Amnesia in elderly and music therapy

Smrithy (Memory ) and Smrithinaasa :-

In second chapter of Geetha Smrithinaasa and as a result of it Budhinaasa(loss of intellect) are mentioned by Bhagavan Sri Krishna.Samsara leads to this Aamaya (disease)and to be Niraamaya,bondage to samsara has to be lost .

When my mother’s sister Poet Balamani Amma lost her memory in old age ,my son wrote a poem (Which appeared in Keralasahitya Academy journal Malayalam Literary survey Oct –Dec 1996 No :4 page 96).He wrote :-

For me,
She was art
Which as they say
Is impersonal ;.
And that day
Her croaked voice
Faltering,
Breathless in spurts
Recited through the recorder
Some rare moments
Reduced
To a Laser-magnified page.

I longed for life;
The real
Just as she too
Would have longed for it.
Only the spools
Of the tape worked
That of the memory
Didn’t.












It was a sad sight to see her like that.The pain which we suffered was intolerable .She could not recognize her own daughters and sons and used to call them Ammini,which is my mother’s name.The only memories that remained were that of her ancestral house with Ammaman(her uncle and Guru Poet Narayanamenon),her mother and sister Ammini.No one else existed in her memory.Sometimes she spoke of a temple and a Devi inside and also that her husband is taking a bath and requires dress when he comes back (and kept dress ready for him.He was dead several years back and she did not remember it).
I tried some old poems and when I sang Kannuneerthulli she recognized it as Ammaman’s poetry.When I recited four lines from her own poetry she said that must be by Vallathol.Only Vallathol can write such beautiful verse.She remembered her aesthetic sense but not her own creation.When my brother Asokan visited her and said “I am Asokan”she didn’t recognize him but recited a verse from Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhava starting with the word Asoka.And when I tried Lalithasahasranaama her favourite which I remembered her reciting every day morning (while I was a child) she was able to recollect some of the verses and recited them along with me.That was in the middle stage of her illness in 1998-99. Then after sometime she became totally forgetful and continued like that till her end.

I had seen such incidences of amnesia in my family and in others .
1My father’s elder sister ( mother –in-law of KamalaDas)
2.Younger sister Leelavathy Amma .
3.Another sister Kamalakshi Amma
4.A brother of him .
And I had heard of such incidences in the great intellectuals like Kuttikrishna marar ,a great friend of Ammaman and the greatest literary critic Malayalam literature has ever seen.So this can occur to common man as well as intellectuals alike.But it is not mandatory that all in the family should have it.My mother,my grandmother’s mother,my father etc lived upto 92-93 and even more ,with excellent memory till the day of death.I had taken histories of 9 elderly people in a carehome and found different results with music and related activities in them.And in my book Music therapy in management ,Education and administration (Readworthy publications New Delhi )I had given a project for such institutional documentation and a case history of music being useful in a person with Alzheimers dementia.Here I discuss the amnesia ,its pathways ,its uses as well as disadvantages to individual and society .There are some clues given to keep a good memory at the end which may be of help both to students and professionals,for housewives and for every one.

Amnesia or loss of memory :-

Normal human beings have a memory that is selective,vague and we forget certain things and if not so we would not have survived so long.Remembering every wound inflicted by every one and trying to pay back an eye for an eye would have wiped out the races .So forgetting and forgiving is inherent in human organism for survival of the races.The races which perpetuate violence and bloodshed is doing this only.The sages of India practiced this and Christ asked his disciples to forget and forgive but modern scholars are perpetuating illfeelings against remote crimes which they think had been committed by ancestors of one race to another thereby perpetuating violence and separatisms.So forgetfulness of certain things are essential for human race for survival.
Why are the past happenings and experiences recorded as history? Just to learn from it and shape a better future,a better world.Not for perpetuating feelings of enmity and perpetuate misery.The recording of past experiences as history is just to make us remember from that narrative that we have to learn to live as aco-operative unit of human race to survive on earth.
Here amnesia of a separate type is discussed.For daily routine life each one of us need to remember certain things.The words(language of communication,)names of people,places,dates for doing certain important actions,to carry out certain plans and locations and time for that etc.A driver has to remember the technique of driving a car and the traffic rules.A doctor or an engineer has to know his profession and remember it .Similarly every professional has a special memory of what is his/her day to day activity so that it is carried out efficiently .We have to remember the places where we have kept our things at home and office ,and methods of keeping our body and premises clean.The foods which have to be eaten and the methods of its preparation and so on.In onld age we find several people loosing this common day to day memory and this amnesia is called dementia .This is a major problem that we encounter in modern world.
Another problem of memory that we encounter is the perpetual remembrance of the painful traumatic incidents of individual as well as social and national life.The pain as a recurring memory is made perpetual by annual celebrations of painful memories .This replay after the injury has healed is like re-opening a wound after it has repaired well .This also is a problem which is leading different types of terrorisms and upheavals and violence in the world today.
How to reduce such painful memories?How to bring back memories that are needed for a day to day existence in the old age ?How to increase memory in a child who is learning in any educational institution? Can we use music for this purposes?Raagachikitsa has been addressing these questions .

Memory ,learning and Recall of learning:-
Memory is not a database of information storing but is a dynamic process.Storage is only one aspect of it.Thoughts,emotions,perceptions and actions (all cognitive functions intertwined)are functioning as memory and therefore it is a dynamic process.There are minimum three stages in the process.
1.Selection:-Only a very tiny fraction of our daily experience is selected by our brain to be stored.Vast majority are not selected by brain and they are therefore as good as never experienced by us and forgotten soon.
2.Lay-down:- The selected ones are encoded (stored)for just a split second for a lifetime.Only those that go through an elaborate process of consolidation for at least a period of two years do stay back.
3 Recollection:- The memories thus stored may be inaccessible for re-collection.That is re-collection is faulty.Recollection is not a simple matter of reactivating stored information.It involves changing memories to incorporate new information.The fluidity of thought which help us to act intelligently come by this change.Sometimes forgetting of bad experiences in life is thus a good change for a human being.Forgetting the good things is a bad things to happen to any individual or society or culture.

Fig 1 Cortical areas of memory .(Canadian surgeon:- Wilder Penfield)
Table 1.
The world we experience does not really exist.Grass,sunshine,rivers,a melody,a fragrance does not exist as such green,warm,pleasant or beautiful but our brain makes them so.Everything outside and inside is energy only and the external energy in these things is converted by our bioenrgy into such experiences .So the signals from outside is constructed by brain into pleasant and painful .The sights,sounds and smells etc are thus felt by us.When a lightray touch a eyeball nerve cells transform it to electrical and later to neurochemical energy . The same energy touching the ears is also converted in the same way but felt as a sound wave.The brain has a specialized function in each part of the sensory area corresponding to the sense organ of receipt of external cosmic energy.

Figure 2 Pathway of brain in constructing a visual image :-
This is the forgetting curve devised by German psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus which shows rapidity of loss of nonsignificant memory.Forgetting takes place soon after learning.If it sticks for three days at least,it is set for a long future.Meaningful information has a far less steep forgetting curve.How to keep memory ?By repetition.
The repetition or practice(Abhyaasa)and japa (repeating names)and gunakoshta(multiplication tables )every day was for this purpose.A short term memory remains onlytill the time it is repeated.If we continue to repeat it even after we need it,it becomes a long term memory .If we do it with your brain you will never forget it.If you do it with your calculator your brain will never store it and without a calculator you cant do anything.So mental arithemetic is more useful for human race than a calculator .Eric Kandel of Columbia university(2000 Nobel prize winner)showed that short term memory involves changes in already existing synapses.He did experiments with mollusk Aplysia which ahs relatively few and large neurons.
Molecular changes that underlie memory are not directly observed in human brain.Researchers of Uty of California,Santiago found that when a neuron is stimulated once a molecule called Actin moves towards neighbouring neurons.Actin is present in many cells throughout body and is associated with growth and cellular restructuring.The activity of the first cell stimulate the stimulate the neighbouring neurons.The changes are temporary and last for 3 – 5 minutes and disappear within 5-10 minutes.If the neuron is stimulated four or more times within an hour the cells creates new docking points or synapses with the neighbours creating an irreversible alteration in the cells wiring.The links between individual cells are formed by a process called long-term potentiation.Figure show cell 1 as initially stimulatd activating cell 2 in a alert state of stimulation from cell 1 for hours or even days.Each time the 2 cells fire together their mutual sensitivity or link is re-inforced.Eventually they are bound together so firmly that they may fire together for the rest of the lifetime in brain.When their combined activity is enough to trigger a cell to which both are attached,even if the links are weak with it and if this happens repeatedly the 3rd cell is also bound with the link of the first 2 cells.Memories are formed in firing of networks of neighbouring cells linked in this way.

Figure 3 of LTP The hippocampus is a formation whichlies in the brain and records conscious experiences and then files some of them in other parts of the brain.Damage to hippocampus can cause profound memory disorders.The hippocampus does lot of Lay-down work when we sleep.During jagrad(wakened state)it is busy with selecting,processing and storing current information.In sleep this bombardment stops.The hippocampus starts to trawl over what it has recently dealt with.The neural pattern replay spontaneously and some of them appear as dreams.So in REM sleep if I have been dealing with astronomy an astronomy pattern is replayed.If I am dealing with chopping vegetables,a chopping vegetable neural pattern only will replay.The patterns of music and astronomy are jyxtaposed in dreams of me when I deal with both .And if I deal with medicine as well that pattern also is juxtaposed and integrated.In the REM of a person who chops carrots chopped carrots are juxtaposed in dream with images of other vegetables and other day to day activities.The hippocampus thus acts consolidating experience into memory even when we are in sleep ,in a stage when we think we are unconscious of anything .It is in this state that it links the new experiences to the old experiences ,filling in the web .So for a person who integrates knowledge this sleep stage is as important as the jagrad state when he/she learns .The storing of memories in different parts of the brain as a huge cobweb has to be thus understood.Each element of a memory –the sight,sound,word or emotion that it consists of-is encoded in the part of the brain that originally created it.Each one is the same as current perception,except that the information that created it comes now from within the brain ,instead of externally via the sense organs.
If we want to remember a dravya .The colour is in the visual cortex.The name of the dravya is in the language storage part of Broca.The sound of the dravya is in the acoustic area.To get a memory of the entire dravya each has to be linked and integrated.Think of a swara as a dravya.Its varna or colour ,its dwani or acoustic part,and its form with length,breadth,area,height etc and its specific name and designation has to be correlated.All are one .But being stored in different areas by different sense organs these have to be integrated for perfect understanding.So with different disciplines in a sarvagna brain.The astronomy and musicology,the literature and philosophy,medical knowledge etc are stored and integrated in the same way.If you have only one sense developed and one area of brain associated with it developed , the knowledge remain imperfect.One thing reminds on eof another if we have learned both or heard or seen or experienced both .The memory system allows new events and experiences to be integrated to old ones.The present with the past .A map of memory is made so that every time we need it we can recall it .A mother’s image in a child is a combination of her sound,form,colour and moods and love and care and her softness or harshness integrated by all such sense organs and sensory areas.Even if the mother is no more the memory of the mother lives in every adult.Similarly with other loved persons/people/places/subjects etc.The use of this is that long term memories are made indestructible by storing them at different places in the brain.If in a single area of brain,and if that area is damaged,entire memory will be eradicated with one stroke.
According to Diana Deutsch experiment (California uty Santiago)when neutral sound tracks were presented to volunteers repeatedly the listeners started to hear voices that were not on the track.She thought it is subjective reflecting the listeners current state of mind.She likened this to Rorschhach inkblot test in which people see meaningful images in a randomely splashed blob of ink.Women hear words of a romantic nature whereas men do not and people hear the words in their native language more than an alien language .But this is not true.People can hear words which they have never heard before in another language and also before they have learned anything at all,in infancy itself.From where does the sounds come form a chaos of sounds to create a balance ?Why listeners hear only words which are meaningful to them?Deutsch played listeners two different pitched test tones that are separated by a time interval during which other tones are heard.Under these test conditions the listeners found it difficult to tell whether the two test tones are the same or different in pitch ,even though they can ignore the other tones.But when spoken words are presented during this interval instead of other tones ,most listeners had no trouble recalling the pitch of earlier tones.This experiment showed a striking dissociation between musical tones and spoken words in memory and indicated that separate memory stores are responsible for retaining different aspects of sound.

Pictures of overtime memories encoded in outer cortical areas of brain(sound and words in temporal cortex in red) and working memory in frontal lobes pulling out and selecting long term memories to guide current actions (red colour )

Subsystems within the system of memory:-
All the subsystems work in close relation and are interactive and integrated.The declarative memories are those about which we can talk about and bring to mind consciously.But memory is more than that.We have a vast store of learned information that is not consciously learned and without which we would be lost forever.

1Episodic memory:- Are replays of personal experiences of events especially of sounds and sights .Therefore the individual is the center of these memories.Personal memories of sounds and sights of each individual is person centered.They are unique to each person.They may infold with time as if in a movie or may be like a sudden flashback.
In Music therapy when we assess the musical life panorama(MLP)of an individual we are starting with this type of memory.How episodic memory works?It though appearing as a mental act is reproducing a physical state that the person was in when the event occurred.That is ,when a old man remembers a music which he loved in his teens the physical state of that age is being recreated in his brain cells .The same type of firing of neurons happen and the cell returns to a younger state.Thus the person gets invigourated as if in youth and feels healthy.The experience of the youth is relived in brain .But it is not a hallucination but a remembering of a healthy past ,a re-living of most cherished days of life giving same state of happiness which takes one away from the stress of life.The two hemispheres of brain are connected by a thick band called corpus callossum.This allows information sharing between left and right hemispheres.Episodic memories are suffused with emotions.Semantic memories do not have that emotional content.The episodic memory therefore requires more inputs from right hemisphere.(Which specialize in emotional aspects of perception).The role of right hemisphere in episodic memory enhancement is demonstrated ,and people by hereditary reasons having more fibres in corpus callosum bring more right hemisphere information to bear on what they remembered.Since both hemispheres work together ,people with more communication fibres remember emotional events better than they remember facts .

