The Hindu Business Line : Straight arrow kills, bent lute but charms

UB man Mallya is happy with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) permit and is busy with Kingfisher. But, this story is about a different UB, Uma Bharati. She refuses to be out of news — be it the quitting of a State CM post to court arrest, a flag march that didn't seem to visibly stir patriotic sentiments, much-publicised tiff with the party leadership, renunciation of politics, invitation to Atal to join the penance since he had no kaam, sudden change of mind to think of a return to politics, or a quiet birthday a few days ago in Amarkantak.

I'm sure Uma would have taken lessons from her Guru Swami Vishveshwara Teerth of Udipi on what sanyas is and so forth. However, following the footsteps of our FM who disentangles tricky tax ideas with verses, I decided to dip into Thirukkural for some clarity on sanyas. For starters, the 1,330-couplet work is divided into 133 topics each with 10 verses, and the whole tome is organised as three sections named aram, porul and inbam, that is, virtue, wealth, and love, respectively. The first, in turn, has two major heads domestic and ascetic, apart from the intro and a compact discussion of fate.

Interestingly, the author of the work, Thiruvalluvar praises ascetics right in the intro, immediately after having sung in praise of rain. "To describe the measure of the greatness of those who have forsaken the desires, is like counting the dead," he writes, as informed by http://tamils.tamilpower.com. And couplet 30 declares, "With gentle mercy towards all, the sage fulfils the virtue's call," as the Thirukural CD from Softview educates one with Shuddhananda Bharatiar's translation. Gentle mercy, rather than outbursts, is perhaps what her party expects from Uma, though she seems in no mood for the same.

On `ascetic virtue' the poet touches upon 13 topics. "Arutchelvam selvathul selvam," it begins, meaning that the wealth of wealth is that of kindness. Another couplet promises that the hearts of mercy shall not go into dark worlds of woe. An oft-quoted kural reads, "Arul illaarku avvulagam illai porul illaarku ivvulagam illagi yaangu." A verse that blends messages both for the businessman and the benign; for, it means, as Shuddhananda puts it, "This world is not for wealthless ones; that world is not for graceless swines." But, what about those who keep shuttling between the two worlds?

A must-read for Uma is chapter 27 on penance. Valluvar defines true penance thus: "Pains endure, pain not beings." He pronounces bluntly that penance is fit for penitents; "not for him who in vain pretends." Inconsistent conduct gets sharp rap in 10 couplets. Take 272, for instance. It hits at pretence thus: "Of what avail are sky-high shows, when guild the conscience gnaws and knows."

The next one offers an analogy: "Vaunting sainthood while weak within seems a grazer with tiger skin."

Yet another heaps scolds, saying, "Vilest is he who seems a saint cheating the world without restraint." Well, that's something often showing up in the `city crime' columns! Couplet 277 has a different comparison: "Berry-red is his outward view, black like its nose his inward hue." What follows this, in G.U. Pope's translation, reads, "Many wash in hallowed waters, living lives of hidden shame."

Uma is reported to have said, "Mujhe Arjun ki tarah kaam karna hai. Apna paraya nahi dekhna hai, bas maarna hai." Meaning, "I've to work like Arjun. I don't have to see who are my people and who, the rest. Just I've to kill." Before taking the bow, here's Valluvar's counsel: Know people by acts and not by forms; "straight arrow kills, bent lute but charms."

There's lot more ground to cover, but let me wrap with this tough-to-transliterate kural 280 that frowns upon sham. "Mazhithalum neetalum venda ulagam pazhithadhu ozhithu vidin."

Pope translates it as, "What's the worth of shaven head or tresses long if you shun what all the world condemns as wrong?" Bharatiar would put it thus, "No balding nor tangling the hair! Abstain from condemned acts with care." On that, however, Uma may have different views.

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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