32.2 Nonviolence

 32.2 Nonviolence 

Question:

How to handle others' violence towards us? 

Answer:

The best punishment for those who do evil to you is to shame them by returning good for evil and after doing good in return, forget the evil that was done to you as well as the good deed you did.                                                                                     (Couplet – 314)

இன்னாசெய் தாரை ஒறுத்தல் அவர்நாண

நன்னயஞ் செய்து விடல்.                                                             (குறள் – 314) 

Explanation:

Valluvar has a profound idea about what to do with those who harm us. He says that if someone has harmed you or hurt you somehow or the other, then the best thing to do is to return good for evil. That is, do something good for someone who did evil so that he will be vexed at his own actions.

Doing good in return for evil is very difficult for most people. If someone does good in return for evil and continues to harp on the evil deed that was done to him and the good deed he did, then the person who did the evil deed might feel humiliated, and the purpose of doing the good deed will be lost. That is why Valluvar says that the evil deed and the good deed must be forgotten.

Valluvar's idea that evil deeds should be reciprocated with good deeds is somewhat similar to the statement in the Bible which says, "You resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other (King James 2000 Bible, Luke 6:29)." The dictum in Couplet 314 is far more profound than the statement from the Bible or the Golden Rule of Confucius. Therefore, it is apt to refer to Couplet 314 as the Platinum Rule of Valluvar.

Valluvar's ideas on nonviolence have impressed people like the famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi adopted the principle of nonviolence and applied it to obtain India's independence from British rule. Later, Rev. Martin Luther King adopted the idea of nonviolence to obtain civil rights for African Americans in the USA, and Nelson Mandela used nonviolent protests to abolish apartheid in South Africa and establish a democratic government in that country. So, Valluvar's idea of nonviolence has historical significance.