2.Semantic memory:- Laying down and retrieving of facts .For example the fact that mangoes come from mango trees and coconut from coconut tree and New Delhi is India and Kennedy was US President etc are memories of all alike and it has no personal episodic nature.The memory of me and you are alike in such facts.
The personal built-in encyclopedia of knowledge differ in individuals.Yet a person remembering a scientific or geographic fact need not be emotioanally connected to it.You don’t know how you learned or knew it.Somehow you have learned it and now you can state it as a fact .The same event is thus described as a fact as well as an experience emotionally connected(the language of a scientist and that of a poet/artist) by the same person.The hook is usually in the languge area of the brain ,in the left hemisphere in majority of people .Language is the area where people hold factual information and semantic memory.
So the episodic and semantic memories ,though treated as separate categories are very closely related .Semantic memory as core piece of information is left,when the context in which it is learned(the emotional personal side or episodic memory )has faded away.Hippocampus is the area of semantic memory.Word storage is in the left hemisphere.Because it was first learned as an episodic memory ,complete and perfect with emotional ,sensory content and hippocampus is needed for firing up sensory areas in brain.While learning for the first time we are emotionally attached to the word Amma(mother) to all the sensations we associate with her but in adulthood it is extracted as a fact or a language term devoid of emotional relationships.(As a known or collection of letters).An emotion thus becomes a fact .When we ask the person to remember the MLP ,/or when we play a tune that the person liked in his/her childhood ,the hippocampus is springing back into action and recollecting all emotions that were associated with the first learning process.This helps in persons with severe memory loss to rewind the memory and recollect the language and motor skill associated with it too.
3.Working memory:-Capacity to hold information in ones mind long enough to work out what to do with it.For example keeping a telephone number long enough to dial it.Most of our day to day tasks are based on working memory which sorts out our thoughts ,guides our actions,organize cognitive processes so that we can do several motor as well as sensory functions at the same time.
The brain have short term and long term plans to be executed.The memories of what has to be done at each level,how to do them,have to be kept warm until the act is accomplished.If we forget what a cofffejar is and how to open it and what to do with it suddenly ,you will hold it and gaze at it without any action.Sometimes this happens with old people.In day to day working schedules they forget what they are doing and how to do it .Working memory is situated in front of the brain and has 3 main components .
One is a tiny spot that holds the main plan in mind ,the information needed for the rest of the brain to complete the task.We can call it the central executive.There are two neural loops that keep the main components of the plan conscious by repeating the pattern of activity that matches them.One of these holds verbal information and the other holds visual information.(Sruthy and darsana in Sanskrit).These are like scratchpads or black boards that can be wiped after doing the task ,so that next task is done.If the item is very very important it is relayed to hippocampus for processing into proper memory.But if it is an information like pick up the cofeecup,it is done and then it is simply thrown out and replaced by next command.
The scratchpads of working memory can hold between 5 to 7 items a time and in some experiments it was only 2 to 3.Very short term memory is related to intelligence.Like a computer with larger working memory solve problems more quickly,people with greater brain capacity to hold images in brain are expected to have better reasoning power and problem solving skills.
Working memory lasts for 30 seconds only.The emotionally significant things are sent to hippocampus for processing as long term memory while emotionally boring things are sent out within 30 seconds .
4.Procedural memory.The which allow us to carry out actions everyday without having to think about it much consciously.For example most of the motor functions like walking,swimming,bathing etc are procedural memories we do without much thoughts due to long term practice rather unconsciously.
The procedural memory is unconscious.The “how to “ knowledge that allows us to make physical movements,the acoustic knowledge of pitches and sounds are all learned in this way unconsciously .Learning to distinguish pitch and tone and sound starts in utero.And learnig to walk ,manipulate objects ,feed themselves etc are learned while we are infants unconsciously.What we do as adults are mostly learned by us ,as a race ,unconsciously .That is,they are in the genes of the human race.It is a species memory.But each person has to practice them to perfect them.
But physical skills like typing a letter,driving a car,playing a piano are not in our genes and have to be learned with deliberation and with conscious efforts.
Procedural memories are created and stored in a different way from declarative memories.The raw materials(conscious perceptions)constructed along an assembly line of declarative memory.But that assembly line is only one of the many.A different assembly line carry information through another part of the brain ,the parietal cortex where it is used unconsciously to guide our body to act appropriately.Seeing a cup,picking it up,making coffee,drinking it all are done by sensory and motor co-ordination of the procedural memories rather unconsciously .
There is a part called Putamen in brain which is connected by a complex bundle of nerves to pre-motor cortex, which instructs the body to move in a particular way.Procedural memories are in the putamen.When we undertake a new skill the conscious instructions ar essential.When you first learn to make coffe or to hold a cup ,when you learn to drive a car or pedal a tricycle these work .Learning a skill by repetition is happening .Then once it is learned it is left to the unconscious memories.So ,procedural memories are learned as any other skills or kinds of memory by repetition and later become part of the unconscious memory pool.But whereas event memories are stored and retrieved by hippocampal action,procedural memories are stored in putamen.
5.Implicit memory.This too is unconscious.They affect our actions in subtle ways.Sometimes with no discernible reason we feel uncomfortable in some situations,or in someones presense or we feel happy in someones presence.
Nostalgia,sudden anger,or sudden fear – a strong emotion that influence our behaviour yet cannot be brought consciously to mind –are in the realm of implicit memories.Some of these may be relics of past events.Some may be aspects of past experiences which the person did not realize when it first occurred.The surge of neurotransmitters that occurred at the first event/experience and all neuronal activity associated with it including processing is amplified suddenly.The original event is forgotten but this remnant of strong emotion that occurred at first sight or first hearing of a sound persists bringing about a implicit memory later on.Most of our likes and dislikes (love and hae)relationships with strangers are actually due to this.The deeply buried context-dependent memories are brought to surface as nostalgic love or fear or anger etc.
One example of implicit memory published by French physician Edourd Claparede (1911) was of a patient with amnesia.The patient never recollected his earlier visits.The doctor had a pin in his right hand when he visited the patient once and when they shook hands the pin might have hurt the patient .The next time the doctor visited,when they were trying to shake hands the patient did not wish to shake hands but he did not recognize the doctor since his amnesia was not cured.that shows the patient remembered the pinprick but not the doctor.
I will give another curious example of a case of trauma victim who lost consciousness and memory.He was a college student from Devagiri college.He was totally in amnesia and could not recognize his own father or sister .When the neurosurgeon visited the patient on the third day the boy started to speak of Shakespeare and his plays and his birthplace .Every body thought he was incoherently speaking .But the neurosurgeon said that he is regaining his power of memory and will be alright within a day.How did the neurosurgeon say that ? My husband Dr Udayabhanu explained it like this . This neurosurgeon was called Shakespeare Kumar during his college days due to his physical resemblance to the great poet. When the boy started to recite Shakespeare during his visit,the doctor recollected his college nickname and knew that the boy is able to memorise the picture of Shakespeare or image of Shakespeare form his memory and that had triggered his speech on Shakespeare so that the brain is on its right track of memory. Recognising a face from unconscious familiarity is known among experimental psychologists as the priming effect.The boy became normal within two days .
Implicit memories need not affect long term behaviour.
If a person can hear a familiar and loved and emotionally important music and then recall all the positive memories associated with it ,a string of such positive memories will by themselves start a self-healing process in music related activities of therapy.

How to build up a strong memory? Samuel Johnson said:-The true art of memory is the art of attention.
By attention or Sradha one enhance memory as well as learning .. But attention is an automatically captured rather than deliberately applied thing.Only if it is an interesting and catching attention thing we pay attention to it.Music is such a thing for entire human race .No other discipline can boast of such a universal attention from all alike.Music is emotionally related to our brain right from the time we are within the womb of our mother.
How can we correlate memories,emotions,and brain chemicals ?
Table 2
Thus different types of emotions and memories are linked with brain hormones.And a love or compassion generates oxytocin (the love hormone)while a stress hormone produced by negative emotions and memories.

Age-related memory loss:-
We can have a perfect replay of our life only if we can find the stored files when we need it ,in correct times.We forget a name on the tip of our toungue.The thing we want most from a supermarket shelf.The safe place we have kept a important document,or the car key or the salt bottle in the kitchen shelf.This sort of memory failures increase with age.
The younger people recall minute details of recent events,names etc .The older people are better in recalling external details which are having less details of recent event but general factual information which is extended knowledge about it .This is the wisdom of experience.In the history of human race the first hunter-gatherers and first cultivators had to remember and learn certain things.The youngsters had to learn how to thrust a spear,which tree to climb and how to pluck fruits ,and how to plough a field sow seeds etc.The youngsters of a seafaring tribe had to learn the spatial intelligence and vibration mechanics of the ocean quite early.The youngsters relied upon elders for knowing where the prey was most likely to be found,and in which season,and where certain fruits and leaves and trees are seen and in which part of year they grow best,the monsoon winds and its vibratory changes in ocean and the selection of seeds according to soil and climate and winds and seasons etc.That is on a wisdom based on previous years of experience,probably experience of generations of human races,which goes beyond the event of hunting,gathering fruits and making foodgrains itself.

The difference in memory is a general shift in the style of cognition.As the brain ages it shifts workload to distribute it evenly across both hemispheres of brain .It is just like using both hands to lift a heavy object rather than lift it with just one hand.This is a compensatory or balancing act for muscles of hands.Like that the use of both hemispheres is a balancing act .
The tasks that older people find difficult:-
Attending to a specific thing for example ;learning a new list of things without being distracted
Learning a new thing
Retrieving names and words on demand
Recalling details of past events clearly

By way of compensation they are better than younger people in :-
Making sense of new information by placing it in a meaningful context
Finding alternative words or phrases for a forgotten word
Using memories of a specific situation to draw general conclusions.
The elderly draw on both hemispheres to solve a problem while the young ones use only that specific area of brain suited for that task.Left hemisphere is best in perceiving and thus recalling details.Right hemisphere is best for looking at the whole situation .
When a person look at the figure below


One person concentrates on the L shape and another on the D or the details.The first is confined to right and the second to left hemisphere.The combined view of both hemispheres will make a complete perfect picture.The young and old people represent the two aspects and a combination of both makes up a perfect view of a nation and therefore both aged and younger individuals are both needed for any nation for problem solving.

Can you remember any event before age of three?Majority do not remember anything before three years .So lack of memory is there even in younger people.The toddlers learn hundreds of new exciting things and words a day and all these have been forgotten by them in teenage ,though it remains as a nostalgic emotion and surfaces again in old age .So old age is a second infancy.Autobiography is a memory which places an abstract version of ourselves within events that are recalled.Our past self is part of that memory and the feeling it gives of being there makes the autobiography distinct from a narrative of a story from a cinema or drama. Very young infants are good story tellers but they cannot create an autobiography because the brains have not matured sufficiently to form a necessary model of themselves.They do lay down events but they cannot recall it at will in an orderly way.
The older brains are becoming like that of an infant .The frontal lobes are susceptible to non –Alzheimer’s age-related degeneration and this makes the elderly less able to lay down new autobiographical memories.If proper mental exercise is there (just like muscular excercise0disuse atrophy does not happen to brain cells so that the loss of memory is not an inevitable thing.All people need not develop it.
The prefrontal cortex distinguish us from other mammals.It is the last part of brain to evolve in humans and last area to mature in an individual.It combines current perceptions with past memories to make judgements and decisions.In this process it creates a model of world in which it places oneself and thus guide our ations just like a road map for a journey.The right prefrontal cortex is more involved in producing an autobiographical smrithy which includes the sense of self.The left one contains memories that does not include the personal element.When we recognize an image of ourselves the right prefrontal cortex is activated.When we look at another rface this part is not activated usually.(A differentiation or the mine ,yours exists).And when the right hemisphere see the self in all as the Upanishads and Geetha says ,a integration and synthesis and a wisdom of oneness of entire creation happens.
When the hippocampus is injured by a stroke or any other reason the the navigation area of brain is lost and the ability to lay down new roués (of neuronal channels)is lost .But memories of places they knew years before,memories of music which they loved in their childhood etc may remain quite clear because they are in the cortex in the long term memory area.This fact is made use of when we get the MLP of a person from the relatives and we are trying to evoke such old memories and rewind the pools of memory.
ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a condition in which the brain’s natural impulse to scan the environment for information 9flitting attention from one thing to another in quick succession)cannot be controlled.We control the roaming by chithavrithinirodha (as in Yoga terminology) and by this we concentrate on a particular subject and learn it thouroughly and then shift to next in our younger ages .In adult stage once we have mastered the attention process and concentration,we can shift attention from one to another as and when necessity comes.Th ebest example I can give is a Pathologist’s day to day activity.
A experienced pathologist shifts attention from one diagnostic material to another with perfect control.The first slide may be a lesion of the liver and the second a lesion of kidney and a third that of lymph node and fourth that of skin and so on.With perfect ease one shifts from one to another after giving proper attention to each and solving each problem.
.People with ADHD cannot do this type of attention and concentration on a subject and then after solving a problem shift attention to the next with control.Their attention wanders from one to naothe rwithout concentration on anything. 2 to 6 % people have a difficulty in remembering numbers alone and this is called dyscalculia ,the numerical equivalent of dyslexia.
A small patch of cortical cells behind the ear,on fusiform gyrus of brain is called face area since this is activated by human faces.When this is lost the person fails to recognize even the dearest people (like daughter or son).
People who are tone deaf are not deaf to tones .They just cant tell them apart.People who are colourblind just cant tell colours apart .Similarly a person who has lost function of face area do see faces but cannot tell them apart .
Total amnesia occur when all memories are wiped out.
Retrograde amnesia:-One cannot recall memories that occurred before amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia:- cannot remember incidents that happened after onset of amnesia.


Table 3



Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder when a person cannot forget the appalling traumatic experience.The symptoms are
Nightmares
Flashbacks
Memory and concentration problems
Jitteriness and overreaction to ordinary events
Inappropriate fear and alertness constant anticipation of danger
Intrusive memoriesavoidance
Being startled at things that most people would ignore for example a rustle in the leaves
Extravagant reaction to mildly perilous event for example a funfair ride is treated as a lifethreatening event.
Which is the brains best witness of truth or lie –detector /Is it darsna or sruthy?Is it the visual cortex or the auditory regions?
Indian sages were very accurate when they said sruthy as best for any pramaana of doubtful cases.Harward university researchers of Massachussets found that auditory regions of brain are more accurate and active during accurate recognition than the visual cortex which sometimes gave mistaken or inaccurate results .Although a mind in conscious or jagrad state make mistakes about what is seen,the unconscious areas that actually sensed the original are not fooled.

Jamais vu is a condition opposite to Déjà vu .Here instead of being familiar with a totally strange one,person feels unfamiliar in most familiar surrounding and fail to recognize own kith and kin.They ask who are you to a daughter ,son ,or husband or wife with whom they have spent entire life .
All these things a music therapist will come across when they start practicing with real life situations.It is not just singing for a elite group of rasikas alone.It is working with people who suffer from various conditions and help in a most efficient and possible way to reduce their suffering.
Age associated memory impairment (AAMI)and Alzheimer’s disease.
Table 4
Naama and roopa of a person /object /world and its linking for knowledge:-
The naama and roopa is the prapancha or world.And the linking of the two happens best when we are in sushupthy when the knowledge or gnaana is given as a darsana or internal perception akin to a Samadhi vision .This is the most ancient teaching of India.How does we compare this with modern scientific view?

1.During waking state (jagrad)the name Suvarna and a face of me is registered .This is fed to association area in your brain and to hippocampus.Acetylcholine is high during waking which prevents hippocampus from feeding signals back to cortex.So information is not merged or distorted with other incoming stimuli.Instead they link together and are locked or encoded in hippocampus.
2.During sushupthy(dreamless sleep)Acetyl choline falls and this allow the newly encoded memory to be fed to association cortex.There is no information coming frm outside to cortex.(due to a blockade of all sensory organs in sleep similar to chithavrithinirodha in yoga).The feedback from hippocampus therefore re-triggers neural patterns that were activated during previous waking .Including the sight of my face and its neural pattern corresponding to name suvarna.As these two cortical patterns fire in unison they become linked and the neuronal linkage forges a new connection between the concepts such that if one(the form or face)is triggered ,the other (the name)is likely to fire up too.Thus the name and form is consolidated.In the same way a word and its meaning become consolidated (Vaak and its artha)during sushupthy /Samadhi.Thus Naamaroopaathmaka prapancha is consolidated in sushupthy/Samadhi state by human brain .

Keys for a good memory:-
1.Interest,attention and emotional and personal involvement .
The wider the interests of a person,the more actively one engages with such interests,the denser and richer will be one’s memory network in brain.Thus new information is likely to find a place to lodge in your brain even in old age.
2.ordering our experiences
Experience is doubled by thinking about them.When we make a mental note of an (musical)experience we want to keep (in our brain network/or a notebook for later use)it will focus our attention,organize the information into a form that will make it easy to access later .This enhance memory
3.Repetition and rehearsal:-
Everytime we recall something ,we are fixing it more firmly in our memory.For this the best method is to think of what we want to remember always at the beginning of the day and end of day (The two sandhya ) .Japa is arepetition .In olden times students were doing along with sandhyavandhan,repetition of Gunakoshta(multiplication tables)and other things to be learned like seasons,etc.
4.Learn often,but little by little,step by step.
Give time for brain to assimilate and process new information.Several short sessions,punctuated by periods of review is best for this.By this we are not cramming the brain.
5.Keep socially,intellectually,mentally and physically in touch with likeminded ,good people (Sajjana samgha) called Sathsangha.Avoid contact with people who distract mind and intellect.
6.create memory games from every day experiences itself.
One can remember street names or district names or city names as we travel from one place to another.My father used to encourage this as we traveled by car from Punnayurkulam to Thiruvananthapuram or to Calicut.
Another game which children can do while traveling is to add the numbers on numberplates of vehicles that pass by and quickly decide which is odd and which is even .This will increase our number sense.I used to do this even after my marriage and my husband used to make fun of me for this pastime.
A jigsaw puzzle or a Gnan choupad(Leela)a chathuranga etc were used in ancient times to increase ones attention and problem solving ability.The scrabbles is for increasing vocabulary of children.

