayings of India come before the
British public, they must have the advantage of
appearing alone. The company in which some of
them are found could scarcely be introduced into the
English language. This is an important fact, not to
be overlooked in missionary considerations. If moral

maxims could themselves do good, their useful power
is lost in evil associations. Not only side by side
with those of India, but interwoven with the language
of many of them, are statements and doctrines most
immoral. The ethical rules of the Tamils are hung,
darkened with foul devices, about the cars and temples
of idolatry, and spoken from pagan altars which con¬
vey no moral inspiration. The missionary has to
separate them from the rubbish which buries them,
and attach them to their home, the atoning and
cleansing Cross. He has to train his converts to com¬
bat the errors of Hinduism, while respecting whatever
truths are in it, as the Christians of the early centuries,
upholding the universal moral law, found it necessary
to sweep away the mythological abominations of the
Greeks and Latins by which it was trammelled and
obscured. Always foolishness without the light of
Christ, the wisdom of this world is most foolish in the
writings and sayings of actual pagans.
dtjlt (Dtttrnat Ctjiliircir.
I N the subjoined history, compiled from accounts

that differ in some particulars, the reader is left
to distinguish the probable from the incredible.
Veracious Hindu biographers are unknown.
About the ninth century of the Christian era,
somewhere in the fertile Chola country, a Brahman’s
house was filled with rejoicing on occasion of the
birth of a boy. His delighted father named him
Pagavan. There is bitterness in the sweetest cup.
The blossoms of happiness are too often blighted.
In a few days, the good man appeared before his wife
with a sorrowful face, announcing as a revelation of
the horoscope that their child would some day marry
a low-caste girl. What could be done to avert, if
possible, a calamity so dire? He would go on
pilgrimage to the Ganges. Thither he went.
It may be lamented that he flourished in a degene¬
rate day. In former times, the husband’s excellence
was imputed to the wife, and a Brahman might have
ventured to predict a bright career and illustrious
posterity for his son. Menu wrote:—“Whatever
be the qualities of the man with whom a woman is
8 THE OUTCAST CHILDREN.
united by lawful marriage, such qualities even she

assumes, like a river united with the sea. Acshamala,
a woman of the lowest birth, being thus united to
Va.sishtha, and Sarangi being united to Mandapala,
were entitled to very high honour. These, and other
females of low birth, have attained eminence in this
world by the respective good qualities of their lords.”
Had the father of Pagavan not lived in the iron
age, there would have been no necessity to feel so
distressed at the prospect which the horoscope
unfolded.
The pensive woman, waiting many years without
welcoming her husband’s return, found her highest
pleasure in watching over her beautiful boy, and
securing to him the best education. Clever and
studious, the youth well repaid her kindness. When
fifteen years old, he was revered by all as learned in
the Veda. At this period he obtained from his
mother an answer to a question with which he had
often troubled, her, “ Why did my father leave you ? ”
Greatly grieved to discover the reason, he deter¬
mined to follow his pious parent, and at once set out
as a pilgrim to Casi (Benares).
When, in a rest-house on the way, Pagavan had
concluded his daily devotions, and was preparing
himself some food, a simple girl appeared in his
presence. “ What low-caste thing are you, presuming
to come here ? ” exclaimed the resolute and circum¬
spect young gentleman ; and in his anger he threw,
THE OUTCAST CHILDREN. 9
some say the wooden spoon with which he was

cooking, others a stone, at the innocent damsel.
Wounded on the head, she ran crying to Melur, the
adjoining village, in which dwelt her Brahman foster-
father, Nithiyayan. The choleric pilgrim, having
quickly bathed and eaten, resumed his journey.
On his return from his vain search for his father,
Pagavan ventured to stop at the same choultry as
before. The maiden again made her appearance.
He did not recognize her; and she was now beautiful
as Lakshmi, and under the powerful protection of
the god of love. Nithiyayan, who owned the rest-
house, perceiving that the traveller’s affections were
captivated, and wishing to do the best he could for
his adopted daughter, said to him, “ Marry my child,
and abide with us.” He replied,—“ I will do so
when”—pointing to a jar of water which he had
brought on his shoulder from the Ganges — “I
have presented this offering at Ramesuram (Ramis-
seram).”
As soon as possible, the young Brahman was back
again, where he had left his heart and treasure, at
Melur. Nithiyayan’s relatives were assembled for the
marriage. On the fifth day of the feast, the time
having come for the bridegroom to pour oil on the
head of his bride, arranging her soft hair for the
purpose, he discovered a scar. Memory was awake
in a moment, suggesting terrible fears and doubts.
He asked, “ Are you not Athy-al ? ” that is, “ the girl
IO THE OUTCAST CHILDREN.
I first met with?” Not waiting for an answer, he

ran away. By her reputed father's advice, Athy,
known ever after by the name her husband thus
gave her, followed. It was a toilsome pursuit; but
she found him at length resting in a shed in a low-
caste village. She said to him pitifully, “ God having
united us, is it kind or right to forsake me in this
way ? I cannot live in your absence.” After a
minute’s consideration, he replied,— “Woman, if you
love me, agree to what I propose. You may accom¬
pany me on one condition, that, whenever a child is
born, you abandon it then and there.” She reluctantly
consented.
Three sons and four daughters appeared in succes¬
sion, in the rest-house, in the grove, of on the
mountain-side, as they travelled. On the birth of
each, Athy, with her foot rooted to the ground,
exclaimed in agony, “ O, who will take care of my
babe ? ” In every instance, the infant gave a wise
and encouraging answer; upon hearing which, the
mother went resolutely on her way. The consoling
sayings of the marvellous children are known as “ The
Song of the Seven.”
THE OUTCAST CHILDREN.
SONG OF THE SEVEN.
UPPAY.
Shall Nari’s lord * the rain command,

And dew, to feed the thorny trees
Which in the tangled forest stand,
Where eye of mortal never sees,
And not my daily food supply,
But leave his votary to die ?
OUVVAY.
Why, mother, snatch me from the ground ?

Of living things am I not one ?
Preserving life wherever found,
Is there a God, or is there none ?
To fate with faith surrender me :
Whatever is to Se will be.
URUVAY.
The lively chick that breaks the shell

May guardian grace and power attest,
And nourish’d infancy dispel
The doubts that tear thy troubled breast
In Aran’s t name of truth and power,
Find firmness for the evil hour.
* Parvati’s husband : Siva. f Siva.

THE OUTCAST CHILDREN.
VALLY.
Whose head the serpent’s gleams adorn,

Who dances at the Veda’s end,
Who cherish’d me when yet unborn,
Will Peruman* not still befriend ?
The future’s written in the past :
His providence must ever last.
ATHIGAMAN.
Be strong in heart : is Siva dead ?

According to his gracious will,
He wrote my doom within my head ;
And will he not my fate fulfil ?
If famine come, not thine the care ;
The burden is for him to bear.
VALLUVAR.
On whom ovarian life depends,

The rock-encompass’d frog who feeds,
The True One pitifully sends
Whate’er thy helpless offspring needs :
O, make his sovereign care thy choice,
And weep not, mother, but rejoice.
*
Siva.
THE OUTCAST CHILDREN. T3
CABILAR.
My all since I began to be,

How shall he now refuse to keep ?
Can he evade himself or me?
Or can his eye be seal’d in sleep ?
Or can dismay his mind confound,
Like thine in love and trouble drown’d ?
Taking them in the above order, the sayings are

sometimes attributed consecutively to Cabilar, Val-
luvar, Uruvay, Vally, Ouvvay, Athigaman, and
Uppay.
life nf Ballmmr.
I T is not known
flourished.
when this illustrious Tamil
J3ome say as early as the third or
fourth century of the Christian era. Others conclude,
with more probability, that he lived in' the eighth or
ninth.
Hindu poets have not been wont to connect their
names with their writings; and their commentators
have not always been careful to preserve or ascertain
them. The name of the great man who composed
the Cural has hence been lost. He has been called
Tiru-Valluvar, till that descriptive title has come to
be universally used as his real name. “ Tiru ” means
holy, reverend, divine; and “ Valluvar ” is the ap¬
pellation by which a priest or sage of the Pariah tribe
is known. That he was a Pariah, no one doubts.
It is contended, however, that if his mother belonged
to the low class, yet his father was a Brahman.
His history, like that of his alleged brothers and
sisters, is buried in the adornments of fabulous tradi¬
tion. He is regarded as having been an incarnation
of Siva. We can do no better than take him up
where we left him, and repeat what is written and
believed concerning The Divine Pariah.
THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR. IS
Our first sight of him is in a grove of Ilupay trees,

at Mayilapur, near Madras. He lay exposed, a new¬
born babe, subsisting on the honey that dropped
from the flowers of the trees. Contiguous to the
grove was a temple sacred to Siva. Thither came
the wife of a Velalan of high rank, paying offerings
and worship with a view" to being blessed with a son.
Parvati, the god’s consort, took pity on her, and
said, “ Adopt this divine infant,” naming it Tiru-
Valluvar. The delighted lady carried the babe home,
and gave it into her husband’s hands ; and he received
it with a thrill of pleasure. They carefully nursed it
from day to day, till, their relatives saying con¬
temptuously, “ They bring up any child, they do
not know whose,” they became intimidated, and hung
up a swinging-cot in a cow-shed adjacent. Therein
they laid the infant, appointing a Pariah family to
protect and tend it; and it throve very well.
When five years old, seeing how his father and
mother, as he condescended to call them, were
scorned by their kindred on his account, he looked
on them, and said,—“ There is no need that I should
Cause you affliction. I will be off to another place.
Do not trouble about me.” They answered, “ Let it
not be so. Can you speak thus ? We thought you
a great one, come to put an end to our childlessness.”
The divinity in him replied, “ You have only to think
of me at any time, and I am with you, to render you
any aid.” Then he departed, and rested, near the
16 THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR.
village, in the shadow of a palmyra-tree, a tall thin

tree, the least likely to afford any shelter. Observing
that the shadow of the tree never left its foot, the
people burst into exclamations of astonishment and
praise, saying, “ This child is either a sage or a god.”
The divine boy turned to them, and said,—“ What
worth or glory is there here ? There is nothing in
me. Get away.” He himself left the place, and
repaired to the mountain where Tiru-Mular, Pogar,
and other sage and learned personages dwelt, and
joined them in their penitential rites and other pious
duties.
Seeing him, Tiru-Mular said, “ O Valluvar, in old
time, when I was favoured to dwell in Siva’s paradise,
you were there. Have you become incarnate, and
approached us, to bless the inhabitants of the world
with prosperity and joy ? Are you about to teach
them concerning virtue, wealth, and pleasure, in the
language which is sweet ? ” Thus flattered and
encouraged, he gladly made himself one of those who
pursued their studies and - devotions in that place;
and soon he was learned in all the scriptures.
A plainer story may be dismissed in a sentence,
that a Valluvan, or priest of the Pariah tribe, found the
deserted child, and reared him as his own.
Once when a demon was ravaging the country,
destroying the crops, and killing men and beasts, a
Velalan named Markasagayan, who lived at Caveri-
pakam, and owned a thousand yoke of cattle, promised
THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR, 17
great riches, a house and land, and every requisite, to

any one who should subdue the monster. None
being able to claim the reward, the wealthy farmer
went and told the great personages of the mountain.
“ Consult Tiru-Valluvar,” they said. He did so,
with worship; and the young sage, spreading ashes
on his hand, and writing thereon the five sacred
letters, repeating over them mantras, and scattering
therh in the air, destroyed the depredator, and saved
the people’s property and lives. Seeing his super¬
human greatness, the Velalan, in addition to the
estate and untold money, offered him in marriage
his only daughter Vasugy. Impressed with the
necessity of practically showing to the world the
virtues of the domestic life, he engaged,-—“ She
shall be my wife, if she will take from me sand, and
return it in the shape of boiled rice.” The maiden
accepted the challenge, cooked the earth, and pro¬
duced the food. Valluvar enjoyed the wonderful
meal, and was married to her in the usual way; and
he remained in the place a few days.
He then went with his wife to his native town,
Mayilapur, built himself a house, and illustrated the
virtues of the married state. Saying, “ The business
of weaving is without sin,” he purchased thread of a
merchant named Elelasingan, and, whatever became
of the presents of his father-in-law, lived, like other
Pariahs, on the profits of the loom.
He continued to work wonders, of some of which
Elelasingan was the subject or a witness. One

day, when Valluvar called at his house for some
thread, the good merchant worshipped him, saying,
“ Swamy, take me from the sea of desire, and make
me ascend the shore.” To test his worth, and that
of a few other disciples, he led them into the jungle,
and there caused to rise before them' a spreading
flood. They opened their eyes, and stood trembling,
except Elelasingan, who followed him as he walked
on ; and as the master and his worthy disciple ap¬
proached, the water shrank away. He afterwards told
him to climb to the top of a high tree ; and when he
had done so, he said, “ Lift your feet from the branch
^ou are standing on, and let go the branch you
have hold of.” Elelasingan obeyed, and received no
hurt. Valluvar therefore took him into confidence,
instructed him in wisdom, and endued him with a
will proof against the strongest charms. They then
returned to their homes.
The occupant of the throne mockingly advised
Elelasingan to apply to his guru for the gift of
children. He did so ; and Valluvar answered, “Siva
will favour you.” Going as usual to visit the cow
they daily worshipped, the merchant and his wife
found Siva himself as a babe lying and crying at the
beast’s side. The happy woman took and showed it
to Valluvar, by whom it was named Arlyakananthar.
Her husband told the king, who unbelievingly re¬
plied, “ If the child has come to you from the swamy,
THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR, 19
let it also come to me.” It was in a moment in the

rajah’s lap ; and the queen was joyfully nursing it
before long.
A ship belonging to Elelasingan ran aground; and
he informed the king. “ What can I do ? ” his
majesty said, “tell your priest.” Valluvar fastened a
rope to the vessel, at which many sailors pulled in
vain till they were exhausted. He then touched the
ship with his holy hand, and ordered them to try
again; and they were immediately successful.
There came a time of drought and dearth, when
many people perished because they could buy no
corn. Valluvar said to Elelasingan, “ While the
famine lasts, sell the paddy you have bought and
stored for the price you gave lor it; but always give
a quantity over.” He did so, and for seven years
the rice remained undiminished. His wealth grew
to a mountain. On rain falling at length, Val¬
luvar said, “ Sell at the same price ; but now give
short measure in the same proportion.” He obeyed;
and before the next day’s sunset, all the store was
gone. Then the divine man commanded, “ Melt
together the money you have got by selling the
paddy, and throw it into the sea.” So he did ; and
a great fish swallowed it. A few days after, the fish
was caught; and the fishermen found in it what
looked like a black old stone. This they gave to
Elelasingan. Believing it to be what it seemed, he
put it into the water to stand upon when bathing
c 2
2O THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR.
The blackness gradually wore away ; and at last the

mass shone. Discovering his name miraculously cut
in it, he exclaimed, “ The guru’s grace ! ” and knew
it to be the treasure he had thrown away.
Arlyakananthar, the son given miraculously to
Elelasingan, having become an illustrious personage,
waited, with other learned friends, on Tiru-Valluvar,
and said, “ Write an ethical treatise for the world’s
good.” Collecting the essence of the Vedas, he
accordingly composed, in 1,330 distichs, a work on
the three subjects, Virtue, Wealth, and Pleasure.
His friends advised, “ O divine man, go with it, and
triumph over the college of the doctors ! ” He set
out, leaving his wife at home. Approaching Iday-
karlyi, he met Ouvvay and Idaykadan, to whom he
told the object of his journey. Idaykadan said,
“ Siva has cursed the college, saying, ‘ Let it be
destroyed by the middle and the lowest.’ It may
therefore be defeated by me and you. Let us go
along with you.” Having reached Madura, and
walked round the temple, they entered the presence
of Siva and his consort. Before the god, and in the
hearing of the Pandiyan king, and his ministers, chiefs,
and people, as well as Ouvvay, Idaykadan, and other
famous persons, he submitted the three divisions of
divine couplets he had prepared. The assembly of
professors were alarmed ; but joy rose in the breasts
of others, who heaped praises on the new poet.
Valluvar, Idaykadan, Ouvvay, and others, joined to
THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR. 21
humble the courage and self-conceit of the college.

