Tirukku A PDF

Tirukkuṛaḷ
The Tirukkural (Tamil: ற , literally Sacred Verses), or shortly the

Tirukkural
Kural, is a classic Tamil text consisting of 1,330 couplets or Kurals, dealing
with the everyday virtues of an individual.[1][2] It is one of the two oldest works
ற
now extant in Tamil literature in their entirety, the other being the
Tolkappiyam.[3] Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and
morality, chiefly secular ethics, it is known for its universality and non-
denominational nature.[4] It was authored by Valluvar, also known in full as
Thiruvalluvar. The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century
CE. The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but
linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450 to 500 CE.[5]
Traditionally praised as "the Universal Veda" and "the Universal Code of

Conduct,"[6][7][8] the Kural emphasizes on the vital principles of non-violence,
moral vegetarianism or veganism,[a] human brotherhood, absence of desires,
path of righteousness and truth, and so forth, besides covering a wide range of
subjects such as moral codes of rulers, friendship, agriculture, knowledge and
wisdom, sobriety, love, and domestic life.[4] The work is commonly quoted in
vegetarian conferences, both in India and abroad.[9] Considered as chef d'oeuvre
of both Indian and world literature,[10] the Kural is one of the most important A typical published original Tamil
works in the Tamil language and is often called the masterpiece of Tamil version of the book
Literature, both in its philosophical and literary caliber.[3] This is reflected in Author Valluvar
some of the other names by which the text is given by, such as the Work of Three
Original title Muppāl
Books, Modern Veda, Divine Work, Faultless Word, and Tamil Veda.[6][11]
Working title Kural
The Kural has influenced several scholars across the ethical, social, political, Country India
economical, religious, philosophical, and spiritual spheres.[12][13] Authors
Language Old Tamil
influenced by the Kural include Ilango Adigal, Kambar, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma
Series Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku
Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Constantius Joseph Beschi, Karl Graul, George
Uglow Pope, Alexander Piatigorsky, and Yu Hsi, many of whom have translated Subject Secular ethics
the work into their languages. Translated into at least 40 languages as of 2014, Genre Poetry
the Kural is one of the most widely translated works in the world.[14] Because Publication 1812 (first known
the life, culture and ethics of the Tamils are considered to be solely defined in date printed edition)
terms of the values set by the Kural, the government and the people of Tamil
Published in 1840
Nadu alike uphold the text with utmost reverence.[15] Along with the Gita, the English
Kural is a prime candidate nominated to be the national book of
India, for which a declaration was passed at the Tamil Nadu Topics in Sangam literature
Assembly in 2006.[16] Sangam literature
Akattiyam Tholkāppiyam
Eighteen Greater Texts
Eight Anthologies
Contents
Aiṅkurunūṟu Akanāṉūṟu
Etymology Puṟanāṉūṟu Kalittokai
Organization of the work Kuṟuntokai Natṟiṇai
Date Paripāṭal Patiṟṟuppattu
Author Ten Idylls
Structural and linguistic plan of the work Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai Kuṟiñcippāṭṭu
Substance of the work Malaipaṭukaṭām Maturaikkāñci
Comparison with other ancient literature Mullaippāṭṭu Neṭunalvāṭai
Similarities with ancient Indian literature Paṭṭiṉappālai Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Similarities with Confucian thoughts
Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai Ciṟupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai
Publication of the work
Eighteen Lesser Texts
Commentaries and translations
Nālaṭiyār Nāṉmaṇikkaṭikai
Commentaries
Translations Iṉṉā Nāṟpatu Iṉiyavai Nāṟpatu
Translational difficulties Kār Nāṟpatu Kaḷavaḻi Nāṟpatu
Reception Aintiṇai Aimpatu Tiṉaimoḻi Aimpatu
In popular culture Tiṉaimalai Nūṟṟu
Aintinai Eḻupatu
Aimpatu
Memorials
Tirukkuṛaḷ Tirikaṭukam
Legacy
Ācārakkōvai Paḻamoḻi Nāṉūṟu
See also
Ciṟupañcamūlam Mutumoḻikkānci
Notes
Elāti Kainnilai
Citations
Related topics
References
Classical primary sources (Tamil) Sangam Sangam landscape
Modern secondary sources Tamil history from
Ancient Tamil music
Books Sangam literature
Journals and Magazines
Newspapers
Online
Further reading
External links
Etymology
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."[17] The term
tiru has as many as 19 different meanings.[18] Kural means something that is "short, concise, and abridged."[17] 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.[19] 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."[17]
The Kural is unique among ancient works that it did not have a name nor did it have any mention of the author's name in it at the
time of its release at the ruler's court at the city of Madurai, the seat of the Third Tamil Sangam.[20] The author used the title
Muppāl, meaning "three divisions," to present it to the King,[21] since the work was written about the first three of the four
ancient Indian aims in life, known as purushaarthas, viz., virtue, wealth and love,[17][22] with the fourth aim, namely, salvation
(moksha), implicitly said in the last five chapters of Book I.[23] Remaining nameless for several years after its writing, the work
came to be referred to by various names in the centuries that followed. Nine traditional names had already been in use to refer to
the book during the time of writing of the Tiruvalluva Maalai, a eulogy written on the Kural by various poets between the 1st and
11th centuries CE.[7] Nevertheless, the title Muppāl remained the work's primary name until the 13th century CE.[24] It is
estimated that the Kural has historically been known by as many as 44 names given at various periods over the millennia, making
it one of the numerously titled works.[25]
Organization of the work

The Kural is structured into 133 chapters, each containing 10 couplets (or kurals), for a total of 1,330 couplets.[26][b] The 133
chapters are grouped into three parts, or "books":[26][27]
Book I – Aṟam (அற ): Book of Virtue (Dharma), dealing

with virtues independent of the surroundings (Chapters 1- "Virtue will confer heaven and wealth; what
38) greater source of happiness can man possess?"
Book II – Poruḷ (ெபா ): Book of Polity (Artha), dealing
(Kural 31; Drew, 1840).[28]
with virtues with respect to the surroundings (Chapters
39-108)
Book III – Inbam (இ ப ): Book of Love (Kama), dealing
with virtues involved in conjugal human love (Chapters 109-133)
Aṟam refers to ethical values for the holistic pursuit of life, poruḷ refers to wealth obtained in ethical manner guided by aṟam, and
inbam or kāmam refers to pleasure and fulfilment of one's desires, also in an aṟam-driven manner.[29] Although poruḷ and inbam
are desirable pursuits in human life, they both need to be regulated by aṟam.[30] One must remain unattached to wealth and
possessions, which can either be transcended or sought with detachment and awareness. Similarly, pleasure needs to be fulfilled
consciously and without harming anyone.[29] It is said that there exists an inherent tension between poruḷ and inbam.[29] Thus,
wealth and pleasure must be pursued with an "action with renunciation" (Nishkam Karma), which is nothing but an aṟam-driven
action that is craving-free, in order to resolve this tension.[29]
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. The book on Aṟam (virtue) contains 380 verses, that of Poruḷ (wealth)
has 700 and that of Inbam or kāmam (love) has 250.[26]
The overall organisation of the Kural text is based on seven ideals prescribed for a commoner besides observations of love.[31]
This includes 40 couplets on 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.[4][31]
Outline of the Kural
Book I—Book of Virtue (38 chapters)
Chapter 1. The Praise of God (கட வா kaṭavuḷ vāḻttu): Couplets 1–10

