Thread by @ThanjaiMadhavan

A Thread on Standards of Moral Conduct...!

Early Tamil society had evolved some conception of true love and norms of moral conduct. The lapses and the protests they provoked reveal the ideals held in view.

The virtues of immaculate love and true partnership in life between...

...the husband and wife find their echo in several verses of #Narrinai. One of these states that even poison offered by a real lover would not be rejected: (Stanza 355).

In passing it may be mentioned that below lines bear a tinge of similarity with the precept in Kural-586.

Love of a high order which promotes unbounded courage and unselfish sacrifice was known and appreciated.

It is this noble feature which the poet 'Koliyur Kilarmahanar Cheliyanar' has in view when he says that a tiger was prepared to attack and kill an elephant for appeasing the hunger of its partner. (Stanza- 383)

It is no doubt poetic imagery that is offered in this excerpt; but it reveals the conception of true love. The idea of depicting it through the illustration of an animal was apparently expected to be significant. It appears to have been realized that ideal love was not physical..

..much less sexual in character; it was an attachment of spirit.

It is this idea which the poet #Ammuvanar exemplifies when he says that a loving girl, struck with sorrow that her lover had not turned up as expected, declares that..

She does not even dread death, but is only anxious that in the life to come, if she is not born as a human being she may forget her lover. She says,

The importance of a nobler love transcending sexual appeal, has been admirably expressed through the appeal of a girl's companion to her lover, calling upon him to be always attached to the girl even long after she loses her physical charm (Stanza 10).

A high standard of moral virtue seems to have been in vogue among family women. Though this was common to all the regions, it was exemplified best in Mullai because it was there that the separation of lovers occurred most and fidelity was on trial, as it were.

It is noteworthy that Mullai became a synonymous name for Karpu or chastity. The pang of separation is borne with fortitude controlling the intense feeling of agony; no wonder that numerous verses appear pertaining to this theme.

It is considered as an essential virtue of the noble woman to bear the separation with courage. In Stanza 289 the woman having waited long for the arrival of her husband is stated to have cried that just as the fire set on to the felled trees at night by the shepherds get...

...extinguished of their own accord, so, too, her lust would automatically cool itself down.

The husband himself knows how longingly his wife would be yearning for his return.

Relating how his wife had admirably put up with separation from him on a previous occasion...

...he states that she had remained with her hair unkempt, which showed her immaculate chastity.

The ideal man, too, was expected to lead a moral life. Indulgence with #Parattayar was condemned, although as observed earlier, quite a number of men lapsed into immoral ways...

(St.226), In theory the moral code was applicable to man no less than to women.

But then, as always here as all the world over, man made laws & broke them with impunity Man's ownership of property, his unbounded freedom to go out and his inherent dislike of...

... the humdrum domestic life was perhaps some of the factors responsible for the consequent existence of a class of harlots. Associated with chastity, certain other virtues were also expected of women.

Reverse and restraint, arising from modesty, were considered the most essential of the feminine virtues.

In Stanza 17, 'Nochi Niyamangilar narrates' an incident which illustrates vividly the supreme importance of modesty for women.

A girl in love was weeping on account of separation from her lover. Her mother openly consoled her that he would return soon.

Then the girl instantaneously realized that she had abandoned her inborn modesty, which was far more precious than life itself.

She is stated to have stopped crying and to have resolved upon maintaining her modesty.

Again #Yeinandaiyar states that during the absence of the husband, modesty is the only impregnable fortification of woman.

#Narrinai, like the other #Sangam works, reveals that...

The society of that age recognized and upheld certain distinctive feminine virtues. It was idle to expect these virtues among the harlots.

Poets of the age deny the existence of these virtues among Parattai and suggest by implication that they constituted the fundamental assets of the well-bred woman of social status.

- Thank you.