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TRIPLETS.

தங்களுளவினாயநிவணப்பரதருக்கர

சங்களத்தருமமுடைமைததே
யிங்களம்வேறாயிவல்

நும்முளநிறகுமறமேதுவலர

தம்முளரதங்கு மதுவேநிவா

நம்முளநேராயநடை

பாரவரையெல்லார்க்குடைமைபகுப்பே

யேரவிளரநீராயிசதியுருவாய

ஆரவிலைமுத்தமறம்

The proud vainly think within themselves that strict and equal virtue is their's alone and is found no where else ;

But say not that virtue rests only with yourselves, nor believe that it is the peculiar attribute of any, for she walks with an equal pace umong us all :

It is the coparcenary possession of all within the bounds of the earth, that pearl of the clearest and most beautiful water and the exactest shape, that high-priced pearl virtue.

COUPLETS.

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அறிவினின்று நன்மையு நன்மையினின்று மறிவுமாகத் தன்மையைத் தன் மைகொடுக்கும் - எறு

வயிரம வயிரந் துலக்கின் நேரநனறைக்
கயிரற்றநல்லாரகடகாப்பு

எது

யிரம வயிரத்தைத் துலக்குவது போலக்குற்றமில்லாதநல்லேராநன றைக்காததல் - எறு

நன்றிகொளத்தீயசெயின்னறியுநிற்காதே
நன்று நிலைபெறநம்பு

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நன்றிதேடுகையில் தடையத தீமைசெய்தா லவ்வகைப்பெற்ற நன்றி நில்லா தாயினனறு செய்தா ல்வகைப் பெற்ற நன்றி யெப்பொழுதி நிலைபெறுமென்று நம்புக - எது

பாவத்தினின்றுமனநீங்கவூக்கமுறின
பாவத்தின்போற்த்தைப்பார்- ஏது

பாவஞ் செய்யத்துடங்குகின்ற பொழுதிலதைச் செய்யாமறகின்றதி னான மனவூக்கமான பாவவினையின் போரத்தைக்காண்பாய்

எறு

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இவ்வுலகி னெருங்கிய மனிதர்பலபல முறைப்படித்திரிதலாயிருப்பா ராயினும் புகழுமவானுலகடையுமறமுள்ளறமே - எறு

From knowledge proceedeth goodness, from goodness knowledge; thus kind produceth kind.

As the diamond polisheth the diamond, so do the unblemished virtuous promote goodnessin others.

If evil be done that good may ensue, that good is not stable; good is maintained by goodness.

If thou have the fortitude to stop in the path of vice and to forsake it; know this to be the greatest virtue of thy nature.

Although men, addicted to the ways of this world, follow various institutions, inward virtue only is the virtue that exalteth to the stars.

இல்லறம

ON DOMESTIC VIRTUE.

CHAP. V.

இல்வாழ்க்கை On domestic life,

இல், lit. a house, signifiesherethe domestic state, and வாழ்தல் to live, not merely to exist, but to enjoy life,to prosper,to flourish: the direct meaning of இல்வாழ்க்கை, therefore, is the enjoyment of domestic life, but it is generally used in this Chapter for the duties of domestic life; true enjoyment in any state consisting in the correct discharge of the duties of it.

I.

ல்வாழ்வானென்பானியல்புடைய மூவ

நல்லாற்றினின்றதுவிண்

He for domestic duties is esteemed,

Who, firm in virtue's path, the virtuous aids
In life's three orders found.

(க)

"Domestic duties"-The commentators, agreeing that the foregoing Chapter applies to both the species of virtue of which the Author treats, consider this as the first of the First Part of the First Book, and all that precede it as introductory.

"Three orders"-There are four orders of life; as the man engaged in domestic duties belongs to the second, the other three only are here mentioned. Parimèl-azhager thus explains these three orders and states the duties of the house-holder with respect to them :- எவினயமூவராவாரஆசிரியனிடத்து . நின்றோதலுமவிரதஙகாத்தலுமாகிய பிரமசரியவொழுக்கத்தானுமில்லைவி ட்டுவனத்தின் கடசென்று மனையாளவழிபடத்தவஞ்செய்யுமொமுக்கத்தா னுமுற்றறந்தவொழுக்கத்தானுமெனவிவர - இவருண் முனவனயி

ரு

வரையுமபிறாமதமேற்கொண்டுகூ .றினாரில்வொழுக்கநெறிகளைமுடியசு செல்லு மளவுமச்செல்விறகுப் பசிநோயகுளிர முதலியவற்றானிடையூறு வாராமலுண்டியுமருந்து முறையுளுமுதவியவவவ நெறிகளின் வழுவாமற் செலுத்துதலானல்லாற்றினின்றதுணையென்றார்-Thethreepersons here. alluded to are--he who follows the rule of a Brahmachári, devoutly performing his duties and studying in the presence of his preceptor;-he who, quitting his house, and repairing to the forest, follows the rule of austere devotion assisted by his wife;-and he who follows the rule of mendicity. Of these he mentions the two former from deference to the opinions of others. As the house-holder prevents hunger, pain and cold from interrupting the progress of those who have entered the paths of these orders, until their career is completed, and as he causes them to proceed without swerving from these paths, by assisting them with food, medicine and lodging, the Author calls him-ÅN AID STANDING IN THE PATH OF VIRTue.