Chapter 2. The Excellence of Rain (வா ற vāṉ ciṟappu): 11–20
Chapter 3. The Greatness of Ascetics ( தா ெப ைம nīttār perumai): 21–30
Chapter 4. Assertion of the Strength of Virtue (அற வ த aṟaṉ valiyuṟuttal): 31–40
Chapter 5. Domestic Life (இ வா ைக ilvāḻkkai): 41–50
Chapter 6. The Goodness of the Help to Domestic Life (வா ைக ைண நல vāḻkkaittuṇai nalam): 51–60
Chapter 7. The Obtaining of Sons ( த வைர ெப த putalvaraip peṟutal): 61–70
Chapter 8. The Possession of Love (அ ைடைம aṉpuṭaimai): 71–80
Chapter 9. Cherishing Guests ( ேதா ப viruntōmpal): 81–90
Chapter 10. The Utterance of Pleasant Words (இ யைவ ற iṉiyavai kūṟal): 91–100
Chapter 11. The Knowledge of Benefits Conferred: Gratitude (ெச ந அ த ceynnaṉṟi aṟital): 101–110
Chapter 12. Impartiality (ந ைலைம naṭuvu nilaimai): 111–120
Chapter 13. The Possession of Self-restraint (அட க ைடைம aṭakkamuṭaimai): 121–130
Chapter 14. The Possession of Decorum (ஒ க ைடைம oḻukkamuṭaimai): 131–140
Chapter 15. Not coveting another's Wife ( ற ைழயாைம piṟaṉil viḻaiyāmai): 141–150
Chapter 16. The Possession of Patience, Forbearance (ெபாைற ைடைம poṟaiyuṭaimai): 151–160
Chapter 17. Not Envying (அ காறாைம aḻukkāṟāmai): 161–170
Chapter 18. Not Coveting (ெவஃகாைம veḵkāmai): 171–180
Chapter 19. Not Backbiting ( ற றாைம puṟaṅkūṟāmai): 181–190
Chapter 20. The Not Speaking Profitless Words (பய ல ெசா லாைம payaṉila collāmai): 191–200
Chapter 21. Dread of Evil Deeds ( ைனய ச tīviṉaiyaccam): 201–210
Chapter 22. The knowledge of what is Befitting a Man's Position (ஒ ரவ த oppuravaṟital): 211–220
Chapter 23. Giving (ஈைக īkai): 221–230
Chapter 24. Renown ( க pukaḻ): 231–240
Chapter 25. The Possession of Benevolence (அ ைடைம aruḷuṭaimai): 241–250
Chapter 26. The Renunciation of Flesh-Eating ( லா ம த pulāṉmaṟuttal): 251–260
Chapter 27. Penance (தவ tavam): 261–270
Chapter 28. Inconsistent Conduct ( டாெவா க kūṭāvoḻukkam): 271–280
Chapter 29. The Absence of Fraud (க ளாைம kaḷḷāmai): 281–290
Chapter 30. Veracity (வா ைம vāymai): 291–300
Chapter 31. The not being Angry (ெவ ளாைம vekuḷāmai): 301–310
Chapter 32. Not doing Evil (இ னா ெச யாைம iṉṉāceyyāmai): 311–320
Chapter 33. Not killing (ெகா லாைம kollāmai): 321–330
Chapter 34. Instability ( ைலயாைம nilaiyāmai): 331–340
Chapter 35. Renunciation ( ற tuṟavu): 341–350
Chapter 36. Knowledge of the True (ெம ண த meyyuṇartal): 351–360
Chapter 37. The Extirpation of Desire (அவாவ த avāvaṟuttal): 361–370
Chapter 38. Fate (ஊ ūḻ): 371–380
Book II—Book of Wealth (70 chapters)
Chapter 39. The Greatness of a King (இைறமா iṟaimāṭci): 381–390

