Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 14,971

Date uploaded in London –  11 September 2025

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Proverbs on Gold- Part 3

3047. ஙப்பன் பிறந்தது வெள்ளிமலை , ஙாயி பிறந்தது பொன்மலை.
My father was born in a silver mountain, and my mother was born in a golden mountain.

3237. சிறகிலும் மெல்லிசாய்ப் பொன் அடிப்பான்.
He will beat out gold even thinner than a feather.

3281. சீர் அற்றார் கையிற் செம்பொன் விலை பெறா.
Fine gold in the hands of the unthrifty is of no value.

3529. தங்கமுடி சூட்டினாலும் தங்கள் குணம் விடார் கசடர்.
Though crowned with gold, the base will not abandon their natural dispositions.

3530. தங்கச் சூரிக்கத்தியென்று அறுத்துக் கொள்ளலாமா?
May one cut himself with a knife because it is made of gold?

3531. தங்கத்தைக் குவிக்கிறேன் என்றாலும், தன் புத்தி விடுகிறது இல்லை.
Though I promised to give a heap of gold, he persisted in his own ideas.

3532. தங்கத்தூள் அகப்பட்டாலும் செங்கற்றூள் அகப்படாது.
Though gold-dust is procurable, brick-dust is not.

3533. தங்கத்தை உருக்கி விட்டது போல.
As fine gold was melted and poured out.

3534. தங்கம் தரையிலே தவிடு பானையிலே.
Gold scattered on the ground, bran in an earthen vessel.

3535. தங்கம் புடத்தில் வைக்கப்பட்டாலும் தன் நிறம் போகாது.
Though gold is put into the fire to be refined, its hue is not lost.

3536. தங்கம் தரையிலே, ஒரு காசு நாரத்தங்காய் உறியிலே.
Gold scattered on the ground, and a cash-worth of lemons placed on the swinging tray.

3537. தங்கம் எல்லாம் தவிட்டுக்கு மாறுகிறது.
To exchange all his gold for bran.

3552. தட்டான் தாய்ப் பொன்னிலும் மாப்பொன் எடுப்பான்.

A goldsmith will pilfer the gold-dust even of his mother.

3553. தட்டானும் செட்டியும் கண் சட்டியும் பானையும் மண்.
The goldsmith and the Chetty have each two eyes, the chetty and the pot are of earth.

3554. தட்டானும் செட்டியும் போல.
Like the goldsmith and the merchant.

3555. தட்டானைச் சேர்ந்த தறுதலை.
The fool-hardy who associated with the goldsmith.

3557. தட்டாரச் சித்து தறிச்சித்து வண்ணாரச் சித்துக்கு வராது.
The tricks of a goldsmith and of a weaver, are not equal to those of a washerman.

3558. தட்டானிடத்தில் இருக்கிறது, அல்லது கும்பிடுசட்டியில் இருக்கிறது.
It is either in the possession of the goldsmith, or in his vessel.

3752. தாழ்ந்தது தங்கம் உயர்ந்தது பித்தளை.
Gold has become low in estimation, and brass high.

3781. தான் தேடாப் பொன்னுக்கு மாற்றும் இல்லை உரையும் இல்லை.

3944.தெறிக்க அடித்த தட்டானைப் போலே.
Like the goldsmith who beats off the gold inpieces.

4007. தொண்ணூறு பொன்னோடே துவரம்பருப்பு ஒரு பணம்.
With ninety gold fanams, one for beans.

Gold not acquired by one’s own exertions, has neither standard nor touch.

Hello

4048. நடபடி உண்டானால் மிதியடி பொன்னாலே.
If allowance for a journey is provided, gold sandals will be used.

4054. நடுத்தரமானவருடைய தாங்கல் பொன்னின் பிளவு போலப் பற்றவைத்தால் மாறும்.
A fracture in gold vanishes when exposed to the fire; in like manner the anger of the good passes away.

4119. நல்லாரை நாவில் உரை, பொன்னைக் கல்லில் உரை.
Test the good by the words of the tongue, and gold on a touch-stone.

4584. பள்ளிக்கு வைக்காமற் கொள்ளிக்குக் குறைத்து வைத்தார்.

My father not only neglected to put me to school, but left me to bear the expenses of the fire brand.

Under this proverb a general note on funeral rites may not be out of place. The particulars given relate to Hindu families generally, not to brahmans.
When a person dies, the grief of the females in the family bursts out into loud lamentations. On its being made known by a conch blower that a death has occurred, the neighboring females go to the house, add the expression of their sympathy, and all unite in one general wail. Frequently one of the company, the mother, or it may be a professional person, breaks out into an ascription of praise regarding the deceased uttering a sort of elegy in measured cadence. In this case when a climax is reached, all join in a chorus of grief, and some may smite their breasts and tear their hair. In such elegies, which are often of a touching kind, the personal beauty, the talents, the learning and the prowess of the deceased are diveltion(?).

The body being taken out is bathed and dressed as in life. In the case of females the gold and pearls and precious stones, if she possessed them, will be put on. The sectarian marks will be added. The charpoy on which the corpse bas been laid out is then carried into the house. Again the females seat themselves around it and pour forth a torrent of grief, or at any rate make a loud noise. All kinsman whose business it is to attend to the customary observance spreads a cloth on the charpoy to hold rice, called,-rice for the mouth. The females of the family take a little of the grain and put it on the corpse near the mouth. The same ceremony is performed by the male members of the family at the place of cremation. The family barber appropriates the remaining rice. At the burning ground the kinsman who conducts the ceremonies carries a pot of water round the pyre and the conch-blower follows him and makes an incision on the pot with his conch, when the barber puts four bits of sandal or other wood into the hands of the kinsman and points out the places in the pyre where they are to be inserted. The leaking pot is the taken by the barber to be broken near the head of the corpse. The kinsman hastens away that he may not hear the noise of the pot when broken, nor see the burning pyre. Then the barber receive permission to break the put and to ignite the pyre.

On the next or on an early day the male friends of the deceased assemble at the place of cremation. The skull, the breast-bone and the bones of the hands having been abstracted from the ashes deposited in a convenient place covered with a plantain leaf, and the nearest of kin smeared with oil, ghee and honey and covered in flowers, whilst a priest recites appropriate incantations in the presence of the relatives. A pot of milk having been provided for this ceremony, the relatives take a sprig of coronilla grandiflora and having dipped it, in the milky sprinkle the relics, which are then put into an unburnt earthen vessel, covered with cloth to be cast into the sacred stream or bestowed on the ocean wave. Of course these elaborate rites are dispensed with by the poor.
I have seen Hindus, not by any means in abject circumstances convey a corpse to the seaside, where a grave had been hastily dug and take off the cloth and ornaments, wrap the body in a common mud(?) and bury it with the burial of a dog. In the year 1830 when travelling in Bengal I saw, on the bank of the River Damodar, a sorrowing Brahmin father with two or three attendants dispose of a corpse with but little ceremony. The father himself who was much affected ignited the pyre.

4847. பூ அரசு இருக்கப் பொன்னுக்கு அழுவானேன்?
Why weep for gold while you have the tulip tree?

To be continued………………………..

Tags- Gold, Proverbs, Part 3