Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of Thirukkuṛaḷ, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economical matters, and love. The text is considered an exceptional and widely cherished work of the Tamil literature.[2]

Most oldest information about Thiruvalluvar comes from Thiruvalluvamalai - literally 'Garland of Valluvar' which can be dated to early 14th century, as it follows the method of Commentator Parlimelazakar, which is different from Manakkudavar, a Jain who was the earlierst Commantator written within a century from composition of Thirukkural.

Almost no authentic information is available about Thiruvalluvar, states Kamil Zvelebil – a scholar of Tamil literature. His life and likely background are variously inferred from his literary works by different biographers. There are unauthentic hagiographic and legendary accounts of Thiruvalluvar life, and all major Indian religions, as well as Christian missionaries of the 19th-century, have tried to claim him as secretly inspired (crypto-) or originally belonging to their tradition. Little is known with certainty about his family background, religious affiliation, or birthplace. He is believed to have lived at least in the town of Mylapore (a neighbourhood of the present-day Chennai), and his floruit is dated variously from 4th century BCE to early 6th century CE, based on the traditional accounts and the linguistic analyses of his writings. Maraimalai Adigal gives 31 BCE as the birth year of Valluvar, while Kamil Zvelebil infers the Thirukkuṛaḷ and Thiruvalluvar are best dated to around 500 CE.

Valluvar has influenced a wide range of scholars down the ages since his time across the ethical, social, political, economical, religious, philosophical, and spiritual spheres. He has long been venerated as a great sage, and his literary works a classic of Tamil culture.

The term Tirukkural is a compound word made of two individual terms, tiru and kural. Tiru is an honorific Tamil term that corresponds to the universally Indian, Sanskrit term sri meaning "holy, sacred, excellent, honorable, and beautiful."[1] The term tiru has as many as 19 different meanings.[20] Kural means something that is "short, concise, and abridged."[1] Etymologically, kural is the shortened form of kural paattu, which is derived from kuruvenpaattu, one of the two Tamil poetic forms explained by Tolkappiyam, the other one being neduvenpaattu.[21] According to Winslow, kural is used as a literary term to indicate "a metrical line of 2 feet, or a distich or couplet of short lines, the first of 4 and the second of 3 feet." Thus, Tirukkural literally comes to mean "sacred couplets."[1]

The work is highly cherished in the Tamil culture, as reflected by its nine different traditional titles: Thirukkuṛaḷ (the sacred kural), Uttaravedam (the ultimate Veda), Thiruvalluvar (eponymous with the author), Poyyamoli (the falseless word), Vayurai valttu (truthful praise), Teyvanul (the divine book), Potumarai (the common Veda), Muppal (the three-fold path), and Tamilmarai (the Tamil Veda)

Contents

The Kural is structured into 133 chapters, each containing 10 couplets (or kurals), for a total of 1,330 couplets.[53][f] All the couplets are in kural venba metre, and all the 133 chapters have an ethical theme and are grouped into three parts, or "books":[53][54]

Tirukkuṛaḷ

  Aṟam (28.6%)

  Poruḷ (52.6%)

  Inbam (18.8%)

Book I – Aṟam (அறம்): Book of Virtue (Dharma), dealing with moral values of an individual[53] and essentials of yoga philosophy[54] (Chapters 1-38)

Book II – Poruḷ (பொருள்): Book of Polity (Artha), dealing with socio-economic values,[53] polity, society and administration[54] (Chapters 39-108)

Book III – Inbam (இன்பம்): Book of Love (Kama), dealing with psychological values[53] and love[54] (Chapters 109-133)

"Virtue will confer heaven and wealth; what greater source of happiness can man possess?"

