Nature abounds in beauty, and men and women have used whatever they can which Nature affords, to enhance their own beauty. Flowers, shells, beads and many other things were used by them as adornment. Physical beauty is clear for all to see, and that is the reason we attach so much importance to it. But is this real beauty? Tamil literature says it is not. What then is real beauty?
Different Tamil works give different answers to this question, said Malayaman in a discourse. A verse in Naladiyar says luscious hair is beautiful; so is an elegant saree. But none of these is a match for the beauty of education. Another Tamil work called Eladhi says that the appeal of slender hips, or an attractive strut, or even the appeal of a blush, cannot be classified as real beauty. Intelligent thinking and writing alone can be called beauty. Sirupanchamoolam says that while a person may have eye catching nails, long tresses, or regular teeth, none of this deserves to be called beauty. The use of appropriate words in a literary work alone can be called beauty, says Sirupanchamoolam. Thirukkural says that if a man does not have the ability to contemplate and analyse things, then his physical beauty is comparable to that of an image made of mud. Kumaraguruparar wrote a work called Neethi neri vilakkam. In this, he says that education alone qualifies to be called a thing of beauty. Those who have read extensively possess this beauty. It is their adornment. They have no need for further ornamentation. Does an ornament require an ornament?
All these works show us the respect we must have towards learning. Scholarship alone lasts, whereas a pretty face is lost when youth ends. An educated man is remembered with respect even after he dies.
