MS RAMNIKA JALALI’S BOOK INDIAN WOMEN IN THE SMRITIS is a
good book. In 248 pages she has listed nearly 100 law books, what are called
Smritis in Sanskrit. She has compared the status of women in 37 important law
books and listed another 57 law books.
She has dealt with woman
As a girl
As a wife
As a mother
As a widow
As a prostitute
It is a balanced book and gives a long list of reference
books.
It is treasure house for researchers.
She has given the famous sloka of Manu smrti in the very
beginning:
Yatra naaryastu puujyante ramante tatra devataah
Yatretaastu na puujyante sarvaastatraaphalaah kriyaah
Manu 3-56
The deities delight in places where women are revered, but
where women are not revered all rites are fruitless – Manu 3-56
Here some pages from the book
Full list of Hindu Law Books called Smritis is in the book.
Hindu woman in Toronto, Canada Hindu Temple Festival from Facebook
I continue here with
the comparative study of Bhartuhari’s Niti Sataka with the verses of Tamil poet
Tiruvalluvar, Hindi Poet Tulsidas and verses from the Bhagavad Gita:–
“There are very few saints who are full of the
nectar of good deeds in their mind, speech and body. They win over the love of
all the three worlds by serving them and they describe the smallest virtue of
others as a mountain! They really evolve and progress with joy and joy bliss in
their hearts”.
मनसिवचसिकायेपुण्यपीयूषपूर्णास् त्रिभुवनम्उपकारश्रेणिभिःप्रीणयन्तः। परगुणपरमाणून्पर्वतीकृत्यनित्यं निजहृदिविकसन्तःसन्तसन्तःकियन्तः॥BHARTRUHRI’S Niti Sataka1.79 ॥
Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar says,
“The wise are good in heart. Still, they find new
joy and energy in good friends -Kural 458
Though the help rendered is as small as a grain it
will be considered as large as a tree by those who appreciate the value of it”
– Kural 104
“THERE IS NO PROFIT WITHOUT CAPITAL; THERE IS NO
STABILITY FOR A LEADER WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE WISE AND THE VIRTUOUS”- Kural
449
(See Tulsidas’ poem in the end)
xxx
“What profit is there in Meru, the mountain of
gold,
or of the hill of
silver, where the trees that grow remain
.the same trees
without any change ? We honour the hills
of Malaya, for by
contact with them common trees like
the Trophis Aspera,
the bitter Nimba, and the Karaya
This verse is similar to the verses in Bhagavad
Gita:-
“He who behaves alike to foe and friend, also to
good and evil repute and who is alike in cold and heat , pleasure and pain and
who is free from attachment.
He who holds equal blame and praise, who is silent,
content with anything, who has no fixed abode and is firm in mind , that man
who is devoted dear to Me”- B.G.12-
17/18
Tulsidas also echoed this in his poem
“Grant me , O Master, by thy grace
To follow all the good and pure
To be content with simple things
To use my fellows not as means but ends
To serve them stalwartly in thought, word and deed
Never to utter word of hatred or of shame
To castaway all selfishness and pride;
To speak no ill of others
To have a mind at peace
Set free from care and led astray from thee
Neither by happiness nor woe
Set thou my feet upon this path
And keep me steadfast in it
Thus only shall I please thee , serve thee right”
–Translated by Mahatma Gandhi (M K Gandhi), Songs
from Prison, 1934, p.52
XXX
Courtesy is the
ornament of a noble man, gentle-
ness of speech that
of a hero; calmness the ornament of
knowledge, reverence
that of sacred learning; liberality
towards worthy
objects is the ornament of wealth, free-
dom from wrath that
of the ascetic; clemency is the
ornament of princes,
freedom from corruption that of jus-
tice. The natural
disposition, which is the parent of the
The noble- natured will not swerve from equity in
adversity or prosperity — Kural 115
NB:- Number of the verses of Niti Sataka may differ
from other books; Since new slokas are introduced in different editions, we may
never know which are of Bhartruhari’s. Fortunately, they are not many.