Coming before ihe doctors, who sat as kings of the
sweet tongue on the bench of poets by the tank
covered with the golden lotus, who had detected
hundreds of errors in the compositions of the most
skilful, and even dared to say to Siva, on his appear¬
ing to favour an author, “ Though you show us
your frontal eye, a fault is a fault,” so incurring his
malediction spoken of, and who deemed themselves
more learned than Agastya, the Pariah poet Tiru-
Valluvar, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, or a
kite pouncing on a group of serpents, or a lion
fighting a herd of elephants, or fire devouring a
bamboo forest, easily answered in high Tamil, and
baffled all their questions.
The learned assembly said, “ O Valluvar, there is
yet a doubt on our minds as to whether we can
receive the Cural you have sung. The bench on
which we sit will make room for a treatise in pure
Tamil. Let that sign be given, and we shall all
consent.” The scorned Pariah-born poet laid his
book thereupon; and the seat immediately contracted
itself to the size of it, so that all the professors fell
into the lotus pond. The spectators exultingly ap¬
plauded ; and the forty-nine doctors, scrambling out
of the water, mortified exceedingly, yet felt con¬
strained each to pronounce a stanza in praise of
Valluvar and the holy Cural.
These forty-nine impromptu verses, it is said, have
-w A- THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR.
been preserved. There is at any rate a collection of

stanzas in honour of Tiru-Valluvar, attributed to the
professors of the Madura College, each with its
reputed author’s name affixed. The following are
specimens.
“ The moon full of Kalei (the whole of her face being

illuminated) pleases the external eyes, in like manner
as the Cural full of Kalei (knowledge) pleases the
intellectual eyes; but nevertheless she cannot be
compared to Valluvar’s production, for she is neither
spotless, nor does she retain her form and splendour
unchanged like it.”—Akarakani-Natshumanar.
“ The gods have known the taste of ambrosia by

having partaken of it; but men will know it when
they imbibe the milk issuing from the three teats
(parts) of the Cural.”—Alangkudi- Vangandr.
“ Who but Valluvar is able to separate, according

to their order, all the things blended together in the
Vedas, and impart them to the world in a condensed
form and with due amplification ? ”—Arisitkirlyar.
“ Valluvar’s Cural is short in words, but extensive

in sense, even as in a drop of water on the blade of
the millet might be seen reflected the image of the
tall palmyra-tree.”—Cabilar, the poet's brother.
“ Of the six sects, one will condemn the system of

the other; but none of them will condemn the system
propounded by Valluvar in his Cural: it has the
merit of harmonizing the opinions of them »all, so
that each sect would admit it to be its own.”—

Caladar.
“ He who studies the two-lined verses in the three

divisions of Valluvar’s Cural, will obtain the four
things (virtue, wealth, pleasure, and eternal happiness);
for they contain the substance of the five Vedas
(including the Mahabharat), and the six systems of
the six sects.”—Calattur-Kirlydr.
“ It is no other than Ayan (Brahma) himself, seated

on the beautiful lotus-flower, who, assuming the form
of Valluvar, has given to the world the truths of the
Vedas, that they may shine without being mixed up
with falsehood.”—Carikananar.
“ The short distichs which the learned poet Valluvar

has composed in order that we may know the ancient
right way, are sweet to the mind to meditate on ;
sweet to the ear to hear; and sweet to the mouth to
repeat; and they moreover form a sovereign medicine
to promote good and prevent evil actions.”—Cavu-
niyanar.
“ The Brahmans preserve the four Vedas orally,

and never commit them to writing, because if read by
all they would be less valued ; but the Cural of Val
luvar, though committed to writing and read by all,
would nevertheless not lose its value.”—Cothamandr.
“ As the Cural of Valluvar causes the lotus-flower

of the heart to expand, and dispels from it the dark-
ness which cannot otherwise be dispelled, it may well

be compared to the hot-rayed sun, which causes the
lotus-flower of the tank to expand, and dispels the
darkness from the face of the earth.”—Culapathiyar.
“ The Cural which has proceeded from the mouth
of Valluvar, the king of poets, will never lose its
beauty by the lapse of time : it will be always in its
bloom, shedding honey like the flower of the tree in
Indra’s paradise.”—Irayandr.
“ What is the use of works of great length, when
the short work of Valluvar alone is enough to edify
the world ? It contains all things, and there is
nothing which it does not contain.”—Madura-Tamil-
Nayagaiidr.
“ Valluvar is in reality a god; and if any shall say
that he is a mere mortal, not only will the learned
reject his saying, but take him for an ignorant man.”
—Mamulanar.
“Thebeauty of Valluvar’s Cural is, that it not only
illustrates the abstruse doctrines of the Vedas, but is
itself a Veda, easy to be studied, and having the effect
of melting the hearts of the righteous who study it.”
—Mangudi-Maruthanar.
“ All are relieved of their headache by smelling the

sindil-salt, and sliced dry ginger mixed with honey ;
but Sattanar (a fellow-professor) was relieved of his
head-ache (brought on by his habit of striking his head
with his stylus when he found a fault in an author) by
hearing the three parts of the Cural recited.” —

MaruttuvcCji- Tamotharcinar.
“ It is no wonder if those who have bathed in the

water of a tank abounding with lotus-flowers will not
desire to bathe in any other water; but it is a wonder
indeed if they who have read Valluvar’s work will
desire to read any other work.”—Ndgan-Devanar.
“They say that Siva is the patron of North
Madura, but this poet who pours out instruction in
honeyed words with a parental solicitude, is the
patron of South Madura abounding with water.”—
Nalkur- Velviyar.
“ Valluvar has lighted a lamp for dispelling the
darkness from the hearts of those who live in the
world; having virtue for its bowl, wealth for its wick,
pleasure for its oil, the fire of expression for its flame,
and the short stanza for its stand.”—Napalattanar.
“Mai (Vishnu) in his Cural (or dwarfish incarnation)
measured the whole earth with his two expanded feet;
but Valluvar has measured the thoughts of all man¬
kind with his (stanza of) two short feet.”—Paranar.
“ It is said that the Cural (meaning Vishnu in his
incarnation as a dwarf) produced by Casypa in times
of yore measured the earth ; but the Cural now pro¬
duced by Valluvar has measured both the earth and
the heaven.”—Ponmudiyar.
“ To call anyone a poet upon this earth besides the
divine Valluvar, would be like calling both the evening
illumined by the moon, and the evening shrouded in

darkness, a fine evening.”—Se7igkundurkirlyar.
“ By the Cural, the production of the divine Tiru-

Valluvar, the world has been enabled to distinguish
truth from falsehood, which were hitherto confounded
together.”— Tenikudikiranar.
“ The great poet’s work comprises everything; or,

if there be anything which it does not comprise, he
alone knows it.”—Todittalay-Virlyuttandinar.
“ The Four-faced (Brahma), disguising himself as

Valluvar, has imparted the truths of the four
Vedas in the three parts of the Cural, which is there¬
fore to be adored by the head, praised by the mouth,
pondered by the mind, and heard by the ears.”—
Ukiraperuvarlyuthiyar.
“ They who have not studied the Cural of the

divine Valluvar are incapable of good actions :
neither their tongues have expressed what is sweet in
language, nor their minds understood what is sublime
in sense.”— Urayur-Muthukutanar.
“ Water springs forth when the earth is dug, and

milk when the child sucks the mother’s breast, but
knowledge when the poets study Valluvar’s CuralC—
Uruttirasanmar.
“ It is difficult to say whether the Sanskrit or the

Tamil is the best : they are perhaps on a par, since
the Sanskrit possesses the Veda, and the Tamil the
Cural, composed by the divine Valluvar.”—Vana-

kanshattandr.
Idaykadan, the friend who had accompanied Val-

•
luvar to Madura, to be present when he should submit

the Cural to the college bench, though not himself
one of the professors, could not be silent. Having
heard the forty-nine, he thus gave his opinion :—“The
Cural contains much in a little compass. Such is the
ingenuity of its author, that he has compressed within
its narrow limits all the branches of knowledge, as if
he had hollowed a mustard seed, and enclosed all the
waters of the seven seas in it.” Hearing this com¬
parison, Ouvvay remarked to him that it would have
been more appropriate to liken her brother’s Cural to
an atom, which is even smaller than a mustard
seed.*
The captivated college, enraptured king, and others,
while congratulating Valluvar, suggested, “ If Agastya
also accept the work, it will be well.” The poet
accordingly obtained grace to visit Pothiyamalay,
where he occasioned vast delight, and was praised in
many songs.
The above commendations are borne out in a de-
«
gree by the opinions of later and more sober critics.

“ It is difficult,” says the accomplished Ceylon patriot,
Simon Casie Chitty, “ to judge from the tenor of his
Cural to what sect he belonged : for he has entirely
avoided in the work everything that savours of sec-
* Tamil Plutarch.
tarianism, in order to harmonize the suffrages of all

the sects. The Jainas, however, claim him to belong
to their sect, from his having used in one of his
distichs in praise of God the epithet Andanan, which
is applicable to Arukan, the object of their worship.”
It may be more satisfactory to inquire in what
estimation the Cural is held by judicious and learned
Europeans. It “ is a poetic work on morals, of great
merit as a literary performance,” says the Rev. Elijah
Hoole, D.D. “The author commences his book
with an acknowledgment of God, in a style which, in
the production of a heathen, we cannot but greatly
admire ; and throughout the whole he evinces a sin¬
gular degree of freedom from many of the strong
prejudices of the Hindus, although he frequently
illustrates his positions by allusions to the mythology
and doctrines of the superstition of his country.”
A distinguished agent of the London Missionary
Society, the Rev. W. H. Drew, by whom a portion of
the poem has been rendered into English, says:—
“ The Cural has a strong claim upon our attention, as
a part of the literature of the country, and as a work
of intrinsic excellence. The author, passing over
what is peculiar to particular classes of society, and
introducing such -ideas only as are common to all,
has avoided the uninteresting details of observances
found in Menu and the other shastras; and thus in
general maintains a dignified style; though it must be
acknowledged that he sometimes descends to puer-
ilities. The third part could not be read with

impunity by the purest mind, nor translated into any
European language without exposing the translator of
it to infamy.” The Rev. Peter Percival, famous for
the laborious and beautiful revision of the Tamil
Version of the Holy Bible, made by him while a
Methodist missionary in Jaffna, now a clergyman of
the Episcopal church and professor of oriental lan¬
guages in Madras, has published extracts from the
Cural which, he says, “ will be read with pleasure, as
affording proof of the existence of the loftiest senti¬
ments, 'the purest moral rules, and equal power of
conception and expression. Nothing certainly, in the
whole compass of human language, can equal the
force and terseness of the sententious distichs in
which the author conveys the lessons of wisdom he
utters.”
The Cural consists of 133 chapters, each containing
10 couplets. Omitting those on Pleasure, 108 ask
for a metrical English dress. We only versify the
first 24 chapters, hoping that, in better style, some
brother in India will render the remaining 84.
This poem is the only composition of any magni¬
tude attributed to the divine Pariah. Visiting such
places in returning as he had not called at on his
way to Madura, he recited it to delighted hundreds.
As he approached Mayilapur, his fellow-townsmen,
with Elelasingan at their head, met him with joyful
excitement, and conducted him in triumph to his
dwelling. Warmly welcomed by Vasugy, he resumed

his homely life of exemplary virtue.
In the Garland of Advice for Women, translated in
the present volume, the young lady is instructed to
perform domestic duties as did the wife of Valluvar.
It is therefore important to ascertain how tradition
depicts her virtues. We have seen how, rather than
not do what she was bid, she metamorphosed a hand¬
ful of earth into a dish of cooked rice. She was as
obedient after marriage as before. A notable per¬
sonage, presenting himself one day at Valluvar’s
house, said, “Swamy, graciously inform your servant
which is better-—a married life, or the life of a lonely
hermit.” Many days he waited vainly for a verbal
answer. The philosopher had his own ways of settling
questions. During his visitor’s sojourn, he called
Vasugy when she was in the act of drawing water
from the well : she left the vessel suspended half
way, and hastened to her husband. One morning,
when she was serving up cold rice boiled the day
before, he exclaimed, “ This is burning me : ” she
ran for a fan, and cooled him. On another occasion,
at bright noon-day, when Valluvar was engaged in
his occupation as a weaver, his shuttle missed, and
dropped to the ground, where it could be distinctly
seen : he directed his wife to fetch a light, and she
brought it. Witnessing occurrences like these, the
visitor concluded, “If such a wife can be had, it is
wise to marry; if not, the monastic state were better.”
THE LIFE OF VALLUVAR.
Without a syllable having fallen from the lips of the

weaver-sage in reply to his question, he went away
enlightened.
At length the darkest of shadows fell on Valluvar.
Vasugy, at the point of death, was looking inquiringly
into his face. He affectionately demanded, “What ? ”
“ I wish to know,” said she, “ why, on the day you
married me, you directed me always to bring a needle to
you, and a vessel of water, when serving you with rice?”
He replied “ In order that, if a sacred grain should fall,
I might pick it up with the needle, and wash it in the
water.” Receiving this information, she contentedly
went to heaven. No rice having ever fallen from her
careful husband’s hand, she knew not till now the
reason of a command which she had ever obeyed,
but of which it would have been unseemly before to
request an explanation. The loss of such a wife was
no light bereavement. Lying sleepless and agitated
the night after her decease, the poet extemporarily
complained :—
“ Dost thou depart, who did’st prepare

My savoury food with skilful care ;
On whom alone of womankind,
In ceaseless love, I fix’d my mind ;
Who from my door hast never stirr’d,
And never hast transgress’d my word ;
Whose palms so softly chafed my feet,
Till charm’d I lav in slumbers sweet;
Who tendedst me with wakeful eyes—

The last to sleep, the first to rise?
Now weary night denies repose :
Can sleep again my eyelids close ?”
He buried her sacred body in a sitting posture.

