Thiruvalluvar

Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: த வ வ ), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil

poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the Tirukkuṟaḷ, a collection of couplets
on ethics, political and economical matters, and love. The text is considered an exceptional and
widely cherished work of the Tamil literature.[8]
 Thiruvalluvar

Artistic depiction of Thiruvalluvar

Born Uncertain[a]
Birthplace unknown; probably Mylapore[1][2]

Other names Valluvar • Mudharpaavalar • Deivappulavar •

Maadhaanupangi • Naanmuganaar •

Naayanaar • Poyyirpulavar • Dhevar •

Perunaavalar[3]

Notable work Tirukkuṟaḷ

Region Tondai Nadu of Tamil nadu

Main interests Ethics • ahimsa • justice • virtue •

politics • education • family • friendship •

love

Notable ideas Common ethics and morality

Influences
Ancient Indian literature including Hindu and Jain literature, Tolkappiyam, Early Sangam
literature[4][5][6]
 Influenced
Ilango Adigal, Sekkilar, Kambar, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Constantius Joseph
Beschi, Karl Graul, Vallalar, George Uglow Pope, Alexander Piatigorsky, Yu Hsi, and virtually all
subsequent Indian, especially South Indian philosophy[7]

Almost no authentic information is available about Valluvar, states Kamil Zvelebil – a scholar of
Tamil literature.[9] His life and likely background are variously inferred from his literary works by
different biographers. There are unauthentic hagiographic and legendary accounts of Valluvar's
life, and all major Indian religions, as well as Christian missionaries of the 19th century, have
tried to claim him as secretly inspired (crypto-) or originally belonging to their tradition.[10] Little
is known with certainty about his family background, religious affiliation, or birthplace. He is
believed to have lived at least in the town of Mylapore (a neighbourhood of the present-day
Chennai), and his floruit is dated variously from 4th century BCE to early 5th century CE, based
on the traditional accounts and the linguistic analyses of his writings. Maraimalai Adigal gives
31 BCE as the birth year of Valluvar,[11] while Kamil Zvelebil infers the Tirukkuṟaḷ and Valluvar are
best dated to around 500 CE.[12][13]

Valluvar has influenced a wide range of scholars down the ages since his time across the
ethical, social, political, economical, religious, philosophical, and spiritual spheres.[14][15] He has
long been venerated as a great sage, and his literary works a classic of Tamil culture.[16]

Life

There is negligible authentic information available about Valluvar's life.[17] In fact, neither his
actual name nor the original title of his work can be determined with certainty.[10] Tirukkuṟaḷ itself
does not name its author. Monsieur Ariel, a French translator of his work in the 19th century,
famously said it is "the book without a name by an author without a name".[18] The name
Thiruvalluvar (lit. Saint Valluvar) was first mentioned in the later text Tiruvalluva Maalai.[19]

The speculations about Valluvar's life are largely inferred from his work Tirukkuṟaḷ and other
Tamil literature that quote him. According to Zvelebil, Valluvar was "probably a learned Jain with
eclectic leanings and intimate acquaintance with the early works of Tamil classical period and
some knowledge of the Sanskrit legal and didactic texts (subhashita)".[20][21]
Traditional biographies
…
The Shaivite Tamil text Tiruvalluva Maalai contains the earliest known textual reference to the
legend of Valluvar, but it remains undated.[22][note 1] This text attracted attention in the colonial
era because an early 19th-century commentary referred to him as "Valluvan" (Valluvar) whose
text presented the "esoteric wisdom of the Vedas to the world".[22] The original text relates the
Kural in the context of Sanskrit literature. The commentary includes the gloss that Valluvan was
"born in a low caste", but the original text does not. According to Stuart Blackburn, this comment
appears to be extra-textual and possibly based on the oral tradition. No other pre-colonial textual
sources have been found to support any legends about the life of Valluvar. Starting around the
early 19th century, numerous legends on Valluvar in Indian languages and English were
published.[22]