(Kural 31; Drew, 1840).[55]

The book on aṟam (virtue) contains 380 verses, that of poruḷ (wealth) has 700 and that of inbam or kāmam (love) has 250. Each kural or couplet contains exactly seven words, known as cirs, with four cirs on the first line and three on the second, following the kural metre. A cir is a single or a combination of more than one Tamil word. For example, the term Thirukkural is a cir formed by combining the two words thiru and kuṛaḷ.[53]

Of the 1,330 couplets in the text, 40 couplets relate to god, rain, ascetics, and virtue; 200 on domestic virtue; 140 on higher yet most fundamental virtue based on grace, benevolence and compassion; 250 on royalty; 100 on ministers of state; 220 on essential requirements of administration; 130 on morality, both positive and negative; and 250 on human love and passion.[16]

The work largely reflects the first three of the four ancient Indian aims in life, known as purushaarthas, viz., virtue (dharma), wealth (artha) and love (kama).[1][56][57] The fourth aim, namely, salvation (moksha) is implicit in the last five chapters of Book I.[58] According to Sharma, dharma (aṟam) refers to ethical values for the holistic pursuit of life, artha (poruḷ) refers to wealth obtained in ethical manner guided by dharma, and kāma (Inbam) refers to pleasure and fulfilment of one's desires, also guided by dharma.[59] The corresponding goals of poruḷ and inbam are desirable, yet both need to be regulated by aṟam, according to Kovaimani and Nagarajan.[60] Wealth and pleasure, according to Indian scriptures, must be pursued with an "action with renunciation" (Nishkam Karma), that is, one must act without craving.[59]

Structure

The text is the work of a single author because it has a consistent "language, formal structure and content-structure", states Zvelebil.[62] Neither is the Kural an anthology nor is there any later additions to the text.[62] The division into three parts (muppāl) is probably the author's work. However, the subdivisions beyond these three, as found in some surviving manuscripts and commentaries, are likely later additions because there are variations between these subtitles found in manuscripts and those in historical commentaries.[63] For example, the following subdivisions are found in Parimelalhagar's version, which greatly varies from that of Manakkudavar's:[64]

Chapters 1–4: Introduction

Chapters 5–24: Domestic virtue

Chapters 25–38: Ascetic virtue

Chapters 39–63: Royalty, the qualities of the leader of men

Chapters 64–73: The subject and the ruler

Chapters 74–96: Essential parts of state, shrewdness in public life

Chapters 97–108: Reaching perfection in social life

Chapters 109–115: Concealed love

Chapters 116–133: Wedded love

Such subdivisions are likely later additions, but the couplets themselves have been preserved in the original form and there is no evidence of later revisions or insertions into the couplets.[62][64]

According to Zvelebil, the content of the Kural text is "undoubtedly patterned" and "very carefully structured".[65] There are no structural gaps in the text, with every couplet indispensable for the structured whole. There are two distinct meanings for every couplet, namely, a structural one and a proverbial one. In their isolated form, that is, when removed from the context of the 10-couplet chapter, the couplets lose their structural meaning but retain the "wise saying, moral maxim" sense. In isolation, a couplet is "a perfect form, possessing, in varying degree, the prosodic and rhetoric qualities of gnomic poetry."[63] Within the chapter-structure, the couplets acquire their structural meaning and reveal the more complete teaching of the author. This, Zvelebil states, is the higher pattern in the Kural text, and finally, in relation to the entire work, they acquire perfection in the totality of their structure.[63] In terms of structural flow, the text journeys the reader from "the imperfect, incomplete" state of man implicit in the early chapters to the "physically, morally, intellectually and emotionally perfect" state of man living as a husband and citizen, states Zvelebil.[66]

In poetic terms, it fuses verse and aphoristic form in diction in a "pithy, vigorous, forceful and terse" manner. It is an ethics text that expounds a universal, moral and practical approach to life. Throughout the work, Valluvar is more considerate about the substance than the linguistic appeal of his writing.[67]

Substance

The text was written for its time, for the then contemporary society. It is marked by pragmatic idealism,[68] focused on "man in the totality of his relationships".[69] According to Zvelebil, the Kural text does not feature "true and great poetry" throughout the work, except, notably, in the third book, which deals with love and pleasure. This emphasis on substance rather than poetry suggests that Valluvar's main aim was not to produce a work of art, but rather an instructive text focused on wisdom, justice, and ethics.[70]

