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Thirukkural - The Universal Book
(Compiled for Students of Non-Tamil)
- Over 2000 years old Human code of conduct book
- This non-religious literature guides the world community.
- It covers all old, ongoing, upcoming human life challenges and solutions.
- It touches all parts of human life from birth to death and gives deep insight.
- It is consumed by world Philosophers and leaders
- Translated into 62 Languages and expected 320 Translations by 2030.
- English scholars translated Thirukkural 131 times.
- Gandhi, Leo-Tolstoy and world philosophers mentioned this greatness.
The Thirukkural is an ancient Tamil non-religious literature that guides people on better living. Thirukkural comprises two words Thiru and Kural. Thiru means divine and Kural means short verses in two lines with 7 words. Though written over 2,000 years ago by Thiruvalluvar in Tamil, the way of life advised by Thirukkural is still relevant to the World Community. Thirukkural deals with three important life philosophies: Righteousness (Aram), wealth (Porul) and Love (Inbam). It consists of 1,330 kurals in 133 sections of ten each.
Mahatma Gandhi
“You very rightly draw my atten- tion to the treasures that are to be found in Thirukkural. Let me in- form you that some twenty years ago I began to learn Tamil with the desire and object of studying Tirukural in its original language. It has been a matter of deep sorrow to me that God never gave me time to finish studying the Tam- il language. I am entirely in favor of the agitation for making the vernaculars as a medium of instruction. We ought to learn the Tamil language and prefer it to English and place it above all other languages.”
Rev. G. U. Pope (1886):
The kural owes much of its popularity to its exquisite poetic form. The brevity rendered necessary by the form gives an oracular effect to the utterances of the great Tamil 'Master of sentences'. They are the choicest of moral epigrams. Their resemblance to gnomic poetry of Greece is remarkable as to their subjects, their sentiments, and the state of society when they were uttered. Something of the same kind is found in Greek epigrams, in Martial and the Latin elegiac verse. There is a beauty in the periodic character of the Tamil construction in many of these verses that reminds the reader of the happiest efforts of Propertius.``
Leo Tolstoy
Gandhi published ‘A Letter to a Hindu’ written by Leo Tolstoy in his magazine, The Indi- an Opinion.In that essay, Tolstoy quotes from Thirukkural.
Tolstoy mentions six Kurals and remarks, “Thus it went on everywhere. The recognition that love represents the highest morality was nowhere denied or contradicted, but this truth was so interwoven everywhere with all kinds of falsehoods which distorted it, that finally nothing of it remained but words.” He adds, “It was taught that this highest morality was only applicable to private life for home use, as it were but that in public life all forms of violence such as imprisonment, executions, and wars might be used for the protection of the majority against a minority of evil-doers, though such means were diametrically opposed to any vestige of love.”
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma (Translator of Thiru Kural)
Thirukkural is classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love.
In the Tamil-speaking world, rooted in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India, this book is revered as a guide for how to practice compassion, goodness, and good sense in the nitty-gritty of daily life—from the life of the home, to the work of leaders, to the ways of love in our heart. Its great practicality, openness, and ecological wisdom make it astonishingly relevant to our time.
Thiruvalluvar:
- Thiruvalluvar was a Tamil poet and philosopher, best known as the author of the Thirukkural, a classic Tamil text on ethics, morality, politics, and love.
- Thiruvalluvar is master of the couplet aphorism.
- Thiruvalluvar is believed to have lived between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE, though his exact time period is uncertain.
- Thiruvalluvar is highly revered in Tamil culture, and his teachings are considered universal, transcending religion and geography.
- Statues of Thiruvalluvar can be found across Tamil Nadu and in various countries, including a biggest one in Kanyakumari with 133-foot statue.
Thirukkural:
- Thirukkural is one of the most celebrated Ancient Classic Tamil literature works.
- The Thirukkural contains 133 chapters, which is arranged into three major divisions: Virtue, Wealth and Love.
