I wrote about single-word metaphors and Avvaiyar a few days ago. This is part of a ton of literary material of value that I learned mostly during schooling while I grew up.

These though don’t get the same visibility and widely spread as the Chinese teaching - the three popular ones being Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Buddhism though originated in India, was embraced more in the East Asian culture, whereas Hinduism took roots in the Indian sub-continent.

Today, I would like to talk about Avvaiyar’s advice to young children in her Aathichoodi a set of instructions starting with each word of the primary Tamil alphabet and the secondary set of characters. Tamil has two sets of alphabets that work with each other - primary and secondary. The whole set is rather long, so I am extracting only the first set which makes interesting reading.

Here is just the English extract that is useful as a seperate read:

Intend to do right deeds

Nature of anger is to subside

Help others as much as you can

Do not stop or avoid charitable deeds

Do not brag about your possessions- wealth, skills, knowledge, etc...

Never lose hope or motivation

Do not despise numbers and letters (maths; or arts, science, and literature)

Do not beg

Give alms, then eat

Adapt to your changing world

Never stop learning

Do not speak ill about others (especially behind their back)

Do not hamper development or creativity

These are not only valid advice for children but extremely valuable advice for adults even in today’s complex world more than 2,200 years after these have been written.

For those interested to read this version of a complete guide to life check out the Wikipedia page at:

Aathichoodi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aathichoodi