3.Sarvasambhavaabhaavah
– Non -existence of a particular effect in all things;
4.Saktasyasakaranam-
Potentiality of capable things;
5.Kaaranabhaavaahaa
– Intrinsic similarity of cause and effect
–Sankhyakarika
-9
If you need
the original slokas in Devanagari script, please go to Encyclopaedia of Numerals
, Volume 1, The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai- 600 004, Year
2011
The five
ingredients of pachamrta are: Dugdham – milk. Sarkara – sugar. Ghrtam – ghee or clarified butter. Dadhi – curd. Madhu – honey. (in some places
fruits …
We have already seen first seven chapters of Manu Smrti known as Manava
Dharma Shastra. Now let us look at 106 verses of the Eighth chapter. Some may
wonder or get agitated when they read discrimination against Shudras in some
issues. We dont know whether they were followed verbatim at any time. Even Hammurabi’s strict Code
of Law, they say, was not followed verbatim. But we know for sure that until 25
years ago, blacks in South Africa were treated as animals without basic rights.
We know for sure that blacks were treated as animals in America till Abraham
Lincoln, Martin Luther King and others fought for their rights. We know for
sure that Romans and Greeks denied others even the basic rights. We know for
sure that England gave special privileges to Lords. So, when one reads these
verses, one must see the world that existed at least 2500 years ago and compare
it with them. The reason being that we don’t see the practise of these strict
rules against a particular community in 2500 year old Jataka tales or other
literature. Only one incident in Valmiki Ramayana against a shudra is an
interpolation, according to scholars.
INTERESTING BULLET POINTS
1.BRAHMINS ARE SHUDRAS : see verse8-102
2)-18 TITLES OF LAW- See verses 8: 3 to 7
3.WHAT IS JUSTICE- see quotations
in verses 8: 14-17
4.LIE DETECTOR- modern lie detector follows what Manu says in verse 8-25,
26
5.TREASURE TROVE- these are interesting- see 8: 35-39
10.UNGRATEFUL MEN AND WOMEN SLAYERS- see 8-89; it is in Tamil verse
Purananuru 34; also in Valmiki Ramayana and Panchatantra
11.EQUAL TO KILLING 1000 PEOPLE- see verse 8-98;false witness about men
12.YOU MAY TELL A LIE TO SAVE A SHUDRA-
see verse 8-104; to save a life of a good person you may tell a lie;
Tamil poet Tiru valluvar also justifies lies- see Kural 291 and 292
xxxx
MANU SMRTI -CHAPTER VIII.
APPEARANCE IN THE COURT OF LAW
8-1. A king, desirous of investigating law cases, must enter his court
of justice, preserving a dignified demeanour, together with Brahmanas and with
experienced councillors.
2. There, either seated or standing, raising his right arm, without
ostentation in his dress and ornaments, let him examine the business of
suitors,
18 TITLES OF LAW
8-3. Daily (deciding) one after another (all cases) which fall under the
eighteen titles (of the law) according to principles drawn from local usages.
and from the Institutes of the sacred law.
4. Of those (titles) the first is the non-payment of debts, (then
follow), (2) deposit and pledge, (3) sale without ownership, (4) concerns among
partners, and (5) resumption of gifts,
5. (6) Non-payment of wages, (7) non-performance of agreements, (8)
rescission of sale and purchase, (9) disputes between the owner (of cattle) and
his servants,
6. (10) Disputes regarding boundaries, (11) assault and (12) defamation,
(13) theft, (14) robbery and violence, (15) adultery,
7. (16) Duties of man and wife, (17) partition (of inheritance), (18)
gambling and betting; these are in this world the eighteen topics which give
rise to lawsuits.
8. Depending on the eternal law, let him decide the suits of men who
mostly contend on the titles just mentioned.
9. But if the king does not personally investigate the suits, then let
him appoint a learned Brahmana to try them.
10. That (man) shall enter that most excellent court, accompanied by
three assessors, and fully consider (all) causes (brought) before the (king),
either sitting down or standing.
BRAHMINS DECIDING THE CASE
8-11. Where three Brahmanas versed in the Vedas and the learned (judge)
appointed by the king sit down, they call that the court of (four-faced)
Brahman.
12. But where justice, wounded by injustice, approaches and the judges
do not extract the dart, there (they also) are wounded (by that dart of
injustice).
13. Either the court must not be entered, or the truth must be spoken; a man who either says nothing or speaks falsely, becomes sinful.
WHAT IS JUSTICE
8-14. Where justice is destroyed by injustice, or truth by falsehood,
while the judges look on, there they shall also be destroyed.
15. ‘Justice, being violated, destroys; justice, being preserved,
preserves: therefore justice must not be violated, lest violated justice destroy
us.’
16. For divine justice is said to be a bull (vrisha); that man who
violates it (kurute ‘lam) the gods consider to be a man despicable like a Sudra
(vrishala); let him, therefore, beware of violating justice.
