WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 13,672

Date uploaded in London – 15 September 2024                 

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

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Naay in Tamil is Dog. Gnamali is an ancient word for the same. Though we see dogs in good light in Rig Veda and Mahabharata, dog is seen as unclean animal. It is not allowed in Brahmins street or places where rituals take place. But in Rig Veda, it is shown as a messenger and in Mahabarata it accompanied Yudhisthira till the end.  All the Hindus appreciated its gratefulness.

Mahatma Gandhi advised in his many articles to kill the stray dogs, though he championed the cause of Ahimsa (Non hurting).

Manikkavasagar, one of the Four Great Saivite saints compared himself to the lowest dog in 62 places in his Masterpiece Tiruvasagam. Following him many other Saivite poets also used the animal with bad connotation. Actually they represented only common people by using that expression. The poets were great people.

Pig is another unclean animal hated by the Hindus.

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Tamil Jain poets composed 400 poems, and they are collected in the book Naladiyar (naaladiyaar). And there is another book Neethi Venba by an anonymous author, which also have some references to dogs. There are many proverbs on dogs as well.

South Koreans relish Dog meat. A new law will be implemented in three years’ time to ban dog meat completely. Now they eat 10 lakh dogs every year according to newspapers.

One million dogs eaten in South Korea

There are about 1,150 farms, while 1,600 restaurants sell dog meat dishes, according to the agriculture ministry. Activists say as many as 1 million dogs a year are slaughtered in South Korea.19 Jan 2024

The oft quoted journalist phrase has its origin in Tamil book Naladiyar.

The phrase “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news” is often used in journalism school to illustrate the idea that news is defined as unusual and infrequent events. 

Here are the translations of Tamil poems (the original tamil verses are in my Tamil article).

Who will bite the biting dog?

70. Dog Bite

There are none here who though see a dog snap angrily at them, will in return snap at the dog with their mouth. So when the low mischievously utter base things, will the noble repeat such words in return?

Or

Return not railing for railing. Though a dog, in rage, should lay hold of them, there are none in the world who, in return, would lay hold of it with their mouth; and thus, when low men speak, not what is fitting, but low words, will high-minded men, in reply, utter such words with their mouth.

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One good reference to Dog

213.Elephant and Dog

Avoiding the friendship of those who resemble elephants, seek the friendship of those who resemble dogs, for an elephant will his driver whom  he has known for a long time but a dog will wag his tail while the spear thrown at him is still in his body.

Or

The elephant and the dog, types of false and true friends. Forsaking friendship with those who resemble the elephant, embrace and hold fast intimacy with those who are like the dog; for the elephant will slay even its keeper though it has long known him; but the dog will wag its tail when it has in its body the javelin hurled at it by its angry master.

218. Friendship

Though they adhere to one in friendship, as closely as the small toes of the dog to one another, yet of what use is their love if they do not help even so little as the leg of a fly? Though the , who like the water channel which fructifies the  rice field, be eve so far away, we must nevertheless go to  them and obtain their friendship.

Or

Friendship of those who though near aid not. Of what value is the friendship of those who being very near like the little claw on a dog’s leg, afford not help as much as a fly’s foot? Though you go far to seek it, lay hold of the friendship of those who are like the water channel that causes the crops in the field to flourish.

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254.Barking Dog

If one who has grown up in ignorance enter the assembly of the men of great learning and remain silent, it will be like the sitting down of a dog; and if instead of remaining quiet, he says anything, it is like the barking of it.

Or

An ignorant man is a mere cur! When a man who has grown up without learning enters the society of the wise, if he sits still, it is as if a dog sat there; and if he rise to speak, it is as though a dog barked.

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322.AVVIYAM

Men destitute of rectitude will not even listen to the ways of virtue taught by those who are free from envy and other evils, just as  the chuckler’s dog that gnaws and devours leather, incapable of relishing the taste of the milk porridge

Or

Foolish people hearing hear not. When men of ungrudging soul declare the way of virtue, those who are not rightly disposed, although they give ear, hear not. Even so the currier’s dog seizes on and devours leather, not appreciating the flavour of milk and rice.

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Dogs Don’t like Golden Dish

345.PORKALAM

Though the dog be properly nourished and fed from a golden dish, yet it will ever earnestly looking out for the leavings of others. In like manner, though the mean be esteemed to be honourable men , their acts will  differ from  their position in life.

Or

The dog prefers to feed on refuse. Nature will out! The dog, though you tend it with care, feeding it from a golden vessel, will watch, eye fixed for others’ leavings ; even so, although you receive the base as if they were possessed of greatness, the deeds they do will be otherwise (= their real character will be seen by their conduct).

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Thanks to https://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0711.pdf

—subham—

Tags: Tamil view, Dogs, Grateful, runs for, barking, biting, Friendship, Naladiyar,  assembly, refuse, wags tail, Naay, Gnamali