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- Men of high rank win no esteem
- If lacking in good qualities;
- A Çūdra even deserves respect
- Who knows and does his duty well (xiii. 2610).
The following stanza shows how cosmopolitan Bhartṛihari was in his views:—
- "This man's our own, a stranger that":
- Thus narrow-minded people think.
- However, noble-minded men
- Regard the whole world as their kin.
But these poets go even beyond the limits of humanity and inculcate sympathy with the joys and sorrows of all creatures:—
- To harm no living thing in deed,
- In thought or word, to exercise
- Benevolence and charity:
- Virtue's eternal law is this (Mahābh. xii. 5997).
Gentleness and forbearance towards good and bad alike are thus recommended in the Hitopadeça:—
- Even to beings destitute,
- Of virtue good men pity show:
- The moon does not her light withdraw
- Even from the pariah's abode (i. 63).
The Panchatantra, again, dissuades thus from thoughts of revenge:—
- Devise no ill at any time
- To injure those that do thee harm:
- They of themselves will some day fall,
- Like trees that grow on river banks.
The good qualities of the virtuous are often described and contrasted with the characteristics of evil-doers.
