Baseness [from 'naaladiyaar' In Tamil Language) Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

341. E'en you spread the broken rice at the doorway
the hen stirs the mud daily and picks the rice.
When you teach the truths of a book
the mind of the base learns only baser things.

342. If it's said to join soon the great who cleared
themselves of all faults using their firm virtues,
the low-born would get up and go to sleep
and will say something else to hide what they did.

343. O, Chief of a good country with streams and falls!
When great men attain great wealth, their greatness
never downs and they keep some moral standards.
If the mean have wealth, their bad virtues strengthen.

344. O, Chief of a good country with silver falls!
Render a millet-sized help to the great, he
takes it as palm-sized. Do palm-sized to the base,
he doesn't think of it as a help.

345. Give food to the dog you rear in a gold bowl,
yet it waits with open eyes for the thrown out
leaves. Though the low-born is adored, his styles
of functioning will never improve.

346. E'en when they get the highest unit like ‘Wheel'
of royal mint, the high-born speak within bounds.
But the low-born think on par with Lord Indra,
when f they get the smallest unit like ‘Kani'.

347. Even if chappals are made in golden plates
inlaid with Emerald stones, they're worn only
at the foot. The lowborn's lifestyles will reveal
if he has got enormous wealth.

348. O, Chief of the country with firm hills!
The lowly speak harsh words and know not by looks,
the graciousness; please at the pain of others.
Be annoyed and seek others to insult.

349. O, Chief of the cool coast with honey shedding
Neithal flowers! If anyone waits behind,
the great men love them like old friends. But
the mean ignore them or say words of reproach.

350. Listen, Chief! Even when the small bulls are fed
with reaped green grass daily, they won't be fit
to draw the carts. Though the lowborn have wealth,
their styles of behavior show off the low born.