Tirukkural and Bhagavad Gita compared by Rev G U Pope and VRR Dikshitar -Part 2

 

Compiled by London Swaminathan 

 

Date: 19 DECEMBER 2017 

 

Time uploaded in London-  7-53 am

 

 

Post No. 4516

Pictures shown here are taken from various sources such as Facebook friends, Books, Google and newspapers; thanks.

 

Following is from the book STUDIES IN TAMIL LITERATURE, V R RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR, LECTURER IN INDIAN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS, YEAR 1936)

 

KURAL 53

There is no lack within the house, where wife in worth excels;

There is no luck within the house, where wife dishonoured dwells

 

Manu gives expression to similar sentiments:

Where women are honoured, there the God dwells; in the houses where they are not honoured, everything done become fruitless- Manu 3-56 also 9-26

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Kural 57

Of what avail is watch and ward?

Honour is a woman’s safest guard.

Similar ideas are found in Manava Dharma Sastra.

Those women who are bound by restraints by her won devoted kinsmen are not truly protected; those who guard themselves are well protected- Mnau 9-12

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Kural 58

If wife be wholly true to him who gained her as his bride,

Great glory gains she in the world where gods in bliss abide.

Manu furnishes a parallel:

She who will not abuse her rights either by mind, speech or body, attains the world of Pativratas (holy chaste women) and is styled Saadhvi or the good by the righteous- Manu5-165

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Kural 82

Though food of immortality should crown the board,

Feasting alone, the guests without unfed, is thing abhorred.

Similar ides are found in the Dharmasastra:

A householder is to partake of the food remaining after he has fed the gods, sages, guests, manes, and household deities. He who prepares food for the sake of self, simply eats sin—Manu 3-117, also 118, 106

(Also in Bhagavad Gita 3-13)

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Kural 91

Pleasant words are words with all pervading love that burn;

words from his guileless mouth who can the very truth discerns.

The same ideas occur in Manu Smrti:

Speak the Truth; speak pleasant things.

Do not speak unpleasant and false words; speak pleasant and truthful words- Manu 4-138

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Kural 121

Self Control places a man among gods; the want of it sends him to the hideous darkness of hell.

Manu says that the indulgence of sense organs leads to evil without doubt; having controlled them, one attains salvation- Manu 2-93

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Kural 134

Though he forget, the Brahmin may regain his Vedic lore;

Failing in ‘decorum due’, birthright is gone for evermore.

In the Laws of Manu, it is said that a Brahmin who is devoid of decorum will not attain the fruits of the study of the Vedas. On the other hand, one who observes decorum will reap the full reward—Manu 1-109

 

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Kural 144

How great so’ver they be, what gain have they of life,

Who not a whit reflecting, seek a neighbour’s wife?

Manu’s remarks are appropriate:

There is no other thing which results in diminution of life than the fact of a person’s criminal intimacy with the neighbour’s wife- Manu 4-134

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V R R Dikshitar gives 85 more comparisons. I will list all of them.

——to be continued

–SUBHAM–