Surviving his wife for many years, and continuing
to perform many glorious deeds, Valluvar favoured
and helped to the utmost Elelasingan and his other
disciples. At last he summoned his friend to him,
and graciously directed him thus :—“ The region of
completeness is near me. When I am perfected,
tie my body with cords, and draw it outside the
town, and throw and leave it among the bushes.”
Seeing him to be like one whose penance and medi¬
tations were* consummated, Elelasingan was preparing
to place him in a golden coffin, and deposit him in a
worthy grave. Whereupon Valluvar awoke, looked
at him, graciously remonstrated, “ Dear man, do not
transgress my word;” and then immediately became
perfect. Having done according to his express
desire, Elelasingan observed that the crows and other
animals which devoured his holy flesh became beauti¬
ful as gold; and therefore, greatly wondering, he
built a temple, and instituted worship, on the spot
where the sacred corpse had lain.
33
CURAL.
i.—The Praise of God.
1. Eternal God all things precedes,

As Alpha all the letters leads.
2. The learning’s vain that does not fall
At His good feet Who knoweth all.
3. His feet their flowers of thought among
Who joy to feel, shall flourish long.
4. Who hoP3 His feet Who neither knows
To long nor loathe, avoid all woes.
5. God’s praise who tell, are free from right
And wrong, the twins of dreaming night.
6. They prosper evermore who keep
His law in Whom the senses sleep.
7. His feet, Whose likeness none can find,
Alone can ease the anxious mind.
8. Who swims the sea of vice is he
Who clasps the feet of Virtue’s Sea.
9. Like palsied sense, no head’s complete
That bows not at Perfection’s feet.
10. They only pass, of all who swim,
The sea of births, who cleave to Him.
D
34 CURAL.
ii.—The Value of1 Rain.
i i. The genial rain ambrosia call :

The world but lasts while rain shall fall.
12. ’Tis rain begets the food we eat :
The precious rain is drink and meat.
13. Let clouds their visits stay, and dearth
Distresses all the sea-girt earth.
14. Unless the fruitful shower descend
The ploughman’s sacred toil must end.
15. Refraining, rain destroys; and then,
Propitious, calls to life again.
16. If from the cloud no drop appear,
No grassy blade its head will rear.
17. Except the cloud its stores repay,
The ocean’s wealth will waste away.
18. The gods would find this world deny
Due off’rings ’neath a barren sky.
19. Were heaven above to fail, below
Nor alms nor penance earth would Show.
20. Since without water, without rain
Life’s duties were essay’d in vain.
hi.—The Excellence of Ascetics.
21. No boasted greatness is so high

As theirs, who self by rule deny.
CURAL. 35
22. As soon you’ll count the dead, as tell

How much ascetics all excel.
23. No lustre can with theirs compare
Who know the right, and virtue wear.
24. With hook of firmness to restrain *
The senses five, is heaven to gain.
25. How great their power who hold such sway,
Indra, heaven’s King, himself must say.t
26. What’s difficult the great will do :
The small will paths of ease pursue.
27. The world is theirs, the bounds who tell
Of taste, sight, feeling, sound, and smell.
28. Full-worded men, by what they say,
Their greatness to the world display.
29. Their wrath who’ve climb’d the mount of good,
Though transient, cannot be withstood.
30. With even kindness cloth’d tow’rds all,
The Beautiful J the virtuous call.
iv.—The Power of Virtue.
31. None greater good than virtue know,

Whence heaven and various riches flow.
32. Who follow it have highest gain ;
Who shun it, deepest loss and pain.
* As the hook guides the elephant.

f The allusion is to his suffering from Gautama’s curse.
t Anthanar, a title of the Brahmans, their exclusive right to
which is thus disputed.
D 2
36 CURAL.
33. To practise it be all your strife,

The ceaseless aim and rule of life.
34. In purity of mind’t is found,
Not outward show, and empty sound.
35. Four things t’eschew does virtue teach,
Ill-will, lust, wrath, and angry speech.
36. Your friend without delay if made,
In death ’twill be your deathless aid.
37. Needless are words : its power is seen
Outside and in the palankeen.*'
38. With no lost days for which t’ atone,
’Gainst threat’ning births it rears a stone.
39. Nor joy can spring, nor praise can rise,
But in the pleasure it supplies.
40. Virtue is what ought to be done,
And vice what every one should shun.
v.—The Domestic State.
41. The worthy householder is he

Who aids the holy orders three, f
42. His help the poor and pious share,
And they who die attract his care.
* The lack of virtue in a former birth makes one man a

palankeen-bearer, whilst its reward to another who practised it
is that he is carried in the palankeen.
f The student (Bramachari), the married hermit (Vanaprastan),
ind the lonely anchorite (Sanniyasi).
CURAL. 37
43. Chief praise the five-fold duty earns,

Which ghosts, God, guests, kin, self concerns.
44. Who dare no wrong, and food bestow,
Their house is strong, their seed shall grow.
45. Domestic life its end and gain
Enjoys, where love and virtue reign.
46. Who virtuous married life will flee
To turn a monk,—what profits he?
47. He who adorns the married state
Is head of all whose aims are great.
48. Pilgrim himself, with double load,
He others helps in virtue’s road.
49. Marriage is virtue ; though the same
Is hermit-life, when free from blame.
50. On earth such wedded bliss who prove,
In heaven among the gods shall move.
vi.—The Worth of a Help-meet.
51. Her husband’s means her law of life,

Who fits the house,—she is the wife.
52. The greatness of the married state
The wife is, or it is not great.
53. What is there not, when she’s complete?
What is there, when she is not meet ?
54. On what may more esteem be placed
Than faithful woman firmly chaste ?
55. Instead of God, who worship pays
Her spouse, says “ Rain,” and heaven obeys.
38 CURAL.
56. True wives unwearied shrink from blame,

Their husbands cherish, and their fame.
57. Of what avail are prisons barr’d?
Their chastity is women’s guard.
58. If women wifely bliss obtain,
Great joy where dwell the gods they gain.
59. With ill-famed wives, whom men deride,—
Not theirs the lion-step of pride.
60. With jewels of good children dress’d,
Whose wives are blameless,—they are bless’d
vii.—Obtaining Sons.
61. The world no greater good supplies

Than offspring virtuous and wise.
62. Who such unequall’d treasures own,
Beneath no vengeful fortunes groan.
63. The virtues of their children bring
New wealth to that from which they spripg.
64. The rice is all ambrosial made
In which their tiny hands have play’d.
65. Their contact gives a blissful thrill:
Their notes the soul with sweetness fill.
66. Whose little ones ne’er prattled near,
May say, “ The lute delights the ear.”
67. A father’s blessing is, to ’enthrone
Amid the circling wise his son.
68. With yearning pride his bosom swells,
Because his boy himself excels.
CURAL. 39
69. His mother hears confess’d his worth,

And triumphs more than at his birth.
70. He loves his sire, who wakes the strain,
“ What penance such a son could gain ? ”
viii.—Lovingkindness.
71. What bolt holds love ? One starting tear

Wakes show’rs from answering eyelids dear.
72. Their bones the loving do not call
Their own : who love not, grasp at all.
73. From love did virtue gain its worth
To win the matchless human birth.
74. Love makes the lov’d desire, and hence
Springs friendship’s boundless excellence.
75. Heaven’s bliss, and married joy below,
From love with virtue mated flow.
76. Love is not virtue’s friend alone :
To vice its screening power is known.
77. Worms shrivel in the solar blaze;
So justice the unloving slays.
78. Whose minds to love afford no room,
Like wither’d trees in deserts bloom.
79. From outward grace they nothing win,
Who want the charms of love within.
80. Whose life is not by love inspired
Are skeletons in skin attired.
40 CURAL
ix.—Hospitality.
81. Of keeping house the sacred end

Is, guests with kindly care to tend..
82. Though food of endless life you eat,
To shut the guest out is not meet.
83. The house that honours guests each day,
In trouble shall not waste away.
84. Gladsome prosperity shall rest
Where smiles receive the worthy guest.
85. Need seed in that man’s field be sown,
Whose caller’s meal precedes his own ?
86. Guest after guest, who waits to see,
A welcome guest in heaven shall be.
87. The good thus gain’d can no one count:
The pilgrims’ worth is its amount.
88. Inhospitable souls shall say,
“We’ve held our wealth, and have no stay.”
89. Rich dullards who no alms bestow,
Shall want amidst abundance know.
90. As fades the flower * when smelt, the guest
Is by averted looks depress’d.
x.—Affability.
91. Sweet words and guileless gently flow

From lips of those who duty know.
* The fabulous anitchain^ dying when only smelled, without

being touched.
CURAL. 4*
92. To give with generous heart cheers less

Than smiling face and sweet address.
93. Virtue is, issuing from the mind,
Sweet words, with dulcet looks combined.
94. Sweet speech that growing gladness yields
From penury woe-working shields.
95. He is adorn’d, and he alone,
Who humbly speaks, with courteous tone.
96. His sins decrease, his virtue grows,
Who alms with pleasant words bestows.
97. The cheerful word and kindly deed
To righteousness and merit lead.
98. Sweet speech, that shows itself sincere,
Hereafter pleasure brings, and here.
99. How can he utter words that sting,
Who sees what sweets from sweet words spring
100. With sweet words near, who harsh words try,
Eat fruit that’s sour, when ripe is nigh.
xi.—Gratitude.
101. For nothing had, assistance given

In worth surpasses earth and heaven.
102. Favours bestow’d in time of need,
Though small, the spacious world exceed.
103. What’s right, not what his gain will be,
Who weighs, his gift outweighs the sea.
104. A help as seed of millet small,
Who finds it, counts a palm-tree tall.
GURAL.
105. The worth of those to whom’t is shown

Measures the favour, not its own.
106. Cling to your faultless friends, and those
Whose kindness was your staff in woes.
107. Through seven-fold births in mind should stay
Their love who sorrow wiped away.
108. Forgetting goodness is not good :
’T is wrong o’er wrongs at all to brood.
109. Though cruel now, who once were kind
For favours done will favour find.
110. Who slay all virtues death may fly :
Who obligations kill must die.
xii.—Equity.
111. That only will for virtue pass

Which fits itself to every class.
112. The just man’s store secure remains,
And happy children reap his gains.
113. If right be absent, turn away
From tempting good without delay.
114. Who just and who unjust have been
Is plainly in their offspring seen.
115. Since loss and gain not causeless rise,
A temper smooth adorns the wise.
116. “ I perish,” let him think, whose mind
From justice turns, to sin inclined.
117. The man is rich, the world can see,
Who dwells in honest poverty.
CURAL. 43
118. The great, like balance poised, are fair,—

Justice the ornament they w^ar.
119. Justice will crooked thoughts disown,
Not crookedness of speech alone.
120. Like his, the trader true delights
To guard his neighbour’s goods and rights.
xiii.—Self-control.
121. Self-rule to the immortals tends :

Its want in densest darkness ends.
122. A treasure to be kept with care,
No.gains with self-restraint compare.
123. Who self-control true knowledge deem,
And practise it, command esteem.
124. Adhering to their proper state,
They rise above the mountain great.
125. Though good for all, the wealthy gain
In humbleness the richest vein.
126. One birth keep in the senses five,
Like tortoise, through the seven to thrive.
127. If nothing else, the tongue restrain :
Unruly talkers suffer pain.
128. One sinful word, its power so strong,
Turns good to bad, and right to wrong.
129. A burn will heal, but festering stays
The wound a burning tongue conveys.
130. Virtue will watch their steps to bless
Who anger and desire suppress.
44 CURAL
xiv.—Behaviour.
13 i. Since conduct good will greatness give,

Care less for life than how you live. ^
132. ' In many ways though you excel,
This crowning aid be guarded well.
133. Good birth in life correct is seen :
Low living brings the birth that’s mean.
134. Priests lore forgot again may know,
But forfeit caste by living low.
135. For wealth as envy vainly sighs,
So men ill-manner’d cannot rise.
136. The wise from order will not stray,
But shun their guilt who disobey.
137. While greatness from right conduct grows,
Disgrace alone from evil flows.
138. Behaviour good is virtue’s seed ;
But endless griefs from ill proceed.
139. Though memory fail, by rule who walk
Still keep their tongues from sinful talk.
140. Their learning’s vain, who do not know
How smoothly with the world to go.
xv.—Purity.
141. The blind to right and rights alone

Desire to have whom others own.
142. Outside the law, no fool’s so great
As stands outside his neighbour’s gate.
CURAI.. 45
143. No better than the dead he lives

Who foul offence to friendship gives.
144. No boasted qualities protect
The wretch by thought of sin uncheck’d.
145. The guilt made light of yet will stay :
The fault will never fade away.
146. Hatred, sin, fear, and shame,—these four
Are with th’ adulterer evermore.
147. The lust by virtue is abhorr’d
For one who has her lawful lord.
148. He only leads a manly life
Who looks not on another’s wife.
149. To whom, in all the sea-girt earth,
Comes good, but men of moral worth ?
150. All other vice inflicts less loss
Than lust a neighbour’s fence to cross.
xvi.—Patience.
151. As earth its diggers, they who bear

The scornful, show a virtue rare.
152. There’s greatness in enduring ill:
Forgetting it is greater still.
153. As poorest they who beggars shun,
Who suffer fools—so strong are none.
154. Who patience practises with pains,
Unsulled excellence retains.
155. In no esteem the hasty hold :
The patient prize as hidden gold.
46 CURAL.
156. A day, and passion’s joy is pass’d :

Patience is praised while earth shall last.
157. From hurting cruel foes refrain :
’T were pity to increase their pain.
158. A man by patience may o’erthrow
In evil work who farthest go.
159. Who meekly wicked words endure
Than saints ascetic are more pure.
160. Who ’re patient when reproach is cast,
Excel in greatness those who fast.
xvii.—Against Envy.
161. Esteem’d like good behaviour be

A character from envy free.
162. No acquisition can be won
Above the power of envying none.
163. Another’s gains who envious views,
Nor virtue he, nor wealth pursues.
164. Since woes the way of evil throng,
From envy practise nothing wrong.
165. No outward foes need arts Omploy :
Envy suffices to destroy.
166. Who envies such as gifts receive,
For kindred, clothes, and food shall grieve.
167. Repell’d by envy, Lakshmi * starts,
Presents her sister,-f and departs.
* Goddess of Prosperity. f Mudevi, goddess of Adversity.

CURAL. 47
168. Envy will wealth on earth dispel,

And lead the soul to fiery hell.
169. Envy made rich, uprightness brought
To poverty, were theme for thought !
170. The envious never great were seen :
The free from envy never mean.
xviii.—Against Covetousness.
171. The covetous their houses doom

To ruin, and the guilt assume.
172. Who shrink from gainful sin with shame,
Will nothing do deserving blame.
173. For better joy to come who long,
For trifling pleasure do no wrong.
174. Set free from sin and sense’s chain,
The wise, though poor, content remain.
175. Superior knowledge meets no meed,
That acts tow'rds all with maudlin greed.
176. His seeming path to grace, in pain
Shall end, who evil does for gain.
177. The fruit of covetousness shun :
In all its gain there’s glory none.
178. Wealths permanence in this is known,—
Not coveting what others own.
179. To bless in virtue’s way the wise
Who covet nothing, Lakshmi flies.
180. Contentment’s greatness conquers all :
The reckless greedy ruined fall.
48 CURAL.
xix.—Against Backbiting.
181. For one who wide from virtue strays,

“ H-e does not backbite ” is some praise.
182. Who present smile, and absent curse,
Than virtue’s enemies are worse.
183. ’Twere greater good by far to die,
Than live to backbite and to lie.
184. Though careless words you present say,
Yet speak with caution when away.
185. Who loves to backbite, makes it clear
In virtue’s praise he’s insincere.
186. His failings will be search’d and shown,
Who makes another’s failings known.
187. While foolish slanders friends divide,
By laughter-making words they ’re tied.
188. What will they not to strangers do,
Who faults of friends expose to view ?
189. Earth bears in charity their weight
Who of the absent basely prate.
190. As others’ faults, if men their own
Would see, what evil would be known ?
xx.—Against profitless Conversation.
191. With useless words who numbers grieves

Deserv’d contempt from all receives.
192. Vain talk that many ears offends,
Is worse that vicious deeds tow’rds friends.
CURAL. 49
193. The babbler’s useless lips proclaim

That “ Good-for-nothing ” is his name.
194. Who deals in light offensive speech,
Nor virtue keeps, nor right can reach.
195. If things of nought good people say,
Their reputation flies away.
r96. Whose worth in weightless words is shown,
As chaff of men, not man be known.
197. If nonsense you will speak, so do :
The wise will scorn to follow you.
198. The sage, who seek the highest gain,
From words of little use refrain.
199. For pointless talk, they will not see
Even in forgetfulness, a plea.
200. To purpose speak, whenever heard,
And never say an empty word.
xxi.—Fear of Sin.
201. Who virtue’s honours humbly win,

Not sinners, fear the pride of sin.
202. Dread wickedness, as fire your dread :
Sin leads to sin, as flames are spread.
203. Foremost of all the wise are those
Who will not hurt their very foes.
204. Virtue his ruin plots who plans
In thoughtless thought another man’s.
205. Who sinning makes “ I’m poor” his plea,
Shall afterwards much poorer be.
E
5o CURAL.
206. Who’d not have pain himself pursue,

