Page:Introduction to Tamil Poetry.pdf/12

 11 He has laid stress on the attitude of the heart rather than on the externals of religion. In Kural 34 he says whatever is done with a spotless mind is virtue, all else is vain show. In another place (in Kura! 280) he says that there is no use of a shaven crown or of tangled hair, if one abstains from such deeds as the wise have condemned. The message of Thiruvalļuvar is not pessimistic but optimistic. He has asked us to brave dangers, and to stand four square to all the winds that blow. More than this, he has asked us to be cheerful under adverse circum- stances. (see for instance Kural 621-If troubles come, simply laugh, there is nothing like laughter which can overcome sorrow). In another place, he pities people who cannot be cheerful at all. In Kural 99 he says, "To those who cannot rejoice, the wide world is buried in darkness even in broad daylight". One of the ways in which one can be cheerful is to avoid wrath. He asks in Kura! 294, laughter and joy?” Sometimes, Thiruvalluvar is looked upon as having underlined the inexorable nature of fate. Though in a chapter (Chap. 38) he has stressed the im- portance of fate and though in the concluding couplet of that chapter he has asked “What is stronger than fate? If we think of an expedient to avert it, it will appear through that expedient itself", in other places he has held up the free will of man (as in Chap. 62 on manly effort), where in the concluding couplet he says, "they who strive hard ith fatigue or desperation or delay will vanquish fate and throw it out.” In four chapters, especially, (Chapters 60 to 63), entitled “On Energy, Against Idleness, On Manly Effort, On Perseverence in spite of difficulties" he has laid the greatest emphasis possible on the free will of man and has removed the misconception that man is God's sport and that all his doings have been pre-ordained or pre-deter- mined. Thiruvaļļuvar has stressed the importance of good conduct in life. His Chapter on propriety of conduct (Chap. 14) is well worth a complete study. 9
 * Is there a greater enemy than anger, which kills both