Chapter 40. Learning (க kalvi): 391–400
Chapter 41. Ignorance (க லாைம kallāmai): 401–410
Chapter 42. Hearing (ேக kēḷvi): 411–420
Chapter 43. The Possession of Knowledge (அ ைடைம aṟivuṭaimai): 421–430
Chapter 44. The Correction of Faults ( ற க த kuṟṟaṅkaṭital): 431–440
Chapter 45. Seeking the Aid of Great Men (ெப யாைர ைண ேகாட periyārait tuṇaikkōṭal): 441–450
Chapter 46. Avoiding mean Associations ( ன ேசராைம ciṟṟiṉañcērāmai): 451–460
Chapter 47. Acting after due Consideration (ெத ெசய வைக terintuceyalvakai): 461–470
Chapter 48. The Knowledge of Power (வ ய த valiyaṟital): 471–480
Chapter 49. Knowing the fitting Time (காலம த kālamaṟital): 481–490
Chapter 50. Knowing the Place (இடன த iṭaṉaṟital): 491–500
Chapter 51. Selection and Confidence (ெத ெத த terintuteḷital): 501–510
Chapter 52. Selection and Employment (ெத ைனயாட terintuviṉaiyāṭal): 511–520
Chapter 53. Cherishing one's Kindred ( ற தழா cuṟṟantaḻāl): 521–530
Chapter 54. Unforgetfulness (ெபா சாவாைம poccāvāmai): 531–540
Chapter 55. The Right Sceptre (ெச ேகா ைம ceṅkōṉmai): 541–550
Chapter 56. The Cruel Sceptre (ெகா ேகா ைம koṭuṅkōṉmai): 551–560
Chapter 57. Absence of Terrorism (ெவ வ த ெச யாைம veruvantaceyyāmai): 561–570
Chapter 58. Benignity (க ேணா ட kaṇṇōṭṭam): 571–580
Chapter 59. Detectives (ஒ றாட oṟṟāṭal): 581–590
Chapter 60. Energy (ஊ க ைடைம ūkkamuṭaimai): 591–600
Chapter 61. Unsluggishness (ம ைம maṭiyiṉmai): 601–610
Chapter 62. Manly Effort (ஆ ைன ைடைம āḷviṉaiyuṭaimai): 611–620
Chapter 63. Hopefulness in Trouble (இ க அ யாைம iṭukkaṇ aḻiyāmai): 621–630
Chapter 64. The Office of Minister of State (அைம amaiccu): 631–640
Chapter 65. Power in Speech (ெசா வ ைம colvaṉmai): 641–650
Chapter 66. Purity in Action ( ைன ைம viṉaittūymai): 651–660
Chapter 67. Power in Action ( ைன ப viṉaittiṭpam): 661–670
Chapter 68. The Method of Acting ( ைன ெசய வைக viṉaiceyalvakai): 671–680
Chapter 69. The Envoy ( tūtu): 681–690
Chapter 70. Conduct in the Presence of the King (ம னைர ேச ெதா த maṉṉaraic cērntoḻutal): 691–700
Chapter 71. The Knowledge of Indications ( ப த kuṟippaṟital): 701–710
Chapter 72. The Knowledge of the Council Chamber (அைவய த avaiyaṟital): 711–720
Chapter 73. Not to dread the Council (அைவய சாைம avaiyañcāmai): 721–730
Chapter 74. The Land (நா nāṭu): 731–740
Chapter 75. The Fortification (அர araṇ): 741–750
Chapter 76. Way of Accumulating Wealth (ெபா ெசய வைக poruḷceyalvakai): 751–760
Chapter 77. The Excellence of an Army (பைடமா paṭaimāṭci): 761–770
Chapter 78. Military Spirit (பைட ெச paṭaiccerukku): 771–780
Chapter 79. Friendship (ந naṭpu): 781–790
Chapter 80. Investigation in forming Friendships (ந பாரா த naṭpārāytal): 791–800
Chapter 81. Familiarity (பைழைம paḻaimai): 801–810
Chapter 82. Evil Friendship ( ந tī naṭpu): 811–820
Chapter 83. Unreal Friendship ( டா ந kūṭānaṭpu): 821–830
Chapter 84. Folly (ேபைதைம pētaimai): 831–840
Chapter 85. Ignorance ( ல வா ைம pullaṟivāṇmai): 841–850
Chapter 86. Hostility (இக ikal): 851–860
Chapter 87. The Might of Hatred (பைக மா pakaimāṭci): 861–870
Chapter 88. Knowing the Quality of Hate (பைக ற ெத த pakaittiṟanterital): 871–880
Chapter 89. Enmity Within (உ பைக uṭpakai): 881–890
Chapter 90. Not Offending the Great (ெப யாைர ைழயாைம periyāraip piḻaiyāmai): 891–900
Chapter 91. Being led by Women (ெப வ ேசற peṇvaḻiccēṟal): 901–910
Chapter 92. Wanton Women (வைர மக varaiviṉmakaḷir): 911–920
Chapter 93. Not Drinking Palm-Wine (க ணாைம kaḷḷuṇṇāmai): 921–930
Chapter 94. Gaming (Gambling) ( cūtu): 931–940
Chapter 95. Medicine (ம maruntu): 941–950
Chapter 96. Nobility ( ைம kuṭimai): 951–960
Chapter 97. Honour (மான māṉam): 961–970
Chapter 98. Greatness (ெப ைம perumai): 971–980
Chapter 99. Perfectness (சா றா ைம cāṉṟāṇmai): 981–990
Chapter 100. Courtesy (ப ைடைம paṇpuṭaimai): 991–1000
Chapter 101. Wealth without Benefaction (ந ெச வ naṉṟiyilcelvam): 1001–1010
Chapter 102. Shame (நா ைடைம nāṇuṭaimai): 1011–1020
Chapter 103. The Way of Maintaining the Family ( ெசய வைக kuṭiceyalvakai): 1021–1030
Chapter 104. Agriculture (உழ uḻavu): 1031–1040
Chapter 105. Poverty (ந ர nalkuravu): 1041–1050
Chapter 106. Mendicancy (இர iravu): 1051–1060
Chapter 107. The Dread of Mendicancy (இரவ ச iravaccam): 1061–1070
Chapter 108. Baseness (கயைம kayamai): 1071–1080
Book III—Book of Love (25 chapters)
Chapter 109. Mental Disturbance Caused by the Beauty of the Princess (தைகயண த
takaiyaṇaṅkuṟuttal): 1081–1090
Chapter 110. Recognition of the Signs (of Mutual Love) ( ப த kuṟippaṟital): 1091–1100
Chapter 111. Rejoicing in the Embrace ( ண ம த puṇarccimakiḻtal): 1101–1110
Chapter 112. The Praise of Her Beauty (நல ைன ைர த nalampuṉainturaittal): 1111–1120
Chapter 113. Declaration of Love's Special Excellence (காத ற ைர த kātaṟciṟappuraittal): 1121–1130
Chapter 114. The Abandonment of Reserve (நா ற ைர த nāṇuttuṟavuraittal): 1131–1140
Chapter 115. The Announcement of the Rumour (அலர த alaraṟivuṟuttal): 1141–1150
Chapter 116. Separation Unendurable ( வா றாைம pirivāṟṟāmai): 1151–1160
Chapter 117. Complainings (பட ெம ர க paṭarmelintiraṅkal): 1161–1170
Chapter 118. Eyes Consumed with Grief (க ப த kaṇvituppaḻital): 1171–1180
Chapter 119. The Pallid Hue (பச ப ப வர pacappaṟuparuvaral): 1181–1190
Chapter 120. The Solitary Anguish (த பட taṉippaṭarmikuti): 1191–1200
Chapter 121. Sad Memories ( ைன தவ ல ப niṉaintavarpulampal): 1201–1210
Chapter 122. The Visions of the Night (கன ைல ைர த kaṉavunilaiyuraittal): 1211–1220
Chapter 123. Lamentations at Eventide (ெபா க ர க poḻutukaṇṭiraṅkal): 1221–1230
Chapter 124. Wasting Away (உ நலன த uṟuppunalaṉaḻital): 1231–1240
Chapter 125. Soliloquy (ெந ெசா ள த neñcoṭukiḷattal): 1241–1250
Chapter 126. Reserve Overcome ( ைறய த niṟaiyaḻital): 1251–1260
Chapter 127. Mutual Desire (அவ வ ப avarvayiṉvitumpal): 1261–1270
Chapter 128. The Reading of the Signs ( ப த kuṟippaṟivuṟuttal): 1271–1280
Chapter 129. Desire for Reunion ( ண ப puṇarccivitumpal): 1281–1290
Chapter 130. Expostulation with Oneself (ெந ெசா ல த neñcoṭupulattal): 1291–1300
Chapter 131. Pouting ( ல pulavi): 1301–1310
Chapter 132. Feigned Anger ( ல க pulavi nuṇukkam): 1311–1320
Chapter 133. The Pleasures of 'Temporary Variance' (ஊட வைக ūṭaluvakai): 1321–1330
Date
The Kural has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE. According to traditional accounts, it was the last work of
the third Sangam, and was subjected to a divine test (which it passed). The scholars who believe this tradition, such as
Somasundara Bharathiar and M Rajamanickam, date the text to as early as 300 BCE. Historian K. K. Pillay assigned it to the
early 1st century CE.[5]
Linguist Kamil Zvelebil is certain that Tirukkuṛaḷ does not belong to the Sangam period, and dates it to somewhere between 450
and 500 CE.[5] His estimate is based on the language of the text, its allusions to the earlier works, and its borrowing from some
Sanskrit treatises.[32] Zvelebil notes that the text features several grammatical innovations, that are absent in the older Sangam
literature. The text also features a higher number of Sanskrit loan words compared to these older texts.[33] According to Zvelebil,
besides being part of the ancient Tamil literary tradition, the author was also a part of the "one great Indian ethical, didactic
tradition," as a few of his verses seem to be translations of the verses in Sanskrit texts such as Mānavadharmaśāstra and
Kautilya's Arthaśāstra.[34]
S. Vaiyapuri Pillai assigned the work to c. 650 CE, believing that it borrowed from some Sanskrit works of 6th century CE.[5]
Zvelebil disagrees with this assessment, pointing out that some of the words that Pillai believed to be Sanskrit loan words have
now been proved to be of Dravidian origin by Thomas Burrow and Murray Barnson Emeneau.[34]
In 1921, in the face of incessant debate on the precise date, the Tamil Nadu government, taking the latest of the estimated dates,
officially declared 31 BCE as the year of Valluvar at a conference presided over by Maraimalai Adigal.[35] On 18 January 1935,
the Valluvar Year was added to the calendar.[36][c]
Author
Very little is known about Valluvar, the author of the Kural.
In his work The Smile of Murugan, Czech Scholar Kamil "The book without a name by an author without a name."
Zvelebil cites a tradition suggesting he was an outcaste by
birth, the issue of a union between a Brahmin man and a —Monsieur Ariel, 1848[20]
Pariah woman. Some think that he was a weaver by
caste.[15] He is believed to have been born under a punnai
or mastwood tree (Calophyllum inophyllum)[37] in the temple town of Mylapore, a locality within the present-day Chennai, and is
said to be a simple weaver by profession who wrote the kurals with divine inspiration. He was married to Vasuki.[38] He
remained a close friend to and the mentor of Elelasingan.[39] The first instance of the author's name mentioned as "Valluvar" is
found to be several centuries later in a song of praise called the Tiruvalluva Maalai.[40] Just as the book remained unnamed at the
time of its presentation at the court of the ruler, the author too did not name himself in the writing of the book. Over the centuries
that followed, people started calling the work "Tirukkural" and its author as "Thiruvalluvar".[41] Monsieur Ariel, who translated
the Kural text into French, thus praised it as "the book without a name by an author without a name."[20] There are also claims
and counter-claims as to the authorship of the book and to the exact number of couplets written by Valluvar.
Valluvar is thought to have belonged to either Jainism or Hinduism. This can be observed in his treatment of the concept of
ahimsa or non-violence, which is the principal concept of both the religions. Valluvar's treatment of the chapters on moral
vegetarianism (or veganism)[a] and non-killing reflects the Jain precepts, where these are stringently enforced.[15] The three parts
that the Kural is divided into, namely, aram (virtue), porul (wealth) and inbam (love), aiming at attaining veedu (ultimate
salvation), follow, respectively, the four foundations of Hinduism, namely, dharma, artha, kama and moksha.[17] His mentioning
of God Vishnu in couplets 610 and 1103 and Goddess Lakshmi in couplets 167, 408, 519, 565, 568, 616, and 617 suggests the
Vaishnavite beliefs of Valluvar. Other eastern beliefs of Valluvar found in the book include previous birth and rebirth, seven
births, and some ancient Indian astrological concepts, among others.[42] Despite using these contemporary religious concepts of
his time, Valluvar has limited the usage of these terms to a metaphorical sense to explicate the fundamental virtues and ethics,
without enforcing any of these religious beliefs in practice.[43] This, chiefly, has made the treatise earn the title Ulaga Podhu
Marai (the universal scripture).[42]
There is also the recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre (KHCRC) that Valluvar was a king who
ruled Valluvanadu in the hilly tracts of the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.[31] The only other book that is attributted to
Valluvar other than the Kural text is Gnanavetti, a text that deals with spiritual aspects, due to which the author is also known as
"Gnanavettiyan."[44]
Structural and linguistic plan of the work