8-17. The only friend who follows men even after death is justice; for
everything else is lost at the same time when the body (perishes).
18. One quarter of (the guilt of) an unjust (decision) falls on him who
committed (the crime), one quarter on the (false) witness, one quarter on all
the judges, one quarter on the king.
19. But where he who is worthy of condemnation is condemned, the king is
free from guilt, and the judges are saved (from sin); the guilt falls on the
perpetrator (of the crime alone).
ANTI SUDRA STATEMENTS
20. A Brahmana who subsists only by the name of his caste (jati), or one
who merely calls himself a Brahmana (though his origin be uncertain), may, at
the king’s pleasure, interpret the law to him, but never a Sudra.
8-21. The kingdom of that monarch, who looks on while a Sudra settles
the law, will sink (low), like a cow in a morass.
8-22. That kingdom where Sudras are very numerous, which is infested by
atheists and destitute of twice-born (inhabitants), soon entirely perishes,
afflicted by famine and disease.
23. Having occupied the seat of justice, having covered his body, and
having worshipped the guardian deities of the world, let him, with a collected
mind, begin the trial of causes.
24. Knowing what is expedient or inexpedient, what is pure justice or injustice, let him examine the causes of suitors according to the order of the castes (varna).
LIE DETECTOR TEST
8-25. By external signs let him discover the internal disposition of
men, by their voice, their colour, their motions, their aspect, their eyes, and
their gestures.
8-26. The internal (working of the) mind is perceived through the
aspect, the motions, the gait, the gestures, the speech, and the changes in the
eye and of the face.
27. The king shall protect the inherited (and other) property of a
minor, until he has returned (from his teacher’s house) or until he has passed
his minority.
28. In like manner care must be taken of barren women, of those who have
no sons, of those whose family is extinct, of wives and widows faithful to
their lords, and of women afflicted with diseases.
PUNISHING THIEVES, protecting females
8-29. A righteous king must punish like thieves those relatives who
appropriate the property of such females during their lifetime.
30. Property, the owner of which has disappeared, the king shall cause
to be kept as a deposit during three years; within the period of three years
the owner may claim it, after (that term) the king may take it.
31. He who says, ‘This belongs to me,’ must be examined according to the
rule; if he accurately describes the shape, and the number (of the articles
found) and so forth, (he is) the owner, (and) ought (to receive) that property.
32. But if he does not really know the time and the place (where it was)
lost, its colour, shape, and size, he is worthy of a fine equal (in value) to
the (object claimed).
33. Now the king, remembering the duty of good men, may take one-sixth
part of property lost and afterwards found, or one-tenth, or at least
one-twelfth.
34. Property lost and afterwards found (by the king’s servants) shall
remain in the keeping of (special) officials; those whom the king may convict
of stealing it, he shall cause to be slain by an elephant.
ONE SIXTH OF THE TREASURE
8-35. From that man who shall truly say with respect to treasure-trove,
‘This belongs to me,’ the king may take one-sixth or one-twelfth part.
36. But he who falsely says (so), shall be fined in one-eighth of his
property, or, a calculation of (the value of) the treasure having been made, in
some smaller portion (of that).
37. When a learned Brahmana has found treasure, deposited in former (times),
he may take even the whole (of it); for he is master of everything.
38. When the king finds treasure of old concealed in the ground let him
give one half to Brahmanas and place the (other) half in his treasury.
39. The king obtains one half of ancient hoards and metals (found) in
the ground, by reason of (his giving) protection, (and) because he is the lord
of the soil.
FOUR CASTES HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS
8-40. Property stolen by thieves must be restored by the king to (men
of) all castes (varna); a king who uses such (property) for himself incurs the
guilt of a thief.
41. (A king) who knows the sacred law, must inquire into the laws of
castes (jati), of districts, of guilds, and of families, and (thus) settle the
peculiar law of each.
42. For men who follow their particular occupations and abide by their
particular duty, become dear to people, though they may live at a distance.
43. Neither the king nor any servant of his shall themselves cause a
lawsuit to be begun, or hush up one that has been brought (before them) by
(some) other (man).
Deer simile
8-44. As a hunter traces the lair of a (wounded) deer by the drops of
blood, even so the king shall discover on which side the right lies, by
inferences (from the facts).