Let him no ill to others do.
207. Men spite of other foes may live,
But sin its deadly blow will give.
208. Destruction, as their shadow true,
The steps of sinners will pursue.
209. Let none who loves himself at all
Do any sin, however small.
210. Know ye he’s from destruction freed,
Who turns to do no evil deed.
xxii.’—Benevolence.
2it. The kind seek nothing back again :

What from the world do clouds obtain ?
212. The aim of toil, of wealth the end,
Is want to help, and worth befriend.
213. ’Tis hard in either world to find
A greater good than being kind.
214. He lives, whose life in love is led :
Another, reckon with the dead.
215. The brimming tank the town supplies :
So wealth is order’d by the wise.
216. Who gladly of their plenty give
lake ripening fruit-trees with us live.
217. Diseases and distress they cure,
lake plants of healing virtue sure.
218. Their sense of duty will not cease
From kindness, though their wealth decrease.
CURAL. 5T
219. The good man’s poverty and grief

Is wanting power to give relief.
220. Of loss by bounty ne’er complain,
But sell yourself such loss to gain.
xxiii.—Almsgiving.
221. They give who give to helpless need :

Not they whose gifts to getting lead.
222. A good way call’d, still begging’s bad :
To give is good, were heaven not had.
223. ’Tis giving argues noble birth,
Not pleading “I am nothing worth.”
224. Not sweet are calls for charity,
Until the beggar’s smile we see.
225. Higher the power which hunger cures,
Than penance which its pangs endures.
226. Removing hunger, who sustains
The poor, makes room to hoard his gains.
227. Who’s wont his food around to part
Is safe from hunger’s burning smart.
228. Do they who, hard-eyed, save to waste,
Not know what joys the generous taste ?
229. To beg itself is greater joy
Than appetite alone to cloy.
23°. Joyless as death is nought : yet this
Compared with selfishness is bliss.
e 2
52 CURAL.
xxiv.—Fame.
231. They live with praise who freely give,
And profit most 6f all that live.#
232. His lasting praise no voice but shows*
One alms who on the poor bestows.
233. ’Gainst ruin proof there’g nothing known
Save fame, 'that towering stands alone.
234. From praising gods the god-world turns
To praise the man who praises earns.
235. The famous flourish in decay,
And none in dying live but they.
236. If praise may not this life adorn,
*T were better never to be born.
237. How without pain can they remain
Who, praised by none, their censors pain
238. All own it shame to end our days,
And leave no progeny of praise.
239. The ground will lose its fertile name,
That bears a body void of fame.
240. They live who live above disgrace :
They ’re not alive whose life is base.
life nf <Dnnnai[.
S might be expected, the list of Tamil sages is

JT\. not adorned by many female names. Yet
four learned ladies, excelled by few of the prouder sex,
have handed valued writings down to the present day.
Sudicodutta Naychiyar was a foundling brought
up by a Vaishnava devotee. Zealously consecrating
herself to the service of her foster-father’s god, she
composed the works entitled Tiruppavay and Tiru-
morlyi. Punjthavati, a merchant’s daughter early
married, was deserted by her husband, who took
another wife. As he withstood all advances made
with a view to reconciliation, she assumed the habit
of an ascetic, repaired to the Imaus, and there died.
Among other productions, she left the Atputkattiru-
vanthathi, sl poem in high repute with the Saiva sect.
Sanpagavadivi was the daughter of one of the hand¬
maids of a Chola rajah. Captivated by her genius,
King Carical adopted her, while she was yet a child,
into the royal family, giving the precocious lady a
splendid mansion and an imposing retinue. The
fame of her maturing charms attracted numerous
suitors; but, above prejudice and beyond reproach,
54 LIFE OF OUVVA Y.
having resolved not to marry any one who could not

overcome her in poetical conflict, she exulted in
remaining single and unvanquished till her twenty-
fifth year. Then she was proved to be not invincible.
The professors of Madura, whom she had characterized
as a senate of dunces, being unable to endure her
scorn any longer, their doughty president Narkira put
on the disguise of a wood-seller, and himself en¬
countered the beautiful boaster. The combatants
mercilessly assailed each other with poetic enigmas,
all of them preserved, until, after a severe and pro¬
tracted struggle, the head of the university discomfited
and led captive the damsel.
The fourth excellent lady, whose life we have now
to trace, is the queen of female sages. Indeed,
among Tamil writers, Ouway is second to none but
Tiru-Valluvar. It is greatly to be lamented that her
biography is not less absurd and varnished than that
of her illustrious brother. She is a distinguished
proof that the garden of knowledge was not always
forbidden ground to virtuous daughters of India, and
that they formerly enjoyed more social liberty than
in the present day. It must of course be remembered
that she was of low caste on her mother’s side. But
it is clear, from the traditions respecting her character
and conduct, and from the writings in which she
speaks to successive generations, that it would be
wrong to pronounce her a temple-woman. Hindus
get easily over the difficulty by referring to the Deity
LIFE OF OUVVA Y. 55
within her; but to matter-of-fact Europeans it is

evident that genius, watched by the eye of restraint,
and fed with the oil of perseverance, a brilliant human
flame, was the divinity in possession.
Ouvvay, a new-born babe, was discovered by a
minstrel in a choultry neary Urayur; and, as she
grew up, she fared very well among the Panars, a
class, now nearly extinct, of musicians and singers,
whose office was to wait upon kings and pronounce
their praises. She is supposed to have been an incarna¬
tion of Sarasvati, Brahma’s consort, who, as the
goddess of music, poetry, and learning, knew well,
we may be sure, with whom to choose hei habitation.
Wherever she went, her lips breathed piety and
wisdom, and her hand wrote moral verses and
proverbs. She was a benefactress to all who needed
her blessings; and it is said that she wrought
miracles, healing diseases, converting base things into
gold, and mixing the medicine of immortality. People
of every caste welcomed and honoured the marvellous
woman.
The use of surnames merely titular and descriptive
in their origin, is peculiar to no age or country.
Hebrew appellations of the kind will occur at once
to the reader’s memory. Familiar names among our¬
selves are Greathead, Armstrong, Scattergood, Shakes-
pear, Sheepshanks, and the like. We know who was
the Iron Duke, and who the Little Corporal. The
people of India are wont to give telling titles to
56 LIFE OF OUVVA Y
individuals. An English general was called by them

The Devil’s Brother. Three missionary colleagues were
distinguished, the youngest as The Tall Padre, the
next as The Short Padre, and, in an honourable
sense, the oldest as The Great Padre. It has already
been remarked that, the Tamil poets not having been
accustomed to affix their names to their writings,
several of them are known to posterity by only their
acquired titles. Take a few examples. One is called
Ashdavathani, from the retentiveness of his memory;
and another Curlyangayar, from his crippled hand,
injured by a red-hot iron which he had been com¬
pelled to seize when on trial by ordeal. As we have
seen, the real name of the chief of Tamil poets, Tiru-
Valluvar, has long been forgotten. So the next most
famous of the seven kindred sages bears the name of
Ouway, or The Elderly Lady. She was also called
“ Curlyucciipadior She who sang for a meal. For this
title she was indebted to the vanity of a dancing-girl,
Silambi of Ambal, and the churlishness of the poet
Cambar. Silambi had offered the versifier five-
hundred pons* for a metrical inscription to her praise
and glory. That being only half the price he took
for such a stanza, he inscribed with charcoal but half
a verse on the wall of her dwelling, and then wickedly
departed. Fortunately Ouvvay called immediately,
and for merely a dish of rice defeated the rhymester’s
* A coin, valued at 3-r. 6d. sterling.

LIFE OF OUVVA Y. 57
object, and removed the girl’s perplexity, completing

the inscription as follows :—
“ Of rivers the best is Cavery, and Chola all kings

surpasses,
Of lands his are the richest, and the comeliest of
lasses—
Is Silambi of Ambal, and no silambu’s * so sweet
As the golden one soft tinkling upon her lotus-feet.”
Ouvvay once honoured with a visit the island of

Ceylon, where for a succession of days it rains twice
a year, and where it never rains but it pours. Caught
in the torrent, she took shelter in the dwelling of two
women of low caste ; and Angavay and Sangavay
treated her with so much kindness that she rewarded
them with the promise,—“ I will cause you to be
given in marriage to the divine King of Tirucovalur.”
Remembering her word, she waited upon the rajah,
and commended to him her friends. His majesty
replied,—“ If Cheran, Cholan, and Pandiyan give me
these women in marriage, I will receive them forth¬
with.” Whereupon she addressed the following
invocation to the god of wisdom and enterprise, and
of marriage rites :—
“ O son of him who joys to wear

The tiger’s skin,')- and made thee bear
* A foot ornament. f Siva.

58 LIFE OF OUVVAY.
The elephant’s huge head, appear;

Reveal thy fragrant presence here ;
And swiftly by my fingers write,
And make this leaf the kings invite.
Thou double-tusk’d one, heed my will;
Thou single-handed, show thy skill;
Or she who breathes this pious verse
Will vex thee with her venom’d curse.”
Pillayar readily vouchsafed his aid ; and she inscribed

the charmed invitation on an ola or palmyra-leaf,
folded it up, and despatched it, by the god of the
winds, to the three kings. When they had read it,
they proceeded without delay to a marriage saloon
called into existence for the occasion by Ouvvay’s
power; and, on their arrival, they thus addressed
her :—“ Mother, here is a piece of palmyra wood :
if you make it become a tree, put forth leaves, and
produce its young fruit, and will present to us each a
specimen, we will do as you desire.” Consenting,
she lifted up her voice, and sang,—
“ Before the palace-like saloon,

Umbrellas silvery as the moon
The bridegroom’s royal friends reveal,
Who come with holy oil to seal
Their happy fate, whose shelt’ring roof
Render’d the stranger tempest-proof,
LIFE OF OUVVA Y. 59
But first command, my claims to show,

This lifeless wood be made to grow.
So let the shell-white sprout be seen,
Unfold its leaves of deep’ning green,
And'form its fruit, till ripe there fall
For each his black and ruddy ball.”
Her song concluded, they beheld their request

literally fulfilled. Each held in his hand the round
red-tinged fruit. There was no alternative. Ouvvay
having complied with their requirement, they, trem¬
bling with awe, hastened to comply with her’s, and
gave the two women away in marriage to the divine
king of Tirucovalur.
When Valluvar went up with his Cural to the
Madura College, Ouvvay, his worthy companion, was
not to be put to shame by the assembled sages. In
spite of the maxim, if then in vogue, “ Talking by
gesture is improper for women,” she asked the pro¬
fessors to explain, if they could, cehtain signs she
made. Not satisfied with their answers, she became
her own interpreter, and thus gave the dumb actions
a voice:—
“ Bestowing alms, in virtue live :

Though but a pinch of rice, yet give
Before you eat your owq :
The five great sins.will pass away,
When power you get to know and say
That God is One alone.”
6o LIFE OF OUVVA Y
“ The Hindu system of moral philosophy involves

four questions, viz. :—What is virtue, and how is it to
be exercised ? What is wealth, and how is it to be
acquired ? What is pleasure, and how is it to be
enjoyed ? What is heavenly bliss, and how is it' to
be obtained ? ” Valluvar in his Cural treated formally
only the first three questions. The fourth was not un¬
approached by him, but anticipated, being included, as
Todittalay-Virlyuttandinar, one of the Madura judges,
pronounced, in his discussion of the three preceding
topics. But Ouvvay, on learning the construction of
the poem, thought her brother liable to censure ;
and, to show how easy a task he had undertaken,
she “ compressed all the four questions, and their
answers,” in one impromptu stanza, which may thus
be rendered :—
“ Virtue’s giving without halt;

Wealth is getting without fault;
Pleasure is the quenchless flame
Blending two with tastes the same;
Giving, getting, loving nought,
Gathering all the power of thought,
Losing self in the abyss.
Searching God, is heavenly bliss.”
Ouvvay knew how to acknowledge merit, and to

rebuke pretence. As she chanced one day to be
sitting on the ground with her feet outstretched in a
LIFE OF OUVVA Y. 61
street of Urayur, Culotunga the Chola king came

along, with Ottaycutar, who was one of his poets,
and Pugarlyenthi, also a poet, but of the Pandiya
court. As the monarch went by, the old lady with¬
drew one of her feet; and as the Madura poet
Pugarlyenthi passed, she retracted the other. To
Ottaycutar, who came next, she must surely pay some
equal mark of respect. On the contrary, as if he
were nobody, she made haste to stretch out both
her legs again. The offended gentleman desired an
explanation. She said, “ I drew back one foot for
the king, because he wears the crown ; and both feet
for Pugarlyenthi, because he is a great poet; but I
have not withdrawn either of my feel for you, as you
are nothing but a dunce. If you are as able as
Pugarlyenthi, prove it by improvising a verse in
which, while you praise the Chola country and its
king, the word mathi shall occur three times.” The
said word, signifying the moon and wit, only coming
twice in his laboured stanza, she asked with concern,
“ Where is thy other wit ? ” He was so ashamed, that
he could give no answer. She then applied to
Pugarlyenthi, only politely suggesting that he should
substitute the Pandiya kingdom ; and Ottaycutar was
outdone by the more ready poet of Madura. She
applauded him, and tried him with another word, in
the use of which he was equally successful.
Like other reputable women, Ouvvay was slightly
inconsistent and eccentric. Declaring in favour of
62 LIFE OF OUVVA Y.
marriage, yet she remained single. She could speak

disparagingly of her own sex ; but could come to
their rescue, when her heart was wounded. Hearing
some lords of creation reviling the character of the
ladies, she turned upon them with the impromptu :—
“ All women are good, if let alone,—

They are spoilt by those who rule them;
And by men might a little sense be shown,
But the women so befool them.”
Tradition says that this distinguished poetess

reached the age of two hundred and forty years, and
then voluntarily retired from earth. She selected, as
her final engagement below, the worship of the wise
and powerful god whom she had once threatened to
curse. Pillayar found it necessary to demand why
she, who had never offered worship in a slovenly
manner before, now went through it hurriedly. Men¬
tioning the names of two sages, she answered,
“ Swamy, they are going to Kailasam, and desire
my company.” “ I will get you there before
them,” said the benignant deity; “ only finish your
ceremonies in your usual style.” The believing
woman did so ; and with his gentle trunk Pillayar
lifted her to Siva’s heaven. On their arrival, her two
friends, to their amazement, found Ouvvay already in
Kailasam. By a plainer account, “ according to the
custom of her times, she made the mahaprasthana-
LIFE OF OVVVAY. 63
gamana, or great journey to the Imaus, and died

there.”
The compositions attributed to Ouvvay have re¬
ceived unmeasured commendation. Mr. S. C. Chitty
thinks that, advancing farther in her researches and
teaching, she “ was more keen and clever than even
her brother.” * Beschi pronounced her “ moral sen¬
tences worthy of Seneca himself.” t The Rev. Peter
Percival regards her works as “ of great beauty and
value, replete with lessons of wisdom ; ” and affirms
that they “ have never been surpassed for sententious
brevity, and generally are equally distinguished by
purity of principle.” J Another critic says, “ She
sang like Sappho, yet not of love, but of virtue.” §
Thirteen books are ascribed to her:—Nigandu, a
dictionary of materia medica; Panthananthathi, a
panegyric on Panthan, a wealthy merchant of Caveri-
patnam ; Nyana- Cural, a treatise on mataphysics;
and the ten following on ethics and religion, Tari-
sanapattu, Arunthamirlmalay, Nanmarnicovay, Nan-
nut cov ay, Asathicovay, Calviyorlyuccam, Nalvarlyi,
Condayventhan, Attisudi, and Muthuray.
The most important are the five named last, of
which three are given in the following pages. Like
all the rest, they are composed in the high language;
and some of the sentences they contain are ambiguous
* Tamil Plutarch. f Introduction to Shen-Tamil Grammar.