The Kural text begins with an invocation of God and then praises the rain for being the vitalizer of all life forms on earth. It proceeds to describe the qualities of a righteous person, before concluding the introduction by emphasizing the value of aṟam or virtue.[71] Valluvar extols rain next only to God for it provides food and serves as the basis of a stable economic life by aiding in agriculture, which Valluvar asserts as the most important economic activity later in Book II of the Kural text.[71][72]

"The greatest virtue of all is non-killing; truthfulness cometh only next."

(Kural 323; Aiyar, 1916).[73]

The three books of the Kural base aṟam or dharma (virtue) as its cornerstone, which resulted in the Kural being referred to simply as Aṟam.[74][75][76] Contrary to what the Manusmriti says, Valluvar holds that aṟam is common for all, irrespective of whether the person is a bearer of palanquin or the rider in it.[77][78] The text is a comprehensive pragmatic work that presents philosophy in the first part, political science in the second and poetics in the third.[79][80] Of the three books of the Kural literature, the second one on politics and kingdom (poruḷ) is about twice the size of the first, and three times that of the third.[81] In the 700 couplets on poruḷ (53 percent of the text), Valluvar mostly discusses statecraft and warfare.[82]

The greatest of personal virtues according to the Kural text is non-killing, followed by veracity,[83][84] and the two greatest sins that Valluvar feels very strongly are ingratitude and meat-eating.[84][85][86] As observed by P. S. Sundaram in the introduction to his work, while "all other sins may be redeemed, but never ingratitude," Valluvar couldn't understand "how anyone could wish to fatten himself by feeding on the fat of others."[87] The Kural differs from every other work on morality in that it follows ethics, surprisingly a divine one, even in its Book of Love.[88] In the words of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Valluvar maintains his views on personal morality even in the Book of Love, where one can normally expect greater poetic leniency, by describing the hero as "a one-woman man" without concubines.[89] In a social and political context, the Kural text glorifies valour and victory during war and recommends a death sentence for the wicked only as a means of justice.[11][90][91]

According to Kaushik Roy, the Kural text in substance is a classic on realism and pragmatism, and it is not a mystic, purely philosophical document.[82] Valluvar presents his theory of state using six elements: army (patai), subjects (kuti), treasure (kul), ministers (amaiccu), allies (natpu), and forts (aran).[82] Valluvar also recommends forts and other infrastructure, supplies and food storage in preparation for siege.[82][92] A king and his army must always be ready for war, and should launch a violent offensive, at the right place and right time, when the situation so demands and particularly against weak and corrupt kingdoms. A good and strong kingdom must be protected with forts made of thick, high and impenetrable walls. The text recommends a hierarchical military organization staffed with fearless soldiers who are willing to die in war.[93]

"The sceptre of the king is the firm support of the Vedas of the Brahmin, and of all virtues therein described."

(Kural 543; John Lazarus 1885,[94] & A. K. Ananthanathan 1994).[95]

The Kural text does not recommend democracy; rather it accepts a royalty with ministers bound to a code of ethics and a system of justice.[96] The king in the text, states K. V. Nagarajan, is assigned the "role of producing, acquiring, conserving, and dispensing wealth".[96][82] The king's duty is to provide a just rule, be impartial and have courage in protecting his subjects and in meting out justice and punishment. The text supports death penalty for the wicked, though in the aṟam book it also emphasizes the personal virtue of non-killing.[96] The Kural cautions against tyranny, appeasement and oppression, with the suggestion that such royal behavior causes natural disasters, depletes the state's wealth and ultimately results in the loss of power and prosperity.[97]

