Education [from Naaladiyaar In Tamil ] Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

Education [from Naaladiyaar In Tamil ]



131. It isn't real beauty to make the hair stylish,
the ends in garbs striped and daub with turmeric.
Education that gives the feel, "I'm balanced"
Is the greatest beauty!

132. Give the gains of this birth. Giving, it doesn't fall.
Makes the learned well-known; ruins not till one ends.
In all the worlds, we haven't found a cure
Like education to root out ignorance.

133. The wise treat higher the wasteland born salt
than the produce of the fertile land, paddy.
Likewise, the learned hailed from lower castes
Are more honoured than those born in higher castes.

134. No one can steal erudition whence it's stored.
On giving, it doesn't ruin. E'en the well-armed
King's frown can't seize it. The wealth apt to hand down
to children is nothing but education.

135. Learning is boundless. Brief's the life of learners.
Diseases plenty visit in this brief spell.
As the swan sifts the milk from water to drink
The wise learn what's good knowing the content fit.

136. See! The people don't insult the boatman
for his lowermost caste of the ancient castes.
As they cross the river with boatman's help
One knows good things by the son who learned good works.

137. There is much joy for the learned to converse
in groups, if they have a good deep worth of books,
and being not hostile but being prudent.
If heaven gives more joy, they can visit it.

138. O You, owner of the loud sea's cold harbor!
Friendship with the wise sweetens like eating
the sugarcane from its root. With the mean,
it turns sour like eating from its top.

139. A new pot makes water fragrant and smells sweet,
as it's the old, bright Pathiri-tree's flowers!
Likewise, if the untaught acquaint with the wise,
They will amass wisdom day by day.

140. Not learning the books of truths with a broad sense
And browsing through the books on world affairs
will help one to make a hustle and bustle.
No one knows the way to cease birth with these books.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Topic(s) of this poem: translation
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
These translations are of 2000 years old moral poetry called 'Naaladiyaar' in Tamil language.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Rajendran Muthiah

Rajendran Muthiah

Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India.
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