Eleven packaging mantras from Valluvar
The WhatPackaging? team studies Valluvar, the celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher best known for Tirukkuṛaḷ, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economical matters. And selects a few gems for the 21st century packaging technologist
15 Nov 2022 | By WhatPackaging? Team
Valluvar 1.
A merchant's best merchandise
Is tending other's goods as his own
Valluvar 2.
Be a technologist among the technologist,
Be an expert among scholars
But pretend to be silent among the gossip mongers
Valluvar 3.
What won't they do to strangers
Who broadcast their customers fault
Valluvar 4.
Learn well what should be learnt, and then
Live your learning
Remember: The great hide others' faults
Only the small talk of nothing else
Valluvar 5.
A good mind is an asset to everyone
While good company contributes to glory
The great avoid the low in whom
The low find their kin
Valluvar 6.
Orators who wish to do good
Should study the occasion with care
Those are poor orators, unavailing
Who speak without knowing their audience
Valluvar 7.
Act after taking into account
The cost, the benefit, the net
It is not wisdom to lose the capital
For the sake of interest
Valluvar 8.
However well-versed in books
Be practical
Valluvar 9.
The wise know what comes next -
Fools cannot.
Valluvar 10.
His body needs no drugs who only eats
After digesting what he eats before
Valluvar 11.
Be born if you must for fame: or else
Better not be born at all
The great do the impossible
The mean cannot do it.
A world conqueror bides his time
Unperturbed