Testing and Trusting People
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kuṭippiṟantu kuṟṟatti ṉīṅki vaṭuppariyu / nāṇuṭaiyāṉ kaṭṭē teḷivu.
In the classical claim, confidence rests only with one born into a high lineage, free from faults, and possessed of a conscience that fears disgrace.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Of noble race, of faultless worth, of generous pride / That shrinks from shame or stain; in him may king confide.”
“Behold the man who is born of a good family, who is free from faults and who dreadeth disgrace: he is the man for thee.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
குடிப்பிறந்து= உயர்ந்த குடியிற் பிறந்து; குற்றத்தின் நீங்கி= குற்றங்களினின்று நீங்கி; வடுப் பரியும் நாண் உடையான் கட்டே தெளிவு= நமக்கு வடு வருங்கொல் என்று அஞ்சாநிற்கும் நாண் உடையவன்கண்ணதே அரசனது தெளிவு.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar directly glosses குடிப்பிறந்து as birth in a high family. He explains that a king's confidence belongs with a man who is free from faults and has the moral shame to fear that disgrace may come through him. Treating high birth as evidence of character belongs to that historical social view. A modern reader may instead look to an established record, freedom from serious wrongdoing, and a conscience that recoils from deserved disgrace; that is a modern application, not a replacement for the direct claim. Ancestry, caste, class, race, nationality, and wealth are not reliable evidence of character today.