KURAL of TIRUVALLUVAR
Tiruvalluvar, or Valluvar, was a Tamil poet maybe born in the period 4th to the 1st centuries BC, although other scholars suggest any time up to the 8th century AD. His origins are obscure. He may have been born into a caste of weavers near Chennai, or was a chieftain of an area near Kanykumari at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu. He is commemorated in a huge temple like building in Chennai, and in the 133 foot high statue on a small island just off the tip of Kanyakumari, shown below. There is also a statue of him at the entrance to the school of Asian and African Studies in Russell Sq. London.
He is best known as the author of The Kural a major poem of 1330 cuplets (hence the significance of the 133 Foot high Statue). The Kural deals with the first three of the four supreme aims of life (purusharthas): -
Dharma – virtue
Artha – wealth and
Karma – love. It is thought the fourth aim
Moksha – liberation or salvation, was not included because accomplishment of the first three would bring about Moksha.
The Kural is written in the form of cuplets, two lined verses, beginning
`A begins the alphabet
And God, primordial, the world` Trans: PS Sundaram
Tiruvalluvar, or Valluvar, was a Tamil poet maybe born in the period 4th to the 1st centuries BC, although other scholars suggest any time up to the 8th century AD. His origins are obscure. He may have been born into a caste of weavers near Chennai, or was a chieftain of an area near Kanykumari at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu. He is commemorated in a huge temple like building in Chennai, and in the 133 foot high statue on a small island just off the tip of Kanyakumari, shown below. There is also a statue of him at the entrance to the school of Asian and African Studies in Russell Sq. London.
He is best known as the author of The Kural a major poem of 1330 cuplets (hence the significance of the 133 Foot high Statue). The Kural deals with the first three of the four supreme aims of life (purusharthas): -
Dharma – virtue
Artha – wealth and
Karma – love. It is thought the fourth aim
Moksha – liberation or salvation, was not included because accomplishment of the first three would bring about Moksha.
The Kural is written in the form of cuplets, two lined verses, beginning
`A begins the alphabet
And God, primordial, the world` Trans: PS Sundaram
