20. The King's Concern

King Chandrachuda was brimming with anger, when he talked to his minister.

"For the past few months, incidents like theft, robbery, housebreaking, looting of shops etc. have gone up steeply. Did these come to your notice?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. I myself wanted to discuss this problem with you" replied the minister.

"What is there to discuss with me? You just have to advice the Chief of Security to nab the culprits and punish them severely!"

"Your Excellency! The Chief of Security has been taking action. Most of the culprits have been nabbed and put into prison. But I think this is not enough."

"Are you suggesting that the punishment has to be more stringent? You have the authority to make the punishment more severe!"

"Pardon me for saying this, Your Excellency, but I think that awarding severe punishments for these kinds of crimes is not the right thing to do" said the Minister, somewhat reluctantly.

"If people who commit crimes are not given severe punishments, how will the crimes come down?"

"What you say is true, in general. But it is my humble opinion that crimes like the ones happening now should be looked at in a different way."

"How do you think that they should be viewed?"

"Your Excellency! There were no rains during the last one year. In many parts of our country, there is severe famine. This is the reason for the increase in thefts in recent times."

"Attributing poverty as the cause for theft has been a conventional argument to justify such crimes" said the King.

"It is true that stealing is an act of immorality. Not all those who suffer from starvation resort to stealing. People who follow the moral code will not resort to acts like theft under any circumstances. On the other hand, we can't say that all those who indulge in acts like thefts or robberies do so only out of starvation. A sizeable number of people who steal do so only because they want to earn their living without doing any hard work. But, when the rains have failed and there is shortage of food grains, some of the honest people begin to lose their morality and indulge in acts like thefts etc. The recent spike in the number of thefts has resulted because even people with morality have been forced to steal for the sake of feeding their families. I am tormented by the question whether it is proper to cause more suffering to these people who have already been suffering a lot because of poverty caused by the paucity of rains, by giving them punishment."

"What you say sounds strange, Minister! Are you suggesting that rather than punishing these people, we should reward them?" asked the King in a tone of mockery.

"I am not saying that. My submission is that Your Excellency, being a noble monarch, should understand that starvation caused by the failure of rain could force even honest people to pursue immoral paths and should take steps to mitigate the sufferings of the people."

"What kind of steps?"

"Feeding the poor is taking place in temples and is in some charitable institutions. We can help these institutions to feed more people by donating funds and food grains to these institutions. We could take up public works like deepening of the wells, desilting water bodies, digging more wells etc. This will generate jobs and provide some income to the poor and will also mitigate the sufferings of people by increasing the availability of water, both in the short run and in the long run. We can also think of other ways to help the poor. These steps will go a long way in alleviating the suffering of the people and will also prevent people from being driven to resort to immoral activities like stealing from others. My opinion is that taking these steps will help to bring down the incidence of crime."

The minister looked at the King's face, wondering how he would react to his suggestion.

He noticed the livid expression on the king's face giving way to an expression of deep contemplation.

Thirukkural
Section 1: The Path of Virtue

Chapter 2
The Glory of Rain

Verse 20 (In Tamil)
nIr inRu amaiyAdhu ulagenin yAryARkkum
vAn inRu amaiyAdhu ozhukku.

Meaning:
World cannot survive without water. Morality can't exist without rains.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'arasanin kavalai' by the same author)

Verse 21 

Verse 19