The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 111
CHAPTER 111
IN PRAISE OF THE UNION
HE
1101. All the delights of sight and sound and smell and taste and touch are to be found in their entirety only in this damsel of the shining bangles.
1102. The cure of all disease lieth in some other thing than that which causeth it: but the pang that this damsel causeth, she alone can heal.
1103. Is the world of the lotus-eyed God sweeter than the tender arms of her that one loveth ?
1104. When she is at a distance she burneth, but when she is near she is refreshingly cool : ah! whence did she obtain this strange fire ?
1105. Behold the witchery of my love whose tresses are adorned with flowers ! whatever thing my heart desireth, that very thing her form seemeth to me to be!
1106. Of ambrosia are the arms of my artless damsel formed : for their every touch reviveth my dying limbs.
1107. The embrace of this lovely fair is supremely joyous, even as the family life of the householder who eateth his portion only after distributing charity.
1108. Joyous to the loving pair is the embrace that alloweth not even the air to come between.
1109. The pettish frown, the softening of the heart, and the new embrace, these are the sweets that lovers enjoy.
1110. Even as a man feeleth his ignorance the more keenly the more wise he groweth, even so do I love her the more ardently, the more I enjoy her company.