Some external aids:-
1 Reminder notes.
List of grocery items for shopping,organization and flow charts for office use,list of things to be done in a special date /week/month/year and so on .Look at them regularly.
Lecture notes and discussion notes of teachers
2.Visualise the colours,forms ,locations in mind when one visits a place or when one has a special musical experience etc .This will be more useful for making a memry connection and recall than a note prepared as a list.
3.An alarm clock or timer.Mobile phone alarms to remind something.
4.Wall planners and electronic organizers
5.Alarm device on keys,purse which you are likely to forget .
6.Labels on cupboards,drawers and on kitchen jars
7.A pill organizer for medication
8.Keep a journal.This is a hobby as well.This help you organize your entire life.
9.Pocket cassette recorder
10.A camere
11.Suppose you have found something very interesting in a new location and you want to measure it .You don’t have a measuring device .The best measuring device is your own hand and feet ,fingers etc.This is notan external aid but is a very valuable aid which you can carry anywhere you go.


When to use an external database?

When you don’t want to clog brain with lot of information which you can store somewhere else.A library is such a storehouse.
A telephone directory
An appointment list made long time in advance
Report of an event
To present a bulletin within a short prescribed time limit on radio or TV or in a speech
A lecture class .The points to make it more sensible
When no time for a rehearsal or repetition,when you are busy ,you can rely upon the note .
One important aspect for remembering things is by the puns which are abundant in all Indian languages as the literature and music suggests.the examples are voluminous and caanot be cited here.The modern use of Onamatopoeia and Mnemonics are used by such ancient authors.
Here I will consider Mnemonics.
When a medical student is taught the preliminaries of clinical medicine he/she is taught (for treatment of fainting):-

If face is red ,raise head
If face is pale ,raise tail.
(This depends upon the blood flow to head ).The rhythm and rhyme in this help student to remember the treatment .This technique was used in all sciences of India (Ayurveda,Jyothisha which show lot of rhyming verses and rhythmic poetry easy to memorise and keep in brain in a oral culture ).Rhythm and rhyme help storage in both hemispheres when combined with language.So music with a vocal literature has this property.When we recall rhythm or tune ,the words/sahitya /language also pop out of it and vice versa stimulating the two hemispheres simultaneously to function in unison.

When we remember our Teacher /Guru ,and the voice of the Guru ,accompanied by the melody ,rhythm,rhyme and emotions that evoked within us,when we first heard him/her ,we are visualizing our first experience with the music and reliving it and recreating the same emotion in us after several years .The voice of mother,her lullaby,her love,care,face and even the smell of her dress come back to an adult when he/she visualizes such an emotional musical experience.It is the same with the musical experience with the Guru.The feeling of ecstacy,security and peace thus recreated from a sound and visualized and experienced again and again become fixed in our memory .That is how the musical life panorama works .
Creating a link:- Before the printing press and recording devices,only oral teaching/instructions were there.This could be achieved only with Mnemonics and visualization of musical lessons/rhyming sloka or sahitya.Brain retain and recall by creating links of language and for this Puns was used.Anotehr very interesting practice was to give a letter a number which was widely used in Astronomy and music of India.Now we use such a device for computer language .So the originator of the binary system as well as attributing number to letter ,both started in human computer brain millennia before the modern devices evolved.
Some methods of using mnemonics:- If you can remember SARCASM you can remember the list of mnemonics techniques .(The first letter of each )
1Sentences/Acrostics;-
To remember the order of the treble clef EGBDF a sentence
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour .
2.Rhymes and songs .
Rhymes,rhythms,melody and repetitions of it aid memory .Therefore music enhance memory.Word in left hemisphere9sahitya)and melody in right hemisphere (sangheetha)a combination is achieved with vocal music using both sangheetha and sahitya.Linking these two effectively so that information spreads equally throughout brain in a balanced way .This technique was a vinoda(leela or play/fun )for learned and creative people of India.But it was also a technique to keep cognition,intellect,memory and traditional knowledge intact through generations of mankind..The rhyme of the song draw auditary memory so that tunes,songs and poems are learned easily (Sruthy).Thus through that sciences and languages are interlinked .

Mnemonics of modern pilots to temperature and pressure drops at low and high altitude is comparable to that of medical students learning technique mentioned above.

High to low ; Look out below.
Low to high; Clear blue sky.

A weather tip:-
Rainbow in morning-Travellers warning
Rainbow at night-Travellers delight.
(Rainbow indicate humid air.In the west in morning a rainbow indicate storm which come from west .In the evening in east it indicate the storm is over and weather is good.)

3.Chunking is for remembering large numbers.One can remember upto 5-7 things at a time.Suppose there is a large number .

044 45500078
It is easy to remember this telephone number by splitting it into three chunks like



44455000 78 .This is my phone number and this is how I remember it .
Suppose it is 64831996
One can split it as 4 easy to remember chunks as
64 83 19 96
Or as three chunks
64 83 1996
Now adding and finding out even or odd is also easy .It is done as a mental exercise quickly.

4.Method of Loci:-
The way in which ancient bards and speakers/orators remembered their music/epics/speeches/commentaries etc.This combines use of organization ,visual memory or visualization and association and hence is a complex procedure achived by human brain.

I will give an exercise here for all readers.This is done in music therapy visualization procedures .
First ask your friend to sing two lines from a poem/song at a slow steady pace ,say one word per second.Concentrate on the words alone and remember.
How many words you can remember just by hearing once?
2.Think of a vast location.Or distance mapped in your memory.Visualise each river,mountain,greenery,each gurgling stream in the landscape.Then listen to the same lines again connecting each word with the landscape scenery one has visualized in order.( A krama or orderly arrangement of words ).Now the traveler know the visual imaginery landscape as well as the location of each on the song.This is how the epics of India are constructed.Almost similar process is used by Austalian aborigines in mapping the long and distant landscapes and geographical places.The Indian epics give landscapes of entire cosmos,of the globe earth and of Indian subcontinent in detail associating each with seasons,plant and animal varieties,fragrances,spices and human nature and customs etc .
The Indian music also has the same technique of relating each raaga with season,time of year and day,of a star,and a graham,to days of week and to human organs and panchabhootha,including living and nonliving objects like jewels etc.If one can know ones birthstar,the animal,plant and graham associated with it,the raaga associated with that star,and with each season,and with the organ of ones body affected by some illness etc ,one can use an assortment of Raaga suited for each for a perfect understanding of the problem and for solution of problem.Thus the method of loci is applied in Raagachikitsa.

5.Acronym :-I had left out the A which is used twice in SARCASM .This is the most common abbreviation that we now use.

Example :- RSPCA is Royal society for prevention of cruelty to animals.

In ancient India Panchadasi was called Lopamudrasuthra (after name of Agastya Rishi).This is a magical square (in which Srinivasa Ramanujan was expert) and this was called LOSu or Losoo.This was known to China from ancient period in this short or abbreviated form itself showing its origin.
Another rexample is Hora.People think that it is an adaptation of the Greek word Hour.But is not so.It is an abbreviation of the word Ahorathra. The first letter A and the last letter thra are removed and the middle word is used in order and in reverse order to create two words .One is Hora(or 15 degree) and the other is Raho or Rahu the node which creates the division of time which is indivisible.It is more likely that hour was derived from Hora because such an acronym practice was there in India.

The way of remembering parts of leg by a zoology student of modern times is :-

Cockroaches Travel Fast Towards Their Children

Coxa,Trochanter,Femur,Tibia,tarsus,claw .That make up an insects legs.
So both ancient and modern man alike use such techniques in learning and our brain has not changed much in the capacity of cognition and memory.And it is possible for one to learn by ancient methods and with music of ancient India which is riddeld with puns and praasa and rhymes,rhythms,repetition of sangheetha and saahitya alike to stimulate all parts of brain and nervous field of all living organisms.It is needed ofr balancing of our health and mind and body as well as intellect and spiritual development to be a perfect individual.

Feeding our brain adequately:- A nutritious food rich in cereals ,fruits,vegetables,nuts and if necessary and unavoidable a little bit of nonvegetarian food and milk,yoghurt etc and less of fats,oils is needed to keep memory acccordingto modern standards.But the use of butter and ghee in infancy and childhood is essential for brain formation and hence in infant diet,milk and milk products is a very important factor.

Can an adult brain grow and have new knowledge storage or memory ?Yes .How ?By synapse formation and synapse plasticity which cause structural and functional correlates of memory ,learning ability and intelligence is the answer of new neurobiology.(Sara Mariani conference report :The biology of memory and learning .Highlights from the annual meeting of the American society of Cell Biology Dec 13-17 ,2003 San Franscisco California .Medscape Molecular medicine 6(1 ) ,2004).By repeated stimuli (repetition )and by experience there is new protein and synaptic synthesis and the remodeling due to experience-dependent plasticity (EDP)leads to long term memory formation has been proved .So japa ,and repetition of the same learning for a period of time (practice)can lead to memory storage for longer periods.And the perpetuation of memory of tradition and culture is based on individual as well as archetypal memory of entire human race .Music and musical memory of India is here utilized for the purpose of improving memory in normal and compromised children for development and in people who have lost memory (amnesia) for retrieval of memory on such principles.

References.
1.Bhagavad Geetha second chapter
2.Keralasahitya Academy journal
3.Music therapy in management ,Education and administration (Readworthy publications New Delhi )
4.Papers of Dr Eric Kandell,Dr Karel Swaboda,Dr Yukiko Goda . Sara Mariani conference report :The biology of memory and learning .Highlights from the annual meeting of the American society of Cell Biology Dec 13-17 ,2003 San Franscisco California .Medscape Molecular medicine 6(1 ) ,2004).

Lec-Dem Music Academy

SYNOPSIS - MUSIC THERAPY

1.Music therapy is An interdisciplinary approach.and part of integrated medicine.When a new discipline is introduced there are some questions we should ask.


1.How does this discipline work ? What are the basic principles ? It works on principles

of ayurveda (thridosha balancing) and yoga.

Is it result oriented or not ? Are there any side effects ? Yes .It is result oriented and there

are no known side effects .

Is this a cost-effective procedure which can be implemented on a mass scale ? yes
2.The basic difference in the principle of Ayurveda and Allopathy medicine


The sound and swara as a dravya having the three guna and balancing of thridosha with it

build up immunity .

No killing of external life forms,only co-existence with them.

Increasing defence by balancing thriguna/thridosha according to the time

./season/day/night

Naada,laya,and yoga principles are incorporated.
Spirituality,physicality,aesthetics,mathematical cosmic order are integrated for physical,mental,intellectual,and spiritual health .But we have to combine the 21st century research methods of allopathy medicine also .

3.Research principles .

To the individual-centered family centered approach we have to include the hospital-based research protocols of Allopathy medicine
Statistics and proper documentation is a must .open approach .Discussions for growth of discipline


5.The physics of Raagachikitsa.
Our receptive sense organ being the ear ,we have to know the physics of hearing.What is good for ear and not.

ATH –Absolute threshold of hearing

S P L –Sound pressure level.

Comparison of dB SPL and distance and origin of sound –(Tables

Above 80-85 decibel is pollution level.So therapy cannot be done above this level.
60-80 is a lecel in a busy office and busy restaurant and most of the modern electronic instruments start from this level.(Can go up .In some traditional instruments can go down also)Usual vocal music is from 20-30 decibel level.30- mother and child in a silent house
20 – forest with rustle of leaves(below 16 and over 20000 are considered inaudible to normal human ear)
10-breath sounds(praanaayama)
0 the silence mouna.It is in silence the yogi hear and see sounds.



6.Four Examples -2 of them hospitalbased. Hospitalbased studies two case histories (personcentered familybased in two age groups ,and in two different situations).


On patients undergoing colonoscopy RCT 78 patients.Oct-2003 to Feb 2004
46 % vocal raagabased
10 % instrumental ragabased
56 %raagabased
Rest bioacoustics(natural sounds)and focal mappilappaattu
Mooladhararaaga majority .73. %
Pain,discomfort and anxiety was less in persons with music .The dose of Drug also less.

On autistic/CP children
Severe cerebral palsy ,brain damage with spasticity.24th Feb 1999(birthdate).Contacted me in 2006.Teacher was giving symphony orchestra.Mother ,a trained classical music singer noticed he responds to classical music and contacted me through a common friend.
In Oct 2009 the boy responds to sapthaswara of Mayamaalavagoula(15th mela).Shouts,make a stop when she stops,when she reach a higher octave he is most active.When she sustains thaarashadja and stress the nishada (sudhanishada)then again go to tharashadja he also makes these notes.
Seeing his improvement now the mother is asked by the teacher to come and help the other children in her school.
Interpretation:-trying to converse with mother musically
Turntaking is being learned.trying to interact with his sounds to the mother that he is recognizing what she communicates musically
First social skill he has learned
Cognition,sign of listening,so slowly brain function is improving .

On alzheimers patients..

On old and young approach is not same.We are trying to rewind memories.The other we are teaching to learn some basic skills.In both role of family is important.In the young the parents ,siblings help.
In the geriatric ,the children,spouse,siblings if they know the musical preferences ,they can help.

On anxiety,blood pressure as pilot projects
On volunteers and clients done.Subjective and objective parameters analysed .Pulse pressure ,difference between systolic and diastolic /Hamiltons anxiety score /significant.The high blood pressures brought down very effectively.Low blood pressures brought to normal,after an initial rise of pressure.

Importance :-for the risk factors of cardiovascular disease,for cerebrovascular strokes,for diabetic complications ,and for professional stress,and domestic stress and for stress related to hospital stay,and cancer chemotherapy etc we can use this.


4.Cosmic time and music .

Chakra ,seasons,ahorathra and raaga . North Indian Thaath and South Indian

Melakartha. Human anatomy according to this division of chakra. (Will show pictures

only .On powerpoint presentation). Bhava and rasa for total laya or layana (merging).


(The presentation done with power point .Demonstration of Subhapanthuvarali raaga ,a composition in Malayalam language was done)

Indian economy in BC 320 Part 1

Agriculture during Koutilya’s Arthasasthra(BC 321-298)

Vidya include four varieties.Anwikshiki,Thrayi,Vartha and Dandaneethi.For disciples of Manu Anwikshiki being a branch of Thrayi there are only three types of vidya –Thrayi,Vartha nad Danda.For disciples of Brihaspathi there are only two vidya –Vartha and Dandaneethi.For them Thrayi is a protection for those who know the journey through life.For disciples of Sukra only Dandaneethi exists .Koutilya accepts four as vidya and they are for knowing dharma and artha.
Anywikshiki:-Samkhyam,yogam and Lokayatham.
Thrayi :-dharma and adharma and their knowledge.(The three veda saama,rk,yajus).The Atharva and Ithihasa and the vedanga also come under it.Thrayi is for all the four varna and four ashrama to protect swadharma.
Swadharma of Brahman:-learning,teaching,yajna,giving or daana,prathigraha.
That of Kshathriya:living with knowledge of weapons and instruments,protection of life.learning,yajna,daana
That of Vaisya:-learning,yajna,daana,krishi,goraksha,and vaanijya.
Of soodra:-Service jobs,vartha or message and news,sculpture and arts,kuseelavakarma (dance ,music)
Vartha:-artham and Anartham
Dandam:Nayam and apanayam .
Anwikshiki examines all these and their strength and weakness by logic and thus by enquiry decides which is best for the world.It keeps intellect not wavering in pain and pleasure and increaseefficiency in pragna,vaak,and karma .

