Barren Land?

There is this tendency among philosophers to assume that the very land that you were born in reacts to what you do with your life. About how it rejoices in your fame and feels humiliated when you fail. Whether it is metaphorical or whether they really think that this is how your land/country is affected by you...

Tiru is no exception to this rule. Here he goes

Vasaiyilaa vanpayan kundrum isaiyilaa yaakkai poruththa nilam - Tirukkural

The land that bears men lacking fame ceases to yield blemishless abundance of produce - Loose Translation

This idea that there is a magical correlation between the fertility of the land and the fame achieved by its people...this idea seems sort of like fantasy. Most likely, then, that it is metaphorical...that what the philosopher means is that the population, at large, of that land would be shamed by the lack of accomplishments from within their ranks. I mean, yeah, when you say 'my country', more often than not, you mean the people of your country and not the land, the rivers, the mountains and all that. Which is probably one of the truths of this sort of wisdom.

You could go further and say that the fact that there are no such role models in the population makes it less likely that the people of that land have the ambition and put forth the effort to DO what it needed to make the land yield 'blemishless abundance of produce'. Which, again is probably one of the truths of this wisdom.

You could also say that a land in which infamy is considered fame...where, say, the gambler is praised for his wealth and the teacher reviled for his poverty...that's a land which will go on to produce more gamblers and less teachers. In other words, the abundance of produce will not be 'blemishless'. A community of robbers CAN be rich but not 'blemishless'.

Oh, yes, you can see that you CAN understand 'land' to literally mean land. If there are no people of fame, it would mean that there is nobody who is actually working to make the land yield 'blemishless abundance of produce'. And so...how's the land to yield any benefits?

So, yes, the land that does not produce people of fame is a land that will, probably, cease to yield any blemishless abundance of produce. AND it does not need any magic wand to cause it to be so.