X Land of the Veda. § Calcutta Review.
64 LIFE OF OUVVA Y.
even to learned natives. They are often, there¬

fore, altogether above the comprehension of little
children. Every missionary verifies the statement of
a distinguished chaplain :—“ A short time before I
left Madras, I went into one of the native schools,
and requested the teacher to let me see what the
boys were reading. He showed me some olas,
on which were written the sayings of Ouvvay. I
desired him to explain them to me; when he took up
another ola, which contained the interpretation, and
began to read. I stopped him, saying that I wished
him to tell me from, his own mind what he supposed
to be the sense of the proverbs, or even of the written
interpretation. Upon this, he looked in my face,
and confessed, with a smile, that he understood
neither the one nor the other. Such is the ignorance
of most of the native schoolmasters ; and it is evident
that their scholars can derive no moral benefit what¬
ever from repeating sentences, however sound the
morality they contain, unless they are made to
comprehend their meaning and application.” * Yet
Ouvvay’s sayings seem to have been originally pre¬
pared chiefly for the young; and certain it is that
they are among the first, as well as the best, books
put into the hands and heads of the people of Southern
India. Commentaries, as intimated above, are attached
to some of them ; and the living teacher, not always
*
Hough’s Reply.
LIFE OF OUVVAY. 65
quite so incompetent as the schoolmaster referred to,

vouchsafes his explanations. But it is quite the Hindu
system to store the memory with pregnant words,
leaving the fruit of them, gradually appearing under
the maturing influences of thought and time, to be
gathered by the judgment in after days.
There is not a purer composition among all the
standards of India than Ouvvay’s Muthuray, or
Thirty Aphorisms, frequently called also, from the
first words of the dedication, Vakkundam. This book,
the first of The Elderly Lady’s which we give, is of
the greater importance from the fact that missionaries,
not only have not excluded it from their schools, but
have themselves given editions of it to their pupils
and to the world. It is found, for instance, in the
Fifth Instructor, published by the Jaffna missionaries ,
but in the missionary edition, besides the substitution
of another dedication or introduction, the arrange¬
ment of the stanzas is entirely changed; there is an
omission of the 27th, without substitution; and for
the 3rd, 7th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, and 29th, there are
introduced stanzas from other sources, including two
from Ouvvay’s Nalvarlyi. Is it well, even if it could
be shown that they are called for on moral grounds,
to take such liberties with the reputed writings of a
celebrated sage ? If the anxiety of the missionaries
to withhold pernicious aliment may be commended,
let the impossibility of their doing so by such means
be not forgotten. Omitted verses are easily and in-
C6 LIFE OF OUVVAY.
variably supplied, even in Christian schools, from

original copies in the possession of the children, or by
the too willing native teachers. Nothing can be gained
for the truth by endeavouring to make a pagan writer
shine in other than Pagan colours. Moreover, mis¬
sionaries thus expose themselves to the charge of
fraud and imposition. It may be urged in their
defence that perhaps they arranged their edition from
conflicting ola copies before the press in the service
of native editors had fixed the text. Otherwise, how
could they shut out the 18th, 22nd, 23rd, and 27th
stanzas, while retaining the 5th, 19th, and 20th?
Have not the missionaries taken needless and in¬
consistent trouble in editing and printing books of
this order for the purposes of education ? A time
may come when such volumes may be handled by
them in their seminaries with impunity; but at
present, important as it is to recognize and honour
truth in whatever associations found, and desirable as
it seems to conciliate the people by paying all pos¬
sible respect to their treasured literature, the propriety
of using the productions of native authors as class-
books in . missionary institutions, steeped with
heathenism as the best of them are, is seriously
questionable. Let the Church place such books, if
they must be in possession, where the Government
of Continental India—not that of Ceylon—deposits
the Holy Bible, only on the shelves of school libraries.
Haste without speed is not so good as slowness with
LIFE OF OUVVAY. 67
safety and ultimate success. Ouvvay’s works them¬

selves, some of them the most excellent of Tamil
writings, repeated by the lips of all the rising genera¬
tion in the North of Ceylon and the South of Hindu¬
stan, suffice to show the necessity of Christian school¬
books and other useful publications in the native
languages. The thought is mournful that, even in
mission seminaries, for more than half a century,
along with her lessons of profound wisdom, she has
been left to teach the children to believe, like their
fathers, in a blind fate, in a succession of dependent
births, in the servile subordination of her sex, and in
idolatry. Granted that her sayings are wonderfully
correct and moral for a heathen writer, they are not
pure and true enough for Christian teaching. Difficult
as many, particularly young people, find it to under¬
stand some of her sentences, and to appreciate their
literary excellence, yet the paganism dwelling in her
writings reveals itself readily to babes.
Next follows the Attisudi, a title taken from the
first words of its dedication to Piilayar or Ganapathi.
The original sentences being arranged, like the lines
or stanzas of twelve of the Hebrew poems in the
sacred volume, in the order of their initial letters,
some have, called it The Golden Alphabet of the
Tamils. The same title might be claimed for other
collections of moral sentences. Only 108 letters are
thus honoured in the Attisudi; whereas, exclusive of
the Grandonic or Sanscrit characters used in addition
f 2
68 LIFE OF OUVVA V
to them, the Tamil letters and their combinations

amount to 247. Our alphabet not being lengthy enough
to stand at the beginnings of the aphorisms, they
may be arranged in English
“ With rhymes like watchmen standing at the close,

To keep the verse from running into prosec”
The Conday-venthan, another book of proverbs,

likewise takes its title from the opening word of the
brief invocation. Here again the arrangement is
alphabetical. Yet not so many letters are recognized
as in the Attisudi; and, on the other hand, one is
honoured which is passed over in that golden alphabet.
The Attisudi is hortatory and imperative, the Conday-
ventha?i indicative and aphoristic. Its third line is
quoted by a Tamil writer in the following verse, which
serves to show in what esteem Ouvvay is held in
India:—“Ye dispute vainly afnong yourselves, O
sages, when ye say that among the four established
orders of life this or that is to be preferred, and
deceive yourselves : our revered mother, who was
herself a manifestation of virtue, has said,—‘ No
virtue is more excellent than the virtue of domestic
life.’ ” *
To these translations, as the fittest place in the
volume, though not a work of “ our revered mother,” is
appended the Garland ofAd7'icefor Women. This little
*
Ellis’s Cural.
COJVI)A Y- VENTHAN. 85
No ills invade a neighbour-loving land.

By every word you calmly sp'eak abide.
Your dwelling fix where wells are at command.
The smallest matters thoughtfully decide.
The laws you know consistently observe.
No mask to others hides from self one’s mind.
They fast in vain, from rules who idly swerve.
Though poor your hearer, let your speech be kind.
By diligence the mean may mighty grow.
He does not fast who hungrily devours.
The springing blades the coming crop foreshow.
Take food, though rice and milk, at proper hours.
T is virtue from another’s home to stay.
Reserve your equal strength the load to bear.
Eat not of flesh, nor steal, nor dare to slay.
The base the garb of virtue cannot wear.
Who gain the highest state, nor hate nor love.
Simplicity is woman’s jewel bright.
The earth bears longest those who gently move.
All kinds of evil banish out of sight.
The ploughman’s honest meal is food indeed.
With guests your meat, however costly, share.
Where rain is wanted, there is every need.
The welcome showers succeed the lightning’s glare.
The ship without a pilot makes no head.
At eve, the fruit of morning’s acts you reap.
There’s nectar found in what the ancients said.
Who softly lie, enjoy the sweetest sleep.
86 CONDA Y- VENTHAN.
What wealth the plough produces will remain.

In silence wisdom has its end and proof.
Their efforts, who disdain advice, are vain.
From black-eyed women go, and keep aloof.*
Be all excess e’en by the king eschew’d.
No showers descending, fee-less Brahmans smart.
Good manners hospitality include.
A hero’s friendship pierces like a dart.
'The poor who scorn to beg deserve respect.
The strength of wealth in perseverance lies.
The incorrupt deceitful thoughts reject.
Let but the king be angry, succour flies.
Go, worship God in every fane on earth.
Choose places fit wherein to close your eyes.
The lagging student gains nor lore nor worth.
* Courtesans blacken their eyelids.

87
GARLAND OF ADVICE FOR WOMEN.
Hear advice, my lass, and heed it.

Share your rice with those who need it.
Find no joy in others’ sadness.
Live to give your parents gladness.
Let not guile within you labour.
Earn the praise of every neighbour.
Why should anything distress you ?
Give the needy cause to bless you.
Tortoise-like, restrain the senses.
Virtue gives a house pretences.
Beauty’s woman’s wealth, not science.
Ouvvay’s precepts claim compliance.
Shine in every household duty.
Tending well is wifehood’s beauty.
Worship your good man each morning.
Shrink from fraud, though poor, with scorning.
Fame with pleasant words be gaining.
Gentle dames are uncomplaining.
Bickering suits not loyal spouses.
Err not, entering others’ houses.
When you ask for counsel, take it.
Owning aught, your husband’s make it.
Flowers in tufted hair are pleasing.
Cow-like shame at home is teasing.
88 GARLAND OF ADVICE FOR WOMEN.
Ribald words are seemly never.

What’s a head-wife, if not clever ?
Telling lies is sure to hurt you.
Sweet is firm domestic virtue.
Void of virtue, earth were charmless.
Who will blame you, if you ’re harmless.
Game and strife misfortunes gender.
Right to all impartial render.
Friends, when true, are never distant.
Talk by gesture’s inconsistent.
Do as Wisdom’s lips advise you.
Go astray, and all despise you.
Brag not, bravely self-reliant.
Let your master find you pliant.
Water to the parch’d deny not.
Slumbering after sun-rise lie not.
Sin is virtue’s paths not keeping.
Let not mid-day see you sleeping.
Satan-like’s * calumniating.
Think of God when meditating.
Wasting’s losing all your getting.
Why should women e’er be fretting ?
Food enough provide, and spread it.
Be your caste’s delight and credit.
Mark your mother’s steps, pursuing.
Hell’s not purchased by well-doing.
By your husband’s words be guided.
Truth who speak, are not derided.
* Cuttu-like. Cuttu is a name of Yama.

GARLAND OF ADVICE FOR WOMEN. 89
Never Nili’s* name inherit.

All you hear’s not void of merit.
Boast not, though you have a hundred.
Falseness from your heart be sunder’d.
Virtue ’ll ever be befriended.
Store no malice when offended.
Haughty dark words' be unspoken.
Fasts must not too soon be broken.
Roe-like leaping brings repenting.
Hunger’s face behold, relenting.
Bad’s the fruit of sinful walking.
Children cure of evil talking.
Health is cleanly, wash your linen.
Praises virtue’s sure of winning.
Flower-like live, a fragrant treasure.
From the sex come power and pleasure.
Artless women wear the graces.
Softly move with order’d paces.
Early bathe you, saffron using.
Loving strife is credit losing.
Honest matrons awe the ocean.
Glory crowns a wife’s devotion.
Reverence your husband’s mother.
Proud provoking tempers smother.
Fish-eyed looks at strangers take not.
Sullen nasal murmurs make not.
* A name of Cali. Hence a common name for a malicious

woman.
GARLAND OF ADVICE FOR WOMEN.
Workers have no sleeping corner.

Gentle lips provoke no scorner.
Aim on earth at praises winning.
Madly seek not joy in sinning.
Nothing say to your undoing.
Fraudful deeds are fraught with ruin.
Teeth like jasmin-buds display you.
Valluvar’s wife’s pattern sway you.
Look for evil if you quarrel.
Though in sport, say nought immoral.
Set the lamp, ere dark your dwelling.
Aim in cooking at excelling.
Helping neighbours, help them truly.
Clean the house each Friday duly.
Fast by Scripture regulation.
Gain the country’s commendation.
Willing walk above correction.
Proverbs point you to perfection.
In the way of good progressing,
Get and gain by every blessing.
jtanrinls nf Cahilnr, tie.
HE second son of Pagavan and Athy was born

JL and left in a rest-house at Tiruvarur (Tri-
valore), in the cloud-blessed Chola country. Pappayan,
a Brahman of the place, whose grief was that he had
no child, walking in that direction, saw the pretty
babe, and was as delighted as a poor man would be
on finding in a lonely spot a vessel of gold. He
gently took up the stranger, and carried it home ;
and his wife received it kindly. In the face of the
world, Pappayan named the boy Cabilar, and
brought him up as his own son. He grew in wisdom,
and was remarkable for good conduct. When he had
reached the age of seven, the time for investment with
the sacred cord, all the Brahmans in the town were
invited to join in the appropriate ceremonies. They
met accordingly, but with one voice refused to assist, on
the ground that the candidate was not born in their
caste. Pappayan was overwhelmed with disappoint¬
ment ; but his lamentations were soon interrupted.
The boy himself, divinely favoured, appeared in the
assembly, and maintained his right, composing and
chanting the following poem. “ It is nothing,” he
92 MEMORIALS OF CABLEAR, ETC.
argued, “ to say that caste comes by birth : it is won

by deeds.” Unable to gainsay his remonstrance, the
wondering Brahmans now, with as much delight as
his foster-parents, initiated him into the privileges of
their order. Strange that, in spite of this popular
history, caste has obtained so strong a hold in India !
The poet Pattira-Kiriyar asks,—“ O when will the
time come that men shall live together without any
distinction of caste, according to the doctrine promul¬
gated in the beginning by Cabilar?”
He had already gained a seat as one of the forty-
nine professors in the Madura College, when Tiru-
Valluvar presented his Cural for approval; and he
gave his judgment in the following stanza :—
“ The Cural, of fair lands O king,

Where tutor’d birds in houses sing,
Till lull’d by women’s sweeter song,
Though short in words, in sense is long,
On millet blade as dew-drop small
Reflected shows the palm-tree tall.”
It may be interesting here to say what is written of

the other four wonderful foundlings. Ouvvay was
the eldest, Cabilar the fifth, and Valluvar the youngest
of the children.
Uppay, the second, born in a choultry at Uttu-
Cadu, a place of fountains, as the name indicates,
was taken possession of by a washerman, became a
MEMORIALS OF CAFILAR, ETC. 93
distinguished poetess, wrote a treatise on ethics, and

after death was deified under the title of Mariyammay.
Athigaman, the eldest son and third child, aban¬
doned in a grove at Caruvur, was brought up by a
king of the Chera country, became an accomplished
archer, grew learned in the wisdom of Menu, and
rose to rank and affluence. He was a bountiful
patron of bards, and in his mellifluous writings, as all
accomplished Tamils testify, presented to the world
“ the nectar of the poets.”
Uruvay, the fourth child, saw the light in a shed
at Caveripatnam, and was taken and reared by a
family of Sanars, toddy-dealers. She became a dis¬
tinguished dancer and poetess, and is now worshipped
as a goddess of mischief at Tiruvalangadu.
Vally, the sixth child, born on the slope of Mount
Vel, was found and adopted by basket-makers.
Nothing is on record to her credit..
94
CABILAR-AGAVAL*
Of the world, Nanmuga’s -j* grand creation,

With its secret laws, an explanation,
And its glories, who can render ?
O ye sages, did the male sex first,
Or tlie^ female, into being burst,
Or things of the neuter gender ?
Does the day or star precedence claim ?

From the other which derived its name ?
Which is older, good or ill ?
Which must higher, wealth or lore, be rated ?
Was the spacious ancient earth created ?
Or a work that knew no will ?
Are the births and castes you fondly own

The event of nature’s growth alone,
Or a scheme design’d and finish’d ?
Who will live till fate shall fairly call ?
Who will prematurely victims fall,
Their appointed time diminish’d ?
* The word Agava/ is descriptive of the metre of the Tamil

poem.
f The Four-faced, i. t., Brahma.
CABILAR-AGA VAL. 95
Will infectious evil ever die ?

