ON LUST AND WINE AND GAMBLING

Thirty Kural couplets are devoted to warning men against lust, wine and gambling. The false embrace of a woman who sells her body for money is like trying to find pleasure in the embrace of the dead body of an unknown person in a dark room.

Spirituous liquor was not a source of public revenue in olden days. It was open to men to ruin themselves if they liked, but no one else bad an interest in the sale of intoxicating liquors, - licensee, monopoly-holder or Government. The evil of indulgence in the false sense of well being obtained from spirituous drinks is in Kural a subject matter for emphatic condemnation.

To show reason to one who has indulged in liquor is like taking a light to search for a man whom is drowned in deep water.

The light of reason cannot pierce the darkness of a drunkard's mind even as a light cannot be taken under water. The poison has bereft him of the power of response to reason.

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