Chapter 90: Not Offending the Great

Verse 896
A man walks through a fire unscathed, despite its heat and burning flames. He encounters a holy man and scolds him. Immediately he is paralyzed in the picture below.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

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Weaver’s Wisdom

Verse 891

Of all the ways to protect oneself, the foremost is this:
do not belittle the prowess of powerful men.

Verse 892

Disrespectful conduct toward great men will bring,
through those great men, unremitting miseries.

Verse 893

If you desire destruction, simply ignore the rules
and provoke those who, if they desire, can destroy you.

Verse 894

For the powerless to wreak harm upon the powerful
is to summon Death with a gesturing hand.

Verse 895

Once he incurs a fierce king’s withering wrath,
one is doomed, wherever he wanders, whatever he does.

Verse 896

Though burned by a blazing fire, one may still survive;
but there is no survival for those who offend great men.

Verse 897

What is the use of a man’s varied life and splendid wealth
if he reaps the wrath of great and righteous men?

Verse 898

If men of mountainous stature are meagerly esteemed,
others who seemed as enduring as earth will die, as will their kin.

Verse 899

The most kingly king will tumble from his throne and die,
should he unleash a towering sage’s bridled temper.

Verse 900

Though he commands unrivaled powers of protection,
a king cannot survive the wrath of powerful ascetics.