Why and where do all the senses fly,
When the man that own’d them’s dead ?
Do ascetics some new form obtain,
Or acquire a human birth again ?
Is the soul or body fed ?
With a ready mouth and tongue I come,

As a drum-stick this, and that a drum :
Ye good people all attend.
But a hundred years our life can number ;
And of these we fifty lose in slumber,
And in childhood five expend.
Then of thrice five more by youth bereft,

From the hundred we’ve but thirty left:
And now joy, now grief, is rife.
What is wealth ? a river overflowing.
What is youth ? its crumbling bank. And growing
Like a tree thereon, is life.
So of only one pursuit be heedful;

And from doing well, the one thing needful,
Not a moment dare to borrow.
This first concern demands to-day,
Nor admits another hour’s delay :
Ye are fools who claim to-morrow.
For you cannot tell what luck is near,

If to-morrow Yama may appear,
Or another day you’ll gain.
96 CABILAR-AGA VAL.
Every moment Cuttuvan * expect,

When he comes all worship who’ll reject.
And your richest gifts disdain.
You may argue, but you’ll be denied ;

With your kin he’ll not be satisfied;
All alike in death must share :
He will neither from the good man turn,
Nor the needy, nor the wicked spurn,
Nor the man of money spare.
Not a moment will the Fierce-eyed stay ;

And the body he ’ll not bear away,
With the soul alone content.
For a spirit fled, O men bereaved,
Or a carcase dead, are ye so grieved ?
Or for what do you lament ?
Do you say ye mourn the spirit’s flight ?

As it ne’er before appear’d in sight,
So to-day it is not seen.
Do you say the body stirs your grief,
While you watch it still, though like a thief,
When itself has rifled been.
For you strip it; hands and feet you tie ;

From the kindred pile the flame mounts high
Only ashes now remain.
* Yama, Death.
CABILAR-A GA VAL. 97
You have, laved, and to your kindred go :

Does complacence or regret o’erflow,
That you mingle tears again ?
With repeated mantras and good cheer,

Will your children keep you lingering here,
O ye Brahmans, when you die ?
To return were suppliant ghosts e’er known,
And with hands outstretch’d keen hunger own,
And their cravings satisfy ?
While the Hunas, Ottyas, Singhalese,

And the Mlechas, Yavanas, Chinese,
And the Chonakas,* and others,
Have no Brahmans throughout all their borders,
You have ranged in four exclusive orders
Whom creation meant for brothers.
It is conduct marks the high and low.

The consorted cow and buffalo
Were a wonder to be seen.
Do your castes thus mutually repel ?
Is their union so impossible ?
Has it never fruitful been ?
* The Chinese and Singhalese excepted, these names are now

used to signify Mohammedans, infidels, and barbarians. It seems
impossible to determine exactly their ancient application. Prob¬
ably the Arabians were called Chonakas: the Greeks were
Yavanas. The other tribes mentioned occupied countries
bordering on Hindustan.
H
98 CABILAR-AGA VAL.
Wheresoe’er whatever seed is sown,

It will there produce its kind alone.
Let a Brahman’s progeny,
Though a Puliah * mother gives them birth,
Be accepted by the lords of earth -j*
As their equals in degree.
As the cow and buffalo between,

Who have ever such a difference seen
Among men of divers classes ?
In the life men lead, the limbs they wear,
In their bodies, in their form and air,
And in mind, no rank surpasses.
When a Puliah with a Brahman’s mouth

For the north forsakes his native south,
He is there a Brahman deem’d :
When a Brahman from the north betrays
In the south a Puliah’s crooked ways,
But a Puliah he’s esteem’d.
In the mire as crimson lilies grow,
So Yasishta,J Brahma’s son, we owe
To a lowly concubine.
A Chandaly § to Vasishta gave
Sattyanada, by a Puliah slave
Who prolong’d the famous line.
* Pariah, low-caste. The ancestors of the Puliahs are said
to have been circumcised slaves of the Mohammedans.
f Brahmans. Cabilar here describes his own case.
One of the seven great sages, son of the mind of Brahma.
§ A Pariah woman, an outcast.
CABILAR-AGA VAL. 99
To Parasara her son, the birth

Of Vyasa* seal’d a fish-girl’s worth.
And because all basely born,—
In the Vedas versed, for learning famed,—
With the very first of sages named,—
Are they aught of glory shorn ?
I am Cabilar, whom Athy bore

Unto Pagavan in Caruvore,—
She a Puliah, he the sage *
And I’ll tell you how we all have fared,—
For by seven of us is proudly shared
The unequal parentage.
In a place where ready springs abound,

With a lowly washer, Uppay found
All the fostering care she needed.
Nor could Uruvay of aught complain,
Though its juice they from the palm-tree drain
Who her wants have kindly heeded.
With musicians Ouvvay found a home.

On the mountain side, with those who roam
In the woods, was Vally bred.
Among Pariahs Valluvar appear’d.
In a grove Athigaman was rear’d,
Where the bees on flowers fed.
* Compiler of the VCtlas.

H 2
TOO CABILAR-AGA VAL.
Gentle Brahmans I am bound to bless

Who these richly-water’d lands possess,
For their never-failing care.
Does the rain keep clear of men low-born ?
Do the breezes in their progress scorn ?
Does the earth disdain to bear ?
Does the sun refuse them light and heat ?

Does the jungle yield what mean men eat,
While the fields support the high ?
All alike may wealth or want inherit ;
All alike may earn devotion’s merit;
And we all alike must die.
There is but one race o’er all the earth;

Men are one in death, and one in birth •
And the God they serve is One.

Who the sayings of old time revere,
And in virtue firmly persevere,
Are inferior to none.
Who relieve the suppliant day by day,

Who abhor to lie or steal or slay,
Who the fleshly fire subdue,
And who blandly speak, contemn your scorn.
O ye fools, let graces rank adorn,
Or no good does thence accrue.
€Ije Hntrring 3nigt.
HE English found India a continent of political

JL Volcanoes, earthquakes, and storms. Caprice
and vice ruled in every region. The tyranny of one
district was unlike that of another. In the same
petty kingdom the succession of a Rajah was a violent
introduction of new measures. Iniquity was religion,
and morality a dream. The criminal was as often on
the bench as in the dock. A bribe was necessary to
open the judge’s eyes ; and he used torture to bring
accused persons to his own way of thinking. Pro¬
secutors were liars, and witnesses actors. There was
often no standard of law. If a man had property, his
head sat loose on his shoulders. Jewels were not
safe, even when buried underground. There were
treatises on short and easy methods of burglary and
slaughter.
We have changed all that, or nearly so. By
nothing has India been more benefitted than our
impartial administration of justice. The high do not
now trample upon the low; and the rights of rich and
poor are equally sacred. Venality is a crime, as well
as perjury; and the wretch who dares to employ
torture is as guilty as the worst criminal to whom it
can be applied. Not particular districts only are
102 THE UNERRING JUDGE.
brightened and healed : the blessing is diffused like

the sunshine, and pervasive as the air. The land
that was all in pieces has been joined together.
Ere England’s power was felt, proof often occurred
that “ there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of
the Almighty giveth them understanding.” As the
rainbow paints the cloud, and as stars shine in the'
night, now and then a genius arose among the
natives, whose face shone with God’s image, and in
whose hands were the tables of His law. Reason,
conscience, and common sense spread their gifts in
his proceedings ; and there was refuge and protection
for the people till the lofty tree was laid low. “For
they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do
judgment. ’ When he fell, it was like the withdrawal
of Divine favour; and the exposed country sighed
and smarted.
The following Tamil history gives a glimpse of such
a hero. It is a specimen of the tales current at this
day among our eastern fellow-subjects, being, with the
exception that a story unfit for our language has been
omitted, a faithful translation of one out of many
such works issued from the native press. A few
connecting words only have been added ; and, as far
as possible, the indelicate expressions characteristic
of Hindu publications have been rejected. Not free
from fiction, yet it is most likely founded upon fact.
The narrative exemplifies the old despotic practice
of elevating men, with no special training, and on
THE UNERRING JUDGE. 103
the impulse of an hour, to the highest offices. One

day Raman had the applause of children with whom
he played : the next he was the man whom the
king delighted to honour. This record of cases in
which he is said to have given judgment shows
how serviceable to a shrewd magistrate is circum¬
stantial evidence ; and it exhibits the disposition of
the Hindu to cheat* and lie, and his opinion that
falsehood is pardonable if only clever.
The wisdom of the East speaks in proverbs. When
any striking event is witnessed or related, it is usual
to quote as the moral of it some common saying. It
will be observed that each of the following stories
illustrates a popular adage cited at its close.
Our hero belonged to the Velala or agriculturist
caste, one of the most respectable, and was a native
of Chola-Mandalam, or, as modern geography has it,
Coromandel. The meaning of the word is, The
Country of Cholay spoken of in previous pages ; and
the present name shows where that good land lay.
Its ancient capital was Urayur; but the kings more
recently resided at Tanjore. Their dynastic appella¬
tion was Cholan; and a proud title it was. By cutting
canals from the river Ca.very, those monarchs made
their territory the most fertile in India. Eastern
exaggeration says, not that it was a land flowing with
milk and honey, but that ghee was to be drawn from
a reservoir in its metropolis like water from a well.
The rulers prided themselves on their justice. A
104 THE UNERRING JUDGE.
common saying in India for governing so that no one

shall have cause to complain is, “ governing so that
not even the tongue of the bell shall move.” This
saying originated in the use made of the familiar
instrument by a Chola king. He had a bell hung up
at his palace-gate, that by means of it such as failed
to obtain redress from his subordinates might attract
his royal notice. Alas ! even in happy Chola the
tongue was not always still. Our history introduces
itself with a case in which a woman who had been
imposed upon, if she did not ring the bell, wrung her
hands, and, instead of His Majesty’s clapper, made
good use of her own.
The judgments of Raman will remind the reader of
the famous decision of Solomon,* and of similar
stratagems adopted in cases of litigation by Claudius,
Ariopharnes, and others mentioned by commentators.
There are still transitional countries, fallen from
civilization, or not risen to it, in which justice is
administered according to the law of a judge’s sagacity
or a ruler’s ready wit. An apposite anecdote of the
Bey of Tunis occurs in a recent publication.
“ A certain Moor lost his purse one day, containing
sundry gold pieces or sequins. Desirous of recovering
it, he proclaimed his mishap by means of the good
offices of the town-crier. The person who had found
it was an upright man, conspicuous for his probity;
and the moment he discovered to whom it belonged,
* i Kings iii. 16—28.
THE UNERRING JUDGE. io5
he made haste to restore it to its rightful owner: but

the latter, finding that he had to do with a rich man,
thought it a good opportunity for a little illicit gain
at the expense of him who had so conscientiously
restored it. He therefore maintained that there were
eighty sequins missiqg out of the purse in question,
and violently insisted on their restitution. The
quarrel became uproarious, and of course was referred
to the decision of the Bey. One man declared that
the purse originally contained a hundred sequins,
whilst his adversary affirmed with many oaths that he
had given it back just as he found it. As both
assertions bore the same aspect of probability, the Bey
was for a moment embarrassed as to his decision.
He asked however, to see the purse, and'having
examined it attentively, withdrew from it the money
it contained, ordering, at the same time, that another
hundred sequins be brought from his own treasury.
He tried to put them into the purse, which, however,
would only contain about fifty; then emptying it
afresh, he invited the prosecutor to try his hand at it,
and fill it with the hundred sequins which he had
sworn it originally to enclose. Of course he was
unable to do so ; and the Bey, handing the purse and
the sequins to the defendant, said, ‘You had better
take possession of it, as it does not answer the descrip¬
tion given of it.’ The false accuser received two
hundred blows from the bastinado.” *
* “Under the Palms in Algeria and Tunis.” By the lion.
Lewis Wingfield. 1868.
io6
MARIYATHAY-RAMAN.
I.
One of four thieves
The rest deceives.
Foui; lodgers with an ancient dame

Received contentedly what came,
Were gainers by what others lost,
And boarded at the public cost.
Now coins and jewels music yield,
Within a brazen vessel seal’d ;
But they must keep the common prey
To charm them on a safer day.
“ Ho, bury this beneath the floor,
Till call’d for, mother, by all four,”
They said, and still their lodgings kept,
And ate and drank, and watch’d and slept.
Once on a day, as o’er the way
In a verandah’s shade they lay,
And of the common good conversed,
The faithful four were plagued with thirst.
“ Who’ll go to the old dame, and say
That we must have a pot of whey ? ” *
* Buttermilk, esteemed none the worse for being sour, is a

favourite drink in India for quenching thirst. It is usual to take
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN. 107
Was ask’d ; and, flying like a shot,

One said to her, “ Produce the pot.”
Pledged not to part with it at all
Without an order from them all,
Into the street she trusty went,
And ask’d if for the pot they’d sent.
“ Yes, give it him, and don’t be slow.”
So, turning back, an iron crow
She lent her lodger, and reveal’d
The place where she’d the jar conceal’d.
“ With this you ’ll turn it up with ease,”
Said she ; and he was on his knees.
The metal in his hands he feels,
And then the mettle in his heels ;
Through the back door he bears the prize;
And like a thief of thieves he flies.
Minutes twice twelve the thirsty three
Had waited, wondering not to see
Their partner with a pot supplied,
When all got up, and went inside.
it early in the morning ; and no doubt the dry souls had passed
a feverish night. With the exception of the messenger, they
had now allowed their wits to go to sleep. The direction they
gave him, — Tondi ycduttuk kondu va,—was ambiguous ; one of
its words, tondi, being either a verbal participle or a noun. The
noun means a small earthen vessel; the participle, having dug
in the ground. The words therefore not only signify, “ Bring a
small jar,” but equally, “ Dig up, and pring.” The intended
meaning was evident from the addition, “to get some whey ; ”
but that addition the rogue suppressed, it not being true always
that there is honour among thieves.
108 MARIYA TIIA Y-RAMAN.
The cheat perceived, the dame they cursed ;

And vengeance now was all their thirst.
They hail’d her to the judgment-bar,
And swore she’d stolen their brazen jar.
The Lord Chief Justice weigh’d the case,
Look’d the poor woman in the face,
And said he could not let it pass,
She must restore the pot of brass.
“ O dear ! what shall I do ? ” she cries,
And tears are streaming from her eyes.
As bright a youth as e’er you’ll meet
Was in the middle of the street,
With playmates busy at the game
Of pitch and toss : * he ask’d the dame,
“ Good grandmother, why all these tears ? ”
She with her stoty fill’d his ears.
Then, turning to his play anew,
As from his hands the nuts he threw,
Exclaim’d the grieved precocious soul,
“ May these as surely find the hole
As earth his mouth shall quickly choke
Who this unrighteous sentence spoke ! ” f
* Ketcheyk-kay, something like a game of marbles ; instead of

marbles, areka nuts being used. The aim in it is, from a fixed
distance,, to pitch the nuts into one or more of two or three holes
scooped in the ground.
f The allusion is to the situation of a buried corpse, uncoffined,
with the face turned up ; and the wish conveyed the opinion that
the gods would not allow so unrighteous a judge to live very
long. The prophecy of the youth was fulfilled. The mouth of
MARIYA THA Y-RAM AN. 109
Some busybodies to the throne

Made Raman’s daring comment known.
The boy was to the monarch led,
And thus the awful Cholan said,
“Who thinks the sentence so unjust,
Himself the case may try, and must.”
The child of Menu, unappall’d,
The prisoner and the plaintiffs call’d,
The matter sifted, set her free,
And thus address’d the bathed three :
“ She will, as pledged, the jar restore,
When told to do so by all four.”
Grief goes the way that treasures' go,*
They say : the lady found it so.
The king with joy the tidings heard,
The title of “ The Just ” J~ conferr’d
On Raman, made the bench his own,
Sent gifts of honour from the throne,
With special countenance caress’d,
And held him a familiar guest.
the unfortunate gentleman was filled with dirt : he was as good

as dead.
» 1. Wealth in possession is grief, in the anxiety it occasions.
This grief ceases when the wealth disappears. 2. When property
is stolen, the greater affliction is with the stealer. The unfortunate
loser is less unhappy than the miserable thief,
f Manyathciy, The Unerring.
no MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
II.
HOW ONE DENIED
Infanticide.
When made aware of what was done,

The father, trembling for hk son,
And for himself, with anger said,
“ O Raman, have you lost your head ?
By subtilties of justice vex’d,
The very gods are oft perplex’d;
And who to master them are you ?
From one mistake will scores ensue.
This office full of fear decline,
And show not where you cannot shine.”
Raman the Just made answer, “ Sire,
There’s small occasion for your ire ;
Since God will be my faultless Guide,
And aid me wisely to decide.
Pray do not force me to refuse,
But let the king my station choose ;
Nor fortune’s goddess kick away,
When she a visit deigns to pay.”
“ Do as you like,” he then replied,
Unable to say aught beside,
And home again his footsteps bent,
Reflecting as he thither went,
“ If here I stay,—more than I dare,—
His slips and troubles I must share.
Attempting, he but tempts, the law.