Various claims have been made regarding Valluvar's family background and occupation in the
colonial era literature, all inferred from selective sections of his text or hagiographies published
since the colonial era started in Tamil Nadu.[23] One traditional version claims that he was a
Paraiyar weaver.[24] Another theory is that he must have been from the agricultural caste of
Vellalars because he extols agriculture in his work.[25] Another states he was an outcast, born to
a Pariah woman and Brahmin father.[25][23] Mu Raghava Iyengar speculated that "valluva" in his
name is a variation of "vallabha", the designation of a royal officer.[25] S. Vaiyapuri Pillai
suggested Valluvar derived his name from "valluvan" (a Paraiyar caste of royal drummers) and
theorized that he was "the chief of the proclaiming boys analogous to a trumpet-major of an
army".[25][26] H. A. Stuart, in his Census Report of 1891, claimed that Valluvans were a priestly
class among the Paraiyars and served as priests during Pallava reign, and similarly Robert
Caldwell, J. H. A. Tremenheere and Edward Jewitt Robinson, too, claimed that Valluvar was a
Paraiyar.[27] Valluvar was likely married to a woman named Vasuki and lived in Mylapore.[28]
According to traditional accounts, Valluvar died on the day of Anusham in the Tamil month of
Vaikasi.[29]

The poem Kapilar Agaval, purportedly written by Kapilar, describes its author as a brother of
Valluvar. It states that they were children of a Pulaya mother named Adi and a Brahmin father
named Bhagwan.[30] The poem claims that the couple had seven children, including three sons
(Valluvar, Kapilar, and Atikaman) and four sisters (Avvai, Uppai, Uruvai, and Velli).[31] However,
this legendary account is spurious.[32][33] Kamil Zvelebil dates Kapilar Agaval to 15th century CE,
based on its language.[30] Various biographies mention the name of Valluvar's wife as Vasuki,[34]
but such details are of doubtful historicity.[35]

The traditional biographies are not only inconsistent, they contain claims about Valluvar that are
not credible. Along with various versions of his birth circumstances, many state he went to a
mountain and met the legendary Agastya and other sages.[36] During his return journey, he sits
under a tree whose shadow sits still over Valluvar and does not move the entire day, he kills a
demon, performs miracles such as causing floods and making them retreat, he touches a
grounded ship which miraculously then floats and sails off, his bride Vasuki cooks sand which
comes out as boiled rice, and many more.[36] Scholars consider these and all associated aspects
of these hagiographic stories to be fiction and ahistorical, a feature common to "international
and Indian folklore". The alleged low birth, high birth, and being a pariah in the traditional
accounts are also doubtful.[37]

By 1904, Purnalingam Pillai – an ardent Dravidianist, had analyzed and called these traditional
accounts and stories as myths. Pillai's analysis and arguments are robust, according to
Blackburn.[38] These fictional accounts of Valluvar's life have become popular because aspects
of the traditional accounts were selectively accepted by Christian missionaries such as George
Pope and other European writers, were widely published and then became a required reading
about Tamil history.[39]

Date
Statue of Valluvar in the Thiruvalluvar Temple, Mylapore

The exact date of Valluvar is unclear. His work Tirukkuṟaḷ has been dated variously from 300 BCE
to about the 6th 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).[40] 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.[40] These early dates such
as 300 BCE to 1 BCE are unacceptable and not supported by evidence within the text, states
Zvelebil. The diction and grammar of the Tirukkuṟaḷ, his indebtedness to some earlier Sanskrit
sources, suggest that he lived after the "early Tamil bardic poets", but before Tamil bhakti poets
era.[25][40]

