02. Jaina ideas in Kural: Part II

திருக்குறளில் சமண தழுவல்கள் (பாகம்-2) 

II. The Kuŗal in light of Jaina, Buddhist and Hindu classics

"Valluvar's work has as its basis the Dharma of Jainism"
(V. Kalyanasundaranar)

    In this section we compare the contents of Thirukkuŗal to a chosen Jaina, Buddhist and Hindu classic that emphasize their respective dhārmic values. The aim is to compare and contrast the ethical teachings found in these select classics with those of Thirukkuŗal and see if we can get a lead into the religious affiliation of the Kural. 

Since the objective here is to establish the religious inclination of Valluvar by comparing the dhārmic values emphasized in the different religious classics, one may be tempted to restrict all comparisons to the first division of Kuŗal, namely Dharma (Virtue: Aŗattuppāl: அறத்துப்பால்). However, the second division on Arthā (Wealth: Porutpāl: பொருட்பால்) does have many chapters of dhārmic nature. For the purpose of an unbiased analysis, 42 of the 70 chapters in the second division were also been taken into consideration. Therefore a total of 80 chapters (38 from first division and 42 from the second division) have been considered for comparison. Chapters 39, 47, 48, 49, 50 to 53, 55 to 57, 59, 64, 68 to 78, 87 to 89 and 104 were excluded because they deal with Polity and Management.  The III divisions is anyway on Kāmā (Love: Inbattuppāl: இன்பத்துப்பால்) and therefore has nothing to do with dhārmic values of ethico-philosophic nature. 

2.1. The Kuŗal and Jaina anthologies

Jainism is essentially an ethico-metaphysical system as it demands moral code and ethical discipline to achieve Moksha the final goal of life (Sharma, 1991). Therefore there is no dearth of ethical dictums in Jaina scriptures, which are called 'agāmās'. Since Jaina agāmās are voluminous writings beyond the reach of common man, Jaina scholars in recent times have embarked upon the task of producing small anthologies consisting of important sūtrās collected from different Jaina scriptures. Two such Jaina sūtrā compilations available to the author were Saman Suttam (by Jidendra Varni) and Pearls of Jaina Wisdom (by Dulichand Jain). Saman Suttam is a Jaina collection of 756 Sūtrās in Prakrit sourced from ancient texts by an assembly Jaina scholars, Āchāryās and laymen held in 1974 in Delhi (Jinendra Varni, 1993).  Saman Suttam contains some surprising parallels with the Kuŗal in the usage of similes. There are references to 'நுனிக்கொம்பு ஏறினார் ஊக்கின்' (476), 'ஒருமையுள் ஆமைபோல் ஐந்தடக்கல்' (126), 'உரன் என்னும் தோட்டியான் ஓரைந்தும் காப்பான்' (24), 'தெருளாதான் மெய்ப்பொருள் கண்டற்றால்' (249) etc. [Sūtrās  60, 137, 146, 692]. Many of these similes can be found in sacred texts of Hinduism (e.g. in Bhagavad Gītā, see section 2.3) and Buddhism (e.g. in Dhammapādā, see section 2.2). More than these similes, some Sūtrās look astonishingly similar to the couplets in Kuŗal (Table 4).

Table: 4. Ten select verses strikingly similar verses in Saman Suttam and Thirukkuŗal

No	Saman Suttam	Tirukkuŗal
1	What you desire for yourself desire for others too, what you do not desire for yourself do not desire for others too – This is the teaching of Jina. - Sūtrā 24 (Bŗhatkalpa-bhāsya 4584)	Do not do to others what you know has hurt yourself PS. (316)
2	He who desires his own good, should avoid causing any harm to a living being. -  Sūtrā 151	If you love yourself, refrain from causing ill of any degree * PS. (209)
3	There is no religion equal to the religion of ahimsā in this world. - Sūtrā 158	What is the perfect path? It is the path of avoiding killing anything NV. (324)
4	He who is free from attachments secures release from mundane existence; while, one who is not, continues to wander in it endlessly. - Sūtrā 77	Those who give up all are saved; the rest are caught in the snare of delusion * PS. (348)
5	The monk should not use harsh words or speak what is harmful to other living beings; Even if its true, because it is sinful. - Sūtrā 400	What is truthfulness? It is nothing but utterance wholly devoid of ill. VS, PS (291). Even a lie would take the place of truth, if it brings blameless benefit. NV, VR  (292)
6	A person who is free from worldly attachments becomes free from sorrow. - Sūtrā 81	Sorrows will never give up its hold on those who never give up their hold of desire. * DL (347)
7	Shake off the attachments to the body because it is the cause of suffering and pain. - Sūtrā 79	When the body itself is a burden on the way to liberation, why carry other attachments? * PS (345)
8	A person does not become a monk by merely shaving his head. - Sūtrā 340	No need of tonsure or long hair. (280)
9	A person does not become a Brahmin by repeating the Ōmkāra mantra, but his celibacy. Sūtrā 340-341	Scriptures forgot can be recapitulated; bad conduct debases a Brahmin and his birth. * PS. JN (134).
10	Sūtrā 353	What use is a sky-high pose to one who knowingly does wrong? PS (272)

