The Verse + 

A few words on the verse of the Kural will not be deemed out of place here though this book is mainly intended for readers who are unacquainted with Tamil. The title of the book itself indicates to the Tamil reader the verse in which it is written. For the word Kural means only a short rhymed couplet, the first line of which is composed of four feet and the second of three feet. The last foot of the first line or the first foot of the second line should rhyme with the first foot of the first line. The ability with which the poet manages the caesura in these short verses is something masterly. It is within the compass of these seven feet that our author has compressed some of the profoundest thoughts that have ever been uttered by man. And how like a master he plays on this tiny instrument! Sparkling wit and humour, the pointed statement, fancy, irony, the naive question, the picturesque simile, there is not one of these and others of the thousand tricks of the born artist that our author has not employed in this perfect masterpiece of art. But the abiding note in this varied symphony is the sublime. Well has an admirer described the Kural as “a little mustard seed, but whose bore holds all the waters of the seven seas.” If we should start quoting we should have to quote each one of the 1330 verses that compose the book, and so we shall merely refer the reader to verses 263, 397, 827, 835, 839, 922, 930, 1071, 1072, 1073, 1219, and 1220 as some of the finest that be can ever meet with in any work in the world. + 

The following transliteration of a typical verse is intended to satisfy the curiosity of those readers who are unacquainted with Tamil: + 

Kâmam vehuli mayakkam ivaimûndrin + 

Nâmam keḍakkeḍum nôy. + 

—⁠Verse 360. + 