What is Vaartha or Vaartika?
Vartha is krishi,goraksha and vanijya which means the dharma of vaisya and sudra overlap.It gives grains,cattle,gold,tax ,gifts etc and by that treasury is filled and king is able to carry out protection of his people.
After cholakarma(cutting of hairs .It is from choula the word Chola originated).all children learn lipi(writing)and Samkhyana(numbers).After upanayana children learn from qualified teachers Thrayi and Anwikshiki,from the various Adhyaksha they learn Vaartha,and from teachers of practical knowledge of law dandaneethi.After 16th year (Brahmacharya)do Godaana and take to grihastha life.
In the past when people were troubled by Matsyanyaya(large fish devouvouring small one)a law was made and VaivaswathaManu was made emperor and it was decided that all should give 1/6th of grain and 1/10 of other produce and gold to him.With that the king has to live and protect all people .Even the forest tribes(Aranayka)give 1/6th of their Uncha grain(which is not cultivated but gathered from forest wild grains) for protection.
Sons of the king have to live from gifts of gold he gets,or by making artificial gold or jewellery,or by trading with silver and gold or by taking the wealth coming in ships etc.He can take the job of a Kaaru,silpi,kuseelava or a vaidya or of a vagmi,pashanda etc and live by that .
Division of the day and night:-
Dividing day by shadow Into eight .The shadow length of three persons is Thripourushi.If it is one person long it is pourushi,and only 4 finger long it is chathurangula and no shadow is noon The same repeats in reverse order for noon to sunset.
In first 1/8th part or thripourushi do means of protection and hear about the expenditure and the gains.2nd 1/8th part of pourushi hear and look after the citizens matters.3rd 1/8th chathurangula is for bath and food.Also for swadhyaya.The 4th 1/8th take the gold obtained and employ various Adhyaksha in duties.5th 1/8th is again chathurangula and have discussions with the ministers in a sabha and get news from the intelligentia or gupthachara.6th 1/8th is for free plays or personal affairs or for manthra.7th 1/8th is for examining elephants,horses,chariots,and army .the 8th 1/8th is for discussion with commander in chief about defence or battles etc.Then sandhya come and do sandhyavandan.

The night is similarly divided by using a Nazhikavatta.
1st 1/8th part of night for talking with goodapurusha.2nd 1/8th for bath and eating and swadhyaya.3rd 1/8th for hearing instrumental and vocal music and 4th and 5th 1/8ths are for sleep.6th 1/8th to awaken with music and instruments and to think of sasthra and that days duties.7th 1/8th for seeing goodapurusha and manthralochana.8th 1/8th for swasthyayana with rithwiks ,Guru,Purohitha,doctors ,chief cook ,astrologer etc and to see the dhenu with its clf and a Rishabha andto circumambulate them and then go to the durbar.Thus the day to day activity is fixed systematically .
How does a king make a new janapada or a dwelling place of people?
By bringing people from neighbouring areas or by taking excess population from his own land ,king can recreate a new janapada where it existed once ,or where there is no janapada.The majority of people should be farmers there and of service section farmers and it should be minimum 100 and maximum 500 family strength (The anjoottuvar)and from 1-to 2 krosam in extant and with ample protection in the limits.At the limits of villages a river,mountain,forest,deep pits,great lakes,a special tree or stone are determined as limit.
In the middle of 10 village is a samgrahanam.
In center of 200 grama is a Kharvatikam.
In center of 400 villages is a Dronamukham.And in center of 800 Grama is the Sthaaneeyam or main capital and all these should be well connected .T the limits of janapada there should be forts with protection or Kaappu(kaaval)and which open tonearby villages.The intervals of these are protected by Vaagurika(those who make nets/fishing tribes)sabara,pulinda ,chandala or the vanavaasi as the case may be.
For Rithwik,purohitha ,Guru,Srothriya land is given as Brahmadeya without tax.Give lands for Adhyaksha,Samkhyayaka (accountants),Gopan(chief of 0 tharavad or 5 grama)Sthanikan(the chief of 1/4th of the country)aneekastha(trainer of elephant army)chikitsaka(doctor)Asawadamaka(the trainer of war horses)jamghakarikan(one who runs with messages urgently)etc land without right for sale or giving to others .They can use it for their uses but have no right of krayavikraya.
For taxpayers the lands are own for Ekapurushika time (till one persons death) and if the successor is ready to do agriculture and improve upon it ,it is again given to the same family .If a land that was not cultivated is made cultivable ,that person should not be evicted from the land.The lands left uncultivated can be taken and given to people who are ready to cultivate.Or they can give that for the servants of the village or Vaidehaka(traders)for cultivation .Those who do not do farming should give a tax for leaving land fruitless.King has to give grains as seeds,cattle,and gold as loan to help start a agricultural operation.And give the people chance to repay back without any trouble .In natural calamity without affecting treasury king should give the people relief.King has to protect the people as a father.
It is duty of king to make the city limits protections,forests of dravya,forests of elephants,grazing grounds for cattle,the trade routes for commerce,the transport by water and land,markets and sathra etc.He has to provide a lake or chira with either sahodaka(rainwater storage)or aharyodaka(water stored artificially by canals of irrigation ).The entire village gives land,way,wood,other instruments and service for such construction work.The fish,birds,plants in the lake belongs to king as representative of God.
In the country there should not be any sanyasin except a vanaprastha who has done all his grihastha and citizen duties.No sangha or group should exist except the entire gramasabha which is for the common good of entire village and act as a co-operative unit and as a guild .Except at prescribed times and period sof festivals people who have duties should not waste time in hobbies etc.Only if people are interested in agriculture the treasury ,granary,wealth ,grains and fruits and its essences will increase and people will be healthy and happy.
The lands which are not usable for agriculture can be converted into grazing grounds for cattle.The Brahmaranya(for veda and its learning) for Brahmins,and Somaranya(for having plants for somayaga)thapovana (for thapaswins),a mrigavana or Rajavihara for the king are the forests to be protected .At the limits of land a sarvaathithimrigavana (forests for all types of plants and animals and having great biodiversity)should be protected.
If there is a need a monoculture forest for each wood can be cultivated also.There should be officers to protect them.Hasthivanam need special protection and the one who kills an elephant is to be given death penalty .The elephant that dies naturally is property of king and its horn and nails belongs to king for trade or commerce.
The best elephants are seen in Kalinga,Anga,Chedi,Prachi,Karushakam.The intermediate types in Dasarnam,Aparantham,and the last (lowest grade)in Sourashtram and Panchanadam .
According to classification of Durga Kerala is having Anthardeepa,Nimlavarudha,Oudakadurga(or jaladurga)and with mountains and hills Parvathadurga.It also is a Vanadurga with lot of water ,Cheru(or dirt) which is described as Khanjanodakam,and sthambagahanam (with several trees growing).Being a nadidurga,jaladurga and parvathadurga it is a protected space for people and no one from exterior can enter it easily.The vanadurga status is protective for people of the forests.And it is a special hiding place for all and gives a space for hidden guerilla warfare .
Sthaneeyadurga is always in a place where tributaries of rivers meet with a deep watery source which will never dry up,a lake etc and it should be in circle,square etc with water flowing all around (as Valabhi)and easy to bring things for trade and commerce and for food in emergency .Both land and water routes should have approach to it.It should have three royal paths from east to west and three from north to south.
For each family aound dwelling place flowering gardens,fruit gardens,trees without fruits or flowers and fields of grains should be cultivated by them and the produce from them stored and shared.For each 10 families at least one well should be there for water supply.
Each durgam should store in the granary materials neded for several years like:-ghee,oil,grains,salts,alkaline things,medical plants ,dry meat,ground grains,dry fruits ,nuts,grass,wood ,metals,skins and leather,coal,fibres,stones,bamboo,valkalam as dress,the pith of trees,weapons,coverings,etc .Take the old ones for use and replace them with new ones so that there is always stock for an emergency.

Duties of a Samahartha:-
He is a supervisor of several departments of economical and financial importance and has to give information to his superior officer and he will give it in turn to the king.The samahartha has to look after the Karanneyam,sidham and sesham ,Aayam and Vyayam and Neevi of a number of departments like the Durgam,Rashtram,Khani,Sethu,vanam,vrajam,Aayasreeram,Aayamukham,vyayasareeram,kaalam.

Karaneeyam :- Includes how much is to be collected ,from which desam is that to be collected,Determining its paths of transport and trade ,the actual collection methods,the total of all such collected wealth and articles,and the details of that.
Sidham:- Includes things deposited by people and chieftains in the treasury,and that which is collected by king directly from them, expenditure therefrom in the place itself,that which was balance to be collected in the previous year,that which was given by king as taxfree by deed,and by word of king,.
Sesham:- the total loan amounts to be obtained,the amount after expenditure for maintainance of army ,that which was not given to king by help of the officials partiality,that which was not given by the principal or main kudi(villages),that which does not give returns ,that which has more expenditure and less gains .
Aayam:- That gain which repeats every day,that which repeats annually,and that which was under jurisprudence of previous Adhyaksha ,the fines ,increased tax in special circumstances,the sum given as relief for loss,that which was received from the enemy during wartime,that which came due to lack of heirs,treasures ,balance after a construction work,that which was not expended though allotted for a special cause,the gain after trade of things,amount obtained with sale of things which should not be sold,the amount which is obtained than the expected measures,the competitive unexpected increase in gain .
Vyayam:-daily expenditure,expenditure in a week,in a month,and annual expenditure.
Neevi:-From what was present earlier deduce both gain and loss and the balance is neevi.That is of two types .The expected and the actually gained/lost.

These are generally said .And of the departments in each of which he has to supervise these:-
1.Durgam.:- sulkam or amount of tax for products ,fine for frauds,the weightand measures,the tax collected by officers at the towns,by the superintends of lakshana(in a numismatic mine),mudradhyaksha (for getting sign or symbol of entry from king),suradhyaksha (the supervisor for alcoholic drinks),for oil,flowers,for suthra,for ghee,alkaline things,for gold,for a market and shop,for a prostitution institution,for gambling,for construction,for the groups of kaarusilpi guilds (Karu does gross work and silpi does subtle work )and devathadhyaksha ,and at the door of city from external people to enter it.

Rashtram:- Sitha(for ploughing)for tax on produce of lands,bali or voluntary deposits by honest men of th eking,tax for trade , by the supervisor of waterways and landways,ship tax and boat tax,for small and big towns,markets,for bounding a thief what the villagers give to king.
Khani :-Means mine.gold,silver,diamond,jewels,pearls,corals,conches,metals,salts,elements of earth,elements of water and rasa etc
Sethu”:- Pushpavadam (flower gardens) fruit gardens,gardens (Shandam )with no fruits,fields of grains and other vegetables,the gardens for roots
Vanam:- for gavaya and cattle,for animals ,for dravya,for elephants etc.
Vrajam:-the village with cattle,buffalo,goats,small type goats,camel,horse,mules,is a vrajam
Aayasareeram:- the land and sea and river routes for trade and commerce
Aayamukham:- the gains at ports like the value ,part reserved for king,the competitive gains,the salary,the fixed tax,the increased tax ,the fines
Vyayasareeram:- fo rdevapooja,pithrupooja,for giving alms,for swasthivachana,for expenditure of women and children in Antha:pura,in kitchen,for messengers,for the granary,for weapons,for market maintaianance ,for storage of the articles for trade,for expenditure on agriculture,for keeping a army ,for expenditure on cattle,and forest maintainance and grazing grounds etc.
Kaalam:- Rajavarsha or the number of years when a new king started the reign to assess the improvement or loss ,months,paksha,day,seasons and things available in each season,poorna and adhimasa .
Thus what the samahartha looks after is the entire economical condition of the area under his jurisdiction and it is a comprehensive function which our present collectors or ministers would find difficult to learn and control with efficiency.

Role of an Akshapatalaadhyaksa:- He has to make an akshapatala with subdivisions up and below and record all the accounts on such a graphical way and that is statistical work of high order which was maintained even in the time of Chanakya .Th eaccountant keeps all the accounts in writing and with statistics for the future use .What are the things he has to write in a nibandhapusthaka ( law book)? And how is it kept?There should be fixed place for each nibandhapusthaka.And ther should be fixed place for each adhyaksha and his accountants to sit and work .(Called Upasthaana ).They record:-

1.The number of Adhikarana where each dravya is seen and where it originated
2.The prachara (place where it is collected)in each adhikarana.
3.Sanjatha (the amount to be collected or expected from each)
4.In dravyaprayoga ,their growth,loss,expenditure ,origin,associations ,place,salary,adding of impurities by traders,and their pramana.
5.About jewels,diamonds and valuable things of trade their value,qualities of colour etc,weights and measures,value for each measure and the jewellery
6.About grama,kula,jathy,samghataha etc their dharma, vyavahara,charithra or history,samsthaana(how to preserve their place of antiquity),and their present status.
7.About royal servants their customs,duties,place of origin,and salary,their taxfree wealth if any,the rice given to them for daily food,
8.About king ,queen and their children:- Their jewellery,their lands,their special expenditures,the things to be given in special occasions,their expenditure for health matters,
9.For the friendly king:- The wealth as gift to be given by the treaty of friendship
10.In the case of enemy king when won over in war how much gift and wealth was decided to be given and how much was actually given etc.
It is from this the karaneeyam,sidham,sesham,aayam,vyayam,neevi,upasthanam (time of examination of each ),and place of collection,charithram and custom,and the past state and the present state are recorded into a book and kept.
For a professional year there are only 354 days and 12 days are holidays for royal servants.Each adhyaksha has several assistants of service class who are honest people.The official groups reach their respective Akshapatala in the month of Ashada.They come with the sealed grantha groups and the neevi (balance sheet) and remain in the place of account keeping without going out and keeping perfect silence and concentration.Hear the gain and loss and decide the tax to be collected and collect it then and there.If an adhyaksha fails in his duty he has to pay fine.Similarly for accountant also there is fine if he does not turn up when th eadhyaksha has fixed a date for inspection.The calculations of people ,of accountants and of adhyakaha are compared by the impartial Mahamathra Brahmanas and tell the king the details when all are present.The one who has done any fraud will be given a fine .

Economy of the nation:-
The growth of production (pracharasamridhi)of a nation depends on the charithranugraha(protection of past historical dharma and blessings therefrom),choranigraham( lack of thiefs),yukthaprathisheda(lack of corruption among the adhyaksha and officials),sasyasampathi(more produce from plants /agricultural products,Vanijyavridhi (increase in trade and commerce of such produce),lack of debts,the tax which was avoided due to certain circumstances being given back when a good time comes (voluntarily by people /or by force by king),the gifts from other kings and rich men and traders to kings .These increase the amount in the kings treasury.

Corruption,lack of honestyand truth among citizens.evading tax,extra loss by luxurious expenditure by people,lack of production and lack of industriousness leads to loss and treasury is weakened.If an official does corruption the people have freedom to tell that in public in their sabha and samithy so that fine can be taken from such officials.Before giving post of a responsible official or minister they have to undergo severe tests of honesty by people and the king .Not only of the knowledge of that particular field of activity but of honesty,dharma and of goal of common welfare.
The election was thus not just on majority votes on which corruption is possible in the present set up.A saasanam means a order that is written or recorded (lekhyartham)and for writing an order a person who is well qualified is selected.Vachika sasana is order by word and pathraka is by writing and among this patharaka alone deserves as a record .They are pragnaapana(vignaapana),Agna ,paridaana(or prasasthi with praise )parihara(when king or rich person give a land or wealth to temple/town/garma/or to some special kula/race etc )nisrushty(which gives representation through another person),pravrithikam(description of pravrithy or functions of divine,human types factually happened as a historical account),prathilekham(after studying the lekham writing a fit reply),sarvathragalekham(which is written by emperor or king for all to do protection for all written to all chieftains and Lords and subordinates )
Of the 10 types of pearls Chanakya describe 6 are from Kerala and west coast .(Kerala especially from malayaparvatha and its rivers) and one from Pataliputhra and one from Himalaya ,.They are Pandyakavataka,Tamraparnika,Kouleyam,Chourneyam,Mahendram,Pasikyam ,Haimavatham etc. The emeralds called Koutam and Maleyakam are from Kerala.
16 types of sandalwood are described of which three belong to Kaamaroopa(Assam)and the rest to Malayaparvatha (again Kerala /Karnataka).About Karpaasa he says the best are from Madhura,Konkana(Aparantha),Kalinga,Kasi,Vanga,Valsa or Kousambi,Mahishmathy the palace of Kunthala or Karnatakadesa.

