The Kural · Chapter
XXXII: Non-Injuring explained
This chapter emphasizes the virtue of non-injury (ahiṃsā), teaching that the pure in heart never harm others, even for wealth or in retaliation.
What happens
This chapter emphasizes the virtue of non-injury (ahiṃsā), teaching that the pure in heart never harm others, even for wealth or in retaliation. It advocates responding to injury with kindness, feeling others' pain as one's own, and warns that evil inevitably recoils on the wrongdoer.
Themes in this chapter
Virtue and Righteousness
The chapter extols the pure in heart who refrain from injuring others, embodying righteousness.
Social Harmony and Ethics
Non-injury is presented as essential for social harmony, urging empathy and ethical restraint.
Characters to notice
- Thiruvalluvar
Author of the Kural, presenting the moral precept of non-injuring.
- the Kural
The text itself, containing the verses on non-injury.
Key passages
“The pure in heart injure not others even for the sake of the wealth that glorifieth a man: for that is their way.”
Those with a pure heart never harm others, even to gain wealth that brings honor; that is their nature.
Establishes non-injury as an intrinsic virtue, not contingent on external gain.
“How shall a man punish them that have injured him? Let him do them a good turn and make them ashamed in their hearts.”
How should one respond to those who have wronged him? By doing them a kindness that brings them to shame.
Advocates for forgiveness and positive action as the highest form of justice.
“When a man hath felt a pain for himself, let him take care that he inflicteth it not on others.”
Having experienced pain himself, a person should be careful not to cause that same pain to others.
Empathy is the foundation of the principle of non-injury.