The Kural text contains 12,505 words, of which 4,310 are base words. Scholars identify anywhere between 17 and 123 words as
being of Sanskrit origin, which is much less than any other ancient work of the Tamil literature.[45]
Having written by a single author, the Kural literature reveals a single structural
plan.[46] The Kural is not an anthology for there is not any later additions to the
text.[47] According to Kamil Zvelebil, the content of the Kural text is "undoubtedly
patterned."[48] The entire work has been structured very carefully without an
allowance for any structural gaps in the text such that every couplet remains
indispensable for the structured whole. Thus, one can find two distinct meanings for
every couplet in the Kural literature, namely, a structural one and a proverbial one.
In their isolated form, that is, when removed from the content-structure, the couplets
lose their structural meaning, the most important of the two, with the isolated
distiches still remaining charming and interesting in themselves. This simply makes
the isolated couplet a wise saying or a moral maxim, "a 'literary proverb' in perfect
form, possessing, in varying degree, the prosodic and rhetoric qualities of gnomic
poetry."[49] On the other hand, within the content-structure, the couplets acquire
their structural meaning in relation to other couplets, forming higher patterns, and
The statue of Valluvar, the author
finally, in relation to the entire work, they acquire perfection in the totality of their
of the Kural text, at Kanyakumari
structure.[49]
Scholars opine that the work was composed by Valluvar in the purest Tamil of his
time.[50] According to John Lazarus, of the 12,000 words that Valluvar employed in the work, there are scarcely fifty of Sanskrit
origin.[50] According to Pavalareru Perunchithiranar, Valluvar has employed at least 28 different methods of conveying thoughts
in the Kural text.[51]
Substance of the work

Written with the contemporary society in view[52] and marked by pragmatic idealism,[53] the Kural text is unique among the
ancient literature in terms of both its poetic and its intellectual accomplishments.[54] In poetic terms, it fuses verse and aphoristic
form in diction in a "pithy, vigorous, forceful and terse" manner. In intellectual terms, it is written on the basis of secular ethics,
expounding a universal, moral and practical attitude towards life. Unlike religious scriptures, the Kural refrains from talking of
hopes and promises of the other-worldly life. Rather it speaks of the ways of cultivating one's mind to achieve the other-worldly
bliss in the present life itself. By occasionally referring to bliss beyond the worldly life, Valluvar equates what can be achieved in
humanly life with what may be attained thereafter.[4] Only in a couple of introductory chapters (Chapters 1 and 3) does Valluvar
sound religious. Even here, he maintains a tone that could be acceptable to people of all faiths.[31][55]
It is believed that Valluvar composed every chapter in response to a request to produce ten best couplets on a particular subject.
Nevertheless, he 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.[31]
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).
Nevertheless, the basic ideas of Valluvar is found in the introductory section of the Kural, which includes the first four chapters of
the text. Valluvar begins this portion with the invocation of God and continues to praise the rain for being the vitalizer of all life
forms on earth and describe the qualities of a righteous person, before concluding the introduction by emphasizing the value of
aṟam or virtue.[56] 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.[56][57]
The entire writing of all the three books of the Kural text bases
aṟam or dharma as its cornerstone, which resulted in the Kural "The greatest virtue of all is non-killing;
truthfulness cometh only next."
being referred to simply as Aṟam.[59][60][61] Contrary to what the
Manusmriti says, Valluvar holds that aṟam is common for all, (Kural 323; Aiyar, 1916).[58]
irrespective of whether the person is a bearer of palanquin or the
rider in it.[62][63] The greatest of virtues according to Valluvar is
non-killing, followed by veracity,[64][65] which he plainly indicates in couplet 323,[66] and the two greatest sins that Valluvar
feels very strongly are ingratitude and meat-eating.[65][67][68] 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."[67] The Kural differs from every other work on morality in that it follows ethics,
surprisingly a divine one, even in its Book of Love.[69] 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.[52]
Comparison with other ancient literature

Unlike the mystic philosopher of Lao
Tzu or the law-giving prophets of the
Judaeo-Christian tradition, Valluvar
remained a philosopher concerning
with the day-to-day conduct of a Palm leaf manuscript of the Tirukkural
common individual.[31] Scholars
compares the codes of virtue, nobility,
propriety, just governance, conduct, social obligations, self-control, education and knowledge with 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.[31][70]
Similarities with ancient Indian literature

Several ancient Indian literature such as Manusmriti, Kautilya's Arthashastra, Kamandaka's Nitisara bear likeness with the second
book (Porul), the book on wealth, of the Kural text, while Vatsyayana's Kamasutra shares similarities with Inbam, the third book
of the Kural text (the book on love).[17] However, the attitude and approach of Valluvar in expounding the virtues remain entirely
different from any of these contemporary works. While the Artha Shastra is based on subtle statecraft, the Porul of the Kural text
bases morality and benevolence as its cornerstones.[71] The social hierarchies and discrimination found in Manusmriti are
contrasted with Valluvar's concept of universal brotherhood and oneness of humanity. Unlike Kamasutra, which is all about eros
and techniques of sexual fulfillment, the Kural text of Inbam remains a poetic appreciation of flowering human love as explicated
by the Sangam period's concept of intimacy, known as aham in the Tamil literary tradition.[4]
Similarities with Confucian thoughts

The Kural text and the Confucian sayings recorded in the classic Analects of Chinese (called Lun Yu, meaning "Sacred Sayings")
resemble each other in many ways. 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.[72] 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.[73] 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."[74][d]
Publication of the work

