560. The Loyal Citizen

"How compassionate is our king! He has proclaimed a law that if someone who owns cattle doesn't look after them properly, he will be arrested and given severe punishment." 

"One can take solace from the fact that a monarch who torments his people in many ways, has compassion at least towards the cattle. But, I am afraid that this law is not going to do any good to the cattle. It is only going to cause them harm!"

"Intellectuals like you have made it a practice to criticize our king, even when he does something good. Your persistent airing of negative views about our king's actions justifies our king's oft-repeated warning to the people to be wary of intellectuals!"

"Since you are a friend of mine, I am speaking my mind to you. I implore you not to call me an intellectual. If any guard hears this, he will arrest me and put me behind the bars. Our king doesn't like people who think. That is why he keeps targeting thinkers, derisively calling them 'intellectuals' and projecting them as dangerous people. Our king wants only loyal citizens like you, who blindly support anything he does, to inhabit our country!"

"If I blindly support the king, you blindly oppose him!"

"Let us wait for some time and see what impact the king's law has, on the cattle and on the people. You will then be able to judge whether your stand is right."

"What is this! There is acute scarcity for milk in our country. I couldn't believe this!"

"When our king proclaimed a law prescribing punishment to cattle owners who didn't take proper care of the cattle, you appreciated him. Can you see what has happened now?"

"The king proclaimed the law, out of compassion for the cattle. But, in the name of implementing this law, the guards have imprisoned a large number of people, charging them with the offense of not taking proper care of the cattle. As a result, there was no one to take care of the cattle owned by them. Some cattle owners, fearing that they could be accused of not taking good care of the cattle, tried to sell their cattle. But, not finding any buyers, they let out the cattle. The cattle so let out have been roaming on the streets and eating the crops. So, on the one hand, milk production has come down and on the other, yield from the crops planted has also come down, leading to the scarcity of milk as well as food grains. But, how can we blame the king for this?" 

"Yes. the king is not at fault. What can he do? He is just witnessing what is happening in the country. And he is busy building a new palace for him. By the way, you wanted to admit your son in a university. Has he joined?"

"That is another story. People surrounding the king deride educated people as 'intellectuals' and make fun of them. If any major crime is committed anywhere in the country, the guards arrest the 'intellectuals,' accusing them of instigating that crime. After witnessing these developments, my son is scared to go for higher education. He says that people will brand him an intellectual and that there is the risk of the guards imprisoning him, for the only fault of being an 'intellectual.' However much I tried to allay his fears and persuade him to join the university, he is adamant about not going for higher education. Can you try to reason with him?"

"It is not just your son who is frightened to get educated, but almost all young people. The universities are languishing with no student admissions."

"My god! Where is our country heading to? The king should do something to change the situation."

"It is the king's tyranny that has been the cause for all these developments. But people like you, without realizing this truth, keep singing the praise of the king!"

Thirukkural

Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 56

Tyranny

Verse 560 (in Tamil):

A payan kunRum aRuthozhilOr nUl maRappar
kAvalan kAvAn enin.

Meaning:

When the king stops being the saviour of his citizens,

the yield of milk by cow will dwindle and the brahmins will forget the scriptures.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'mannarin visuvAsi' by the same author.)

Verse 561 (Soon)
Verse 559