- Virtue (Aram) – Ethical and moral living
- Wealth (Porul) – Political and economic matters
- Love (Inbam) – Romance and personal relationships
- Each chapter consists of 10 short couplets called as ‘KURAL’ - Which consists of two lines of Poetry, first line of Kural contains four words, while second contains three words.
- ‘KURAL’ is one of the shortest forms of Tamil poetry
- ‘THIRU' is a prefix meaning eminent, beauty, greatness, uniqueness, wealth and so on. Because of its greatness, the Kural was called Thiru Kural.
- Thirukkural is considered a 'common creed' (called as “ULAGA POTHU MARAI”), providing a guide for human morals and betterment in.
- Learning 1330 Thirukkural as “Mutrothal” is rewarded by TamilNadu govt. By giving cash price of Rs.15000/- and a certificate for school students. Various country Tamil Sangam, Thirukkural Organizations encourage students to learn Kural at the age of 13 and below follow/apply the meaning at each stage of Life. Free Training is offered by World Thirukkural Mutrothal Iyakkam (KuralWorld.org)
Why Thirukkural?
- Thirukkural covers a vast array of human knowledge, experience and wisdom, offering an intricate interweaving of ethics and poetry, full of wordplay, sharp imagery, and rhythmic sophistication. *
- Thirukkural goes beyond all barriers of differences like language, religious beliefs, nationality and lays down the formula for good living, that is applicable to all mankind. *
- Thirukkural is one of the guiding voices for the mankind, not of yesterday, to-day or tomorrow but of the mankind through eternity
Thirukkural and Tamil people:
- Thirukkural is one of the most celebrated books in Tamil’s two millennia of literary history.
- Tamil people celebrate, bow down to its knowledge, and actively seek inspiration from it.
- Thirukkural verse is showcased at Tamil Nadu’s Public transport (similar to Poems On the Underground in London Tube trains)
- Across the globe, Tamil children learn Thirukkural, also part of the Tamil language curriculum.
- Tamil diaspora is linked as the Thirukkural is a cornerstone of Tamil culture and is often taught and preserved within Tamil communities worldwide
- On 16 January 2019, the SOAS South Asia Institute welcomed members of Tamil Chair UK, the SOAS Tamil Society and A.S Rajan, Minister of Coordination from the High Commission of India to SOAS to mark the Harvest Festival of Pongal and Thiruvalluvar Day.
- A team formed and completed a research of promoting Thirukkural by compiling 48 schemes which are available at KuralWorld.org.
- At any age , any country, any time people can learn Thirukkural from World Thirukkural Mutrothal Movement from World Thirukkural Mutrothal iyakkam.
Thirukkural and Translations:
- A Research was initiated in 2018 by ValaiTami to document and collect all the evidence of Thirukkural Translations in Indian and foreign languages and got completed after 5 years of Study.
- The study found that the kural was translated in 62 Languages and 349 times and collected more than 55 printed books so far from various countries to create Thirukkural Library and Research Centre in Mayiladuthurai.
- First Thirukkural Translation was done in Malayalam , Year: 1595. Second Thirukkural Translation was done in Latin , Year: 1730.
- Latest Translations are isiZulu and Africans of South African languages.
- The only pending translations from India Official Language is Sindhi.
- By 2030, more than 300 Translations are expected to make Thirukkural as global by from UNESCO on “Heritage Book of Mankind” or “Memory of the World” category.
References:
- The Kural: Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural (Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma)
- https://www.valaitamil.com/literature_thirukkural
- www.KuralWorld.org
- https://thomaspruiksma.com/books/tiruvalluvars-tirukkural/ 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kural
- https://nvsr.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/thiruvalluvar-inspired-gandhi-mahan/
- https://www.valaitamil.com/Thirukkural-translations-in-world-languages book-release_21164.html
- A Bibliography of thirukkural (A. Thirumalaimuthuswami)
- https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2021/Jul/26/dmk brings-back-boards-with-thirukkural-verses-in-government-buses 2335388.html
- https://tamilstudiesuk.org/
- https://www.soas.ac.uk/
- Book : Thirukkural Translations in World Languages
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