Panchayathana,allied industries in vedic Agrroeconomy

Panchaayathana ,allied arts and crats in vedia India

The civilization of forts,fortresses,walled towns,cities with many gates,are refered to in

veda.This cannot exist without different occupations ,trade and commerce ,skilled

crafts,planning etc.The settlementsin riverbanks,and when they overflow in the interior

parts was the rule.The residence shifted according to seasons so that there was not much

loss of life or biodiversity.Securing fresh fields and pastures and expeditions to get new

settlements was known.Majority lived in villages.A few walled cities were present.These

were for defence,,for storage etc.The existence of wellplanned cities as described in the

veda has been proved by Mohenjodaro and Harappa and other IVC sites.

“We offer praises to Rudra in order that all beings in the village be wellnourished and

excempt from disease(R 1.16.9.1).Resplendent Agni,Thou art the protector of people in

villages.(R 1.9.1.10) are seen showing the existence of villges and concern for the

nourishment ,health and protection and well being of its inhabitants.

“Indra overturned 1000 stone-built cities”(R 4.3.9.20).Indra ,you are the blaster of

fortresses(R 386.38).Indra demolished the ancient cities of Ashna(R 2

.2.9.5).Invincible,destroying the phallus worshippers he won by his prowess whatever

wealth was amassed in the city with 100 gates(R 10.8.9.3).Thou hast destroyed the

impregnable cities of the Dasyu Shambara(R 6.3.8.4). These passages show existence of

cities.

The king was chosen by people.Because Rgveda mentions “Like people choosing their

king”(R 10.10.12.18)Proceed like a king attended by his followers on his elephant(R

4.1.4.1).In a good Government of whose realms ,the opulent and the victorious

Ikshwakus prospers,so that the five orders of people are happy as if they were in heaven

(R 10.4.18.4).This shows a good governing system under which the panchajana were

happy.May he bestow upon us a three-storeyed dwelling and fertility(R 7.6.12.2) shows

the buildings were big and could contain big families.

Ships and voyages:-The sea was used for ordinary travel,transport,for trade and for

warfare and the Vedic people were good navigators who knew the course and time of

monsoon winds and the sea routes.Wealthy traders who traveled far and wide and

exchanged goods earning wealth for the nation were existing.Boats for rivers and sea

were different.Many-oared ships,cargo ships,and for sea fights were described.For a

people to develop maritime trade and expertise in sea travel and sea battles considerable

knowledge of several technical sciences is essential.The ship wrecks and losses in

business and the risk taken even in face of it shows their courage ,expertise and spirit of

entrepreneurship.

Men pass to several quarters of earth in a ship(R 10.4.14.7).Carry us like ship in a sea(R

1.15.4.8)

As merchants covetous of gain crowd the oceans in vessels on a voyage((R 1.10.6.2).May

we destroy enemy as waves wreck a ship in the sea(Y 135.9).We will get into a hundred

oared ship which is beautiful to behold and which has no leaks(Y 387.7).Varuna,knows

the course of the ships(R 1.6.2.4).This exploit you achieved ,Aswins,in the ocean,where

there is nothing to give support,nothing to rest upon,nothing to cling to,that you

brought Bhujyu ,sailing in a 100 oared ship,to his father’s house.(R 1.17.1.5).

Thugra was a friend of Aswins.Enemies residing in a different island had a trouble.So

Thugra’s son Bhujyu was sent with an army on board ship.The vessel floundered in a

gail.Bhujyu called out Aswins.They brought him and his troop back home.

Carry us like a boat in the river(R 1.15.6.1).Like a boat that take passengers across a

stream.(R 1.19.5.2).As a crowded boat goes quivering through the water(R 5.3.2).There

are many more passages in the rgveda about sea travel and the way of the searoutes

known to the winds,whales and migratory birds etc.

The weaver:-

Weaving carpets,fabrics for garments were of excellent quality.Wool from sheep was

used.Pure herds were reared for maintaining good supply of good quality wool.Since

stitched garments are mentioned use of needle was known.The best carpets were

soft.Embroidering was done for beauty.Coarse fabrics were used for blankets,for

garments of daily use and for the poor.Both cotton and woolen clothes were used

depending on region and and the climate /seasons.The pure breeding habits for getting

good wool is very important in animal husbandry.The occupation had reached a very

high excellance from this evidence.

I seat you on a seat as soft as a woolen carpet(Y 11.8).Kusha grass set soft as a woolen

carpet(Y 387.83).Lord of pure he-goat and she-goat ,weaver of clothes of wool of

sheep(R 10.2.10.6).Interweaving in concert like two famous female weavers,the extended

threads to complete the web.(R 2.1.3.6).

A contest(competition)arraged the weavers for excellance.

Bring us handsome garments,bring us cows,easily milked(R 9.6.1.50).I understand

not,the threads of the warp,the threads of the woof,nor that cloth which they weave.(R

7.1.9.2) being a response to the mystery of life ,as it unfolds like a pattern in a loom .The

riks are its warp threads,the yajus its woof(Ath 487.6).Cares consume me as a rat gnaws a

weaver threads (R 1.15.12.8).

Entire creation is compared to weaving.”These,our progenitors,who have preceded us

,weave it,weaving forwards,weaving backwards,they worship Parajapathy when the

world is woven.(R 10.11.2.1).You,Indra,have cut the angles of the sacrificial post with a

needle.He has slain a lion by a goat.(R 7.2.1.17).

Purified with a woolen filter(R 8.1.2.2).This refers to sieving.In sacrifices the sieve is a

skin of ox .


The carpenter and the wheel:-

Fashioning and construction of wagons,carts,chariots,and toys with wheels,etc are

known.The gifts include carts and chariots.Road transport was for war and trade as well

as for pleasure trips and for festivals in temples.Fashioning of wheels ,fitting of

tyres,construction of different sizes and shapes ,ornamental wheels and pillars with

wheels and stony frame for axles were known.

Shipbuilding had achieved great standards .Deftness and skill of carpenter is praised in

many hymns.(Ref.R 6.4.4.23-24; 8.9.5.23; 1.11.4.4; 3.1.2.1; 3.3.9.1;1.21.2.2.9;5.2.55.6.7;

1.7.4.9;1.7.5.6;1.22.8.13; 3.5.1.19.20;1.17.3.2;3.2.3.5 from Rgveda alone refers the

carpenter.Y 135.5;117.8;175.3 are from Yajurveda)

The war chariots were very strong and fast moving on rough terrains and bearing heavy

loads of weapons,armour,attendants,etc.The skillful charioteer drove horses,wherever he

willed,horses raising dust with hoofs,with loud neighs,retreating not from the charge,but

trampling with forefoot upon enemies and trained specially for warfare.The quiver

,parent of the many arrows as parent of many sons,clang at the back of warrior,prolific of

shafts (R6.14.5.6.7).The plough and other wooden articles of domestic use and

housebuilding and temple building etc were also the carpenters pursuits.

Tanner and leather worker:-

Was an important craftsman.Scavenging of dead animals and killed animals was done by

them.Hides and skins were used for various

purposes.(apparel,cuirasses,aprons,waterskins as floats,leather bottles,holders for

fluids,,for transport of water in caravens,shoes ,arm protectors,wards for archers

,thongs,reins,straps,harness,saddles,floor spreads,drums,etc.)Tanning was of high

order.Leather was as soft as silk.Special treatment against damage by water spirits and

fluids was done.Bellows used by blacksmiths,goldsmiths and musicians were made by

tanner/leather worker.Rgveda 8.1.5.38(cuirasses)and R 8.1.1.17(cowhide)and R 7.5.19.2

mentions such uses.Bellows(R 10.6.4.2)leather bottle in house of spirit vendor(R

1.24.12.10)sandals(Y 238.5)use in chariot(R 6.4.4.26)cattle trough and strap(R

10.9.2.5)wardrum(R 6.4.4.29-30)rein ,saddle,bridle(R 5.5.5.2)armguard for protection

from bowstring(R 6.14.14)soma in cowhide(R 1.6.59) are some examples.If this was a

very important activity ,why were the tanner/leather worker placed outside the city and

considered untouchable and polluted?

1.The sense of cleanliness and aesthetics of the townplanners

2.The city should be free of bad odour and aesthetically nice to see and with remains of

animal carcasses strewn in the middle of the city/village is not a good sight .

3.The dead ,whether animal or man is belonging to ancestral or pithru world and the

remains have to be segregated from the living world immeaditely and disposed of away

from the dwelling place and away from women and children

4.The eating of flesh and killing of animals was not considered a good practice and those

who did such activities were segregated.

Metal workers:-

Gold was precious(R1.14.4.2)Decoration with ornaments was done(R1.11.7.4)Jewels and

stones marked wealth(Y230.1).Golden earrings and necklaces

mentioned(R1.18.2.14)Warriors wore lances and golden necklaces(R 8.3.8.11)and golden

armour(R 4.5.8.2)Bridegroom adorned with jeweled gold(Y383.11)and soma in golden

ladle(Y392.25)steeds with golden trappings(R 1.18.6.4) gift of 100 gold pieces and 100

gold necklaces(Ath.79.1.7.8)gold coins,fabricated gold,silver and leaden articles(Y

257.4)iron,silver,gold(Y 25.4)Lead curing the diseases caused by wind or vaayu

(Ath.16.3)sharpening intellect like the edge of an iron sword(R 6.4.4.10)sharp razor in

the hands of a barber(R 8.1.4.16)The bright edged hatchet ready foe work(R

1.18.1.7)Pointed iron shares cleaving soil and pushing ploughed soil on both sides of

furrow(Ath 88.1.7) shows the craftsmanship of metal workers as well as the lifestyle of

people .

Traders:-

There were small scale and large scale traders.Take not advantage of us like a dealer

,says Rgveda(R 1.7.3.3).May both buying and selling be advantageous to us(Ath

8.6.4).We seek money by investing money.May the wealth so made by trade grow ever

more(Ath 86.5).As merchants covetous of gain crowd the ocean in vessels in a voyage (R

1.10.6.2). This shows the trade ,commerce and even the reason why trade was looked

down upon than the agricultural pursuits .

The physician :-

Atharvan,Dhadhyach,Aswins were noted physicians and surgeons of

fame.Blindness,leprosy ,jaundice,disfigurements,fractures,illness of old age,baldness
,infertility ,surgical art,transplant,etc are mentioned(R1.17.2.24;1.17.2.7;1.17.2.18;)The

Haridroga(jaundice)and Hridroga(heart disease)are said to be cured by sun (R

1.9.7.11)and this is done even now by modern medicine.The story of Chyavana getting

back his youth and virility(R1.17.1.10)is famous and the medicine in his name is vit C

from myrabylon.Different organs of body are described (Y 304-312)including viscera

and the cuttingof organs showing awareness of human anatomy and treatment of diseases

of these organs.Cough,lung probl;ems,chest affections and fever that recur in three

days,once in two days,continuous on all days,(different types of malaria)fever of hot

days,of rainy seasons,dewy season are described.(Ath 164)Premature birth,miscarriage

,foetus with no malformation(Ath 439)libertine impotent preparations(Ath 311)againt

goiter(Ath 198)jaundice(22)leprosy and skin disease(Ath 124)Tuberculosis of many

kinds(Ath 168)baldness(Ath 309-310) are mentioned.Physician is considered the father

of the patient since he gives a second life.(Ath 44.1).A host of herbal remedies were

known and grown.

Potter:-

Potter’s wheel,potters ware with a club(R 1.8.1.16)a mallet smashing earthen pots(R

7.6.15.21)crooked pitchers(R 9.7.3.13)show the potter as an important artisan.

Barber:- As a barber cuts off the hair (R 1.14.8.4)and as he sharpens his instrument(R

8.1.4.16) are mentioned.A long list ofclasses according to profession is given in

Anuvaaka 396 of yajurveda .It is the official list of professionals and not caste

distinction.Brahmana,Raaajanya,Vaisya,Soodra,Kallar(which is still existent in Tamil

country and their gene is studied and found as 60000-70000 years

old),napumsaka,narthaka,nattuva,adulterer,people to beat

drums,vainika,gambler,jaara,kanyaka,lover,nasthika,courtesan,clown,bald ,hairy or

Romasa(This name is given to one of the astronomical sidhantha of Varahamihira’s

panchasidhanthika and from the name modern historians think it is astronomy of

Rome.But the name in Yajurveda suggests an Indian origin)the graamamukhya,the

kanakka or mathematician,the musician,one who plays the

conch,goldsmith,engravers,potter,chariotmaker,carpenter,bowstring

maker,hunter,fishermen,dog

keeper,tanner,trader,ironsmelter,watchmen,ploughmen,elephant

keeper,shepherd,butchers,ropemakers,authors,investigators,physician,stargazer,war

mongers,women making scented oils,barren females ,twins (supposed to have healing

powers),rogues with no job,and a host of others are mentioned.

Rgveda mentions a puppet show arranged on a slender stage(R 4.3.11.33)and sharpers

and gamesters who cheated in play of dice(R 4.6.13.8)a harlot going to accustomed place

(R 10.3.5.5)a libertine who caress a woman(R 4.3.11.16).These show a very complex an

da very sophisticated society ,a mixture of different types of professional skills,and good

and bad habits among people but always respecting the good and slighting the bad

habits,and it resembles our modern society .both sinner and saint are listed here.Noble

and mean,wealthy and poor,rogue and simpleton,expert artisans and producers and

consumers who needed their produce –a well balanced economy.

Agroeconomy of India in Thirukkural

Thiruvalluvar and agricultural economy

Valluvar and Valluvanaad have a relation.The valluvar and valluvakonathiri as chieftain

of it was the mainstream of agroeconomy of Cheranad of sangham period and a valluvar

from that Naad singing the glory of three purushartha(dharma,artha and kaama)is

definitely aware of the agroeconomy of Valluvanad.

Let us see what Valluvar had written about agroeconomy.It is believed that valluvar

wrote his treatise Thirukkural in BC 30 .The Valluvan among 12 children of Vararuchi

was also from Valluvanad.The water rights of Valluvakonathiri is mentioned by William

Logan in his Manual of Malabar.And the giving of land for cultivation with

Neerattiper(giving with water as a water right)is seen even during period of

Mahabali,King of Mahishmathy and Kerala .

Therefore,it is not accidental that after praising God in the first 10 kurals Valluvar starts

his praise of rains.He says by the knowledge of the one who knows about the rain and

cloud ,the rains come in correct order and sustain the world of existence (as the praise of

Rishabha in the veda ,and the relation of food and rain as in the Geetha 3.14)He says

knowing rain as the amritha(nectar of eternity) is wisdom.The people who eat food,the

food they eat,the produce they generate from the ground as food,and all food is by rain

only and therefore rain itself is food.Selfsufficiency of food is by agriculture and

agriculture is by rain.Puranaanooru has said(18.21) the importance of land and water in

food production.Kural said ,if there is no rain,hunger will weaken the world,even if it is

surrounded by water of the oceans .In kural 13 he uses the term Viyan ulakam(Viyyan or

viyyam being the lake of Ponnani is very important in that usage ).And in kural 22 also

he uses this term for the world..when monsoon fail famines occur.In one place reasonable

harvest and in another drought can happen.This has to be known by a unified welfare

state to tide over such crisis by sharing of food.The potential for mishaps should always

be foreseen and consequences of failure of a monsoon is known only by long years of

experience ,and only such people can take measures to prevent famines.This was what

was done by ancient Indians .The temple of each chieftain had granaries enough to feed

entire people of his village and beyond as sangham period guilds show.The granary of

Mohenjodaro show this foresight .

In kural 14 Valluvar use the ancient terms Uzhavar and Eru .He says if ploughmen stop

agriculture due to lack of rains ,they get laziness and weakness and the plough is the

prosperity and economy and strength of an agrarian economy.Eru is a pair of oxen and in

the word Eranad this term one can see.Akananur (193.2)also express the same view.

