Chennai: He is the most celebrated Tamil savant whose magnum opus has been rendered into several Indian and foreign languages, including Sanskrit and Mandarin. And even after 2,000 years he continues to be the fountainhead of inspiration to politicos, administrators, judiciary and even the common man.
Though his birthplace is much debated – divided between Thiru Mylai (Mylapore in Chennai) and Thirunayanar Kuruchy, a village in Kanniyakumari district, none dare dispute his invaluable contribution through his Tirukkural - . He is believed to have lived between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century BC.
One of the most revered Tamil works of Sangam era, Tirukkural provides human virtues and a road for a better and wholesome life. It is divided into three sections.
The first deals with Aram - good ethical behavior with conscience and honor or right conduct, section two discusses Porul - right manner of conduct (of worldly affairs) and the third section deals with Kaamam – desire - love between men and women. Accordingly, the work is divided into 38, 70 and 25 chapters and each chapter comprises of 10 couplets or kurals, thus accounting for a total of 1,330 couplets.
“Tirukkural’s greatness can be summed up in Mahatma Gandhi’s words. During his conversation with Tolstoy, the Mahatma had said that he should be born as Tamilian to read Tirukkural,” says D. Hariparanthaman, a retired judge of Madras High Court. Valluvar was unique. He never advocated uttering a lie.