45. When engaged in judicial proceedings he must pay full attention to
the truth, to the object (of the dispute), (and) to himself, next to the
witnesses, to the place, to the time, and to the aspect.
46. What may have been practised by the virtuous, by such twice-born men
as are devoted to the law, that he shall establish as law, if it be not opposed
to the (customs of) countries, families, and castes (gati).
47. When a creditor sues (before the king) for the recovery of money
from a debtor, let him make the debtor pay the sum which the creditor proves
(to be due).
48. By whatever means a creditor may be able to obtain possession of his
property, even by those means may he force the debtor and make him pay.
49. By moral suasion, by suit of law, by artful management, or by the
customary proceeding, a creditor may recover property lent; and fifthly, by
force.
50. A creditor who himself recovers his property from his debtor, must
not be blamed by the king for retaking what is his own.
51. But him who denies a debt which is proved by good evidence, he shall
order to pay that debt to the creditor and a small fine according to his
circumstances.
52. On the denial (of a debt) by a debtor who has been required in court
to pay it, the complainant must call (a witness) who was present (when the loan
was made), or adduce other evidence.
53. (The plaintiff) who calls a witness not present at the transaction,
who retracts his statements, or does not perceive that his statements (are)
confused or contradictory;
54. Or who having stated what he means to prove afterwards varies (his
case), or who being questioned on a fact duly stated by himself does not abide
by it;
55. Or who converses with the witnesses in a place improper for such
conversation; or who declines to answer a question, properly put, or leaves
(the court);
56. Or who, being ordered to speak, does not answer, or does not prove
what he has alleged; or who does not know what is the first (point), and what
the second, fails in his suit.
57. Him also who says ‘I have witnesses,’ and, being ordered to produce them, produces them not, the judge must on these (same) grounds declare to be non-suited.
58. If a plaintiff does not speak, he may be punished corporally or
fined according to the law; if (a defendant) does not plead within three
fortnights, he has lost his cause.
59. In the double of that sum which (a defendant) falsely denies or on
which (the plaintiff) falsely declares, shall those two (men) offending against
justice be fined by the king.
60. (A defendant) who, being brought (into court) by the creditor, (and)
being questioned, denies (the debt), shall be convicted (of his falsehood) by
at least three witnesses (who must depose) in the presence of the Brahmana
(appointed by) the king.
61. I will fully declare what kind of men may be made witnesses in suits
by creditors, and in what manner those (witnesses) must give true (evidence).
GIVING EVIDENCE
8-62. Householders, men with male issue, and indigenous (inhabitants of
the country, be they) Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, or Sudras, are competent, when
called by a suitor, to give evidence, not any persons whatever (their condition
may be) except in cases of urgency.
63. Trustworthy men of all the (four) castes (varna) may be made
witnesses in lawsuits, (men) who know (their) whole duty, and are free from
covetousness; but let him reject those (of an) opposite (character).
64. Those must not be made (witnesses) who have an interest in the suit,
nor familiar (friends), companions, and enemies (of the parties), nor (men)
formerly convicted (of perjury), nor (persons) suffering under (severe)
illness, nor (those) tainted (by mortal sin).
65. The king cannot be made a witness, nor mechanics and actors, nor a:
Srotriya, nor a student of the Veda, nor (an ascetic) who has given up (all)
connexion (with the world),
66. Nor one wholly dependent, nor one of bad fame, nor a Dasyu, nor one
who follows forbidden occupations, nor an aged (man), nor an infant, nor one
(man alone), nor a man of the lowest castes, nor one deficient in organs of
sense,
67. Nor one extremely grieved, nor one intoxicated, nor a madman, nor
one tormented by hunger or thirst, nor one oppressed by fatigue, nor one
tormented by desire, nor a wrathful man, nor a thief.
ROLE OF WOMEN
8-68. Women should give evidence for women, and for twice-born men
twice-born men (of the) same (kind), virtuous Sudras for Sudras, and men of the
lowest castes for the lowest.
69. But any person whatsoever, who has personal knowledge (of an act
committed) in the interior apartments (of a house), or in a forest, or of (a
crime causing) loss of life, may give evidence between the parties.
70. On failure (of qualified witnesses, evidence) may given (in such
cases) by a woman, by an infant, by an aged man, by a pupil, by a relative, by
a slave, or by a hired servant.
71. But the (judge) should consider the evidence of infants, aged and
diseased men, who (are apt to) speak untruly, as untrustworthy, likewise that
of men with disordered minds.
