Tiruvalluvar

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Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்) was a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukkural, a work on ethics in Tamil literature.

Thiruvalluvar's period (based on the Thirukkural per se) is between the second century BC and the eighth century AD. ^[1]

Parimelazhagar, a 13th century commentator in his celebrated commentary interprets the word Aadipagavan in the first kural as Aadi Bhagavan meaning God (another possibility being Aadi=Mother and Bhagavan=Father meaning parents). The first verse states "The letter A (அ in Tamil) is the beginning of the alphabet (syllable) just as from God begins the world".

Thiruvalluvar belongs to which religion? This is one of the common questions that are discussed many times and argued out with passion. The bottom line is that his ideas are godfear and is therefore agreeable to all religious communities. Just for the record the following is given to inform the readers. Thiruvalluvar cannot be a non-believer of god - because he says in his first 10 kurals, if you do not worship the god, all of your education is wasted. Thiruvalluvar refer to re-incarnation of souls, a concept that is not agreed in Islam or Christianity. So, it is evident that he cannot be a Muslim or Christian. It is also clear that at the time of period of thiruvalluvar - the Islam and Christianity were not entered and preached in India. So, he may be a follower of Hinduism or Buddhism or Jainism (Refered to in Tamil Literature as Samanam). He has chosen to use the word “adhi bagawan” to refer God in his first couplet which is a unique name for the God Narayana of Veda religion. He also clearly differentiates ‘then-pulathar’ (Siddhas who reside on the South side of the Universe) from ‘theivam’ (heavenly beings). It should be noted that Jainism does acknowledge the heavenly souls (yaksha and yakshini). At the same time then pulathar will also result about the dharma dhevatha or Yama dharma raja as per Veda religion.

There is an arugment that Buddhism or Jainism does not agree with “yagnam”and “andhanan” and therefore he cannot be a Jain. He has defined the word “andhanan” in his 30th couplet, which may echoes the core principle of Jainism also.

But, if we discuss about 'Yagnam' - jainism totally fails here. It results only on Hindu(Veda Religion).

An Yagna supporter - cannot be buddhist or jain, but belongs to Veda religion.

Further more, In Hindu religion - there are two main divisions exist called Vaishnavism and Saivism.

Thiruvalluvar never mentioned Lord Shiva or any god at all.

But, Kural no. 1103 of kaamathuppal notes 'the high people who does 'thavam' reaches thamarai kannan ulagu which could be interpreted as lotus krishna's world (vaikuntam or paramapadham).

Krual no. 610. of porutpal notes 'adiyalanthan' - the god measuring the world by his feet, which matches for thirivikraman – incarnation of lord narayana.

It should be noted that at least he has referenced the Lord Vishnu in two of his couplets.

Meanwhile, The same word 'AADHI BHAGAWAN' was also used by one of the famous devotional poet ‘Shri Nammalwar’ (several centuries earlier - B. C. 3000) in his thiruvaimozhi as ‘adhi yam bhagavan’ towards Lord Narayana.

APART FROM THIS STRONG EVIDENCES

THE WORD KURAL STANDS FOR VAMANAN [ONE OF VISHNU’S AVATHARA] AS PER SANGATHU TAMIL.

VAMANAN MEASURED THE WORLD WITH 2 FEETS, WHERE VALLUVAR ALSO MEASURES THE WORLD WITH SAME 2 FEETS OF HIS HYMNS – HENCE HE HAD NAMED IT AS KURAL.

THE ADHI BHAGAVAN [SANSKRIT WORD] POINTS OUT DIRECTLY TO NARAYANA. BECAUSE THE BHAGAVATH SOUND ONLY MATCHES FOR LORD NARAYANA AS PER VEDAS, LIKE BHAGAVAN KRISHNA, BHAGAVAN VISHNU ETC..

AND ALSO THE SAME MEANING OF AKARA MUDHALA – WAS MENTIONED EARLIER IN BHAGAVATH GEETHA BY BHAGAWAN KRISHNA AS "AKSHARA NAM 'A'KARO ASMI", WHERE HIS STATEMENTS WERE MENTIONED AS 'BHAGAWAN' UVACHA AND HE DECLARES THAT HE IS THE 'AADHI' AND 'ANDHAM' IN MANY OF THE PLACES. SO THE SAME WAS ALSO NOTED BY VALLUVAR IN TAMIL.

