Tirukkural-On Virtue-Social Cooperation-Kural 211

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The benevolent man should serve society seeking no return, for,How can the earth recompense the bounty of the rain-clouds?'

There can be no better comparison to bring out this idea of the benevolent man's spontaneous service to society than to juxtapose it with the bounty of the rain-clouds.

This couplet sets the key note to the chapter on 'Opuravu'. The term stands for the strength of united equality or oneness in co-operation with others, as 'Oppu' means equality and 'Uravu' means strength. It is the co-operative strength arising out of a feeling of oneness with all human beings. With the ancient Tamils this was not a mere abstract concept but a concrete way of life. It was like the Humanism of Confucius and the Humanitarianism of more recent protagonists, and superior to both.

It is no wonder; therefore, that Rajaji has aptly translated 'Opuravu' 'as active social co-operation with the spirit of helpfulness behind it'. That was the effective and constitutional answer of old Tamil society to human inequalities and other social evils, for which other and more revolutionary answers have been suggested in recent times with much less success, I should say.

Of all the Sangam literature Natrinai expresses the idea of this Kural best when it says:

Virundhevan seiko thoali
Malaiemaipadhu poal minnichch
Silaivalaetroadu serindha vim mazaikae

The same sense and words have been used by Kambar in an appropriate context in Kambaramayanam:

Aariyanavanai noaki yaaruirudhavi yaadhum
Maariyai noakik kaim maariyattrumo vaiyamendro

(Kamba : Naagapaasam : 271)

'Man is born for mutual help',. Said Seneca, but very few people think of it and act in accordance with it. It is in the absence in society of sufficient numbers of spontaneously benevolent people, who will serve their less fortunate neighbours and society generally, without seeking any return, that the State has bee constrained these days to go in for legislation this direction. The idea is to ensure that every citizen of this country, including the weakest of the weak, is enabled to live with dignity and self-respect as a human being-social justice.