72. In all cases of violence, of theft and adultery, of defamation and
assault, he must not examine the (competence of) witnesses (too strictly).
73. On a conflict of the witnesses the king shall accept (as true) the
evidence of the) majority; if (the conflicting parties are) equal in number,
(that of) those distinguished by good qualities; on a difference between
(equally) distinguished (witnesses, that of) the best among the twice-born.
74. Evidence in accordance with what has actually been seen or heard, is
admissible; a witness who speaks truth in those (cases), neither loses
spiritual merit nor wealth.
75. A witness who deposes in an assembly of honourable men (Arya)
anything else but what he has seen or heard, falls after death headlong into
hell and loses heaven.
76. When a man (originally) not appointed to be a witness sees or hears
anything and is (afterwards) examined regarding it, he must declare it
(exactly) as he saw or heard it.
DON’T TRUST WOMEN AS WITNESSES
8-77. One man who is free from covetousness may be (accepted as)
witness; but not even many pure women, because the understanding of females is
apt to waver, nor even many other men, who are tainted with sin.
78. What witnesses declare quite naturally, that must be received on
trials; (depositions) differing from that, which they make improperly, are
worthless for (the purposes of) justice.
79. The witnesses being assembled in the court in the presence of the
plaintiff and of the defendant, let the judge examine them, kindly exhorting
them in the following manner:
80. ‘What ye know to have been mutually transacted in this matter
between the two men before us, declare all that in accordance with the truth;
for ye are witnesses in this (cause).
81. ‘A witness who speaks the truth in his evidence, gains (after death)
the most excellent regions (of bliss) and here (below) unsurpassable fame; such
testimony is revered by Brahman (himself).
VARUNA WILL PUNISH
8-82. ‘He who gives false evidence is firmly bound by Varuna’s fetters,
helpless during one hundred existences; let (men therefore) give true evidence.
83. ‘By truthfulness a witness is purified, through truthfulness his
merit grows, truth must, therefore, be spoken by witnesses of all castes
(varna).
84. ‘The Soul itself is the witness of the Soul, and the Soul is the
refuge of the Soul; despise not thy own Soul, the supreme witness of men.
GOD SEES EVERYTHING
8-85. ‘The wicked, indeed, say in their hearts, “Nobody sees us;”
but the gods distinctly see them and the male within their own breasts.
86. ‘The sky, the earth, the waters, (the male in) the heart, the moon,
the sun, the fire, Yama and the wind, the night, the two twilights, and justice
know the conduct of all corporeal beings.’
87. The (judge), being purified, shall ask in the forenoon the
twice-born (witnesses) who (also have been) purified, (and stand) facing the
north or the east, to give true evidence in the presence of (images of) the
gods and of Brahmanas.
88. Let him examine a Brahmana (beginning with) ‘Speak,’ a Kshatriya
(beginning with) ‘Speak the truth,’ a Vaisya (admonishing him) by (mentioning)
his kine, grain, and gold, a Sudra (threatening him) with (the guilt of) every
crime that causes loss of caste;
PURANANURU (SANGAM TAMIL BOOK)
8-89. (Saying), ‘Whatever places of torment (hell) are assigned by the
sages to the slayer of a Brahmana, to
the murderer of women and children, to him who betrays a friend, and to an
ungrateful man, those shall be thy (portion), if thou speakest falsely.
90. ‘(The reward) of all meritorious deeds which thou, good man, hast
done since thy birth, shall become the share of the dogs, if in thy speech thou
departest from the truth.
91. ‘If thou thinkest, O friend of virtue, with respect to thyself,
“I am alone,” (know that) that sage who witnesses all virtuous acts
and all crimes, ever resides in thy heart.
92. ‘If thou art not at variance with that divine Yama, the son of
Vivasvat, who dwells in thy heart, thou needest neither visit the Ganges nor
the (land of the) Kurus.
93. ‘Naked and shorn, tormented with hunger and thirst, and deprived of
sight, shall the man who gives false evidence, go with a potsherd to beg food
at the door of his enemy.
94. ‘Headlong, in utter darkness shall the sinful man tumble into hell,
who being interrogated in a judicial inquiry answers one question falsely.
Fish eating simile
8-95. ‘That man who in a court (of justice) gives an untrue account of a
transaction (or asserts a fact) of which he was not an eye-witness, resembles a
blind man who swallows fish with the bones.
96. ‘The gods are acquainted with no better man in this world than him,
of whom his conscious Soul has no distrust, when he gives evidence.