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The four orders of human life are founded on the ordinances of the Smritis, but, to accommodate them to the exigencies of the present age, many primitive practices have been abrogated and those alterations, which, without express enactment, time ever effects in similar institutions, have tended still farther to modify them. Though confounded by some European writers with the mysteries of ancient paganism, with the Mythraic and Eleusinian rites and the worship of Osiris and Isis, to which in truth they bear no relation whatever, these institutions partake as much of a civil as a religious character and are governed by rules, not framed by any individual or distinct society, but prescribed by codes, believed to have emanated from the Deity himself and to have been revealed for the guidance of mankind universally. Among the Hindus they constitute the basis of practical morality and the Author has, accordingly, devoted the whole of his First Book to the two principal, illustrating their respective virtues and duties and occasionally adverting, as in this verse, to the others. Although, therefore, the two last orders have been particularly noticed in the remarks on a previous chapter, Ishall, at the risk of some repetition, here take a concise review of the whole, quoting the original Smritis as my authority for the variations which will be noticed between the ancient and existing law respecting them.

As introductory to the subject, it is necessary to notice the A'chárah, 28, or general rites, ordained by the writings considered by the Hindus pre-eminently sacred, on which the primitive and, among the better. informed, the practical religion of India is founded. Among these the thou sand ceremonies to a thousand deities invented of old by the Pauránicas, the reveries of the philosophical schools, and the various superstitious practices, derived from the Tantras and A'gamas, or introduced by the founders of the modern sects, are of course not included: of the Pauránica and Tantrica A chârah, the reader will find an ample explanation in the Nirna-sind,hu

and the Cala-mad,havíyam; works easy of access, to which, therefore, he is referred. These rites, derived in part from the Srutih,, or Véda, the Scriptures, believed to have been revealed directly by God himself, and in part from the Smritih, 28, the Law, revealed indirectly through the primitive sages, in whose institutes it is embodied, are denominated respectively `Srautam, go, and Smártam, 20. Each rite has its appropriate ritual, consisting of prayers, hymns and portions of the Véda chaunted or recited; the principal difference in this respect being that the service is considerably longer and more varied in the `Srauta than in the Smárta ceremonies.

The Srauta rites are not numerous; those ordained by the Scriptures consisting principally of the following.-ADHANAM, 50, from the root u dhà, which with the inseparable preposition means to place, establish the consecration of a portion of the fire lighted during the marriage ceremony for the celebration of the several 'Srauta rites. This should be done by the Grïhast, ha on entering that order and repeated as often as the fire then lighted, which ought to be carefully preserved, may be extinguished; in the former case it is called Apurváḍ hánam, in the latter Vich hinádhánam. The rite consists in placing the fire, while prayers and holy texts are pronounced, in a circular form to the west of an oblong space of earth raised a few inches from the floor and forming a kind of altar on which are disposed the pots and other materials used in the oblations. When these are offered, a portion of this fire is arranged in a semicircular form-to the south and another to the east: these are called jointly Trétágni, D, the three fires, but according to some authorities the first should be so divided as to make five fires, on the whole, which are then denominated Panchágnih, 21. The dimensions of these fires and the altar are precisely stated in the Sútrás, or collection of rules for ceremonial observances, but the several schools to which these belong differ much with respect to them -AGNIHOTRAM, Fo, from fire and 200 ஹாகு, an offering, an oblation in fire of raw rice and milk, offered twice a day, in the morning and the evening. It is of two kinds Nityaguihótram and Cámyàgnihó tram, or perpetual and voluntary; the latter is performed to obtain some object and the offerings are various, being rice-water when made to acquire land &c. This rite, the Aupasanam and the initial ceremonies of the Vaishva-dévam and Sradd ham, and, generally, all oblations of inanimate substances in fire are designated by the common term Hómam, 22 0, from theroot offer.

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The preceding are daily rites; those hereafter enumerated periodical.-DARSAPURNA-MASAU, or (this compound is an instance of what the Sanscrit Grammarians call Virod hi-lacshana, like lucus a non lucendo, being composed of seen, a term denoting the day of the moon's change when actually it is not seen, full, and the moon); oblations offered on, the first de after the new, and full moon, consisting, in the former case, of a

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