In 1959, S. Vaiyapuri Pillai assigned the work to around or after the 6th-century CE. His proposal
is based on the evidence that the Tirukkuṟaḷ contains a large proportion of Sanskrit loan words,
shows awareness and indebtedness to some Sanskrit texts best dated to the first half of the 1st-
millennium CE, and the grammatical innovations in the language of Tirukkuṟaḷ.[40][note 2] Pillai
published a list of 137 Sanskrit loan words in Tirukkuṟaḷ.[42] Later scholars Thomas Burrow and
Murray Barnson Emeneau show that 35 of these are of Dravidian origin, and not Sanskrit loan
words. Zvelebil states that an additional few have uncertain etymology and future studies may
prove those to be Dravidian.[42] The 102 remaining loan words from Sanskrit are "not negligible",
and some of the teachings in the Tirukkuṟaḷ states Zvelebil are "undoubtedly" based on the then
extant Sanskrit works such as the Arthashastra and Manusmriti (also called the
Manavadharmasastra).[42]

According to Kamil Zvelebil, the Tirukkuṟaḷ does not belong to the (Sangam) period. In the 1970s,
Zvelebil dated the text to somewhere between 450 and 500 CE.[9][note 3] His estimate is based on
the dates of Tamil texts with similar Tamil language features,[note 4] and by placing it after some
of the Tamil and Sanskrit treatises that are evidenced in the Tirukkuṟaḷ.[25] 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 with these older
texts.[46] 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
are "undoubtedly" translations of the verses in Sanskrit classics.[47]

In the 19th century and early 20th century, European writers and missionaries variously dated the
text and Valluvar to between 400 and 1000 CE.[48] According to Blackburn, the "current scholarly
consensus" dates the text and the author to approximately 500 CE.[48]

In January 1935, the Tamil Nadu government officially recognized 31 BCE as the year of Valluvar.
As suggested by Maraimalai Adigal, the Valluvar Year was added to the calendar.[49] Thus, the
Valluvar year is calculated by adding 31 to any year of the common era.[11][50]

Birthplace

A temple for Valluvar in Mylapore

As with most other details about Valluvar, the exact place of his birth remains uncertain. Valluvar
is believed to have lived in Madurai and later in the town of Mayilapuram or Thirumayilai
(present-day Mylapore in Chennai).[26] There are also accounts that say he was born in
Mayilapuram and later moved to Madurai in order to publish his work at the royal court.[51] The
poem Kapilar Akaval states that Valluvar was born on the top of an oil-nut or iluppai tree
(Madhuca indica) in Mayilapuram,[31][52] while verse 21 of the Tiruvalluva Maalai claims that he
was born in Madurai.[10]

In 2005, a three-member research team from the Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research
Centre (KHCRC) claimed that Valluvar was born in Thirunayanarkurichi, a village in present-day
Kanyakumari district. Their claim was based on an old Kani tribal leader who told them that
Valluvar was a king who ruled the "Valluvanadu" territory in the hilly tracts of the Kanyakumari
district.[53][b]

Religion

Valluvar is generally thought to have belonged to either Jainism or Hinduism.[54][55][56] Hinduism,

Jainism, and Buddhism were the three religions that flourished in the Indian subcontinent during
the time of Valluvar.[57] Early 19th-century writers proposed that Valluvar may have been a Jain.
The 1819 translation by Francis Whyte Ellis mentions that the Tamil community debates whether
Valluvar was a Jain or Hindu.[58] If Valluvar was indeed a Jain, it raises questions about the
source of the traditional Valluvar legends and the mainstream colonial debate about his birth.[58]

Kamil Zvelebil believes that the ethics of the Tirukkuṟaḷ reflects the Jain moral code, particularly
moral vegetarianism (couplets 251–260), and ahimsa, that is, "abstention from killing" (couplets
321–333). Zvelebil states that the text contains epithets for God that reflect Jain ideology:[59]

Malarmicaiyekinan (Couplet 3), "he who walked upon the [lotus] flower"

Aravaliyantanan (Couplet 8), "the Brahmin [who had] the wheel of dharma"