To other lands I must withdraw.” *
l
His purpose hidden from his son,

Forthwith his journey was begun.
Night reach’d, he at a dwelling lay,
Whose lord had gone from home that day,
Leaving his wives,—the childless first,
And second t who an infant nursed.
The elder woman went to rest.
No slumber sooth’d the quiet guest
Who on the seat outside the door
Lay turning his misfortunes o’er.
Now thinking both in slumber sound,
And that her wish’d-for chance was found,
The second wife at.midnight made
The signal her gallant obey’d.
The startled infant at her side
Inopportunely woke, and cried.
Exposure dreading more than death,
She grasp’d it, to restrain its breath,—
A lasting lesson soon convey’d ;
And by the first its body laid.
With night she let her lover go.
With daylight she took up her woe.
* It is not in all instances good to have a friend at court. The

highest in the king’s favour is the nearest to his frown, and may
carry his kindred with him in suddenly falling to the lowest
place.
f By license of Hindu law.
I I 2 ■MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
Beginning loudly to complain

Her rival had the baby slain.
The village heard, the proofs rehearsed,
The envious murderess fiercely cursed,
And, when the mother sought relief
In Raman’s court, display’d their grief.
By all he’d chanced to see surprised,
The fugitive soliloquized,
“ If right he do in this dispute,
I’ll trust my son in any suit.”
In studious disguise he dress’d,
And near the seat of justice press’d.
The new-made Judge, with thoughtful look,
The woman’s deposition took ;
Was quick his officers to send
The elder wife to apprehend;
And, when they’d brought her, ask’d her why
She’d caused the little child to die.
“ This hell-deserving sin,” said she,
“ God knows, was never done by me.”
“ O base and artful woman ! ” cried
The younger wife, and said she lied.
Perplex’d, his lordship would be told
If any did the deed behold.
“ My eyes beheld,” the accuser cried,
“ The deed was seen by none beside.”
The judge first turn’d to God his mind,
Then ponder’d how the truth to find.
“ In dress befitting callous vice,

You both the court must compass thrice,5’
He said. Agreed the younger wife.
“ I will not, though it cost my life,”
The other thought; then spoke ashamed,
“ I’m willing rather to be blamed
And punish’d in a murderer’s place;
O drive me not to this disgrace.”
Observing carefully the two,
Raman the vile dissembler knew,
By stripes constrain’d her to confess,
And hang’d the actual murderess.
The ancient saying was fulfill’d,
“ She one thing, God another will’d.”
The father then, with boundless joy,
Approach’d and bless’d his wondrous boy.
“ Your title and exploit agree :
Raman the Just my son shall be.
Such wisdom none but God could give.
In health and wealth long may you live ! ”*
And, happy man, he stay’d at home :
Wh?' need had he abroad to roam?
III.
Going to law
O’er pussYs paw.
Four partners in the cotton trade,

That rats might not their stores invade,
i
114 MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
Procured a cat, and made a law

That each of them should own a paw.
Then each a leg adorn’d with rings
And ankle-chains and beaded strings,
Till, tortured by the glittering load,
A wounded foot grimalkin show’d.*
A strip of cloth the owner found,
And dipp’d in oil, and wrapp’d around.
The kindly embers pussy sought;
The lurking fire the bandage caught;
The flying cat the flame convey’d,
And burnt up all the stock in trade.
The three, who all the ruin saw,
Resolved to get redress in law;
Their partner before Raman brought,
And utmost compensation sought.
What they had lost, he should provide
The oily dressing who’d applied.
The judge the claim unrighteous thought :
No wilful damage had been wrought.
He must the prisoner set free,
And turn his sentence on the three.
“ The bandaged foot was lame, and so
Could not assist the cat to go :
Its going caused what you lament:
By means of your three legs it went :
* People who kill with kindness, as they do no good, get

none.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN iI5
So you must, be it understood,

To the accused his loss make good.”
They only added to their woes,
As with its own proboscis throws
The elephant, in baffled tread,
The blinding dust upon its head.
The man accused, from lowest grief
In highest joy found quick relief,
Proving, like sailor tempest-toss’d,
Yet ’scaping when confused and lost,
Himself not knowing east from west,
“ ;Tis God who succours the distress’d.” *
IV.
NO PEARLS WERE E’ER

Placed in his care !
A man who own’d two pearls of cost,

Determined they should not be lost,
When starting on a journey, thought
He’d leave them in safe hands, and sought
A trusty friend, and saying, “ Please,
Till I return, take care of these,”
Contented left his wealth behind,
And travell’d with an easy mind.
In time, his journey at an end,
He call’d to thank his honest friend,
* Our own proverb is similar :—Man’s extremity is God’s

opportunity.”
I 2
i 16 MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
Who, to his sore amaze, denied,

“ No pearls did you to me confide.”
Forthwith he to the judge complain’d ;
And Raman the accused arraign’d,
And read his guilt upon his face ;
But, wanting proof to seal the case,
Heard what each party had to say,
And coolly sent them both away.
He saw, ere many suns had shone,
The loser of the pearls alone,
And ask’d, with cautious scrutiny,
What sort and size the pearls might be.
Then took he from his casket straight
Of such-like pearls just ninety-eight,
And strung them on some rotten thread,
And sent for the accused, arid said,
“ An honest face like your’s I’ll trust.
So take these hundred pearls you must,
And bring them newly strung; for see,
This cord’s as rotten as’t can be.”
The joyful rogue went home, and there
The pearls he strung with cunning care,
Then counted them,—again,—again,
And search’d about the floor in vain.
Two pearls he’d lost! so with the rest
He strung the two that he possess’d,
And then, presenting all, proclaim’d
Himself the thief he had been named.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
Among the hemp the fowl that dares

To scratch with greed its feet ensnares.
The owner had his pearls return’d,
The thief the punishment he’d earn’d.
V.
The iron fed
The rats, one said.
Ten pigs * of iron having bought,

A man a trusty neighbour sought,
And left them in his careful hands,
While he should visit foreign lands.
Some years ere his return transpired,
When for the iron he inquired.
The saucy keeper shook his head,
And, “ Rats have eaten it,” he said.
Indignantly the owner strode
To Raman, and his grievance show’d.
The judge upon a measure hit
By which the biter should be bit.
The plaintiff saw the promised fun,
And undertook jt should be done ;
In seeming friendship leam’d to smile,
As taught the saw concerning guile,—
“ The fondness of a kinsman show,
Your foeman’s house to overthrow.”
io params — 5,000 lbs.

He fetch’d one day his neighbour’s boy

To share a homely feast of joy.
The willing youth the threshhold cross’d,
And in a room was lock’d and lost.
Next morning, when his father cried,
“ Where is my child ? ” the host replied,
“ A kite has pounced on him at play,
And borne the screaming boy away.”
The parent Raman’s presence sought,
To whom the kidnapper was brought.
The judge demanded, “ Can you say
A kite convey’d his son away ? ”
“ I placed,” he answered, “ in his care
Ten pigs of iron : ask him where
They are, and hear if he’ll repeat
That rats did all my iron eat.”
The judge severely eyed the twain,
And, frowning, said in angry vein,
“ The trick each on the other tries
Is covering a whole gourd with rice.
The father must the iron yield ;
The boy no longer be conceal’d.”
VI.
Never to me
Lent she the ghee.
Two cows a woman kept; but o’er

The way another own’d a score,
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
Who, midst her plenty, ask’d if she

Would lend her a few pounds of ghee,
And, when the time for payment came,
Denied that she’d received the same.
The former therefore found the face
Of Raman, and explain’d the case.
When summon’d, and with questions tried,
The guilty borrower replied,
“I’ve twenty cows, and she’s but two;
’Tis envy makes her falsely sue.”
In doubt the judge sent them away,
To come again the following day.
Ere they arrived, where they must tread,
He had the ground with mire o’erspread.
With muddy feet the women stood
Before him in bewilder’d mood.
His lordship, at their plight appall’d,
For brazen jars of water call’d,
And to the bearers gave command
To each an equal jar to hand.
The poorer woman made her clean,
And yet half-full her jar was seen.
An empty jar the other placed,
Yet half the filth her feet disgraced.
Then could the judge unerring see
Which dairy-dame had wanted ghee.
Her faculty of management
Proved that the poorer one had lent.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
The wasteful owner oF the score

Was more than sentenced to restore.
The ancient proverb came to mind,—
“ The lowest place will water find.”
VII.
Give what you choose,
You’ll meet my views.
A loving father near his end,

Handed a tried and trusty friend
Ten thousand pagods, that the same
Might be disposed of in his name.
“ Give what you like,”—his will so ran,—
“ To my dear son when grown a man.”
The friend devoted saw him die,
Took home the gold, and put it by.
When in due time the boy up-grown
Applied to him to have his own,—
“ What I should like, your father told,
Must be your portion of the gold.—
Now this is what I like,” said he,
And let him but a thousand see.
The youth exclaim’d, “ That will not do,”
And angry to the court-house flew.
The guardian’s plea his lordship heard,
And judged him after his own word : —
“ The thousands nine you like, ’tis plain,
Since they are what you would retain :
The thousands nine you must let go,

To give him what you like, you know:
What you don’t like learn to enjoy,
The tithe you offer’d to the boy.”*
Nothing was gain’d by greed of gold,
According to the saying old,
“With demon-swiftness though he fly,
Who ’ll catch his neighbour’s property ? ”
VIII.
He found it hard,
Who’d robb’d the bard.
A lonely bard, his wandering o’er,

Returning with his gather’d store,
Drew near the town with weary feet,
When it was his mischance to meet
A man who seized his bag, and swore,
“ ’Tis mine,” and home the bundle bore.
* A story for the orator, begging a good collection. Do

people give what they like ? It is matched by the following
anecdote from the Rev. B. Gregory’s book, “ The Thorough
Business Man.” “ A colleague of the writer’s in a London
Methodist Circuit had been preaching one Sunday morning on
the golden rule, and was dining with a member of the congrega¬
tion. His host said to him, ‘ Mr. Hardcastle, I do not quite see
your point. You say, Whatsoever ye would that men should
do unto you, do ye even so to them. Well, I should very much
like you to give me a thousand pounds !’ ‘O,’ replied the
minister, ‘ your duty is perfectly clear : you must please hand
me a thousand pounds ; for, Whatsoever^ would, etc.’”
122 MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN..
There yet was hope, the poet saw,

While Raman minister’d the law.
Inclined to give the bard relief,
He question’d close the summon’d thief,
Who answer’d, with astonish’d face,
“ I nothing know about the case.”
Then Raman form’d his careful plan,
And home dismiss’d the perjured man.
He had not reach’d his house before
Two spies were lurking by the door.
As in he went, his wife’s first word,
“ How did your business end ? ” they heard.
“ I baffled them, and got scot free,
By feigning ignorance,” said lie.*
Their hiding-place the spies forsook,
And their report to Raman took.
He had the rogue put in arrest.
To scourging all would be confess’d ;
As ancient sages truly spoke,
“The grind-stone yields to stroke on stroke.”
And when he’d been examined well,
And tortured all his guilt to tell,
And back his bag the bard had gain’d,
He suffer’d as the law ordain’d.
* “ Pitchers have ears.” It is not safe for the dishonest to

open their lips, even in their own dwellings.
MARIYATHA Y-RAMAN. 123
IX.
He would not own

He held the stone.
One who a sardius possess’d,

To have his anxious mind at rest,
Committed to a merchant’s hand
The priceless gem, with this command,—
“ I go abroad, some time to stay,—
Take care of this while I’m away.”
Returning when four years had flown,
He ask’d the trader for the stone,
Who said persistently, “ You know,
You had it back some time ago.”
Than cash more ready with a lie
Three customers for rice stood by,
A washer, black who white could make,
A potter, skill’d the mould to take,
A barber, who could closely shave;
And all would witness for the knave.
They heard his lips the word declare,
And sold themselves the same to swear.
Observing this, the injured man
To Raman the Unerring ran,
The stealing of the gem explain’d,
And how false swearers were retain’d.
The secret whisper'd in his ear,
The judge commanded to appear
The merchant who had done the wrong,

And bring his witnesses along ;
And having heard what each could say,
He order’d all the five away.
Confined in silence, each alone
Must shape in clay the precious stone.
With ease the’ accuser and the’ accused
Fac-similes apart produced ;
But vainly every witness tried
To show what he had never eyed.
The barber’s gem was like a hone ;
The washerman’s, a washing-stone ;
The potter’s, that he deftly holds
When the revolving earth he moulds.
Remarking how these disagreed,
The judge from all his doubts was freed.
The gem its owner repossess’d :
Due punishment o’erwhelm’d the rest.
The flame the pois’nous nightshade earns,
The cotton-tree contiguous burns.
Who sided with the lying thief
Together with him came to grief.
X.
One claim’d with strife
Another’s wife.
A wife, obedient to a word,

The country tramp’d behind her lord.
Across their path a river ran :

They forded it, he in the van.
A stranger unperceived drew near,
And silent waded in their rear.
Her dress the woman lifted high
Amid the stream, to keep it dry.
The wretch who follow’d her could see
A fish-like mole behind her knee.
The woman was his wife, he swore,
When they had reach’d the further shore,
And let her lawful husband know
She should no longer with him go.
The men, not settling it alone,
To Raman made their quarrel known.
The husband said, “ My honest spouse
Is his, this lying scoundrel vows.”
The rival question’d, stoutly cried,
“ She is my wife; I have not lied.”
Then asked the judge, “ Which, let me know,
Brings witnesses the truth to show ? ”
The traveller said, “ In this strange land
We have no witnesses at hand.”
Too vile the foulest sin to fear,
The other answer’d, “I’ve none here ;
But, if I must, I’ll give a sign
To prove the modest woman mine :
If female searchers look, they ’ll find
A fish-like mole her knee behind.”
126 MARIYA TIIA Y-RAMAN.
When they reported such the case,

The judge said, looking in her face,
“ Which is your husband, on your word ? ”
She pointed to her lawful lord.
The puzzle to unravel, he
Gave her to female custody,
And sent the claimants both away
In proper charge till break of day.
At dawn he call’d both to his feet,
The executioner to meet,
Whom he commanded, “ Be not slow,
For well the criminal you know ;
I’ve told you which affirm’d the lie ;
Proceed, and let the villain die.” *
The sword was drawn, and, starting, one
Cried, “ Do not kill me,—wrong I’ve done ; ”
And, trembling, to the court made known
Whence all the fierce dispute had grown.
The happy husband thanks outpour’d
To have his grateful wife restored.
The alien, punish’d for his crime,
Fulfill’d the saying of old time,—
“ What can’t be borne if any do,
What can’t be borne must suffer too.”
* See Justice with bandaged eyes, yet holding the balance

truly, and wielding the sword with right effect.
XI.
An equal lot
Share brute and pot.
The gay procession’s drawing near :