Valluvar remained a generalist rather than a specialist in any particular field.[98] He never indulged in specifics but always stressed on the basic principles of morality. This can be seen across the Kural text: while Valluvar talks about worshipping God, he refrains from mentioning the way of worshipping; he refers to God as an “ultimate reality” without calling him by any name; he talks about land, village, country, kingdom, and king but never refers them by any name; though he mentions about the value of reading and reciting scriptures, he never names them; he talks about the values of charity without laying down the rules for it; though he repeatedly emphasizes about the importance of learning, he never says what is to be learnt; he recommends taxation in governance but does not suggesting any proportion of collection.[98]

Similes and contradictions

The author seldom shows any concern as to what similes and superlatives he used earlier while writing on other subjects, purposely allowing for some repetition and mild contradictions in ideas one can find in the Kural text. Despite knowing its seemingly contradictory nature from a purist point of view, Valluvar employs this method to emphasise the importance of the given code of ethic. Following are some of the instances where Valluvar employs contradictions to expound the virtues.[citation needed]

While in Chapter 93 Valluvar writes on the evils of intoxication, in Chapter 109 he uses the same to show the sweetness of love by saying love is sweeter than wine.

To the question "What is wealth of all wealth?" Valluvar points out to two different things, namely, grace (Kural 241) and hearing (Kural 411).

In regard to the virtues one should follow dearly even at the expense of other virtues, Valluvar points to veracity (Kural 297), not coveting another's wife (Kural 150), and not being called a slanderer (Kural 181). In essence, however, in Chapter 33 he crowns non-killing as the foremost of all virtues, pushing even the virtue of veracity to the second place (Kural 323).

Whereas he says that one can eject what is natural or inborn in him (Kural 376), he indicates that one can overcome the inherent natural flaws by getting rid of laziness (Kural 609).

While in Chapter 7 he asserts that the greatest gain men can obtain is by their learned children (Kural 61), in Chapter 13 he says that it is that which is obtained by self-control (Kural 122).

 Difficulties and distortions

With a highly compressed prosodic form, the Kural text employs the intricately complex Kural venba metre, known for its eminent suitability to gnomic poetry.[121] This form, which Zvelebil calls "a marvel of brevity and condensation," is closely connected with the structural properties of the Tamil language and has historically presented extreme difficulties to its translators.[122] Talking about translating the Kural into other languages, Herbert Arthur Popley observes, "it is impossible in any translation to do justice to the beauty and force of the original."[123] Zvelebil claims that it is impossible to truly appreciate the maxims found in the Kural couplets through a translation but rather that the Kural has to be read and understood in its original Tamil form.[25]

Besides these inherent difficulties in translating the Kural, some scholars have attempted to either read their own ideas into the Kural couplets or deliberately misinterpret the message to make it conform to their preconceived notions. The Latin translation by the Christian missionary Father Beshi, for instance, contains several such mistranslations. According to V. Ramasamy, "Beschi is purposely distorting the message of the original when he renders பிறவாழி as ‘the sea of miserable life’ and the phrase பிறவிப்பெருங்கடல் as ‘sea of this birth’ which has been translated by others as ‘the sea of many births’. Beschi means thus ‘those who swim the vast sea of miseries’. The concept of rebirth or many births for the same soul is contrary to Christian principle and belief."[124]

According to Norman Cutler, both in the past and in the contemporary era, the Kural has been reinterpreted and fit to reflect the textual values in the text as well as the cultural values of the author(s).[125] About 1300 CE, the Tamil scholar Parimelalhagar interpreted the text in Brahmanical premises and terms.[125] Just like Christian missionaries during the colonial era cast the work in their own Christian premises, phrases and concepts, some Dravidianists of the contemporary era reinterpret and cast the work to further their own goals and socio-political values. This has produced highly divergent interpretations of the original

World literature

Scholars compare the teachings in Tirukkural with those in other ancient thoughts such as the Confucian sayings in Lun Yu, Hitopadesa, Panchatantra, Manusmriti, Tirumandiram, Book of Proverbs in the Bible, sayings of the Buddha in Dhammapada, and the ethical works of Persian origin such as Gulistan and Bustan, in addition to the holy books of various religions.[149]

