Charity [from 'naaladiyaar' In Tamil] Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

91. When their coffers are empty, give in joy,
feigning as rich, to those in need in calm,
as much as they could, the generous-minded!
The doors of heaven remain open for them.

92. The days of death and loathed ageing lie in wait!
Diseases to mar our pride and strength are there.
Don't adore the vain wealth in hand; don't grab it.
Give others and eat it and don't hide it.

93. E'en if you ease not the misery of the weak
who seek your help, and use it for yourself,
wealth comes at the time of your good deeds; it slips
your grasp. When you cease doing good deeds, it leaves.

94. Give at least a paltry grain of rice daily
to the needy and then take your food.
If you're stingy, e'en the beggars who don't fire
the hearth, in this sea-girt world will scorn you.

95. Weigh up this birth and the next and give the poor
What's possible to you. If you don't give
Out of your poverty, you don't beg others.
It is double times of your beneficence.

96. The givers are akin to the palms female
With bunches of fruits with a stage around
at the centre of the town. The stingy rich
are the male palms at the graveyard with no fruit.

97. O, You the leader of the coastal land, where
the scent of Punnai's [tree] flowers exits the bad
smell of the carp! If seasonal rains fail,
and the rich don't give, how the world will thrive?

98. O, You the leader of the fertile cool coast!
It's the man's duty to give something to hands
stretched before him, without distinguishing them.
It's but a loan to give them, who pay it back.

99. Don't think sparse of something you give; don't refuse.
Give them whoever beg you at any time.
Little drops of charity will swell like
the bowls of mendicants begging at each door.

100.The sound of beating drums covers ten miles.
The crash of thunder goes up to forty miles.
But the praises on the donors, hear those
in all the three worlds piled up one by one.