The newly-married pair appear.
To the Velalan bridegroom’s sire
By Moslem owner lent on hire,
In trappings proud, a yaney * strong
Majestically steps along.
But sudden fate can strength surprise :
The elephant falls down and dies.
Without delay the father ran,
And thus address’d the Mussulman,—
“ By God’s decree your yaney’s dead :
I ’ll pay, or find one in its stead.”
“ Neither its price nor substitute,”
He said, “I’ll have my living brute.”
With this impossible demand
Before the judge he dared to stand.
Wise Raman the Velalan heard
Relate the facts as they occurr’d,
And said that he was free from blame ;
From God the visitation came;
The Moor must take, for what he’d lost,
Another yaney or its cost.
* Elephant.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
But nothing could the fool persuade

To hear the just proposal made.
He swore by the Almighty’s name,
“ I’ll have no other, but the same;
Neither its price nor substitute,
Bring me again my living brute.”
Troubled the honest borrower stood,
And Raman sate in thoughtful mood.
At length he said, “ You’ll both go home,
And both again to-morrow come.”
He then—by secret message brought—
In private the Velalan taught :—
“ You need not, as determined, meet
The Moslem at the judgment-seat.
Have your house-door, not fasten’d, mind,
But insecurely closed : behind
Old paneys * in the entrance pile.
The Moorman shall be caught with guile.
Before me duly he’ll appear :
I’ll say, ‘ Your enemy’s not here—
Fetch him.’ He’ll push your door with haste,
And smash the pots behind it placed.
Then let your lamentations flow,
And weeping to your neighbours go ;
1 My paneys old as old can be,
From ancestors come down to me,
* Earthen pots.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN. 12(J
This man has broken,’ loudly cry;

And in whatever way he try
To’ appease your simulated woe,
‘ I’ll have those paneys,’ let him know.”
All happening as the judge foresaw,
Both reach’d again the court of law.
“ This man,” the self-defender swore,
“ Has smash’d my paneys, made of yore.
I ’ll have them back, a precious lot,
A priceless heirloom—every pot.”
The judge fix’d on the Moor his eye,
And said, “ To this what’s your reply ? ”
He answer’d, “ Nobody’s to blame :
Yaney and paney fare the same.”
How true the saw, in him was shown,
“ Wise fools will loose what wealth they own.”
XII.
The chit is torn,
The debt forsworn.
A citizen for money lent

A note of promise did present.
The lender, when some days had flown,
Demanded payment of the loan.
“ I shall,” the gentleman replied,
“ Be on the hill the town outside
To-morrow; bring the note I sign’d,
And all with interest you’ll find.”
K
He went: the note the debtor took,

Examined it with searching look,—
A fire with fuel fresh supplied
Was burning ready at his side,—
Then tore, and cast it in the flame,
And said, “ Be off, you have no claim.”
The merchant sought the judge’s face,
And sorrowfully told his case.
The summon’d rogue heard the demand,
“ Why did you tear the note of hand ? ”
“No note have I destroy’d,” said he,
“ This fellow nothing lent to me.”
Its size the judge inquired aside.
“ A span,” the creditor replied.
“ Say two, when I in public ask,”
Said Raman, and resumed his task.
Then from the bench, on his return,
He with judicial aspect stem
Inform’d the lender’t must be learnt
How long the bond was that was burnt.
He solemnly a cubit * named.
The citizen aroused, .exclaim’d,
“ He lies, your lordship, in his throat,
Calling a span a cubit-note ;
If here such glaring lies he’ll dare
How many won’t he tell elsewhere ? ”
“ Ah,” said the judge, “ my clever man,
How could you know it was a span,
* Two spans.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN !3i
If not by your own fingers penn’d,

And by you given to your friend ? ”
Then not alone the perjurer’s due,
As law imposed, the’ offender knew;
But all for which the note he’d sign’d
With heavy interest resign’d.
He show’d how well the saying fits,
“ A man in haste outruns his wits.”
XIII.
One orders rice*
A LIME IN SIZE.
To all who’d purchase, young or old,

A Brahmani refreshments sold.
A traveller beforehand paid
His money, and politely said,
“ I’m very hungry,—in a trice
Bring me a lime in bulk of rice.”
* The word rice may apply to a grain or a quantity. A London

publican was fined because, when half-a-pint of a beverage was
ordered, he supplied only a glassful. Would one be punished
if, pocketing the price of a glassful, when modestly asked for a
thimbleful, he should take the simpering customer at his word ?
An English magistrate might not require him, even to return the
money. Let us appeal to our Indian Solomon. If men were
true in speech, to what large mouths they would own ! How
their requests would expand, if they used words commensurate
with their appetites ! Would not the dainty sometimes complain,
if treated according to their literal demands ? When people ask
for, they do not mean a crumb or a drop.
K 2
T32 MARlYATHA Y-RAMAN
Upon a leaf she placed no more,

And set it down her guest before.
He look’d at her, and said, “ This rice
For four fanams will not suffice.
Speaking genteelly, it is true
I said a lime in size would do.
And thus a gentleman you treat!
Call this a bellyful of meat! ”
She answer’d, “ That’s the quantity
You order’d, and no more you’ll see.”
He went to Raman, and implored
His four fanams might be restored.
Before the righteous judge the dame,
Obedient to his summons, came.
He said, “ Did you this person tell
Some rice a lime in size you’d sell ? ”
“Yes,” answer’d she, “as he desired.”
“ But have you done so ? ” he required.
“ I have,” she said, “ as you shall know :
The very plate of rice I ’ll show.
In vain he tries to bring me grief:
Against his lies I fetch the leaf.”
No sooner said, than off she flew,
And brought the’ untasted dish to view.
“ O ho ! ” said Raman, “ it is clear
No grain a lime in bulk is here.
The price restore, or feast his eyes
With rice each grain a lime in size.”
Alarm’d she gave, with nought to say,
The money back, and went away.
MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN. T33
The cash its owner found, you see,

As “ fruit will fall beside its tree.”
XIV.
’Twas no such thing!
He’d had no ring !
A dandy to a wedding went,

Sporting a ring that one had lent.
So proud the jewel to display,
He wore it after, day by day,
Until its owner saw it shine,
And said, “ Return that ring of mine.”
“ Your ring ! how can you breathe the lie ?
*T is mine : be off! ” was the reply.
The lender, full of fear and grief,
Of Mariyathay sought relief.
Each claim’d the ring as his on oath;
And without witnesses were both.
A goldsmith should the truth decide,
Who had no interest either side.
The trusty man was quickly brought,
Whom first in whispers Raman taught:—
“ A golden ring to you they’ll show :
The touch-stone let it roughly know;
And then its quality and weight
Emphatically underrate.”
His lordship soon, handing the gold,
An officer his duty told :—
“ With plaintiff and defendant go ;
This jewel to yon goldsmith show,—
J34 MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
That he the value may declare,

And each obtain an equal share.”
When he the test severe applied,
“ Gently J ” the troubled owner cried.
When he asserted ’twas impure,
“ Not so,” said he, “ you’re wrong, I’m sure.”
Its worth pronounced, “ My property
Unjustly you appraise,” cried he.
The lender’s speech the assembly heard :
The borrower did not say a word.
The judge himself at once express’d
In favour of the man distress’d.
Again the honest had his own.
This saying in the cheat was shown,—
“Who handles gold by means not fair,
To see it tested feels no care.”
XV.
The mouth did hide,
And then denied.
Before they will their guilt reveal,

There are who swallow what they steal.
A woman sinn’d this double sin,
Whose next-door neighbour’s fowl stepp’d in.
Its owner saw the visit paid,
But did not see an exit made.
“ My fowl,” she was compell’d to say,
“ Enter’d your house : which is it, pray ? ”
“ If so,” the woman made reply,
“ It has escaped my watchful eye.”
The owner told the judge her grief,

Who question’d soon the summon’d thief.
She swore the hen she never saw ;
And as no witness help’d the law,
The knowing judge, with puzzled face,
Pretended to dismiss the case.
But when they’d gone a little way,
The startled woman heard him say,—
What he intended her to hear,
Address’d to people standing near,—
“ She cooks the bird she dared to steal,
And, having made her guilty meal,
Is not afraid, you see, to wear
Some of its feathers in her hair;
And impudence enough has left
Before us to deny the theft.”
Raising her hand, with sudden care,
She gently felt her knot of hair.
The judge the conscious movement saw,
And call’d her back to aid the law,
Herself to witness to her shame,
With her own mouth her guilt proclaim,
And, with an added fine, to pay
A fowl for that she took away.
She proved the ancient saying sooth,—
11 Shall falsehood fight and conquer truth ? ”
3^ MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
XVI.
The peas reveal’d
What they conceal’d.
About to go on pilgrimage,
What cares the Brahman’s thoughts engage
His money, by alms-begging got,
He places in a metal pot,
And to the brim, his mind to ease,
Fills it with closely shaken peas.
Then to a dear and trusty friend
He and his wife their footsteps bend,
And say, “ Deposit, if you please,
Till we return, this jar of peas
In a safe place, there to remain ;
And mind you never touch a grain.”
The smiling merchant gave consent;
And on their pilgrimage they went.
It happen’d on a certain day,
When they had been some time away,
An evening party to supply
Of many guests already nigh,
No peas could anywhere be got
Save those within the Brahman’s pot.
Then to his wife the trader spake,
“ The peas the Brahman left we’ll take,
And afterwards, when we can buy,
With other peas their place supply.”
She brought the jar, the- peas outpour’d ;
And then they saw the pilgrim’s hoard.
The peas that had been up were down ;

The thousand pagods form’d the crown,
Till man and wife, with high delight,
Agreed to put them out of sight.
Next day more peas they chanced to’ obtain,
And fill’d the rifled jar again.
The pious pair, when months were pass’d,
From pilgrimage return’d at last;
Took home without a thought of theft,
The jar that look’d just as ’twas left;
Made haste its contents to outpour,
And count again their golden store;
With changing face the peas search’d through,
And not a pagod came to view.
The priest, exceedingly distress’d,
Regained the merchant’s house ; express’d
How very much obliged he was
To him and to his wife, because
They’d kindly done as they were task’d ;
And for the cash politely ask’d.
“ You nothing placed with us beside
The pot of peas,” they quick replied.
Before the judge, to end the feud,
The merchant and his wife were sued.
But Raman could no light obtain;
His questioning was all in vain.
He might as soon the matter clear
As give an idol ears to hear.
He had a hollow image cut,
And a detective in it shut.
The merchant and his lady both

Must take the image, and their oath,
And bear the god the temple round,
If innocent they would be found.
They wash’d their heads, and so they swore,
And then their weight of conscience bore.
When they had carried it half way,
The husband was constrain’d to say,
“ What have we done ? what will it cost ?
To perjured persons hope is lost.”
The thief was out; the spy within
Caught this confession of their sin,
And when released told every word
That in the idol’s ears he’d heard.
The angry judge in threats was strong,
And made the couple own the wrong.
The thousand pagods they return’d,
And had the punishment they’d earn’d.
They found the proverb true indeed,
“ God things inscrutable can read.”
XVII.
One sells his rice
At any price.
A paddy*-buyer, purse in hand,

Comes to a store, and to a stand.
“ I want to buy some rice,” says he,
“ A sample of it let me see.”
Rice in the husk.

MARIYA THA Y-RAMAN.
The paddy-seller is not slow

A little measure-ful to show.
The buyer asks, “ Have you no more ? ”
The seller says, “ This is the store :
Pagodas one or ten will buy
No other rice than now you spy.”
The neighbour pays pagodas ten,
And says he ;11 soon be here again.
And back he comes, with bullock stron
To fetch his purchase before long,
And, like a man of means and mirth,
Demands his ten pagodas’ worth.
The dealer brings the measure small,
And says, “ Pour out, and take it all.”
“ This all for ten pagodas ! ” cries
The purchaser. The cheat replies,
“ For one or ten, I said before,
This is the rice, and there’s no more.
Agreeing, ten you chose to pay,
So take your bargain, and away.”
The jest no joke the good man feels,
And to the judge the trick reveals,
To whom the storekeeper is bold
To say he’s done as he was told.
Raman ordains, “ A month must glide,
Ere I this matter can decide.
Be it till then your equal doom
Your meals to eat in the same room.
You, plaintiff, the boil’d grain receive,
And just a half to this man give.”
14° MARIYA TIIA Y-RAMAN.
Then privately he shows his plan :

“ You take a bellyful, my man ;
And break a grain of rice in two,
And give him half of it to chew.”
Two meals of half a grain suffice
The hungry seller of the rice
So far that loudly he complains,
And access to the judge obtains.
Raman the other calls, and, “ Why,”
He asks, “ your mess-mate’s food deny ?
Says he, “ I duly dealt the meat,
One half the grain : he would not eat.”
The storekeeper begins to’ explain,—
“ He pinches off just half one grain,
And tells me all my dinner’s there :
How x:an I live upon such fare ? ”
The buyer, “ Tit for tat,” replies ;
“ He in a basket show’d some rice ;
4 Whatever price you pay,’ said he,
* This is the article you see
I ten pagodas paid ; behold,
’T was but the sample that he sold !
So I the letter keep, and deal
With him by contract at each meal.”
The judge now to the culprit turns,
Who with long face his sentence learns.
“ According to the country-price,
His ten pagodas’ worth of rice
Supply to him, or be agreed
A month on his half-rice to feed.”

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TIRU VAL LUVAR

SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS

SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS

EDWARD JEWITT ROBINSON

REV. ELIJAH HOOLE,D.D.

ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

* 5, SRIPURAM FIRST STREET, MADRAS - 600 014,

Traditions Concerning Hindu Sages

SELECTIONS FROM THEIR WRITINGS.

EDWARD JEWITT ROBINSON.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE LATE

REV. ELIJAH HOOLE, D.D.

Introduction, by the Rev. Dr. Hoole. - - vii.

The Outcast Children 7

Song of the Seven - - - - 11

The Life of Valluvar - - - 14

Garland of Advice for Women - - 87

Memorials of Cabilar, etc. - - - 91

The Unerring Judge - - - - - 101

Mariyathay-Raman .... ic6

/'J''HIS little volume of Heathen morals and learning

affords an additional illustration of the truth

of the Apostle’s words that “ the world by wisdom

knew not God.” Some of the sayings which are here

rendered into English are probably as old as the

earliest writings of the Old Testament. We have

no evidence that the art of writing was practised

before the Deluge; but it is demonstrated that in

many lands it was commenced very soon after that

event. The earliest records we have are those of

Egypt. These were known to Moses, who was “learned

in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” In the Egyptian

records, alphabetical letters were mixed with hiero-

glyphical signs. The Phenicians appear to have

selected a few of these letters for mercantile pur¬

poses, from which all the alphabets of Europe in due

time were formed. The written characters of India,

those of Tamil among the number, appear to have

been derived from Deva-Nagiri, which probably had

the same origin. In those early days, it is evident,

there was communication from one part of the world

to another more free than in later times. The system

of alphabetical writing did not occur to the Chinese.

They use signs, not letters. But the relationship of

those remote people to the western nations is now

receiving new proof from the labours of the Rev. J.

Edkins, who is publishing a series of papers on the

“ Connection of Chinese and Hebrew/’ Encouraged

by the success of the process adopted by Mr. Edkins,

another gentleman versed in the Chinese has begun a

series of papers, under the signature of Ossian, proving

the connection between the Gaelic and the Chinese !

Words and idioms occur in Tamil which remind the

student of parallels in Hebrew.

There are very few historical records in the Tamil

language. Fables and moral sayings in verse, having

a strong hold on the memory, have been preserved

through the revolutions of four thousand years, while

history has perished. Perhaps if we had the songs

and sayings of our ancestors of four thousand years