The Kural text and the Confucian sayings recorded in the classic Analects of Chinese (called Lun Yu, meaning "Sacred Sayings") share some similarities. Both Valluvar and Confucius focused on the behaviors and moral conducts of a common person. Similar to Valluvar, Confucius advocated legal justice embracing human principles, courtesy, and filial piety, besides the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and trustworthiness as foundations of life.[150] While ahimsa remains the fundamental virtue of the Valluvarean tradition, Zen remains the central theme in Confucian tradition.[151] Incidentally, Valluvar differed from Confucius in two respects. Firstly, unlike Confucius, Valluvar was also a poet. Secondly, Confucius did not deal with the subject of conjugal love, for which Valluvar devoted an entire division in his work.[152] Child-rearing is central to the Confucian thought of procreation of humanity and the benevolence of society. The Lun Yu says, "Therefore an enlightened ruler will regulate his people’s livelihood so as to ensure that, above they have enough to serve their parents and below they have enough to support their wives and children."

tReception

Main article: Praise of Tirukkural

Statue of Valluvar within the SOAS, University of London campus.

The Kural has been widely praised within and outside India for its universal, non-denominational values.[154] The Russian philosopher Alexander Piatigorsky called it chef d'oeuvre of both Indian and world literature "due not only to the great artistic merits of the work but also to the lofty humane ideas permeating it which are equally precious to the people all over the world, of all periods and countries."[155] G. U. Pope called its author "a bard of universal man” for being a generalist and universal.[98][156] According to Albert Schweitzer, "there hardly exists in the literature of the world a collection of maxims in which we find so much of lofty wisdom."[154] Leo Tolstoy called it "the Hindu Kural,"[157] and Mahatma Gandhi called it "a textbook of indispensable authority on moral life" and went on to say, "The maxims of Valluvar have touched my soul. There is none who has given such a treasure of wisdom like him."[154]

Jesuit, Catholic and Protestant missionaries in colonial-era South India praised the text. The Protestant missionary Edward Jewitt Robinson said that the Kural contains all things and there is nothing which it does not contain.[154] The Anglican missionary John Lazarus said, "No Tamil work can ever approach the purity of the Kural. It is a standing repute to modern Tamil."[154] According to the American Christian missionary Emmons E. White, "Thirukkural is a synthesis of the best moral teachings of the world."[154] Rajaji commented, "It is the gospel of love and a code of soul-luminous life. The whole of human aspiration is epitomized in this immortal book, a book for all ages."

According to K. M. Munshi, "Thirukkural is a treatise par excellence on the art of living."[154] The Indian nationalist and Yoga guru Sri Aurobindo stated, "Thirukkural is gnomic poetry, the greatest in planned conception and force of execution ever written in this kind."[154] E. S. Ariel, who translated and published the third part of the Kural to French in 1848, called it "a masterpiece of Tamil literature, one of the highest and purest expressions of human thought."[30] Zakir Hussain, former President of India, said, "Thirukkural is a treasure house of worldly knowledge, ethical guidance and spiritual wisdom."[154]

Popular culture

A Kural couplet on display inside a Chennai Metro train

The portrait of Tirukkural author with matted hair and a flowing beard, as drawn by artist K. R. Venugopal Sharma in 1960, was accepted by the state and central governments as the standardised version.[158] It soon became a popular and the standard portrait of the poet.[89] In 1964, the image was unveiled in the Indian Parliament by the then President of India Zakir Hussain. In 1967, the Tamil Nadu government passed an order stating that the image of Valluvar should be present in all government offices across the state of Tamil Nadu.[159]

