# XCIII: Abstaining from Drink explained — The Kural

> Chapter companion for The Kural by Thiruvalluvar.

## What happens

This chapter condemns the vice of drunkenness, emphasizing that it leads to loss of glory, shame, and contempt from others. It argues that drinkers are insensible and akin to the dead, and that the drunkard cannot hide his vice or pretend ignorance of it.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Harmony and Ethics

Drunkenness is portrayed as a vice that disrupts social esteem and family bonds, undermining ethical conduct.

### The Vanity of Worldly Life

The chapter highlights the futility of drinking, which leads to insensibility and loss of self, akin to death.

## Character check-ins

### the Kural

The chapter is a set of verses from the Kural, teaching the evils of drink.

## Key lines

> Behold the men who are addicted to drink: they will never be feared by their enemies, and even the glory they have acquired they will lose.

Those who drink lose their reputation and are not respected by foes.

_Opening verse on the social and personal costs of drunkenness._

> The sight of the man who is intoxicated is an abomination even unto his own mother: what must it be then to the worthy?

A drunkard disgusts even his mother, let alone virtuous people.

_Emphasizes the universal shame of intoxication._

> Behold the men who drink the poison called toddy day after day: they are as men that are asleep, neither do they differ from dead men.

Daily drinkers are like the sleeping or the dead, lacking awareness.

_Compares drunkenness to a living death._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_kural_se/chapters/xciii-abstaining-from-drink
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_kural_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_kural_se/chapters