Save for the highly educated circle of scholars and elites outside the Tamil land, the Kural
remained largely unknown to the outside world for close to one-and-a-half millennia. It had
been passed on as word of mouth from parents to their children and from preceptors to their
students for generations within the Tamil-speaking regions of South India. It was not until
1595 when the first translation of the work appeared in Malayalam that the work became
known to the wider circle outside the Tamil-speaking communities.[75] The work first came to
print in 1812, with the Kural text getting published in Tamil, chiefly by the efforts of the then
Collector of Madras Francis Whyte Ellis, who established the "Chennai Kalvi Sangam."[76] It
was published by Thanjai M. Gyanaprakasam.[77] It was only in 1835 that Indians were
permitted to establish printing press. Thus, the Kural became the first book to be published in
Tamil,[78] followed by the Naladiyar.[79] Subsequent editions of the work appeared in 1831, First known edition of the
1833, 1838, 1840, and 1842. The work has been continuously in print ever since.[80] By 1925, Kural, published in Tamil,
the work has already appeared in more than 65 editions.[80] in 1812.
Soon after the first publishing of the work, commentaries to the work began to appear in print.
Mahalinga Iyer published the first 24 chapters of the Kural with commentaries for the first time.[81] Parimelalhagar's commentary
was published for the first time in 1840 and became the most widely published commentary ever since. In 1850, the complete
work of the Kural was published with commentaries by Vedagiri Mudaliar, who published a revised version later in 1853. This
publication was later used by 'Vallalar' Ramalinga Adigal to teach the Kural to the masses.[81] Although the Kural text first came
to print in 1812 becoming the first book ever published in Tamil,[77] Manakkudavar's commentary, however, did not appear in
print until the 20th century. It was only in 1917 that Manakkudavar's commentary for the first book of the Kural text was
published by V. O. Chidambaram Pillai.[82][83] Manakkudavar commentary for the entire Kural text was first published in 1925
by K. Ponnusami Nadar. As of 2013, Perimelalhagar's commentary appeared in more than 200 editions by as many as 30
publishers.[84]
In December 2018, the first edition of the Kural text in Tamil Brahmi script, the script that was in vogue during Valluvar's time,
was published by the International Institute of Tamil Studies (IITS). This made the Kural text available for the first time in a
script in which the work might have originally written probably during the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE.[85]
Commentaries and translations
Commentaries
The Kural is arguably the most reviewed of all works in Tamil literature, and almost every notable scholar has written
commentaries (explanation in prose or verse) on it.[86][e] According to R. Ilankumaran, there are four necessary pre-requisites for
writing commentaries to the Kural text:[87]
1. The awareness that the meaning of everything that is written in the Kural text is available in the work itself
2. A workable knowledge of the Tolkappiam
3. A thorough knowledge of the Sangam literature and landscape
4. A practical knowledge of how things work in their nature.
There have been several commentaries written on the Kural over the centuries. Many poets of the first few centuries of the
common era used various Kural couplets to illustrate their works. These include Ilango Adigal, Seethalai Satthanar, Sekkilar, and
Kambar, to name a few.[86] These can be considered the first commentaries to the Kural text, albeit in verse form and
incomplete.[86] In the centuries that followed, numerous commentators of various other works employed Kural couplets to
elaborate their ideas, providing explanations to the couplets in the process, both in verse and in prose forms.[86] These include
Adiyarkku Nallar, Nacchinaarkiniyar, Mayilainathar, and Shankara Namacchivayar.[88]
Exclusive commentaries on the Kural text started appearing much later. There were at least ten medieval commentaries written by
pioneer poets of which only six are available today. The ten canonical medieval commentators include Manakkudavar, Dharumar,
Dhamatthar, Nacchar, Paridhiyar, Thirumalaiyar, Mallar, Pari Perumal, Kaalingar, and Parimelalhagar, all of whom lived
between the 10th and the 13th centuries CE. Of these, only the works of Manakkudavar, Paridhi, Kaalingar, Pari Perumal, and
Parimelalhagar are available today. The works of Dharumar, Dhaamatthar, and Nacchar are only partially available. The
commentaries by Thirumalaiyar and Mallar are lost completely. The pioneer among these commentators are Parimelalhagar,
Kaalingar, and Manakkudavar.[4][86][89] Among the ten medieval commentaries, scholars have found spelling, homophonic, and
other minor textual variations in a total of 900 couplets, including 217 couplets in Book I, 487 couplets in Book II, and 196
couplets in Book III.[90]
Besides the ten canonical medieval commentaries, there are three more medieval commentaries written by unknown authors.[91]
One of them was published under the title "Palaiya Urai" (meaning ancient commentary), while the second one was based on
Paridhiyar's commentary.[91] The third one was published in 1991 under the title "Jaina Urai" (meaning Jaina commentary) by
Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur.[92] Following these medieval commentaries, there are at least 21 venba commentaries to
the Kural, including Somesar Mudumoli Venba, Murugesar Muduneri Venba, Sivasiva Venba, Irangesa Venba, and Vadamalai
Venba, all of which are considered commentaries in verse form.[93]
Several modern commentaries started appearing in the 19th and the 20th centuries. Some of the commentaries of the 20th century
include those by Iyothee Thass, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Thiru Vi Ka, Bharathidasan, M. Varadarajan, Namakkal kavignar,
Thirukkuralar V. Munusamy, Devaneya Pavanar, M. Karunanithi, and Solomon Pappaiah.
Translations
The first translation known of the Kural text is a Malayalam translation that
appeared in about 1595. However, the manuscript remained unpublished and was
first reported by the Annual Report of the Cochin Archeological Department for
the year 1933 to 1934.[75] The Christian missionaries who came to India during
the colonial era, inspired by the similarities of the Christian ideals found in the
Kural, started translating the text into various European languages.[94] The Latin
translation of the Kural, the first of the translations into European languages, was
made by Constantius Joseph Beschi in 1730. However, he translated only the
first two parts, viz., virtue and wealth, leaving out the section on love assuming Bas-relief inscriptions of the Kural
that it would be inappropriate for a Christian missionary to do so. The first couplets at Valluvar Kottam
French translation was brought about by an unknown author by about 1767 that
went unnoticed. The first available French version was by Monsieur Ariel in
1848. Again, he did not translate the whole work but only parts of it. The first German translation was made by Dr. Karl Graul,
who published it in 1856 both at London and Leipzig. Graul's translation was unfortunately incomplete due to his premature
death.[95] The first, and incomplete, English translations were made by N. E. Kindersley in 1794 and then by Francis Whyte Ellis
in 1812. While Kindersley translated a selection of the Kural text, Ellis translated 120 couplets in all—69 of them in verse and 51
in prose.[76][96] W. H. Drew translated the first two parts in prose in 1840 and 1852, respectively. It contained the original Tamil
text of the Kural, Parimelalhagar's commentary, Ramanuja Kavirayar's amplification of the commentary and Drew's English
prose translation. However, Drew was able to translate only 630 couplets, and the remaining were made by John Lazarus, a native
missionary. Like Beschi, Drew did not translate the part on love.[97] The first complete English translation of the Kural was the
one by George Uglow Pope in 1886, which brought the Kural to the western world.[98]
By the end of the 20th century, there were about 24 translations of the Kural in English alone, by both native and non-native
scholars, including those by V. V. S. Aiyar, K. M. Balasubramaniam, Shuddhananda Bharati, A. Chakravarti, M. S. Purnalingam
Pillai, C. Rajagopalachari, P. S. Sundaram, V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, G. Vanmikanathan, Kasturi Srinivasan, S. N.
Sriramadesikan, and K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar.[99] At present, the Kural has been translated into 37 languages.[14] It is also said
that the work has also been translated into Vaagri Booli, the language of the Narikuravas, a tribal community in Tamil Nadu,[100]
by Kittu Sironmani. It is the most translated Tamil literature and also the most translated non-religious text of India. அகர தல
எ ெத லா (Agara Mudhala Ezhuththellaam) proud to be a life book (by P.V.Deenadayalan)
Translational difficulties
With a highly compressed prosodic form, the Kural text employs the intricately complex Kural venba metre, known for its
eminent suitability to gnomic poetry.[101] 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.[102] 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."[103] 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.[33]
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
Father Beshi, for instance, contains several such mistranslations noticed by modern scholars. According to V. Ramasamy, "Beschi
is purposely distorting the message of the original when he renders றவா as ‘the sea of miserable life’ and the phrase
ற ெப கட 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."[104]
Reception
While it has been widely acknowledged that Valluvar was of Jain origin[4][15] and the Kural to its most part was inspired from
Jain, Hindu and other ancient Indian philosophies,[15][105] owing to its universality and non-denominational nature, almost every
religious group in India and across the world, including Christianity, has claimed the work for itself. For example, G. U. Pope
speaks of the book as an "echo of the 'Sermon on the Mount.'" In the Introduction to his English translation of the Kural, Pope
even claims, "I cannot feel any hesitation in saying that the Christian Scriptures were among the sources from which the poet
derived his inspiration." However, the chapters on the ethics of moral vegetarianism (Chapter 26) and non-killing (Chapter 33),
which the Kural emphasizes emphatically unlike the Bible[106] or other Abrahamic religious texts,[107] suggest that the ethics of
the Kural is rather a reflection of the Jaina moral code than of Christian ethics.[15] John Lazarus observes that, in stark contrast to
the Bible’s concept of killing, which refers only to the taking away of human life, the Kural’s chapter on killing “deals
exclusively with the literal taking away of life,” of both humans and animals.[108] J. M. Nallaswamy Pillai dismisses Pope’s
statement as “an absurd literary anachronism,” citing the Kural text as “a stumbling block which can browbeat the most sublime
ideas of Christian morality.”[109]
The Kural is praised for its universality across the globe. The ancient Tamil poet
Avvaiyar observed, "Valluvar pierced an atom and injected seven seas into it and
compressed it into what we have today as Kural."[110][111] 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."[10] G. U. Pope called its author "a bard of universal man."[112]
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."[111] Leo Tolstoy
called it "the Hindu Kural,"[113] 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."[111]
Sir A. Grant said, "Humility, charity and forgiveness of injuries, being Christian
qualities, are not described by Aristotle. Now these three are everywhere forcibly
inculcated by the Tamil Moralist."[114] Edward Jewitt Robinson said that the Kural An ancient portrait of Valluvar
contains all things and there is nothing which it does not contain.[111] Rev. John Lazarus
said, "No Tamil work can ever approach the purity of the Kural. It is a standing repute to
modern Tamil."[111] According to K. M. Munshi, "Thirukkural is a treatise par excellence on the art of living."[111] Sri Aurobindo
stated, "Thirukkural is gnomic poetry, the greatest in planned conception and force of execution ever written in this kind."[111]
Monsieur 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."[20] According to Rev. Emmons E. White, "Thirukkural is
a synthesis of the best moral teachings of the world."[111] 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."[111] Zakir Hussain, former
President of India, said, "Thirukkural is a treasure house of worldly knowledge, ethical guidance and spiritual wisdom."[111]
Along with Nalatiyar, another work on ethics and morality from the Sangam period, the Kural is praised for its veracity. An age-
old Tamil maxim has it that "banyan and neem maintain oral health; Four and Two maintain moral health," where "Four" and
"Two" refer to the quatrains and couplets of Nalatiyar and the Kural, respectively.
In popular culture
With the rediscovery of the image of Valluvar in 1959, the portrait of the author
with matted hair and a flowing beard, as drawn by artist K. R. Venugopal
Sharma in 1960,[25] was accepted by the state and central governments as the
standardised version.[115] It soon became a popular and the standard portrait of
the poet.[52] 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.[116][f]
A Kural couplet on display inside a The Kural does not appear to have been set in music by Valluvar. However, a
Chennai Metro train 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.[117] 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.[118] In January 2016, Chitravina N. Ravikiran set the entire 1330
verses to music in a record time of 16 hours.[117][119] It can be said that it was cinema that made the general public hear
Tirukkural being sung. For instance, K. Balachander's Kavithalayaa Productions opened its films with the very first couplet of the
Kural sung in the background.[117]
Several Tirukkural conferences were conducted in the twentieth century, most