Enkunattan (Couplet 9), "one of the eight-fold qualities"

These, according to Zvelebil, are "very much Jaina-like" because the arhat is seen as "standing
on the lotus",[59] or where the arhat in the Jain conception is the god with the lotus as his
vehicle.[60][61] There are exceptions, adds Zvelebil, when Valluvar treats this God with epithets
found in the Hindu text Manusmriti (1.6), that is, "the Primeval Lord" and "the King, the
Monarch".[59] Zvelebil states that his proposal is supported by the 13th-century Hindu scholar
Parimelalhagar, who wrote a commentary on the Kural text, who admitted that these epithets are
"very well applicable" to a Jain Arhat.[59] However, according to P. S. Sundaram – a scholar who
has translated the text in the late 20th century, Parimelalhagar's commentary explicitly states
that there are no [Jaina] heretical beliefs in the texts either.[62]

Some other epithets mentioned in the text also reflect a "strong ascetic flavour" of Jainism in
Zvelebil's view:[59]

Ventutal ventamai ilan (Couplet 4), "he who has neither desire nor aversion"

Porivayil aintavittan (Couplet 6), "he who has destroyed the gates of the five senses"

Zvelebil further states that Valluvar seems to have been "cognizant of the latest developments"
in Jainism.[59] Zvelebil theorizes that he was probably "a learned Jain with eclectic leanings",
who was well-acquainted with the earlier Tamil literature and also had knowledge of the Sanskrit
texts.[17] Early Digambara or Svetambara Jaina texts do not mention Valluvar. The first claim of
Valluvar as an authority appears in a 16th-century Jain text, about 1,100 years after his life.[63]

According to other scholars, Valluvar's writings suggest that he belonged to Hinduism. Hindu
teachers have mapped his teachings in Tirukkuṟaḷ to the teachings found in Hindu texts.[64]
Valluvar's treatment of the concept of ahimsa or non-violence, which is the principal concept in
both Jainism and Hinduism, bolsters this argument.[65] While the text extols the virtue of non-
violence, it also dedicates many of 700 porul couplets to various aspects of statecraft and
warfare in a manner similar to Arthasastra:[66] "An army has a duty to kill in battle, and a king
must execute criminals for justice."[67] This non-mystic realism and the readiness for just war
teachings are similar to those found in Hinduism.[66] Matthieu Ricard believes Valluvar belonged
to the Shaivite tradition of South India.[68]

The three parts that the Kural literature is divided into, namely, aram (virtue), porul (wealth) and
inbam (love), aiming at attaining vitu (ultimate salvation), follow, respectively, the four
foundations of Hinduism, namely, dharma, artha, kama and moksha.[69][65] According to Norman
Cutler, the prodigious 13th-century Tamil scholar Parimelalakar – who wrote the most influential
commentary on Tirukkuṟaḷ – interprets the layout and focus on the Valluvar to be synonymous
with the Sanskritic concept of Puruṣārtha (the objectives of human life).[70] According to
Parimelalakar, the Valluvar text covers primarily and directly the first three aspects, but not vitu
(moksha, release). The text, however, does cover turavaram (renunciation) – the means to attain
spiritual release. Thus, vitu is indirectly discussed.[71]

Portrait of Valluvar approved by the Government of India in the late 20th century.

In the introductory chapters of the Kural, Valluvar cites Indra, the king of heaven, to exemplify the
virtue of conquest over one's senses.[72] According to Tamil Hindu scholars such as
Parimelalakar, other concepts and teachings found in Valluvar's text and also found in Hindu
texts include Vedas,[73] gods (Trimurti), sattva, guṇa, munis and sadhus (renouncers), rebirth,
affirmation of a primordial God, among others.[74][75][76] According to Purnalingam Pillai, who is
known for his critique of Brahminism, a rational analysis of the Valluvar's work suggests that he
was a Hindu, and not a Jain.[38] Similarly, J. J. Glazov, a Tamil literature scholar and the
translator of the Kural text into the Russian language, sees "Thiruvalluvar as a Hindu by faith",
according to a review by Kamil Zvelebil.[77]

