The Kural
All chapters › Virtue (அறத்துப்பால்) › Chapter 26
புலால் மறுத்தல்
Kurals 251–260 of the Thirukkural, in the book of Virtue (அறத்துப்பால்).
தன்னூன் பெருக்கற்குத் தான்பிறிது ஊனுண்பான்
எங்ஙனம் ஆளும் அருள்?
How can the wont of 'kindly grace' to him be known,
Who other creatures' flesh consumes to feed his own?
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: How can you call yourself kind if you eat other creatures' flesh to grow your own?
Open in the appபொருளாட்சி போற்றாதார்க்கு இல்லை அருளாட்சி
ஆங்கில்லை ஊன்தின் பவர்க்கு.
No use of wealth have they who guard not their estate;
No use of grace have they with flesh who hunger sate.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Just as people who don't look after money lose it, people who eat meat lose kindness.
Open in the appபடைகொண்டார் நெஞ்சம்போல் நன்றூக்காது ஒன்றன்
உடல்சுவை உண்டார் மனம்.
Like heart of them that murderous weapons bear, his mind,
Who eats of savoury meat, no joy in good can find.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: A mind that enjoys feasting on another creature's body is like one holding a weapon: it has no regard for goodness.
Open in the appஅருளல்லது யாதெனின் கொல்லாமை கோறல்
பொருளல்லது அவ்வூன் தினல்.
'What's grace, or lack of grace'? 'To kill' is this, that 'not to kill';
To eat dead flesh can never worthy end fulfil.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Kindness means not killing; killing is its opposite, so eating what was killed isn't right.
Open in the appஉண்ணாமை உள்ளது உயிர்நிலை ஊனுண்ண
அண்ணாத்தல் செய்யாது அளறு.
If flesh you eat not, life's abodes unharmed remain;
Who eats, hell swallows him, and renders not again.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Not eating meat lets life go on; Valluvar warns that eating it is a trap you can't escape.
Open in the appதினற்பொருட்டால் கொல்லாது உலகெனின் யாரும்
விலைப்பொருட்டால் ஊன்றருவா ரில்.
'We eat the slain,' you say, by us no living creatures die;
Who'd kill and sell, I pray, if none came there the flesh to buy?
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: If nobody killed animals to eat, nobody would sell meat for money.
Open in the appஉண்ணாமை வேண்டும் புலாஅல் பிறிதொன்றன்
புண்ணது உணர்வார்ப் பெறின்.
With other beings' ulcerous wounds their hunger they appease;
If this they felt, desire to eat must surely cease.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: If you realised that meat is just a wound in another body, you wouldn't eat it.
Open in the appசெயிரின் தலைப்பிரிந்த காட்சியார் உண்ணார்
உயிரின் தலைப்பிரிந்த ஊன்.
Whose souls the vision pure and passionless perceive,
Eat not the bodies men of life bereave.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Wise people who see clearly don't eat flesh cut from a living creature.
Open in the appஅவிசொரிந் தாயிரம் வேட்டலின் ஒன்றன்
உயிர்செகுத் துண்ணாமை நன்று.
Than thousand rich oblations, with libations rare,
Better the flesh of slaughtered beings not to share.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Not killing and eating an animal is better than a thousand grand rituals.
Open in the appகொல்லான் புலாலை மறுத்தானைக் கைகூப்பி
எல்லா உயிருந் தொழும்.
Who slays nought,- flesh rejects- his feet before
All living things with clasped hands adore.
G.U. Pope, 1886
In today's words: Every creature would fold its hands in respect before someone who never kills and never eats meat.
Open in the app