Nanmaiyum tîmaiyum pinvara kâṇalâm.
“If good is sown, then good will grow:
If bad is sown, then bad will grow:
Thus good or bad the end will show.”
The king respected as much the noble benediction of the Brâhmaṇ as he did his grey hairs.
In this way the presentation of the fruit continued daily, though the Brâhmiṇ had nothing to request from the king, but simply wished to pay his respects. On observing that he had no ulterior motives, but was merely actuated by râjasêvana, or duty to his king, the king’s admiration for his old morning visitor increased the more.
After presenting the fruit the Brâhmiṇ waited upon his sovereign till his pûjâ[3] was over, and then went home where his wife kept ready for him all the requisites for his own pûjâ. Pâpabhîru then partook of what dinner his wife had prepared for him. Sometimes, however, a Brâhmiṇ neighbour sent him an invitation to dinner, which he at once accepted. For his father, before he breathed his last, had called him to his bedside, and, pronouncing his last benediction, had thus advised him in Tamil:—
Kâlai sôttai taḷḷâde,
Kaṇṇil Kaṇḍadai śollâde,
Râjanukku payandu naḍa.”