Kural 15 say ,if no rain we are ruined .And good rain give prosperity.The rain revive land

that was left uncultivated for years .The excess destroy too the crops.If clouds do not

pour not even a blade of green grass will come out of earths womb.He says in kural 211

that a good man’s service to society is compared to the nishkaamakarma of the rains .Not

only the land ,but also the ocean is thinned when there is no rain ,and its produce like

fish,pearls,corals etc disappear or lack lusture.In India ,people knew that if rains come in

April May the pearl formation and pearl culture suffer and the conception of pearl in the

conch in Oct Nov is prevented (In vasantha no rain should fall,and in Oct Nov or Sharad

rithu it should fall so that a drop enter the conch on swathy star to become a pearl

within.).Paripaadal (20)also mentions about this relation of rain to pearl .Thus ,even

pearltrade suffer and economy suffer with untimely monsoon.Without rain,no festivals,no

pooja,no offerings for deva or for guests etc .Both daana and thapas will disappear from

earth if there is no rain.Without water no life is possible on earth and dharma depends on

rain and water.

Kural 25 gives the name of Indra as the king who is witness to the greatness of the

Sage who have controlled the five (senses).The vedic RainGod is the only name Valluvar

has used in his whole treatise. (He mentions story of Vishnu measuring three worlds with

feet but without mentioning name)He says the deva on earth are the anthanar(Brahmins)

because they are the ones who knows Aram or dharma and does not hurt another

jeeva(ahimsa)and are compassionate (Kural 30).Am+Thanmai and Chem+thanmai are

used in this kural.The first as compassion and ahimsa and the second as himsa .He asks

people to do good deeds in whatever way possible,in all places,and all times and in all

ways possible and it is the ideal philosophy of the Chantron (ideal virtuous man).This is

the way of the Aryaputhra in all wakes of life .(The civilized individual).

How do we do service to people?

1.Ascertain the priority needs of the people.

2.Satisfy them with personal efforts and financial and other service contributions

3.Mobilise the community’s thinking ,resources and will in that direction

4.Make the profession /vocation a live opportunity for service in your immeadite

surroundings and geographical area.

5.Promote international good will and understanding

If there is no selfishness in mind that will be the best dharma .This Nishkaamakarma is

the keystone of Krishna’s as well as Valuuvar philosophy(kural 34)and is also reflected

in Proverbs (22.11)and Mathew(5.8) in Bible.

The Grihastha giving food to sanyasin,to poor people who are hungry,and to ancestors
,elders who are unable to work is the friend of all ashrama and all varna and all beings

and is doing the best dharma.(By doing the panchayajna).Aimpulathaaru is the word

Valluvar used in kural43.Periyapuranam (26)says:-

After dividing the total income into 6 parts a man has to give one part of it to king as tax

(kings due)and the rest five is for daiva,pithru,athithy,relations and society and for

oneself in equal quantity.

This was the customary revenue and the way of life of all people.It is this that was

changed by the foreign rules all over India.In Holy Koran(Ch 2,Rukoo 9)we find that

riches should go for parents,near and dear ones,kindreds,orphans needy and way-farers.

In kural a person who lives an ideal life with dharma is the Thala(head)or chieftain of all

others ,the leadership is only for him.(kural 47)Thus the term Thala,as head ,or chief

leader and place of such people is called Thalappally,Thalassery etc also in South India.

Kural 50 says “Vaiyathul vazhvaanku vazhpavan vaanurayum theyvathul vaykkapedum”
.
One who lives a good life in Vayyam with dharma,becomes a God among the

heavens.(Bhoodeva).And the role of a wife in such sahayajna is important as Valluvar

says ,even if a man has everything else ,but a wife without control of five senses and

culture he is living a life of poverty.The real kaappu(protection)of a womans chastity is

not fort or army but her own mind and her Nishta to follow swadharma.As a heroine of

Shakespeare said”My chasity is the jewel of our house bequeathed down from many

ancestors”.Proverbs (31.25)also say this.Kambaramayana asks( jatayu:uyir 144.57)who

protected Sita’s chastity?Was it Janaka’s good deeds?Rama’s dharma?Or her own

protection of chastity?The answer is obvious.Sharing a life of pain and

pleasure,adversities as well as good days alike a woman does her sahadharma not only in

family life but in all his vocations,and in the yajna and in the next world .If a wife is not

upto the mark ,a man cannot walk proudly as a Rishabha among people and hewill be

slighted by all who knows him,because of the noncultured uncontrolled habits of the wife

.(Eating ,drinking ,and involving in bad words etc she brings shame on him).Thus a good

cultured civilized wife is the auspicious life and good children are jewels of such a ideal

wedlock.Kurals 81-90 is on hospitality and feeding guests and needy as dharma.A great

person who does that is called a vallal with same dhathu as valla/valluva/vallabha etc

.Kural 87 specifically says the the worth of ones hospitality is measured by the quality of

his guests.Hospitality is a velvi or yagna,as Athithiyagna in 5 mahayagna.

From Babylonian,Sumerian ,Assyrian IVC times the perfect measurement and balancing

of weights and measures is wellknown among Indians.During Mahabali’s reign there was

no false balance or false measures is mentioned in Kerala stories.Thiruvalluvar in kural

118 says to hold the scales(of balance)even and fair is the ornament of those who seeks

perfection in their rectitude.This is justice of equality in all affairs too.Not only in

physical balance but also in mind free from bias or partiality and words free from envy or

selfish motives etc.Kural 120 says the tradesmen guard other people’s interest as their

own ,and thus their trade flourish.And in Aihole inscription of the guilds also we find this

idea expressed.Honest dealings as best policy in trade was not a lipservice but day to day

practice of dharma.This commercial ethics of agroeconomy of India was lost over the

time ,first in North India and then in SouthIndia by submission to the rules of foreigners

.The focusssed dedicated disciplined life of traditional dharma was replaced by new rules.

Kural 134 says a Paarppan(seer/Brahmin from which word the Parappanad is derived)if

he has forgotten his scriptures can read up and regain but once he looses his rigt conduct


he is loosing his birthright(Janmam right of dharma) or Pirappozhukkam.

Social cooperation is hallmark of Valluvar’s principle of dharma.He says good men

produce wealth industriously so that they may dutifully use it for benefit of society.And

only those who live with such social co-operation has lived a perfect life and others are

as good as dead.He is compared to a village drinking water source getting filled up with

rainwater as and when more people use it.It is like a fruit tree giving fruit to all in the

village.And like a healing drug or medicine for all ills of the society.And even if the

resources are small,people with knowledge of dharma share it with all.The worst misery

such a dharmic man have when he is deprived of wealth,is that he cannot help others as

before.Valluvar says even if social co-operation ruin you economically it is worth

embracing at that cost ,because it is better to be ruined by co-operation rather than live a

life of non-co-operation with society.(Kurals 211 to 220 are on socal co-operation).kural

221 distinguish daana from investment done for a return.It is more blessed to give than to

receive for a yogin and for a dharmishta.(Bible and Koran also admits this).Only a noble

mind can do daana even if it is riskyas Mahabali did.The great people who feed the poor

are investing not in physical wealth or returns but in the everlasting heavenly rewards

.The one who shares a meal with the needy do not suffer pangs of hunger .Those who

hoard wealth by unfair means and do not give it to anyone,does not know the happiness

of giving,and their wealth is lost as they have come.It is transient.If a poor hungry man is

wretched,the man who close door on his face is more wretched .The fame of a person

who helps sufferers and poor will be greater than all the scholars and literary and musical

giants is the opinion of Valluvar.Legendary figure of Paarivallal is an example.Paari was

a person who lived in Cheranad.The value of compassion is stressed by valluvar and he

says that if everyone stop meat eating no one will slaughter animals for making a profit

out of it.(Kural 256)

All these are under dharmasasthra.The Arthasasthra(porutpaal or economics )of Valluvar

is as follows:-

The kingship and Govt or State has six necessities.The army(Padai),the people(Kudi),the

food(Koozh),ministers(amaichu)allies(Natpu)and fortress(aran/aranmanai).The king

should have some qualities and training to obtain these qualities.In the practical realistic

economics of Vallluvar is the underlying moral ethical tone of the Arhtasasthra of

Bheeshma,Krishna of Mahabharatah times and it is absent in the 15th century

Machiavellian Prince .Time and place management is dealt with by Valluvar .The society

in which Valluvar lived must have been quiet informed and learned from his treatise.The

absolute value of honour is never forgotten even when dealing with the material aspects

of life is reflecting the values of the society.Aracharul Eru(Rishabha among kings)or

sometimes translated as the Simha among kings(Nrisimha)is having the 6 wealth as

Valluvar says.Such a king was equated to Lord Visnu by Thiruvaymozhi (34.8)is

significant Kulasekhara being a Chera/Walluva king.

1Army in appropriate strength and variety(Chathuranga)

2.Treasury/Nidhi with all necessary resources for expenditure in normal and in times of

adversity like famines etc to provide food
.
3.Able,experienced,learned in statesmanship to advise king ,without fear or favour should

be the ministers.

4.The allys who stand by king through adversity and prosperity ,honestly ,ready to give

up even ones own life for the sake of king and nation.
5.The people who are just and learned in all affairs of state and able to decide in village

assembly what they require,what priorities of the kudimakkal are.And how it would

affect welfare of entire nation.

6.Fortress for defence .

The best fortress is dharma.Then the natural fortress of mountains and oceans and

rivers.Structures like manmade fortresses to be used when there is no natural protection.

These were existent from time of Ramayanam onwards.Thus the continuity of a culture

has to be assessed from scriptures.The 7th organ,the head is the king himself.Kural 756

says the sources of income of state as Uruporul,Ulkuporul and Teruporul.

Uruporul include the dues or tax paid to treasury by people the tax rate of 1/10th

,1/6th,etc.Also the treasures which come in ships(uru)whithout heirs or in a storm

etc.Ulkuporul is the ulkam and sulkam (chunkam)as duty of transport

customs.Teruporul is the tribute from a vanquished king,seizure of that kings assets,as

a legitimate acquisition for payment of the army etc.

The word Koozh for food covers all varieties of food articles as resources of the nation

and it is on this the agroeconomy is based to feed all citizens and to make profit from the

excess produce.In a political game we find dishonest change from one side to other for

power gains.This type of friends or allys make the kings /rulers Govt weak.So too

advisers who always try to please by saying untruth also is bad for a ruler.In

Mahabharatha the worth of Vidura was that he always said fearlessly what he felt about

the partiality of the king though it displeased him.

Valluvar says the rulers should have courage,generosity,knowledge and perseverance in

boundless measure.Alert,learned,brave rulers/leaders are needed in all regions.A king

without Dharma will not be able to aquire wealth,develop and guard it,for equitable

distribution of state expenditure and public good .(kural 385).Rulers should be accessible

easily to public and should be kind and use only good words to them(This is important in

our present day too).Only then he get public support.To such a king the people willingly

succumb and support.Only by performing such dharma of the land the ruler become

worshipped as God by people.To a king who is just,patient and impartial and have

forbearance all world rally under a banner.(K 389)This was the idea of a unified nation

under an emperor in India.The light of a king are his kodai(giving away as well as

umbrella both seen in the Kodainadu of Valluvanaad of Chera kingdom of

Malabar)Chenkol (justice )and concern of the Kudi’s(peoples)welfare.(Prajakshema in

scriptures).The one who has these symbols is called The Udaiyaan(one who has) or ruler

of that region.(K 390).The divine light or thejas which gives a status of king or ruler is

thus generosity,graciousness,dharma or protection of justice without partiality and

concern of peoples welfare.Each king aspired for such qualities and educative system was

designed for this purpose.The learning shape ones conduct and therefore education and a

Guru was given priority in the system.En(Number)and eluthu(letters0are two eyes of

humans for making a best life.The seers or people with eyes are only these people with en

and ezhuthu as their eyes.The eye of others is not eyes,says kural(393).Thus Paarpanar

(See paarpanar anghadi,Paarappanaadu etc in Kerala kings traditions).To bow before

such Udaiyar(who have knowledge)is to learn from them and improve life.

Valluvar mentions sand which gives water as one digs .

Kural 396:-Thottanaithu oorum mantrakkeni maantharukku

Kattranaithu oorum arivu.

As one digs deeper into sand more water comes out.Similarly as one learns

more,knowledge is deeper and wider. Learning in this birth stand him for next 7 births (K

398) and the learning when it makes others happy ,one is prompted to learn more and

help more.In this way the pursuit of learning continue.Valluvar compares the ignorant to

a barren land which does not give any ield to be counted fertile(K 406).What is the

diference of the learned from ignorant?Valluvar says the difference of man from other

animals.(k 410).Therefore listening to the wise is the most sublime wealth.Wisdom is the

best wealth for Vallluvar .The wise man love entire world with constancy unlike a bloom

that opens and closes frequently(K 425).This is seen in Bhagavad Geetha (7.8-9).Only

men of wisdom foresee what is to come and are prepared for it .The ignorant know not

what is ahead of them and are caught unprepared .(427)Therefore wise are not afraid of

any adverse situations .They have already read the signs of it (foresight)and taken

precautions against it so that the peole are saved.The wise do not allow even a small

blemish on their character.They avoid even millet-sized(Thinai size)fault in their mind as

if it is great as a Palmtree(Panai).Thus is purest of mind and intellect.(Sathwik as said in

Geetha).Because such small faults can accumulate and ruin ones wisdom.The life of one

who do not foresee ,is like a haystalk in advancing fire.So,a king who judges fault

/adharma in others should be faultless .Miserliness,amassing wealth without giving or

sharing it to others is not just a vice but it is the worst vice and such a person find his

wealth declining and vanishing(K 437,438).Another wealth is having good people as

friends and councellors(k 441-450) and avoiding bad people to enter the circle of friends

and councellors(451-460).Because water will take the character of the soil through which

it flows.Men’s character is likewise altered by the associations they make.Kurumthokai

says(40)Chempulapeyal neer pola.The water in red soil take muddy red colour

easily.Crime by imitation and crime by association happen when one associate with bad

people.The perceptions of a mans mind are belonging to own mind.But ,the nature of a

man can be assessed by the company he keeps(453).In fact the knowledge and

dispositions which look like arising from ones mind are stemming largely from one’s

company(454)and this psychological knowledge is needed to have association with

sajjana and dissociation from durjana .Purity of mind and of actions spring from purity of

associations.The pure minded leave behind a progeny of pure minded.The efforts of the

pureminded will never fail.They will succeed.The purity of mind not only gives spiritual

growth but also material and personal prosperity and good associations leads one to

glory.It gives strength and support in all actions and dharma.Actually this is the reason

why the friend(husband/wife) in a family life also was selected from a good lineage of

dharma.Kural 460 use the term Thunai(help/mate) for an associate.

What is forethought for ultimate success?

Here Valluvar gets to Arthasasthra proper after his introduction to graihastha and

Raajadharma.

There are 3 elements for each action to be considered before it starts.

The risk of loss ,the possibility of acquisition,and the ultimate return as value.For one

who considers all these after proper consultation with his honest friends and sajjana

associates there is no failure.The wise conserve what is already

gained.(Protection/Sthithy).Only after that they enter a risky,doubtful enterprise.No one

venture into a project without full deliberation and a clear decision .To have an illmade

project plan facilitate loss of what one has already aquired and therefore the wise draw a

welldesigned action plan .Valluvar says doing the forbidden and not doing the obligatory

both leads to ones ruin.The action should follow analytical decision,resulting from deep

deliberations .The action plan that has no systematic planning will fail even if there is a

majority support (as we see in our present elections) according to kural 468.If we do not

consider the public welfare all our plans will be ruined which is important for public

relations in a welfare state

Valluvar Strategy:-

Decide how much resources and power one needs to carry out a project.

The resources at disposal

The strength of it and of the allies

After studying al ranges of possibilities ,related problems launch project.

Concentrate on enterprise fully

Then nothing is impossible.