Of the several similarities, the important one is the Golden Rule or the "Ethic of Reciprocity" (Do do not do to others what you find will harm yourself), found in scriptures of nearly every religion (Wilson, 1991). No doubt the Golden Rule is the corner stone of Jaina ethics. The entire chapter 32 "Not hurting" in Kuŗal has its affiliation to this Jaina ethic. 

Similarities in chapter headings

The chapter headings used by Valluvar in the first division Dharma (or Virtue) closely resemble the headings in these collection of Jaina sūtrās. The sūtrās in Jaina anthologies like Saman Suttam and Pearls of Jaina Wisdom have been grouped by the compilers under various headings keeping with the spirit of the Jaina tradition (Jain and Chordia, 1996). While sūtrās in Saman Suttam were brought under 44 headings, that of Jaina Wisdom under 71 headings. The table 5 below shows the interesting similarities between the chapter headings in Pearls of Jaina Wisdom and Kuŗal.

Table 5. Chapter headings common between Thirukkuŗal and Pearls of Jaina Wisdom.

No	Chapter headings in Pearls of Jaina Wisdom (PJW)	Chapter Nos: in PJW	Chapter headings in Kuŗal	Chapter Nos: in Kuŗal
1	Self restraint	5	Self control	13
2	Right Knowledge	8	Possession of wisdom	43
3	Right Conduct	9	Possession of decorum	14
4	Essence of righteousness	10	Emphasizing virtue	4
5	Anger	14	Avoiding wrath	31
6	Pride	15	Pride / Greatness	98
7	Desire	18	Eradicating desire	37
8	Attachment and Aversion	21	Renunciation	35
9	Doctrine of Karma	24	Fate (in many other places)	38
10	Impermanence	26	Impermanence	34
11	Dharma	36	Emphasizing virtue	4
12	Code of Conduct for monks	38	Ascetics, Imposture	3, 28
13	Code of Conduct for householders	40	Domestic life	50
14	Non-Violence	41	Not hurting and Not killing	32, 33
15	Truthfulness	42	Truthfulness	30
16	Non-stealing	43	Not coveting	18
17	Celibacy	44	Greatness of ascetics	3
18	Austerity	46	Penance	27
19	Forgiveness	47	Realizing gratitude	11
20	Equipoise	48	Impartiality	12
21	Charity	45	Charity	23
22	Learning	57	Learning	40
23	Forbearance	60	Forbearance	16
24	Restraint in speech	61	Pleasant speech	10
25	Vigilance	62	Vigilance	60
26	Food regimen	64	Medicine	95
27	Company of the virtuous	66	Company of the great	45

37% of the chapters found in "Pearls of Jaina Wisdom" could also be found in Tirukkuŗal. In other words, about 32% of the chapters are similar to those 80 Tirukkuŗal chapters we had identified in the beginning of this section. i.e. twenty six headings fall within the 80 chapters we short-listed from the first and second divisions of the Kuŗal. Interestingly 20 of these 26 chapters could be identified with a chapter in the first Division "Virtue". i.e. a high 77%. Now let us look at the 44 chapter headings in Saman Suttam and see how many of these resemble the chapters in Kuŗal (Table 6). 

Table 6. Chapter headings common between Thirukkuŗal and Saman Suttam. 

