The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar/Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
OFFSPRING
61. We know of no blessing so great as the begetting of children that are endowed with understanding.
62. Behold the man whose children bear an unstained character : no evil will touch him in any of his seven reincarnations.
63. Children are the veritable riches of a man : for they pass to him by their own acts all the merits that they acquire.
64. Sweeter verily than ambrosia is the plain soup bespattered by the tender hands of one's own children.
65. The touch of children is the delight of the body: the delight of the ear is the hearing of their speech.
66. The flute is sweet and the guitar dulcet: so say they who have not heard the babbling speech of their little ones.
67. What is the duty of the father to his son ? It is to make him worthy to sit in the front rank in the assembly.
68. To find oneself eclipsed in intelligence by one's children is a delight to all the world.
69. Great is the joy of the mother when a male child is born unto her : but greater far is her delight when she heareth him called worthy.
70. What is the duty of the son to his father? It is to make the world ask, For what austerities of his hath he been blessed with such a son ?