97. ‘Learn now, O friend, from an enumeration in due order, how many relatives
he destroys who gives false evidence in several particular cases.
EQUAL TO KILLING 1000 PEOPLE
8-98. ‘He kills five by false Testimony regarding (small) cattle, he
kills ten by false testimony regarding kine, he kills a hundred by false
evidence concerning horses, and a thousand by false evidence concerning men.
99. ‘By speaking falsely in a cause regarding gold, he kills the born
and the unborn; by false evidence concerning land, he kills everything; beware,
therefore, of false evidence concerning land.
100. ‘They declare (false evidence) concerning water, concerning the
carnal enjoyment of women, and concerning all gems, produced in water, or
consisting of stones (to be) equally (wicked) as a lie concerning land.
101. ‘Marking well all the evils (which are produced) by perjury,
declare thou openly everything as (thou hast) heard or seen (it).’
BRAHMINS BRCOME SUDRAS
8-102. Brahmanas who tend cattle, who trade, who are mechanics, actors
(or singers), menial servants or usurers, the (judge) shall treat like Sudras.
103. In (some) cases a man who, though knowing (the facts to be)
different, gives such (false evidence) from a pious motive, does not lose
heaven; such (evidence) they call the speech of the gods.
TIRUKURAL OF TIRUVALLUVAR
8-104. Whenever the death of a Sudra, of a Vaisya, of a Kshatriya, or of
a Brahmana would be (caused) by a declaration of the truth, a falsehood may be
spoken; for such (falsehood) is preferable to the truth.
105. Such (witnesses) must offer to Sarasvati oblations of boiled rice
(karu) which are sacred to the goddess of speech, (thus) performing the best
penance in order to expiate the guilt of that falsehood.
106. Or such (a witness) may offer according to the rule, clarified
butter in the fire, reciting the Kushmanda texts, or the Rik, sacred to Varuna,
‘Untie, O Varuna, the uppermost fetter,’ or the three verses addressed to the
Waters.
53. The friendships formed between
good and evil men
differ. The friendship of the
good, at first faint like the
morning light, continually
increases ; the friendship of the
evil at the very beginning is
great, like the light of mid-
day, and dies away like the light
of evening. (some verses compare it with
the long and short shadows at different
times oft the day)
Even the Greek philosopher
Pythagoras held the friendship and modesty in high esteem. Of his five
important principles, friendship is given an importance place.
Tiru valluvar uses the simile
of waxing and waning moon.,
The friendship of the worthy
develops day by day like the waxing crescent moon,
But foolish alliances deteriorate
as the waning thereof – Kural 782
आरम्भगुर्वी क्षयिणी क्रमेण
लघ्वी पुरा वृद्धिमती च पश्चात् ।
दिनस्य पूर्वार्धपरार्धभिन्ना
छायेव मैत्री खलसज्जनानाम् ॥ 1.53 ॥
xxxx
Why are there enemies for virtuous
people?
54. Deer, fish, and virtuous men,
who only require grass,
water, and peace in the world, are
wantonly pursued by
huntsmen, fishermen, and envious
people.
Using animal fables to teach
morals has been in vogue in India from the days of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Later, Jataka tales, Panchatantra and Hitapodesa expanded on the theme.
Bhartruhari approach this from a different angle.
Bhartruhari says
lot of things in one verse! Many of Adi Shankara’s verses can be compared with
his sayings. Greatness of satsangam
(assosiation with good people). But I
will give some verses from Tirukkural:-
Cultivate amity
and seek help from men who remove present ills and guard you from future ills –
442
To please great
men and makes them one’s own is the rarest of the rare blessings -443
There is no help
better than good company and no trouble worse than evil company -460
Reverence for
the spiritual teachers is reflected in the mot famous verse Gurur Brahma, Gurur
Vishnu………………. Which is repeated in all the Vedic schools and schools where
tradition is respected. every day
Reverence for
Lord Shiva is in over 18,000 verses classified as Panniru Tirumurai in Tamil and
all the verses of Adi Shankara.
Fear of the
world’s blame is reflected in Tirukkural and Sangam Tamil literature.
A Tamil verse in
Purananuru says if it will bring fame
they will give even their life; but if it brings evil name, they wont accept it
even if you them the entire world.
Tiru Valluvar in
his Tirukkural says
Though he sees his mother starving, let him not do those actions which are condemned by the wise- 656
Tamil and Vedas 