famously by Tirukkural V. Munusamy in 1941[120] and by Periyar E. V.
Ramasamy in 1949.[121] The 1949 conference, headed by Thiru. Vi. Ka, T. P.
Meenakshisundaram, and A. Chakravarti, was held for two days on 15 and 16
January, with several scholars and celebrities participating in it, including S.
Somasundara Bharathi, Kandhasami Mudaliyar, Tirukkuralar Munusamy, C.
Ilakkuvanar, S. Mutthaiyah Mudaliyar, K. Appadurai, Pulavar Kulandhai, Actor
N. S. Krishnan, and the later-day Chief Minister of the state C. N.
Annadurai.[122]
Portrait of Valluvar on a toothpaste
In 1818, the then Collector of Madras Francis Whyte Ellis, who had a high carton, with some Kural couplets
written inside
regard for Valluvar and his work, issued a gold coin bearing Valluvar's image
when he was made in charge of the Madras treasury and mint.[25][g][h] In the late
19th century, the South Indian saint Vallalar launched a movement in Vadalur to teach Tirukkural to the masses.[81][123] In 1968,
the Tamil Nadu government made it mandatory to display a Kural couplet in all government buses.[25] The train running a
distance of 2,921 kilometers between Kanyakumari and New Delhi is named by the Indian Railways as the Thirukural
Express.[124] Kural also remains an integral part of the lifestyle of Tamil-speaking populations that it is propagated through
various means such as music,[117] dance,[125] street shows,[126] recitals,[127] activities,[128] and puzzles and riddles.[129]
Memorials
The Kural text and its author have been highly venerated over the centuries. In
the early 16th century, a temple was constructed in Mylapore, Chennai, in honor
of Valluvar. It was extensively renovated in the 1970s.[130] There are also
temples for Valluvar at Periya Kalayamputhur, Thondi, Kanjoor Thattanpady,
Senapathy, and Vilvarani.[131]
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, Statue of Valluvar at SOAS,
and it contains a life-size statue of Valluvar. All the 1,330 verses of the Kural University of London.
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.[132] 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.[133] This statue is currently India's 25th tallest.
Legacy
The Kural remains one of the most influential texts of ancient India and the chief text of the Tamil language, influencing
generations of scholars at a pan-Indian expanse.[75] The work had influenced people from all walks of lives, which can be
inferred from the parallels found in the literatures of various languages within the Indian Subcontinent.[134] Although translations
of the work into other Indian languages were not available until at least the 16th century, the work had been studied by other
language scholars for centuries before the foreign invasion of India.[75] With its translations into European languages starting
from the early 18th century, Kural began to have a global influence. Besides
perhaps numerous poets of the late Sangam era including Avvaiyar I and
Kapilar, authors influenced by the Kural include Ilango Adigal, Seethalai
Satthanar, Sekkilar, Kambar, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer,
Vallalar, Monsieur Ariel, Constantius Joseph Beschi, Karl Graul, August
Friedrich Caemmerer, Nathaniel Edward Kindersley, Francis Whyte Ellis,
Charles E. Gover, George Uglow Pope, Vinoba Bhave, Alexander Piatigorsky,
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and Yu Hsi. Many of these authors have translated the
Statue of Valluvar at Kanyakumari.
work into their languages.[123][135]
Historically, the Kural experienced a few centuries of hiatus soon after its
writing, dubbed the "Dark Age," following which it enjoyed a revival period when the teachings of the Kural started to influence
people greatly.[136] A notable example was from the period of Karikalan during the 1st century CE, when the Chola ruler was
influenced by the Kural to undertake several historically significant agricultural reforms, including reclaiming lands and building
dams.[137] Another example was during the Pallava Dynasty when the people had to face the Kalabhra invasion around 250
CE.[56]
Kural remains the only work that was honored with an exclusive work of compiled paeans in the Sangam literature, believed to
have been authored by 55 different poets, including legendary ones.[4] Kural also remains the most quoted Tamil work ever since
the post Sangam period. Classical works such as the Purananuru, Manimekalai, Silappathikaram, Periya Puranam, and Kamba
Ramayanam all cite the Kural by various names, bestowing numerous titles to the work that was originally untitled by its
author.[138] In Kamba Ramayanam, poet Kambar has used as many as 600 couplets of the Kural.[139][140] Kural couplets and
thoughts are cited in 32 instances in the Purananuru, 35 in Purapporul Venba Maalai, 1 each in Pathittrupatthu and the Ten Idylls,
13 in the Silappathikaram, 91 in the Manimekalai, 20 in Jivaka Chinthamani, 12 in Villi Bharatham, 7 in Thiruvilaiyadal
Puranam, and 4 in Kanda Puranam.[141]
The Kural text was first included in the school syllabus by the then British
government.[142] However, only select 275 couplets have been taught to the
schoolchildren from Standards III to XII.[143] Attempts to include the Kural
literature as a compulsory subject in schools were ineffective in the decades
following Independence.[144] On 26 April 2016, the Madras High Court directed
the state government to include all the 108 chapters of the Books of Aram and
Porul of the Kural text in school syllabus for classes VI through XII from the
academic year 2017–2018 "to build a nation with moral values."[144][145] The
court observed, "No other philosophical or religious work has such moral and
A Kural discourse in Chennai in
intellectual approach to problems of life."[146]
January 2019.
The Kural has inspired many to pursue the path of ahimsa or non-violence. Leo
Tolstoy was inspired by the concept of non-violence found in the Kural when he
read a German version of the book, who in turn instilled the concept in Mahatma Gandhi through his A Letter to a Hindu when
young Gandhi sought his guidance.[111][113] Gandhi then took to studying the Kural in prison, which eventually culminated in his
starting the non-violence movement to fight against the British.[4] It is said that Gandhi had learnt Tamil only to read the original
text of the Kural.[146] Vallalar was inspired by the Kural at a young age and spent his whole life promoting compassion and non-
violence, emphasizing on a compassionate, non-killing, and meatless way of life.[123][147]
See also
Eastern philosophy
List of Tirukkural translations by language
Glossary of names for the Tirukkural
Tiruvalluva Maalai
Nalatiyar
Sangam literature
A Letter to a Hindu by Leo Tolstoy
List of literary works by number of translations
