550. The Garden at the Mentor's House

"Oh, king! Murder being a punishable crime, how can the king himself commit that crime?" asked the king's mentor Parimala Arangar.

"I don't understand what you are referring to, Guru!" said King Simmendra.

"I am referring to your awarding death sentence to a murderer."

"Guru! Is it wrong to award death sentence to a killer, who had been a threat to the society? As you are aware, the practice of sentencing hardcore criminals to death has been there since time immemorial."

"When the society becomes more and more civilized, should we not give up cruel practices like death sentence? Rethinking, reevaluating and changing are essential components of evolution."

"Guru! Won't you agree that punishment being commensurate with the severity of the crime is a fundamental principle of the justice delivery system?"

"Punishment commensurate with the severity of the crime! If a person murders someone, we should kill the murderer. Going by this logic, if a person is convicted of theft, the palace employees should break into the thief's house and steal things from there!"

The king was momentarily irked by the bizarre reasoning of his mentor. But, considering that he couldn't show his anger at his mentor, he controlled his anger and said, "Guru! As you know, we don't routinely condemn all murderers to death, For murders resulting from emotions or otherwise mitigated by extenuating circumstances, we award only prison sentence to the murderers."

"I don't want to be a mentor for a king who justifies taking away the life of a person, in the name of punishing him. If you ever decide to do away with capital punishment, then send word to me. I will come to your court, to felicitate you on your decision" said the mentor, and left the king's court.

After a few weeks, King Simmendra went to Parimala Arangar's house, by way of making a courtesy call on him.

Parimala Arangar welcomed the king, offered him refreshments, and conversed with him.

After a while, Parimala Arangar told the king, "Oh, king! If you have come here for inviting me back to your court, excuse me. I am not inclined to change my mind."

"No, Guru! I respect your decision. So, I am not going to attempt changing your mind. I came here, only for paying my respects to you. I will take leave of you now" said the king, stood up and walked towards the door.

As he was coming out of the house, he looked at the garden in front of the house. 

He asked Parimala Arangar, "What is this, Guru? Your gardener is plucking out the plants!"

"He is plucking out the weeds, not the plants" said Parimala Arangar.

"Why does he pluck out the weeds? He can just maintain the plants and leave out the weeds!"

"If the weeds are not removed, won't they destroy the plants, by inhibiting their growth?"

Parimala Arangar paused, as if realizing that he had said something wrong.

The king stepped out of his mentor's house, with a broad smile on his face.

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 55

The Right Sceptre

Verse 550 (in Tamil):

kolaiyiR kodiyArai vEndhu oRuththal paingUzh
kaLai kattadhanodu nEr.

Meaning:

The king punishing the murderers, by awarding capital punishment to them is akin to (a farmer) plucking out the weeds to protect the crops.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'rAjaguruvin kObam' by the same author.)

Verse 551 (Soon)

Verse 549