The Kural does not appear to have been set in music by Valluvar. However, a number of musicians have set it to tune and several singers have rendered it in their concerts. Modern composers who have tuned the Kural couplets include Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri and Ramani Bharadwaj. Singers who have performed full-fledged Tirukkural concerts include M. M. Dandapani Desikar and Chidambaram C. S. Jayaraman.[160] Madurai Somasundaram and Sanjay Subramanian are other people who have given musical rendering of the Kural. Mayuram Vishwanatha Shastri set all the verses to music in the early 20th century.[161] In January 2016, Chitravina N. Ravikiran set the entire 1330 verses to music in a record time of 16 hours.[160][162]

K. Balachander's Kavithalayaa Productions opened its films with the very first couplet of the Kural sung in the background.[160] Kural's couplets are found in numerous songs of Tamil movies.[163] Several Tirukkural conferences were conducted in the twentieth century, such as those by Tirukkural V. Munusamy in 1941[164] and by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in 1949.[165] These were attended by several scholars, celebrities and politicians.[166] The Kural's couplets are also found in music,[160] dance,[167] street shows,[168] recitals,[169] activities,[170] and puzzles and riddles.[171]

In 1818, the then Collector of Madras Francis Whyte Ellis issued a gold coin bearing Valluvar's image.[j][k] In the late 19th century, the South Indian saint Vallalar taught the Kural's message.[135] In 1968, the Tamil Nadu government made it mandatory to display a Kural couplet in all government buses. The train running a distance of 2,921 kilometers between Kanyakumari and New Delhi is named by the Indian Railways as the Thirukural Express.[172]

Temples and memorials

Valluvar shrines and monuments styled after Hindu temples are found in various parts of Tamil Nadu. The Valluvar Kottam in Chennai (left) is modeled as a Hindu temple ceremonial chariot, with Valluvar sitting inside.[173] It is connected to a kalyana mandapa (wedding hall), and features all 1330 Thirukkural couplets inscribed on perimeter pillar walls (right).[173]

The Kural text and its author have been highly venerated over the centuries. In the early 16th century, the Shaiva Hindu community added a temple within the Ekambareeswara-Kamakshi (Shiva-Parvati) temple complex in Mylapore, Chennai, in honor of Tirukkuṛaḷ's author, Valluvar.[174] The locals believe that this is where Valluvar was born, underneath a tree within the shrines complex. A Valluvar statue in yoga position holding a palm leaf manuscript of Tirukurral sits under the tree.[174] In the shrine dedicated to him, Valluvar's wife Vasukiamma is patterned after the Hindu deity Kamakshi inside the sanctum. The temple shikhara (spire) above the sanctum shows scenes of Hindu life and deities, along with Valluvar reading his couplets to his wife.[174] The sthala vriksham (holy tree of the temple) at the temple is the oil-nut or iluppai tree under which Valluvar is believed to have been born.[175] The temple was extensively renovated in the 1970s.[176]

In Chennai, the Valluvar Kottam monument is also dedicated to Valluvar.[173] It is styled after the wooden ceremonial festival chariots of South Indian Hindu temples (ter, ratha), which typically carry Hindu gods or goddesses or both through the streets of a town. Inside the Valluvar Kottam stone chariot is a life-size image of Valluvar. Around the chariot's perimeter are marble plates inscribed with Tirukkural couplets.[173]

Additional Valluvar shrines in Tamil Nadu are found at Periya Kalayamputhur, Thondi, Kanjoor Thattanpady, Senapathy, and Vilvarani.[177]

In 1976, Valluvar Kottam, a monument to honor the Kural literature and its author, was constructed in Chennai. The chief element of the monument includes a 39-m-high chariot, a replica of the chariot in the temple town of Thiruvarur, and it contains a life-size statue of Valluvar. All the 1,330 verses of the Kural text are inscribed on bas-relief in the corridors in the main hall.

Statues of Valluvar have been erected across the globe, including the ones at Kanyakumari, Chennai, Bengaluru, Haridwar, Puttalam, Singapore, and London.[178] The tallest of these is the 133-feet (40.6 m) stone statue of Valluvar erected in 2000 atop a small island in the town of Kanyakumari on the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean.[179] This statue is currently India's 25th tallest.