Thirukkural-On Virtue-Control Of Temper-Kural 304

Rajaji's precise translation of this verse in interrogative form is recorded below:

Can there be any greater enemy to mankind Than anger, which kills laughter and joy?

In this Kural Valluvar implies in the first place, that laughter and joy are the prime blessings of human life. He then appeals to our sense of values to give the answer, whether anything that destroys laughter and joy could at all have any value. This Kural gives an insight into the man, Valluvar.

It is amazing that our poet has emphasised this thought, two thousand years ago, bringing into focus those same delicate values of laughter and joy, by forgetting which, even today, we tend to make our own lives endlessly miserable. That is why the proverbs of the Bible would say:

'Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming'
(Proverbs 27:4)