Tao Te Ching
Manu Smriti
Vedas
Philosophy Series Sidebar
Notes
a. ^ The Kural insists on strict "moral vegetarianism", the doctrine that humans are morally obligated to refrain from eating meat
or harming sentient beings,[148] known as "veganism" since the 20th century, as described by Mylan Engel in his "The
Immorality of Eating Meat" (2000).[149] The concept of ahimsa or இ னா ெச யாைம, which remains the moral foundation of
veganism,[150] is described in the Kural chapter on non-violence (Chapter 32).[151]
b. ^ The couplets are generally numbered in a linear fashion across the three books, covering all the 1,330 couplets. They can also
be denoted by their chapter number and couplet number within the chapter. Thus, the third couplet in Chapter 104 (Agriculture),
for instance, can be numbered either as 1033 or, less commonly, as 104:3.
c. ^ The Valluvar Year is obtained by adding 31 years to the present Gregorian year.[36]
d. ^ Compare this with Chapter 7 of the Tirukkural—the Kural chapter on bearing children.
e. ^ Commentary refers to prosaic interpretations written by various scholars for the original verse form of the Kural couplets.
These commentaries are chiefly written in Tamil by pioneer writers over the millennia. In highly canonical literary works and
works of poetry, such as the Silappathikaram and Kamba Ramayanam, commentary can also appear in verse form, often blending
with the work inseparably. Translation, on the other hand, refers to any interpretation, either in prose or in verse, verbatim or
otherwise, of the Kural couplets in other languages. Thus, any commentary written in a language other than Tamil is considered a
prose translation of the Tamil original in that particular language.
f. ^ Government of Tamil Nadu, G. O. Ms. 1193, dated 1967.[116]
g. ^ A stone inscription found on the walls of a well at the Periya Palayathamman temple at Royapettai indicates Ellis' regard for
Valluvar. It is one of the 27 wells dug on the orders of Ellis in 1818, when Madras suffered a severe drinking water shortage. In
the long inscription Ellis praises Valluvar and uses a couplet from the Tirukkural to explain his actions during the drought. When
he was in charge of the Madras treasury and mint, he also issued a gold coin bearing Valluvar's image. The Tamil inscription on
his grave makes note of his commentary of Tirukkural.[152]
h. ^ The original inscription in Tamil written in the asiriyapa metre and first-person perspective: (The kural couplet he quotes is
in italics)
சய ெகா ட ெதா ய சா நாெட |ஆ இைழ த வழ மாம | ணகட தலாக ட கடலள |
ெந ல தாழ ெச ன | ப டண எ ச எ பவ யாேன | ப டாரகா ய பார ம ைக |
லவ க ெப மா ம ைலய ப யா | ெத வ லைம வ வனா | ற த ள
ப |இ ன வா த மைல வ ன | வ லர நா |எ ப ெபா ைள எ
ஆ | வ சா வாகன சகா த வ | ..றா ெச லா ற|இ வ 1818 ஆ | ரபவா
வ ேம ெச லா ற | பஹுதா ய வ வார |ந ர ேயாக கரண பா | ப ந தேனா
ப ேத | ர க யாஹவாசந | ப ேத .
Citations
1. C. Blackburn, 2000, pp. 449–482.
2. Pillai, 1994.
3. Manavalan, 2009, p. 24.
4. Lal, 1992, pp. 4333–4334.
5. Zvelebil, 1975, p. 124.
6. Manavalan, 2009, p. 22.
7. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 155–156.
8. Rajendiran, 2018, p. 21.
9. Sanjeevi, 1973, pp. 10–16.
10. Pyatigorsky, n.d., p. 515.
11. Cutler, 1992.
12. Velusamy and Faraday, 2017, pp. 7–13.
13. Sundaramurthi, 2000, p. 624.
14. Ashraf, n.d.
15. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 156-171.
17. Sundaram, 1990, pp. 7–16.
18. Nedunchezhiyan, 1991, p. vii.
19. Kowmareeshwari, 2012a, pp. iv–vi.
20. Pope, 1886, p. i (Introduction).
21. Pillai, 1972, p. 3.
22. Lal, 1992, pp. 4333, 4341.
23. Pillai, 1972, pp. 5–7.
24. Aravindan, 1968, p. 105.
26. Kumar, 1999, pp. 91–92.
27. Mukherjee, 1999, pp. 392–393.
28. Drew, 1840.
29. Sharma, 2018, pp. 119–121.
30. Kovaimani and Nagarajan, 2013, p. 19.
31. SSP, 2012, pp. vii–xvi.
32. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 156.
33. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 169.
34. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 171.
35. Arumugam, 2014, pp. 5, 15.
36. Thiruvalluvar Ninaivu Malar, 1935, p. 117.
37. Dinamani, 20 September 2012.
38. Paavaanar, 2017, pp. 32–33.
39. Robinson, 2001, pp. 17–32.
40. Acharya.iitm.ac.in, n.d.
41. Manavalan, 2009, p. 39.
42. Natarajan, 2008, pp. 1–6.
43. Robinson, 2001, pp. 27–28.
44. Aranga Ramalingam, 1994.
45. Perunchithiranar, 1933, p. 245.
46. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 160.
47. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 158–160.
48. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 163.
49. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 158–163.
51. Perunchithiranar, 1933, pp. 228–234.
52. Parthasarathy, The Hindu, 12 December 2015.
53. Top 12 Economists of India.
54. Lal, 1992, p. 4333.
56. Hajela, 2008, p. 895.
57. Manavalan, 2009, p. 27.
58. Aiyar, 1916.
59. Alathur Kilar, pp. Verse 34.
60. Kowmareeshwari, 2012b, pp. 46–47.
61. Velusamy and Faraday, 2017, p. 55.
62. Valluvar, pp. Verse 37.
63. Visveswaran, 2016, pp. ix–xi.
64. Lal, 1992, pp. 4341–4342.
65. Sethupillai, 1956, pp. 34–36.
66. Valluvar, pp. Verse 323.
67. Sundaram, 1990, p. 13.
68. Jagannathan, 1963, pp. 162–163.
69. Manavalan, 2009, p. 26.
70. R. Nagaswamy, Dinamalar, 23 December 2018.
71. Hajela, 2008, pp. 901–902.
72. Balasubramanian, 2016, pp. 104-111.
73. Anonymous 1999, p. vii.
74. Anparasu, 2019.
75. Sanjeevi, 1973, pp. 44–49.
76. S. Blackburn, 2006, pp. 92–95.
78. Madhavan, The Hindu, 21 June 2010.
81. Kolappan, The Hindu, 3 October 2018.
82. Manakkudavar, 1917.
83. Kumaravelan, 2008, pp. 4–17.
85. Muruganandham, The New Indian Express, 12 December 2018.
86. Aravindan, 1968, p. 337.
87. Ilankumaran, 2018, p. xi.
88. Aravindan, 1968, p. 338.
89. Natarajan, 2008, p. 2.
91. Aravindan, 1968, p. 339.
92. Balasubramanian, 2016, p. 129.
93. Nedunchezhiyan, 1991, p. ix.
94. Ramasamy, 2001, pp. 28–47.
95. Ramasamy, 2001, pp. 30–31.
96. Zvelebil, 1992.
97. Ramasamy, 2001, p. 31.
98. Ramasamy, 2001, p. 32.
99. Ramasamy, 2001, p. 36.
100. The Hindu, 25 March 2013.
101. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 166.
102. Zvelebil, 1973, p. 167.
103. Popley, 1931, p. x.
104. Ramasamy, 2001, p. 33.
105. Venkataramanan, The Hindu, 12 January 2018.
106. Deuteronomy 14:3–14:29 (http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+14:3–14:29&version=nrsv)
107. Quran 5:1–5 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2002.02.0002%3Asura%3D5%
3Averse%3D1) (Translated by Pickthall)
108. Manavalan, 2009, p. 42.
109. Manavalan, 2009, pp. 26–27.
110. Avvaiyar, pp. Verse 55.
111. Rajaram, 2009, pp. xviii–xxi.
112. Rajaram, 2015, p. vi.
113. Tolstoy, 1908.
114. Pope, 1886, p. xii (Introduction).
115. Anbarasan, 2019.
116. Sharma, 2018, pp. 41–42.
117. Rangan, The Hindu, 19 March 2016.
118. Music Academy Conference lectures, 2017.
