Kalavazhi Narpathu 2 · ஞாட்பினு ளெஞ்சிய ஞாலஞ்சேர் யானைக்கீழ்ப்
Blood pouring through the war-drums that lay beneath fallen elephants looked like water gushing from the sluice beneath a tank's bund after the monsoon rains.
The Eighteen Lesser Texts, including the Thirukkural.
Blood pouring through the war-drums that lay beneath fallen elephants looked like water gushing from the sluice beneath a tank's bund after the monsoon rains.
The Ten on How Things Are Known: (1) Noble birth is known by kindness. (2) Kindness is known by giving. (3) Unfailing friendship is known by help. (4) Learning is known by insight. (5) Greatness is known by how one receives others. (6) Low birth is known by arrogance. (7) A thief is known by deceitful deeds. (8) Carelessness in speech reveals carelessness in all things. (9) A failing mind reveals failure in everything else. (10) True valour is known by deeds.
Those who reach the glorious feet of the One who moved over the flower will live long upon this earth.
To live under a cruel king with a crooked sceptre is painful; to swim deep water without a float is painful; the company of harsh-tongued people is painful; and to live wavering, without footing, is painful to the soul.
Young kin who do not set aside what they are asked to do are sweet; learning every day without fault is very sweet; farming by one who owns plough and oxen is sweet; and friendship chosen after testing is sweet in every direction.
Warriors faltering and slipping in the flowing blood rose by leaning on the tusks of fallen elephants: the field where the king of the well-watered land, whose drums roar like thunder, slew those who erred.
The Ten Things Not to Blame: (1) The wise do not blame the undisciplined for their nature. (2) They do not blame the ordinary for lacking lofty qualities. (3) They do not blame a great thing for being hard. (4) They do not blame a rare thing for being costly. (5) They do not blame a work for flaws before it is finished. (6) They do not stay in a lawless king's land only to complain; they leave. (7) They do not blame good kinsmen for failing to do what they should. (8) They do not blame the customs of an unfamiliar land. (9) They do not blame a poor man for not being generous. (10) Even the great do not blame the ways of the small.
For those who reach the feet of the One who has neither desire nor aversion, there is no affliction, anywhere, at any time.
For a farmer without oxen, moist soil ready for the plough is a pain, for it goes to waste; to turn and flee when weapons change hands in battle is painful; to rage against the prosperous is painful; and to harm the very powerful is painful too.
Seeing an army strong in elephants is sweet; not fattening one's own flesh on the flesh of others is sweeter; a village on the bank of a forest river is sweet; and the esteem given to people of honour is sweet too.