Overestimation of resources and strength is not good for success of project.Even the

weight of a peacock feather can break the axle of a cartwheel .(overconfidence and over

exhibition of power is not good).A parallel in English is a last straw that break the camels

back.The one who climbe to the thinnest branch of a tree and attempts to go further fall

and perish.Therefore measure the income,and give a part as dharma(charity work)and

live a life of dignity.If the channel of inflow is narrow and small ,the outflow should not

be disproportionate.(Kural 478).The sources of income and expenditure to be balanced

well is the idea.If there is ample resources and if the enterprise start at right time the

rewards will be good.Tying up operations to seasonal variation is the rope which binds us

inseparably to prosperity.(K 482).This is very important in all matters of

economy,especially in agricultural operations for a good produce without much risks of

loss by natural calamities.Thus right means and right time is important in agricultural

economy (in all economic pursuits).The right place for action also is important.(K

484).For growing paddy one has to choose the soil,climate best for paddy.Similarly for

each crop.When the right time comes,act swiftly,and with a sure aim (K 490).Do not

waste time when the right hour and opportunity comes.Act quickly and make produce

necessary for sustenance and sharing with others.this policy of agricultural economy is

important in Kerala and India (generally)which depend upon monsoon rains for its

produce and for overseas trade from antiquity.Kural 496 says the four wheeled chariot is

not of use in the sea and the swift sailing ship is not useful on land.Therefore every kind

of transport should be planned for the produce to be used in a particular medium and used

to maximum benefit of gain,with minimum loss .

There are four tests for efficiency of an executive(administrator/king).they are on

Dharma(virtue),wealth(artha) Love(Kama) and fear of death(Courage to face adversities).

Thus choose a leader with a good background ,free of faults ,sensitive to public censure

.(K 502).Valluvar also says from a good family (Kudippiranthu).Kural 794 also says the

same.When you select the leader ,weigh the persons worth and his failings fairly and

choice made if good prevails.(This is a democratic method of selecting a King by the

people and the assembly of people which was there in India as we understand from

Ramayana times ).Have we this faculty of selection in modern India is to be debated

seriously .The deeds of the individual and his behaviour alone will be the touchstone

which determines ones greatness and littleness.(K 505).Perumai and Chirumai are words

used here for great and small.It also mean the elder and the younger.(The words Perumaal

and Cherumaan or Cheraman coupled thus is the younger Great King of Mooshakavansa

.The elder one being in Mahishmathy ,the banks of Narmada ,and younger one in West

coast including present Karnataka and Kerala).Choosing councilors,ministers etc should

be with utmost care and impartiality and good and learned men with impartiality alone

should be selected(K 506-507).One who chooses a stranger without testing his ability as

well as honesty and impartiality,into administratin is causing endless trouble to posterity

(508).Trusting untested strangers and doubting tested honest aides also leads to such

destruction.(510).The good performance of public service is a test of good leaders.He

should be able to (512)

1.Enlarge resources of income

2.develop wealth of the realm in which he is in charge

3.Overcome and find solution to all problems that arise .

The criteria for proper selection are :-

Affectionate loyalty,a discriminating mind,decisiveness,and freedom from desires.With

thes e,the person should also be a man of action .Work is to be entrusted only to people

with expert knowledge and painstaking application and not to ones

favourites(515).Therefore before starting a enterprise,think of the nature of the job,the

suitable men for it,and appropriate time and place for it.(516).After making such a

decision that such and such a job can be done by such and such a person competently and

honestly ,with the available resources ,he should be left free to do it by himself.(517) This

is delegation of power .The delegation promotes motivation.The freedom and flexibility

is a way of decentralizing power from the emperor /chief executive to

subordinates/people.But the Emperor/Chief executive does not loose all responsibility.He

has to do

1.Tests and checks in the field of activity of the subordinate,inspections periodically to

see all works well

2.statistical checks

3.good will,performance and acceptance as prevailing in people being checked .

Thus central and peripheral systems work in harmony based on a common goal and

dharma or ethics .Both have responsibility to the job and to the people and nation

alike.This can happen only when all are united by a common code of dharma.If this

dharma prevails everything in the nation will automatically be straightened out .

Appropriate contact with the honest and affectionate people who give support is part of a

successful ruler.(522-23)If he have no such intercourse he is like a lake without bunds

getting a bountiful supply of water.

Kulavallaa kodu intri neer niraithan :- shows the knowledge of construction of a bund

(Kotu/kolu)for lakes for irrigation.Chutthramthazhaal or lookingafter the community or

the society/tribe is like protecting water with a bund for productivity .Thus public

intercourse and co-operation in agricultural field of Kol with bunds protection is related

in the two kurals.A halfway between state communism and individual capitalism is seen

in this strategy of co-operative farming industry is noteworthy.From Kural 524 we get the

nature of Kulasangha or agricultural guilds of ancient India.

The tribe of a man (with an elderly experienced leader as chief)surrounds him and

establish social contact with all,and result in prosperity of all together(524)..The generous

chief with a kind word attract all his kinsmen as allys.Thus loyal people surround him in

all times,even in adversity.(Saama and Daana are used by a good leader .)The crow when

it gets food ,call all its community to share it,before it eats.the good chief is like that

(527).He gives first and only then takes is share.He treats according to merits and

demerits the people of the assembly so that everyone strives to be meritorious.Special

services are rewarded by titles and awards .If someone leave you,find out what the reason

was ,and correct it and get back that ally is a good advise Valluvar gives.(529)When such

people who deserted you come back ,test them before taking into confidence ,but do not

reject summarily.

Arrogant thoughtlessness is a worser enemy than anger to a executive.A false sense of

security and overindulgence in pleasures result from that.One has to be ever watchful and

thoughtful .Vigilance and bravery are more important than a fortress in

defence.Negligence can lead to disasters.Therefore listen to works of wise people and do

swadhyaya ,learn always,be watchful and vigilant and dharmic in all deeds and

words.Just as people lookat raincloud for sustenance,they look at rulers for

justice.Therefore,

Anthanar noorkum arathirkkum aathiyaay

Nintrathu mannavan kol.(543)

The ultimate basis of veda of sages and dharma of the wise ,is the straight unfailing

scepter(symbol of justice)of a good king.Kol is the word here for justice,for balancing

,and a measure,and a scepter as symbol of justice.Chenkol,Thulaakkol and Kol fields of

the king (the law and order,the weight and measures,the wetland paddy as food)all comes

under the guild of a kulasangha of learned Anthanar (Brahmana/Brahmakshathra /rajarshi

as chieftain of a tribe ).If the ruler is such a just and wise one ,all wishes of people being

fulfilled justly under him,the entire world will be at his feet.(544).Then seasonal rains and

rich harvests will attend him .(545).It is not weapons which give victory to a just king but

his Kol (546) or natural justice and corresponding prosperity from the land blessed by

seasonal rains to give all fruits .The person who protects dharma,is protected by

dharma.Valluvar compares destruction of bad people who are harmful to dharma ,to

weeding of fields for growth of good crops(550).Kural 551-560 is about a tyrannical king

who is destroyed by his own actions.The lack of a compassionate ruler is compared to

lack of rainclouds leading to dry land with no greenery (557).Under a tyrannical regime

,according to Valluvar ,it is the haves (rich)who suffer more than the have-

nots.(558).They are deprived of all that they had ,because the tyrant is after their wealth

and ignore the poor.This was the foresight Valluvar had about the Landlords and kings of

India ,which happened under the foreign rule.It was they who lost all .The have-nots

remained as such .The haves lost all .If king is not just,rains fail,famines come,cows yield

less,Brahmins loose intellect and forget their Manthra and knowledge(559-560) and all

these happened as Valluvar foresaw it in BC 31.It is interesting how Valluvar compares a

dharmic king to a good music.

Pan en aam paatarkku iyaipu intrel

Kan en aam kannottam illaatha kan.(573).

Tune,expression,words ,of song etc should be in perfect harmony.To have an eye without

compassionate graciousness is like a music with these in disharmony ,and total

imbalance.The integrated quality of music as well as the king is in its compassion.

Valluvar has identified intelligence service and arthasasthra or literature on state-craft as

two eyes of the ruler.(Ottrum urai chantra Noolum).This is in conformity to the old

Sanskrit texts also.What was the need of a intelligent service or Gupthachara?To know

whatever happens to every one in the kingdom,at all times and necessary steps to be

taken for help or for prevention of disasters.For this a wide network of Gupthachara are

employed.They cover all,including kith and kin of king in their watchful eye.They

disguise as sanyasins,holy men,get access to all places and collect information without

arising any suspicion and protect secrets even under extreme co-ercion (586).They have

inner sources of verification of such information collected and present only after full

confirmation.A system of countercheck was there.The balanced statecraft of the times

should be understood from such statements of Valluvar.The spys should not know each

other.If three informants say the same version,there is reliability of information and

action can be taken.But the open reward is not possible for a gupthachara ,since that will

expose him to public eye and his job will suffer.

What Valluvar says about laziness is noteworthy.He says a person/administrator who has

no laziness will gain the entire universe ,which was measured by the three steps of Lord

Thrivikrama.That is the story of Mahabali ,King of Mahishmathy and of Kerala during

Vaamana Avathar of Vishnu.And the rule of Adi alavu(measuring with feet the timespace

in astronomy)vakya is famous in Kerala tradition of astronomy .Lack of laziness and

human effort in achieving great deeds is praised.The great works are finished by the

strength of perseverance .And such works are for benefit of others too.Social service or

Velaanmai is with distribution of what is needed with a sense of duty to those who

deserve it most(Thakkarkku) as said in the Geetha .One who is committed to a cause and

do not go after sense pleasures is the pillar of strength for people,for

society.Industriousness brings prosperity while laziness brings the opposite.The elder

sister go with the lazy and the younger,the lotus-born Lakshmi with the industrious

(617).There may be limits to ones intelligence,or its outcome,and one may call it fate or

Luck.But with whatever available knowledge ,failure to apply that knowledge for work

and for social welfare is blameworthy (618).Thus practical application of learning,gnana

is needed for all people and no one can escape from not exercising the will power to

make it to good use.Then Valluvar says(619)even if Daivathaan (God)or providence is

not helpful the personal efforts will bring its fruits (kooli or salary/fruit of action).The

result will be proportional to the effort .Reaction has to be proportionate to action is a

universal law of prakrithy.With hard labour and ceaseless industry people are able to

overcome the fate (swabhaav of thriguna ).This kural(620)is just the opposite of Kural

380 which states that destiny is supreme and even with planned efforts to overcome it,one

has to experience its effects.How is these contradictions conciliated? The 380th kural is

saying that karma determines a mans disposition and predilections in present life .620th

say human beings have options either to take the line of least resistence and let it go like

that or to overcome pre-determined obstacles with a dominant will ,discerning knowledge

and persistent effort which could make all the difference in ultimate outcome in a

particular set of circumstances.Even though the result may not be 100% what is desired

one can reach a near enough objective.Geetha(4.37)say fire of knowledge reduce karma

to ashes and Valluvar say a matching will and industry could complete the process of

victory over fate and that is what Nishkamakarmayoga of Geetha also teach

us.Therefore,there is no contradiction,though seemingly contradictory.Conciliation

happen when we understand the meaning properly.If not,the controversy will lead to a

theoretical jargon of confusion which is of no use to anyone.

Fortitude and power of endurance in face of all adversities is a great strength and a

strategy to overcome it.Kural 622 says ,even if a flood or deluge comes with all

misfortunes,the wise can overcome it with his right thinking.Whether Shakespeare got his

expression”Taking up arms against a whole sea of troubles” from Valluvar has to be

thought of.If one can look at misfortune with a smile on his lips and face it,one can

overcome it is Valluvar theory.Such a person with fortitude is compared to a brave bull

yoked to plough,who breaks all terrains that it traverses up or down,desert or

swamp.(624).The tenacity of the bull in preparing the hard ground ready for next produce

is compared here .To understand that misfortunes is the law of life and to know this and

to be not perturbed is wisdom.Then one can face it with unflinching

equanimity.Adversity is a challenge for survival and know our circumstances and plan

ahead and face when it comes.

What all should the advisors or councilors of a wise king know?

Karuvi(instruments/technology),Kaalam(time/seasons),cheykai(the methods of

performance)cheyyu(the act or function itself)aruvinai(all its pros and cons )should be

analysed by them.He should have 5 traits:-Resoluteness,concern for welfare of

people,study of statecraft,driving energy.He should be able to reunite antagonists,cherish

existing allys,disunite allys among the enemies.(except the last said all seems necessary

from my point of view.)This is for the unity and co-operation and leadership qualities of

the ministers is a must for it.The minister assess everything in the country on a action-

oriented basis .The success-oriented action plan of a minister depend upon his

learning.Every subtle knowledge about the country should be known to them if they have

to take a successful action .They should know their country,its

tradition,geography,strengths of agrarian and other economy traditionally and various

measures of improvement for increased production,welfare of people etc and the defence

of the nation.Not only book learning but practical knowledge is important(637).The art of

persuasive speech,oratory and communication power as part of leadership quality of

ministers is ascertained by Valluvar.It should be logical and convincing to listeners

.Kural 644 says “no greater dharma or worldly benefit can accrue ,than by suiting ones

speech to the assessed intellectual level of the audience.”The target audience determine

the standard of speech of a yogin .This is a principle of management and public speech

of modern times.

In debate convincing style,good memory and fearlessness are important.Profound ideas

can be expressed in simple language in orderly fashion.A unfocused question can bring

an unfocused answer.So ask what you want to clarify in simple short structured

question.You will get structured focused answer if the student know answer.If they don’t

know no beating about the bush is possible.So a discussion if it leads to beating about the

bush means the opponent is simply showing off that he knows everything and actually

doesn’t know anything ,So the best answer should be a golden silence .To people who are

squeking without an aim,and to purposeful arguments to belittle one,what should one

do?Do not go into waste of time by arguing with them is the best advice Charaka gives

.That will reduce confusion.And will save your time,energy and health.To go into

meaningless argument with such people is detrimental to ones reputation also.

So what are two steps a wise advisor give to a person who start an enterprise?

1.Avoid all illconsidered actions

2.Once an actionplan is agreed upon after proper discussion of its pros and cons and its

risk etc,embark upon it and be ready to face all problems that ensue.

Life is such a project which has to be faced both in pain and pleasure,in gain and loss

alike.An efficient wise man disclose his purpose and action plan only after completion of

action and its success .premature disclosure can lead to many problems.Kataikotka is the

word used for final disclosure by Valluvar.

Make a plan,speak about it.That is an achievement.But a greater achievement is to

accomplish the plan as stated and ten speak about it.(664).The man with a

willpower(Ichasakthy)makes a design or plan of action,achieve his objective facing all

adversities and he is an efficient leader(666).Do not insult men looking at their

stature,because an axle-pin(Achaani) is essential for function of a mighty temple car.Thus

all people ,whether small or big,rich or poor were given equal importance in the

management science of ancient India .And that was the reason why all were satisfied and

there were no rebellions in diastant past ,one should think.Kural 669 says programmes

,which increase happiness and peace of all beings or subjects ,should be pursued wih a

willpower and continued even against al hazards.This is the ultimate hallmark of success

for Valluvar ,just as for Srikrishna in the Bhagavad Geetha.

Once a decision made quick implementation is needed(671-672).There are two types of

actions:-1.Which can be done at leisure ,implemented slowly as along term plan

,slowly,deliberately

2.Things require prompt quick actins which cannot be delayed or put off even for a

Moment

Agricultural pursuits have both these limbs of action.Before commencing an action,it is

wise to consider in depth the objective,possible obstacles,benefits and and riska and

reactions after completion .(676)To do a job advise from an experienced one with

expertise on the subject is essential.kural 678 say one successful plan will lead to another

as with one elephant ,we capture another elephant ,which again shows that Valluvar was

aware of capturing of elephants in the Chera country.The 677th and 678th kural read

together mean that one should learn expertise from an experienced person and use it by

hard work and industry to reach heights of success and become a model for entire

world.Japan had done this in recent years.If one wants prosperity to ones country ,one

should create a peaceful atmosphere for carrying out all activities of production,trade and

commerce etc.Selection of messengers and ambassadors to courts of other countries and

the diplomatic qualities of such messengers are dealt with in 681-690 kurals.

Valluvar says the speech of a wise man in an assembly is like the channeled water to

grow living plants.The word chorinthtru indicate the correct amount of water being

channellised in right manner through proper channel to each field/or plant so that all

grow and prosper.It shows the common methods of irrigation prevalent in those times.