119. Deccan Herald, 31 March 2018.
120. Periyannan, 2013.
122. Veeramani, 2015, pp. 326–348.
123. Subbaraman, 2015, pp. 39–42.
124. IndianRailInfo, n.d.
125. Venkatasubramanian, The Hindu, 26 April 2018.
126. Venkataramanan, The Hindu, 22 April 2010.
127. Madhavan, The Hindu, 26 August 2016.
128. Ramakrishnan, The Hindu, 4 September 2006.
129. Sujatha, The Hindu, 11 July 2016.
130. Chakravarthy and Ramachandran, 2009.
131. Vedanayagam, 2017, p. 113.
132. Vedanayagam, 2017, pp. 110–111.
133. The Hindu, 2 January 2000.
134. Sanjeevi, 1973, pp. 50–55.
135. Lal, 1992, pp. 4333–4334, 4341–4342.
136. Hajela, 2008, pp. 894–895.
137. Hajela, 2008, p. 899.
138. Jagannathan, 1963, pp. 16–30.
139. Desikar, 1975.
142. TNN, The Times of India, 26 July 2017.
143. Ashok, Live Law.in, 1 May 2016.
144. Saravanan, The Times of India, 27 April 2016.
145. India Today, 27 April 2016.
146. The Hindu, 27 April 2016.
147. Sivagnanam, 1974, p. 96.
148. Parimelalhagar, 2009, pp. 256–266, 314–336.
149. Engel, 2000, pp. 856–889.
150. Dinshah, 2010.
151. Parimelalhagar, 2009, pp. 314–324.
152. Mahadevan, n.d.
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"Thirukkural now in Arabic" (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/thirukkural-now-in-arabic/article45
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Kolappan, B. (3 October 2018). "First printed Tirukkural to be republished after 168 years" (https://www.thehindu.
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Saravanan, L. (27 April 2016). "Include 108 chapters of 'Thirukkural' in school syllabus, HC tells govt" (https://tim
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"High Court orders in-depth study of Tirukkural compulsory in schools" (https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/t
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Further reading
Blackburn, Stuart. (2000, May). Corruption and Redemption: The Legend of Valluvar and Tamil Literary History.
Modern Asian Studies, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 449–482.
Das, G. N. (1997). Readings from Thirukkural (Sanskrit text with English translation). Abhinav Publications. 134
pp. ISBN 8-1701-7342-6.
Diaz, S. M. (2000). Tirukkural with English Translation and Explanation. (Mahalingam, N., General Editor; 2
volumes), Coimbatore, India: Ramanandha Adigalar Foundation.
Drew, W. H. Translated by John Lazarus, Thirukkural (Original in Tamil with English Translation), ISBN 81-206-
0400-8
Gnanasambandan, A. S. (1994). Kural Kanda Vaazhvu. Chennai: Gangai Puthaga Nilayam.
Udaiyar Koil Guna. (n.d.). ற ஒ ேத ய [Tirukkural: A National Book] (Pub. No. 772). Chennai:
International Institute of Tamil Studies.
Karunanidhi, M. (1996). Kuraloviam. Chennai: Thirumagal Nilayam.
Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim. (1971). Anti-religious Movement in Modern South India (in German). Bonn, Germany:
Ludwig Roehrscheid Publication, pp. 128–133.
Kuppusamy, R. (n.d.). Tirkkural: Thatthuva, Yoga, Gnyana Urai [Hardbound]. Salem: Leela Padhippagam. 1067
pp. https://vallalars.blogspot.in/2017/05/thirukkural-thathuva-yoga-gnayna-urai.html
Nagaswamy, R. Tirukkural: An Abridgement of Sastras. Mumbai: Giri, ISBN 978-81-7950-787-2.
Nehring, Andreas. (2003). Orientalism and Mission (in German). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrasowitz Publication.
M. S. Purnalingam Pillai. (n.d.). Critical Studies in Kural. Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies.
Subramaniyam, Ka Naa. (1987). Tiruvalluvar and his Tirukkural. New Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanpith.
Thirukkural with English Couplets L'Auberson, Switzerland: Editions ASSA, ISBN 978-2-940393-17-6.
Thirunavukkarasu, K. D. (1973). Tributes to Tirukkural: A compilation. In: First All India Tirukkural Seminar
Papers. Madras: University of Madras Press. Pp 124.
Varadharasan, Mu. (1974). Thirukkual Alladhu Vaazhkkai Vilakkam. Chennai: Pari Nilayam.
Varadharasan, Mu. (1996). Tamil Ilakkiya Varalaru. New Delhi: Sakitya Academy.
Viswanathan, R. (2011). Thirukkural: Universal Tamil Scripture (Along with the Commentary of Parimelazhagar in
English) (Including Text in Tamil and Roman). New Delhi: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. 278 pp. ISBN 978-8-1727-
6448-7
Yogi Shuddhananda Bharati (Trans.). (1995, May 15). Thirukkural with English Couplets. Chennai: Tamil
Chandror Peravai.
Zvelebil, K. (1962). Foreword. In: Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar (Translated by K. M. Balasubramaniam). Madras:
Manali Lakshmana Mudaliar Specific Endowments. 327 pages.
External links
Tirukkural: Work by Tiruvalluvar from Encyclopaedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tirukkural)
Tirukkural in Tamil and English—Valaitamil.com (http://www.valaitamil.com/thirukkural.php)
G. U. Pope's English Translation of the Tirukkural (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0153.pdf)
"Thirukuralisai"—an app promoting Tirukkural through music (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.
ajax.thirukural)
@thirukkuralapps—An interactive twitter search app for Thirukkural in English and Tamil. (https://twitter.com/thiru
kkuralapps)
Thirukkural in various languages (https://www.thirukkural.net/ta/index.htmml)
Tirukkural and Psychology (http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/102979/11/11_chapter%203.pdf)
Jain World (http://www.jainworld.com/JWTamil/jainworld/JWTamil.htm)
Kuralism (https://kuralism.com)
https://www.facebook.com/Tirukkural.in.6.languages/
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Tirukkuṛaḷ

The Tirukkural (Tamil: ற , literally Sacred Verses), or shortly the

Traditionally praised as "the Universal Veda" and "the Universal Code of

Organization of the work

Book I – Aṟam (அற ): Book of Virtue (Dharma), dealing

Outline of the Kural

Book I—Book of Virtue (38 chapters)

Chapter 1. The Praise of God (கட வா kaṭavuḷ vāḻttu): Couplets 1–10

Book II—Book of Wealth (70 chapters)

Chapter 39. The Greatness of a King (இைறமா iṟaimāṭci): 381–390

Book III—Book of Love (25 chapters)

Structural and linguistic plan of the work

Substance of the work

Comparison with other ancient literature

Similarities with ancient Indian literature

Similarities with Confucian thoughts

Publication of the work

Commentaries and translations

Several Tirukkural conferences were conducted in the twentieth century, most

f. ^ Government of Tamil Nadu, G. O. Ms. 1193, dated 1967.[116]

Classical primary sources (Tamil)

Modern secondary sources

Journals and Magazines

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tirukkuṛaḷ&oldid=903715653"

This page was last edited on 27 June 2019, at 14:05 (UTC).

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