Nobility of Character
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
nilattiṟ kiṭantamai kālkāṭṭuṅ kāṭṭuṅ / kulattiṟ piṟantārvāyc col.
“Of soil the plants that spring thereout will show the worth: / The words they speak declare the men of noble birth.”
“The nature of a soil is known by the seedling that groweth therein: even so is the family of a man known by the words that come out of his mouth.”
As the sprout reveals the quality of the soil, so the spoken word reveals a person's breeding.
Ask about this Kural
Answers are drawn only from this Kural's sourced text and named commentary, and always cite what they used.
Choose a section
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
நிலத்தின் கிடந்தமை கால் காட்டும்= நிலத்தின் இயல்பை அதன்கண் முளைத்த முளை காட்டும்; குலத்திற் பிறந்தார் வாய்ச்சொல் காட்டும்= அதுபோலக் குலத்தின் இயல்பை அதன்கண் பிறந்தார் வாயிற் சொல் காட்டும்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Just as the sprouting shoot reveals the fertility of the soil below, so does the speech issuing from a person's mouth reveal the character of his lineage.