The Pariah Poet

Many years ago in India the great college of Madura was at its height. The Pariahs were a degraded race, lower than the lowest. None of their race could be received into the homes of the peasants, much less into the Halls of Science. But a Pariah, named Tiru Valuvir, one day presented himself for admission into the college of Madura, which professed to ignore caste. When asked by the Masters who and what he was, he made the ever-memorable reply: "I am a Pariah, but God has endowed me with a power of intellect which elevates me to the first rank among his creatures. I am not to be fettered in those trammels which foolish prejudices of men cast upon the minds of each other, to debase and enslave them. My mind has a full perception of its own power and of its own dignity; I feel that I have a freeborn right to take my station among the wise and good." His claim was admitted, but for fourteen days, with others, he was subjected to the most rigid examinations. He not only eclipsed his competitors, but surpassed his examiners in knowledge, which they bravely confessed. The Pariah and sister were admitted. The former, Tiru Valuvir, was in time raised to the presidential chair, which he held until his death. The works of his sister were used as text-books in the college; and her poems are today esteemed among the gems of Hindoo literature. She is called the Tamil "Sappho." There is a curious legend connected with the efforts of Tiru Valuvir to obtain an entrance to the college at Madura. The literati of the day used to meet at Madura and pass their verdict upon literary works submitted to them. Their power was unbounded, and no work could be accepted in the Tamil world without their sanction. They numbered forty, and sat upon a golden bench on the border of the lake which surrounded the sacred temple of the city. One day a Pariah approached with a poem in his hand. But as Brahmans they could not deign to receive the work of an outcast.

The legend goes on to relate that they, with one accord, drew back with horror. But Tiru Valuvir boldly continued his approach, and laid his poem upon "the golden bench." Suddenly a miracle was performed. Colored lights flashed about, and music and fragrance filled the air. The golden bench shrank, until it was only large enough to bear the Pariah's poem. The judges were flung off by unseen hands; filled with horror, they immediately, one after the other, drowned themselves in the sacred lake.

This legend is told of the greatest work in the Tamil language, the "Kural" of Tiru Valuvir. It is an ethical poem of 1330 distiches; each distich, it is said by the critics of to-day, will compare with some of the finest passages of our modern poets. Latter-day Brahmans glossed over Tiru Valuvir's birth, declaring him to have been an avatar, or incarnation, of Brahma.