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Part I: On Virtue

Section I: Prologue

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Chapter 104: Farming

Verse 1032
Here a strong farmer holds his plow as his cows help him till the ground. He is growing crops that feed his village. Such farmers support the entire the world so that others do not have to work so hard.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

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Weaver's Wisdom

Verse 1031

Wherever it may wander, the world follows the farmer's plow.
Thus despite all its hardships, farming is the foremost occupation.

Verse 1032

Farmers are the linchpin of the world, for they support all
who take up other work, not having the strength to plow.

Verse 1033

Those who live by the plow live in self-sufficiency.
All others lean on them to simply subsist.

Verse 1034

Those whose fields lie shaded by abundant sheaves of grain
will see many nations overshadowed by their own.

Verse 1035

Those who eat food harvested with their own hands
will never beg and never refuse a beggar's outstretched palm.

Verse 1036

When plowers of the fields stand idly with folded arms,
even desireless ascetics will not last long.

Verse 1037

If soil is dried so that one ounce shrinks to one-quarter ounce,
fruitful yields will not require a single handful of fertilizer.

Verse 1038

It is better to fertilize than to furrow a field. After weeding,
it is more important to watch over a field than even to water it.

Verse 1039

If the lord of the land fails to visit his fields,
they will sulk as surely as a neglected wife.

Verse 1040

Mother Earth laughs when she sees
lazy men crying, "We are so poor."