Speaking to people who will not understand the intellect of the speaker is like throwing

nectar into a gutter.(720)

In a discourse one has to absorb worthy thoughts from those more learned(724).

A welfare state and a prosperous nation:-

To be prosperous a nation need ,(K 731)

1.Unfailing harvest (produce for food sufficiency)

2.Wise men for giving good advise(men of learning and character)

3.worthy men of wealth (good and compassionate rich people who share wealth with

others)

The land,labour ,and learning and capital sharing in other words which are organized on a

definite basis of dharma.

A country with abundant production and consequent wealth and harvests in plenty

unaffected by pests and diseases is prosperous and famous.(732)

A great nation bears unexpected burdens with fortitude,and still regularly pay the needed

taxes to the King(733).Freedom from famine and epidemics and harassment by

others(foreigners/enemies)make one prosperous.(734).Pasi,pini and pakai should not be

there for prosperity .This foresight of Valluvar deserves special mention.Because all the

three usually come together and make the nation weak and poor but still a great nation

face it and come up or emerge againas a great nation.(Which we are witnessing now in

Japan,India etc).

Kural 735 says that a prosperous nation will not have warring sects and destructive

internal strifes or murderous offences that disturb the peace of the country.Kolkurumbu

(motiveless murder)is happening every day in all nations of the world at present and

makes entire world less prosperous.Only if they see reason and come to terms ,peace will

prevail.The country which was laid bare by enemies,still do not loose its basic essence of

prosperity is the leader among nations according to Kural(736).And kural 737 continue

that the waters on the surface of land,rains that fall from clouds,the mountains,rivers and

great dharma(val aran) are the real prosperity of a country.Actually the word irupunal is

used (two sources of water).The surface and groundwater including.The ocean and

mountains as natural resources as well as defence,dharmam and plalace(Aranmanai being

palace/fort)for protection is given in a pun in this kural.Piniyinmai(Diseaseless ,healthy

state),chevam(wealth)vilaivu(good harvests)inpam(happiness) and

emam(security/defence)are the five necessities for prosperity of a nation.(738)The

pleasures are interpreted as social festivals and fares with dance and music for rejoicing.

Kural 739 says the prosperous land gives good produce without much effort,and with

rainfall and good soil ,and it is the best.The dry lands where people toil with their sweat

to earn a living is not considered as a good prosperous land. The good sign goes to Kerala

and Malabar and to Cherrapunchi in Assam then.(in case of India).

Naaatu enpa naataa valarthana naatu alla

Naata valam tharum naadu .

But still with all these economic factors and all other attributes of a prosperous land if a

land is not doing well it is because the ruler is not good and efficient(740).This is what is

disturbing when we think of Kerala.Kerala has all signs of a prosperous land and if it is

not yielding good produce the rules and attitudes of the people are to be considered

thouroughly to find the real cause for this failure.

How the ancient kings colleted revenue ?Valluvar say(755)the wealth is collected from

people when they give it with compassion and love .The king should not collect it

without their willingness.The ownerless property,custom duty,excise duty ,prizes and

tributes alone belong to the king absolutely(756).Along with this 1/6th of produce which

people give willingly as revenue for protecting them goes to kings income.

The position of one who makes wealth (an entrepreneur)with plenty of financial backing

is compared to a person who ascends a hill to see a elephant fight on the level

ground.(safety and security if there is good capital behind).

Valluvar thinks that in great adversity only a honest traditional army will serve the king

and the new ones will run away or make benefit by frauds.He asks what is the use of

having an army of rats which dismantle with the hiss of a serpent?The good honest army

does not desert or disgrace and maintain traditional valour in all situations.(Such an army

of Valluvakonathiri as Chaver army came into existence against Zamorin during

Mamanka means ,such people were present in Valluvar’s time also.Was he one among

the army chiefs of such tradition?It looks like so.Because 771 is a kural of such a chief

addressing a prince insulting a cheifton/king .It says:-Do not challenge my leader .Many

have challenged him before and now they have all become stone statues.(about the

memory stones of warriors as Veerakkal in Tamil speaking countries).For my leader the

word used is “En Ai” as laid down by Tolkappiyam.(Aiyyan/Ay ).

About enmity within a guild or tribe Kural(881)say even a shady grove and inviting

fountains will bebad if they breed diseases and equally dangerous are treacherous

kinsmen and friends within a kingdom.How internal strifes ruin a nation is described in

detail by him.Even if the treachery is only the measure of a sesame (ellalavu)since it is

from within it is dangerous is his view.He also says men who are ruled by wives (by fear

of her,acting according to her words ,and are infatuated with wife)will not be able to do

something great for society ,though he may achieve some personal wealth and fame

.Because he had lost his greater dharma he is looked at with scorn by others.It is a

shameful evil for a man of worth according to Valluvar to be obedient to wife and neglect

social duties.The man who is afraid f his wife is a wretch who does not get salvation

because he fails in doing dharma.H ecannot do a good turn to even a deserving person for

fear of his wife and her harsh words.They pretend as Gods of bravery but people will not

respect him.Or even if he lives like a God ,with fame,wealth and luxuries ,he never gets

acclaim as a good person.A modest womanhood is to be praised more than such a

manhood.The man who is a slave to wife will not do justice even to his honest friends

and to society .He will do the wife’s bidding all the time .He does not get love,virtue,or

anything at all .The woman who love for wealth of a man will only be a ruin for his

dharma.The people who sell dance,music and body for money are alike in

Chilappathikaram (3.8.9).The enemies of a good man are woman who pretends love for

getting his wealth(Irumanappen or woman with one in mind and doing another)playing

dice and drinking alcohol.Therefore ne should avoid these for a dharmik life.

A kavariman or yak removed of its wool prefer to die than live.Like that is a honest

human being of good ancestry who will never part withhis homour.In the Cheraman

Kanaikal Irumporai,a chera king sang(Purananuru 74) when he was imprisoned and

slighted by a chola king that he preferd to end life than suffer such slight within a prison.

A chantron(gentleman)is having 5 qualities according to Valluvar.

1Compassion for all lives.

2.sensitiveness to shameful conduct

3.social co-operaion

4.Grace to all neighbours and beings of world

5.upholding truth always.

He my be poor but his innate strength of character makes him rich internally even in that

state and he is any day nobler than a wealthy man without this character.Kural 930 say

all men have limbs and organs alike but it does not exalt a man to oneness with the great

man.Meaningful affinity comes from cultural identity not from the human form

alone.The one who serve others with dharma,justice is praised by entire world as great.It

is by such men of good breeding and culture that the world goes on smoothly.But for

them the balance and harmony of world would be buried in dust.Accumulation of great

wealth in a uncultured mans possession is like milk kept in a unclean vessel and turn sour

easily.Wealth not shared with public is a waste.It is a miser who hoard wealth who is

born as a demon in next birth according to Valluavar.They are burdens to mother

earth.Even with their crores of money they are useless .He is a plague on his own wealth

or a beautiful lady who grows old in her obstinate loneliness of spinsterhood (not

allowing any one to enjoy her beauty).His wealth is a poisonous tree in the middle of a

village ,with fruits which no one will eat or relish .The generous man is like a raincloud

and even when his resources finish they are replenished in no time for benefit of

mankind.

Food ,clothing,and other daily needs are alike for all men but the good man is different

from others by his sensitivity to shame.The great people who wants to serve the world

plans their activity systematically within the defencive bounds of sensitivity to shame.If

one breaks rules of ethics he offends his birth.If he acts dishonourably,he is lost to virtue

itself.

Citizenship duties:-

Valluvar says(1021-1030) nothing advances ones family prestige better than service to

the community,committedly performed till ones objective is fulfilled.Endeavour and

indepth knowledge are the two qualities based on which a community will prosper.When

a person sets out to work for the advancement of family and the community ,God himself

will grid up loins and lead him.The efforts of those who try ceaselessly to raise the

standards of prestige of their extended family (kulasangha)will be crowned with success

even without much planning.The man who shuns inequity and assiduously promotes

community welfare will find all the world becoming his kindred.

Kuttram illa kudi ceythu vaazhvaanai

Chuttamaaychuttum ulaku.

In Purananuru Poet Kanian Poomkuntranaar say”Yaathum oore yaavarum keleer”.(The

entire world is our home/village .)Manly endeavour in a person of noble heritage involves

advancement of his community ,as his personal business and family’s bounden duty.Just

as the brunt on the battlefield falls on the courageous,the service to community as a total

burden devolves on those who can bear it.Community service need not wait upon season

or dignity.Those who procrastinate so ,will ruin their own reputation and the

community.The effective reform of society is built upon the consecrated suffering of a

few devoted and committed individuals.Such people are ready to suffer any thing

(physical and mental)for the benefit of others
.
The kural is “Idumpaikke kolkalankollo kudumbathai kuttram maraippan udambu”and

the word Idumpa is significant.If one remember the name of Bheema’s wife Hidumba(in

Tamil Idumba) who bore a son for sacrificing his body for community benefit,one

wonders whether this Tamil name was given because she belonged to Tamilspeaking

Dravida country.

Kambaramayanam also say(Sethubandha 53):-

Idumbai ethanaiyum pstutheythinum

Kudumbathankum kudippiranthaarine

If there is no public spirited people to support it,family and community will fall uprooted

,when a misfortune befalls.(Nallal illatha kudi is a village where there are no good and

unselfish people).

Agriculture:-

1031:-chuzhantrum erppinnathu ulakam athanaal

Uzhanthum uzhave thalai.

The world depends on the plough ,more than on any other avocation in life.Despite

hardships ,therefore agriculture is the best (the thalai or head of all

professions).According to this view agriculturists are the most productive class and the

crux of a country’s economy.The 18th century France also said this .But Indian

agriculture and its ways are unique due to its geographical peculiarities and the

monsoons.The Kallaani anicut in Cauvery by Karaikalacholan is proof of the old King’s

concern of irrigation.

Kalingar said ,after all the wanderings across the seas ,over the mountains,felling forests

and wandering over the land ,finally one returns to the constructive toil behind the plough

to get his own food.

1032.The ploughing class is the axlepin of the revolving world ,because they sustain all

others who leave the plough ,to take to different occupations.

This is still true.Whoever makes two grains of corn or two blades of grass ,to grow on a

spot of land where only one grew before ,deserves better of mankind and do essential

service to country.Therefore Thomas Jefferson called Good farmers as chosen people of

God .Dr Johnson called agriculture is the noblest science.

1033.The people who till soil and raise their own food are the people who live by

right.Others are only parasites who live upon them.They have to live Thozhuthundu

(worshipping for eating) to those who live Uzhuthundu( by plough).

Proverbs(2,11)say

He who tills his land has enough to eat

But to follow idle pursuits is foolishness.

1034:Palakudai nezhalum tham kudaikkeezhkaanpar

Alhaku udai nezhalvaar

Note the words Kudai and kudai twice in this.This is a description of the Kudainaadu.

It says the green fields waving in fullness with sheaves of corn surely bring all countries

around it ,and under its umbrella.

This is true to every word as we know from history of India .All the foreign people came

to India hearing its prosperity ,its culture through the seafaring people of the western

shores and reached Kerala first.Kodai nad was the seat of the Chera king and a person

from Valluvanad of this Valluvakonathiri is natural to use the word and describe it .The

people who eat only the fruits of their own toil,will never beg.Nor will they deny alms to

a mendicant at their door.Sharing food is the quality of a agriculturist.Vallluvar valued

this economic freedom which agriculture confers on a person who takes it up as an

avocation.Both land andits tiller know high value of sharing and giving in abundance

.The self respect of never begging and always giving is a virtue of people who produce

food .For a person who cultivates land and respects and love the profession the land gives

everything.The kings of Chera country and their chieftains were famed for their giving

alms and food right from time of Mahabharatha war and in sangham literature this is

always mentioned.It is this land which is neglected and people are begging at other states

doors for their sustenance in the present times.This should ask the question “Why “and a

solution for it found .

1036:- Uzhavinaar kaimmadanghin illai vizhaivathoom

vittom enpaarkku nilai.

If tillers of land withdraw their labour ,even those who have renounced the world will

lose their serenity and concentration of spirit.That is the whole economy will come to a

standstill and it should never happen for the prosperity of land .The intellect of the

sanyasin,of scientist and of white collar job people depend on food which is produced by

agricultural people.

1037:-If the ploughed soil is left todry to a fourth of its bulk there will be plenteous crops

,without even a handful of manure being put in.

Field is ploughed in wet state .The turned up soil is left dry in sun and air ,for

considerable length of time ,till the dried up soil is only 1/4th of quantity of original mud

turned up ,then that soil does not need any further manure to become fertile.This is

because aereation results in absorption of nitrogen from atmosphere.So Valluvar is

postulating an ancient parallel to modern principle of effective aereation and

nitrogenisation of soil.Adequate aeration is needed for raising good crop.

The word Thodippuzhuthi is used here.It is considered as a measure of weight ,also called

a Palam in later times. Kacha or kachu in the kural means a 1/4th of Thodi.One

interpretation is that thodi is a pound but how this interpretation was derived is unknown.

One palam is a weight.The thodi is a piece of land .Kacha is 1/4th of thodi .Or of one

palam .This is a integration of geographical (length,bredth and area) into weight (mass)

which gives perfect astronomical and cosmic measurement integration of whole earth in

relation to its mass and energy .

1038:-Ploughing is important.Manuring is more important.After weeding,more vital than

water management is plant protection.

Valluvar here lists the important steps for a good crop.

1.requisite extant of ploughing

2.manure

3.weeding at right time

4.proper water management

5.protection of crop from pests and diseases.

He has not left out anything of green revolution .

1039:- If the husbandman does not pay personal attention to his land ,like a neglected

wife,that field will turn its face away from him in loving anger.

Valluvar use the word Oodal here ,the paribhava or anger of love.Or remain sulky and

sullen.The absentee landlordship was not probably there inValluvar times and all

agriculturists loved the land and their vocation as well as the plants .

1040:-Ilam enru achai iruppaaraikkaanin

Nilamennum nallaal nakum

This good earth(as a woman )will laugh at those who pleads poverty,and sit idle

,neglecting their productive land.

The labourers and farmers who complain of poverty when they have this good earth

which is bountiful and give in plenty if proper attention is given is considered foolish by

Valluvar.There is no land unfit for cultivation .Idleness and poverty go together.

The size and combination of inputs can overcome inherent limitations in any soil.And

therefore a man who sits idle and let his land go fallow is an idiot ,who deserve to be

laughed at .If we do our share ,the land itself will do the rest .

Poverty is dreadfully painful and destroy all honour and refinements of speech and

action.When poverty and famines come ,people neglect studies and revert to disgraceful

speech even if born in a family of scholars.The analytical thoughts of people are

neglected when people are suffering hunger.This leads to loss of all values and dharma

.Even a mothers love is less when a man is poor .People look at relatives as if they are

total strangers when they are poor.

People who have once experienced poverty ,will always think of it .Kural 1048 says this

thought:- The abject poverty that killed me yesterday, Am I to face it again today?Every

day will be a struggle for existence for such a man and a question of sheer survival in

face of adversities and he never lives in bliss .One will go to sleep in midst of flames but

will never sleep in midst of poverty and the fear of it.He counts each day and his savings

to ward of poverty the next day and becomes a mercenary and forgets all other

virtues.Thus poverty makes a nation lose honour .people who have to depend on salt and

gruel on others sometimes take up to sanyasa only to get a feed (because sanyasins get

food .This is what Sankara said Udaranimitham Bahukrithavesham).At the sight of

charitable people who are ready to give alms to needy ,poverty will flee from earth.Thus

rich people can be trustees of society by sharing wealth in improving society.They used

to donate lands and wealth to temples for charity of feeding poor .

Good men share wealth at a mere call while ignoble ones give only when crushed like a

sugarcane.(1078).They see a neighbour wellfed and clothed and hasten to find vices in

them.There is no use for the world with such unscrupulous men .In case a misfortune

come,these people will quickly sell themselves to the highest bidder.

Thus Valluvar described the dharmic agrarian economy which prevailed during his times.