LIKE ABOVE THERE ARE MANY OF THE POINTS FROM THIRUKKURAL MAKE SENSE THAT – THIRUVALLUVAR COULD HAVE BEEN BELONGS TO VAISHNAVISM.

WHEN WE CONCENTRATE ON SECULARISM, MEANWHILE WE SHOULD NOT TRY TO HIDE THE IDENTITY OF A SCHOLOR.

.

 | last =Blackburn
 | first =Stuart
 | title =Corruption and Redemption: The Legend of Valluvar and Tamil Literary History
 | journal =Modern Asian Studies
 | volume =34
 | issue =2
 | pages =449–482
 | year =2000
 | url =http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FASS%2FASS34_02%2FS0026749X0000363Xa.pdf&code=6fa7f3e95a639ea16798fcc5c0bfb3b2
 | doi =10.1017/S0026749X00003632
 | id =
 | accessdate =  2007-08-22}}</ref>

Contents 1 Traditional accounts 2 Thirukkural 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Traditional accounts

The name Thiruvalluvar (ThiruValluvar) consists of Thiru (a polite Tamil word, similar to Mr)^[2] and Valluvar (a polite name for Valluvan, according to Tamil tradition). There are a few legends abound about the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar. One legend associates him to Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya rulers who vigorously promoted Tamil literature. According to another he was born and lived in Mylapore, a part of present day Chennai city and travelled to Madurai to submit his work, the Thirukural, for approval of the king (Pandian) and his college of poets. His wife is called as Vasuki.^[3]

There are, also, traditional stories citing the Tamil Sangam of Madurai (the assembly/conference of eminent scholars and researchers conducted on a regular basis) as the authority through which Thirukkural was introduced to the world. Thiruvalluvar might have spent most part of his life in Madurai because it was under Pandia rulers that many Tamil poets flourished. There are also recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre (KHCRC) that Valluvar was a king who ruled Valluvanadu in the hilly tracts of Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. ^[4]

[edit] Thirukkural

Thirukkural is one of most revered works in the Tamil ^[5] . It consists of 133 athikarams or chapters. Each athikaram consists of 10 kurals (rhyming Tamil couplets) thus making 1330 kurals in total. Each couplet consists of four seers in the first line and three seers in the second. A seer is a single or a combination of more than one Tamil word. The first Kural is Agara Muthala Ezhuthellam Aathi; Bagavan Muthatrey Ulagu.

Thirukkural is divided into three sections. Section one deals with Aram doing things, with conscience and honor, for the good of the less fortunate, the second discusses Porul realities or facts of life, and the third dwells on Inbam the pleasures that a man and a woman experience in the course of their relationship. There are 38 chapters in the first section, 70 chapters in the second and 25 chapters in the third section. Thirukkural is dedicated to Lord AdiBagawan (lord Narayana) of Vaishnavism (Veda religion)

There is a huge (133 feet tall) statue of Thiruvalluvar showing his first three fingers. The statue is carved out of a single rock and erected at the southern tip of India (Kanyakumari) where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean confluence. The 133 ft denotes Thirukkural's 133 athikarams and the show of three fingers, to denote the three themes Aram, Porul, and Inbam.

First Kural is starting as follows

Akara Muthala Ealuthellam Adhi Bhavan Muthetrea Ulagu Translating the Kural

A noted Chinese sage once declared that the task of translating a literary work is like “the chewing of rice for another to swallow.”[7] As is the case with any literary masterpiece, the Kural also loses its poetical merit when translated into other languages. Dr. Karl Graul,[8] who translated the Kural into German had this to say: "No translation can convey an idea of its (Thirukkural's) charming effect. It is truly an apple of gold in the network of silver." Therefore, no translation can do justice to the poetical brevity of the Kural and its delightful rhymes and repetitious words. One may perhaps manage to do so with few couplets.

At least the moral values which are integral to the Kural never get lost when properly translated. Over the last three centuries, numerous scholars have taken the task of translating the Kural into various languages. It has now been translated into all major languages of the world like French, Latin, Polish, Russian, Swedish, German, Japanese, Dutch, Czech, Finnish, Malayan, Burmese, Korean, Chinese, Singhalese, Italian, Urdu, Arabic and at least eight Indian languages. Notable exceptions appear to be Assamese, Thai, Tibetan, Greek, Afrikaans, Turkish, Hebrew, Mangolian, Persian and Irish. If the claim that the Kural has been translated into 80 languages is true, then some of these languages might have also been covered. Considering the fact that Tamil is a classical language of great antiquity, Tirukkural (திருக்குறள் =Sacred Verses) must have been translated into the classical Greek language too. As of now, I have only the following translation of a couplet to offer in Greek. Translations of the same couplet has been presented in other languages also below (Note: Translations in German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese have been done with the help of Google's translation option).