Valluvar’s mentioning of God Vishnu in couplets 610 and 1103 and Goddess Lakshmi in couplets
167, 408, 519, 565, 568, 616, and 617 hints at the Vaishnavite beliefs of Valluvar.[76] Shaivites
have characterised Valluvar as a devotee of Shiva and have installed his images in their
temples.[78] According to Zvelebil, Valluvar sometimes uses epithets for God that are found in
Hindu Dharmasastras and not in Jaina texts.[59] Further, in some teachings about politics,
economics, and love, Valluvar undoubtedly has translated into Tamil the verses found in Hindu
texts such as Arthasastra.[42]

According to Stuart Blackburn, the Tirukkuṟaḷ is not a bhakti text, and it neither satirizes nor
eulogizes Brahmins or ritualism. It is a practical, pragmatic text and "certainly not a Shaivite or
Vaishnavite" text.[13] According to Norman Cutler, Tirukkuṟaḷ is an aphoristic text and the
influential Parimelalakar's commentary interprets it within his own context, grounded in Hindu
concepts and theological agenda. His elegantly written interpretations have made his
commentary a Tamil classic and maneuvered Valluvar as consistent within the framework of
Parimelalakar's Hinduism. His commentary on Valluvar's teachings reflects both the cultural
values and textual values in the 13th-to-14th-century Tamil Nadu. Valluvar's text can be
interpreted and maneuvered in other ways.[79]

Other religious claims

…
Despite scholars suggesting that Valluvar is either a Jain or a Hindu, owing to the Kural text's
non-denominational nature, almost every religious group in India, including Christianity, has
claimed the work and its author as one of their own.[25] However, these claims are not supported
academically and are constantly refuted by scholars. For example, the Christian claims have
cropped up only after the colonial missionaries came to India. The Tamil Scholar Mu.
Varadarajan suggests Valluvar must have "practised religious eclecticism, maintained
unshakeable faith in dharma but should have rejected religious symbols and superstitious
beliefs."[80][81]

Buddhism
The Dalit activist Iyothee Thass, who converted to Buddhism, claimed that Valluvar was
originally called "Tiruvalla Nayanar", and was a Buddhist.[82] Thass further contended that the
name "Tirukkuṟaḷ" is a reference to the Buddhist Tripiṭaka.[83] He claims that Valluvar's book was
originally called Tirikural ("Three Kurals"), because it adhered to the three Buddhist scriptures
Dhamma Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Vinaya Pitaka.[82] According to Thass, the legend that presents
Valluvar as the son of a Brahmin father and a Paraiyar mother was invented by Brahmins in
1825, who wanted to Hinduise a Buddhist text.[82] According to Geetha, the deconstruction and
reinterpretation of the history of Valluvar into a Buddhist framework by Thass shows the
significance and appropriation of Valluvar's text by all sections of Tamil society.[82]

Christianity

The 19th-century Christian missionary George Uglow Pope claimed that Valluvar must have
come in contact with Christian teachers such as Pantaenus of Alexandria, imbibed Christian
ideas and peculiarities of Alexandrian teachers and then wrote the "wonderful Kurral" with an
echo of the "Sermon of the Mount".[10] According to Pope, Valluvar must have lived in the 9th
century CE because that would fit the historical chronology to his theory.[84] Nevertheless,
scholars, including Zvelebil, J. M. Nallaswamy Pillai, Sundaram Pillai, Kanakasabai Pillai, and
Krishnaswamy Aiyengar, and even missionaries such as John Lazarus refute such
claims.[85][86][87] Pillai declares Pope's claim as "an absurd literary anachronism" and says that
the first two books of the Kural, in particular, are "a stumbling block which can browbeat the
most sublime ideas of Christian morality."[87] According to John Lazarus, the Kural’s chapter on
"no killing" applies to both humans and animals, in stark contrast to the Bible’s concept of killing,
which refers only to the taking away of human life.[88] He observes, "None of the ten epithets by
which the Deity is described in the opening chapter of the Kural have the remotest connection
with Christ or God, that is to say, as they are designated in the Bible".[88] He also says that the
chapter on love "is quite different from the Apostle’s eulogium in 1 Cor. xiii".[88]