No	Chapter headings in Sama Suttam	Chapter Nos	Chapter headings in Kuŗal	Chapter Nos: in Kuŗal
1	Percepts on the Auspicious	1	Praise of God	1
2	Percepts on Karmas	6	Fate (in many other places)	38
3	Renunciation of Attachment	8	Renunciation	13
4	Self restraint	10	Self control	27
5	Non-violence	12	Not killing	33
6	Vigilance	13	Possessing vigour	60
7	Education	14	Learning	40
8	Knowledge	19	Possession of wisdom	43
9	Right conduct	20	Decorum or conduct	14
10	Spiritual realization	21	Truth Realization	36
12	Householder's religion	23	Domestic life	5
13	Religion of monks	24	Greatness of ascetics	3
14	Carefulness and Self control	26	Self control	13
15	Percepts on penance	28	Penance	27

Here also we see 15 of the 44 chapters (about 34%) matching with the names used by Valluvar in Tirukkuŗal. Twelve of these 15 titles (80%) fall under the first Division, Virtue. Noticeable is chapter 28 in Saman Suttam on the "Percepts of penance" and chapter 46 on "Austerity", a characteristic element of Jainism which is also reflected in Chapter 27 in Tirukkuŗal "Penance". In Jainism, "Religion is supremely auspicious; non-violence, self-control and penance are its essentials" (Saman Suttam, 82). Valluvar has devoted full chapters to all these three Jaina essentials. 

2.2. The Kuŗal and Buddhist classics

Dhammapādā is the most popular book amongst the Buddhists, just like the Bhagavad Gītā for Hindus. My unanimous choice to compare with Tirukkuŗal is Dhammapādā. Unlike the Gītā and Jaina texts taken up here, Dhammapādā is more of an ethical treatise like the Kuŗal and has many verses of similar style and content to the Kuŗal. This is natural because Buddhist ethics are humanistic and more compassionate and less metaphysical than Jainism (Sharma, 1991). Mentioned below are some of the verses similar to the Kuŗal (Table 7). 

Table 7. Ten select verses of similar import in Dhammapada and Thirukkuŗal 

No	Buddha in Dhammapādā	Valluvar in Kuŗal
1	The fool who recognizes his foolishness, is at least wise in that! (63)	Even a fool is fine if he can hold his tongue before the wise! PS (403)
2	It is better to live alone, for one cannot take a fool as a companion. (330)	It is a gain by itself, if one gets away from the friendship with fools. CR (797)
3	Four punishments await the man who covets the wife of another: Shame, troubled sleep, condemnation and hell. (309)	The adulterer has no respite from these four: hatred, sin, fear and disgrace.* VS (146)
4	A jar is filled drop by drop. Even so the sage fills himself little by little with goodness. (122)	The more you dig a sand-spring, more the flow. The more you learn more the wisdom. NV (396)
5	The fools, those who are ignorant, have no worse enemies than themselves. (66)	The harm fools do to themselves is beyond anything their foes do to them. PS (843)
6	Wherever he may be, the true sage renounces all pleasures. Neither sorrow nor happiness can move him. (83)	He who never exulted in joy will not be depressed by sorrow. PS (629)
7	Oppose anger with serenity, evil with good. (223)	Punish an evil-doer by shaming him with a good deed.* PS (314)
8	We should seek the company of the sage who shows us our faults, as if he were showing us a hidden treasure. (76)	Seek a friend who will make you cry, rail and rate when you go astray. PS (795)
9	He in whom there is truthfulness, non-violence, restraint and self-control, that faultless sage is called an Elder (thera). (261)	The pillars of excellence are five: love, modesty, altruism, compassion, truthfulness. PS (983)
10	Those who are afraid of what should not be feared, and those who do not fear what is to be feared, are destined to a painful state. (317)	It is folly not to fear what ought to be feared. The wise dread what ought to be dreaded. * SS (428)

Apart from this exciting list of parallels, Dhammapādā also contains many similes of the type found in the Tirukkuŗal. There are verses in Dhammapādā that contain the following similes employed by Valluvar: உரன் என்னும் தோட்டியான் (Dhammapādā 326), களிறு கால்ஆழ் களரின் (Dhammapādā 327), இணர் ஊழ்த்தும் நாறா மலர் (Dhammapādā 51) and அம்பின் பட்டுப் பாடு ஊன்றும் களிறு (Dhammapādā 320) but the author of Dhammapādā has used them to emphasize different moral percepts.

Next: Continuation of Section II