Greek (ελληνικά): "Πώς μπορεί κάποιος, που τρώει τη σάρκα άλλων για να φουσκώσει τη δική του σάρκα, να δείξει συμπόνοια;" Τιρουβαλλουβάρ, Tirukkural: 251

English (English): How can one command grace Who eats the flesh of others to swell his own flesh? Tiruvalluvar, Sacred Verses: 251

Tamil (தமிழ்): தன்னூன் பெருக்கற்குத் தான்பிறி தூனுண்பா னெங்ஙன மாளு மருள்? திருவள்ளுவர், திருக்குறள்: 251

Russian (Русский): Разве может испытывать чувства сострадания человек, который поедает плоть других живых существ для увеличения своей плоти? Тируваллувар, Священные стихи: 251

Polish (Polski): Pożeraczem żywego nie może być człowiek, Co wyznaje nakazy pokoju. Tiruwalluwar, Tirukkural: 251

French (Français): Comment celui qui mange la chair d’un autre être animé, pour engraisser la sienne, peut-il se laisser gagner par la miséricorde. Tirouvalluvar, Vers sacrés, 251

Latin (Latina): Qui ut sua caro pinguoscat, alienas carnes comedit quinam eum viveutibus lenitatem et clementiam exercere dicetur? Tiruvalluvar, Tirukkural: 251

Italian (Italiano): Come può esercitarsi nella pietà allineare che mangia la carne di un animale per ingrassare la sua propria carne? Tiruvalluvar, Verses Sacred: 251 Portuguese (Português) Como pode praticar o compassion verdadeiro que come a carne de um animal para fatten sua própria carne? Tirukkural, Versos Sacred: 251

Spanish (Español) Cómo puede él practicar la compasión verdadera que come la carne de un animal para cebar su propia carne? Tirouvalluvar: Coplas Sagrados, 251

Hindi (हिन्दी): माँस-वृद्धि अपनी समझ, जो खाता पर माँस । कैसे दयार्द्रता-सुगुण, रहता उसके पास ॥ तिरुवल्लुवर, तिरुक्कुरल: 251

Arabic (العربيه):

          كيف يكون احد رؤوفا ورحيما إن يأكل الحيوانات

لا زدياد شحمه ودسمه فى جثـتـه وجسمه

تروولوور- الأبْيـَاتُ المـقـدّسَــة -251  

German (Deutsch): Wie kann er zutreffendes Mitleid üben, das das Fleisch eines Tieres ißt, um sein eigenes Fleisch zu mästen? Tiruvalluvar, Heilige Verse, 251

Korean (한국어) 그는 어떻게 그 자신의 살을 살찌기 위하여 동물의 살을 먹는 진실한 연민을 실행해서 좋은가? Tiruvalluvar, 신성한 운문, 251 Chinese (中國話) 如何真正实践慈悲谁吃动物肉养肥自己的血肉? 印度教手稿, 神圣诗: 251

Japanese (日本語) 彼はいかに彼自身の肉を太らせるために動物の肉を食べる本当の同情を練習してもいいか。 ティルックラル, 神聖な詩、251

The Kural was popular in the neighbouring country Sri Lanka (the Ceylon) even before it was officially translated. S. Maharajan in his book on Tiruvalluvar (Sahitya Academi) mentions about Dr. Xavier S. Thani Nayagam who produced the earliest record of a non-Indian use of Tirukkural.[9] This is found in the Fernao de Queyroz’s “Conquest of Ceylon” in which the Franciscan Missionary Fra Joam de Vila Conde, in a religious debate at the court of Bhuvanaika Bahu of Kotte, Ceylon (1521-1551) cited the Kural in support of the doctrines which he preached: “Read, one of the books you have which you have maliciously hidden, composed by Valuer (evidently Valluvar) a native of Melipur (Mylapore) and the contemporary of St. Thomas. There you will find the union of the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son, the Redemption of Man, the cause of his fall, the remedy for this faults and miseries and finally the preservation of his state”. The fact that the missionary cited the Kural may be true but none of us would agree with what he said of the Kural for it never mentions about Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption or Fall!

