it was the Dravidian whose teeth were blunted by the eating of flesh,
கொல்லையுழு கொழு வேய்ப்பப்பல்லே, யெல்லையு மிரவு மூன்றின்று மழுங்கி-Pat, II.,117.
that required the advice,
அருளல்லதி யாதெனிற் கொல்லாமை கோறல்
பொருளல்ல தவ்வூன்றினல்.—Kur.
And the following extracts will show that most of the Tamil kings were tyrannizing over their subjects:—
1. நடுவிகந் தோரீஇகயனில்லான் வினைவாங்கக்
கொடிதோர்த்த மன்னவன் கோல்போல.
2. செறுமிக சினவேந்தன் சிவந்திறுத்த புலம்போல.—Kal.
The early Tamilians considered it an honour and virtue in a military man to carry off other men's wives, to devastate the enemy's fields, to destroy their houses and to lift the cattle of neighbouring tribes. A people with such principles of conduct really needed books on practical morality.[1]
The ethical code of the Tamils is contained chiefly in the eighteen minor poems already referred to. None of the works on morals which our learned bishop makes so much of, appear to have been written by the Tamils before they had come under the civilizing influence of the Indo-Aryans, be they Brahmans, Buddhists or Jains. It is even supposed that the Kural of Tiruvalluvar and the Acharakkovai of Peruvayil-Mulliyar are adaptations from Sanskrit
- ↑ The fact that Brahmans were called மெய்யர் or 'truth speakers' proves that lying was common among the early Tamil speaking tribes.