The first translation of the Kural into a European language was that of C.J. Beschi of the Society of Jesus (1700-1742) who translated the Kural into Latin.[10] Interestingly the first translation of Dhammapada to a European language was also in Latin (by Dr. Fausboll), but this happened only in 1855![11] A Latin translation of Bhagavad Gita appeared only in the year 1823 by Schlegel. The first translation of the Kural into English (as selections) happened in 1794 by Kindersley (Extracts from “Ocean of Wisdom”) only nine years after the first English edition of the Gita appeared. The Kural was translated into German by A.F. Cammera in 1803 and into French by Ariel in 1848, just two years after the Gita was translated into French by Lassens. It is interesting is to compare this with the history of translating Bhagavad Gita. It was first translated into English in 1785 by Charles Wilkins. It was translated into Latin in 1823 by Schlegel, into German by Von Humbolt in 1826, into French by Lassens in 1846 and into Greek by Galanos in 1848.[12]

Some of the well known translations in English include those by G.U. Pope, W.H. Drew & John Lazarus, V.V.S. Iyer, K. Srinivasan, C. Rajagopalachari and P.S. Sundaram. Some of these English translations and many others' are now available on the net.

Some important translations of Tirukkural in English on the internet

No Translators Hosted by Title 1 Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Tamil Nation Thirukkural 2 Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Himalayan Academy The Holy Kural 3 P.S. Sundaram

Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural 4 J. Narayanaswamy Angel Web Services Thiru Kural 5 K. Krishnaswamy & Vijaya Ramkumar Vidyavriksha Kural with Tamil text 6 G.U. Pope

The Sacred Kurral 7 Suddhananda Bharathi Maa. Angaiah Display Tirukkural 8 Pope, Drew and Lazarus IIT Madras Kural 9 20 different translators Double-V Close to the original

It spite of its translation into more than 30 languages of the world (perhaps into 80 languages as mentioned before), hardly any translations – other than in English – are available on the net. The only complete translation of the Kural in a foreign language other than English available on the net is Russian [*]. The idea here is to present the Kural in all the major languages of the world including all the Indian languages. The most difficult part in this exercise is procuring copies of the Kural that were translated during first half of 20th century. Many of them are out of print and subsequent editions have not been produced. In some languages like English, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada new translations continue to be produced, while in some like French, Polish, Chinese, Latin and Urdu new editions or reprints of the old translations are being published. However for many other languages like Fiji, Marathi and Sinhalese, the only source is the old publications available in libraries. The translations being presented here are not necessarily the best ones available in that respective language. In most cases there is no choice as it is difficult to obtain more than one translation for comparison. Another hindrance is my lack of knowledge in languages other than Tamil, English and to some extent Malayalam. For Arabic, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Swedish and Urdu, there is no option as there is only one translation available in them. I have given preference to translations in verse, but the Kural has been translated only in prose in many languages (like Arabic and Urdu). Before we proceed to the different translations, a word of caution about translation of any classic. The Kural contains maxims of mandatory ethics and at least the message does not get lost if properly translated. What about its poetic excellence? Kamil Zvelebil, the renowned Czech Tamil scholar had this to say: “It is almost impossible to truly appreciate the maxims of the Kural through a translation. Tirukkural must be read and re-read in Tamil”

[edit] See also

• Statue of Thiruvalluvar

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Thurston, Edgar & Kadambi Rangachari. 1909. Castes and Tribes of Southern India. vol VI. Madras: Government Press. [Page82]
• Dialogue and History Constructing South India,1795–1895, Eugene F.Irschick,UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

• www.theologie.uni-hd.de/rm/online-artikel/bergunder-2004-contested-past.pdf [Page 70]
• KarlGraul, Reise in Ostindien (Leipzig 1855)vol. IV, p. 193, quoted in (Nehring 2000: 77).

• "Contested Past" by Michael Bergunder, Universität Heidelberg
• Thirukkural was written by a Paraiyar called Valluvar
• (http://www.thirukkural.com)திரு மு.வரததாசனார், திரு மு.கருணாநிதி மற்றும் பலர் எழுதிய உரைகளின் தொகுப்பு ஆங்கில விளக்கத்துடன்
• Thirukural in Tamil and English with meaning (திருக்குறள் - தமிழ் மற்றும் ஆங்கிலத்தில் (விளக்கத்துடன்))

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