In the 1960s, some South Indian Christians led by M. Deivanayagam at the Madras Christian
College, presented Valluvar as a disciple of Thomas the Apostle.[89] According to this theory,
Thomas visited present-day Chennai, where Valluvar listened to his lectures on the Sermon of
the Mount.[35][89] However, later scholars refute this claim. According to Zvelebil, the ethics and
ideas in Valluvar's work are not Christian ethics, but those found in Jainism doctrine.[55] Zvelebil
points out to the Kural's unwavering emphasis on the ethics of moral vegetarianism (Chapter 26)
and non-killing (Chapter 33), as against any of the Abrahamic religious texts.[55]

Literary works

Statue of Valluvar at Kanyakumari

Tirukkuṟaḷ is the primary work credited to Valluvar. It contains 1330 couplets, which are divided
into 133 sections of 10 couplets each. The first 38 sections are on moral and cosmic order
(Tamil: aram, Skt: dharma), the next 70 are about political and economic matters (Tamil: porul,
Skt: artha), and the remaining 25 are about pleasure (Tamil: inbam, Skt: kama).[17][90]

Of the three sections, Valluvar's second section (porul) is about twice the size of first section,
and three times that of the third.[91] In the 700 couplets on porul (53% of the text), Valluvar
mostly discusses statecraft and warfare.[69] Valluvar's work is a classic on realism and
pragmatism, and it is not a mystic, purely philosophical document.[69] Valluvar teachings are
similar to those found in Arthasastra, but differ in some important aspects. In Valluvar's theory of
state, unlike Kautilya, the army (patai) is most important element.[69] Valluvar recommends that a
well kept and well trained army (patai) led by an able commander and ready to go to war is
necessary for a state. Valluvar presents his theory of state using six elements: army (patai),
subjects (kuti), treasure (kul), ministers (amaiccu), allies (natpu), and forts (aran).[69] Valluvar also
recommends forts and other infrastructure, supplies and food storage in preparation for
siege.[69][92]

The Tirukkuṟaḷ text has been translated into several Indian and international languages.[93] It was
translated into Latin by Constanzo Beschi in 1730, which helped make the work known to
European intellectuals.[94][95][96] Tirukkuṟaḷ is one of the most revered works in the Tamil
language.

Tirukkuṟaḷ is generally recognized as the only work by Valluvar. However, in the Tamil literary
tradition, Valluvar is attributed to be the author of many other later-dated texts including two
Tamil texts on medicine, Gnana Vettiyan (1500 verses) and Pancharathnam (500 verses). Many
scholars state that these are much later era texts (16th and 17th centuries), possibly by an
author with the same name as Valluvar.[97] These books, 'Pancharathnam' and 'Gnana Vettiyan',
contribute to Tamil science, literature and other Siddha medicines.[98] In addition to these, 15
other Tamil texts have been attributed to Valluvar, namely, Rathna Sigamani (800 verses), Karpam
(300 verses), Nadhaantha Thiravukol (100 verses), Naadhaantha Saaram (100 verses), Vaithiya
Suthram (100 verses), Karpaguru Nool (50 verses), Muppu Saathiram (30 verses), Vaadha
Saathiram (16 verses), Muppu Guru (11 verses), Kavuna Mani (100 verses), Aeni Yettram (100
verses), Guru Nool (51 verses), Sirppa Chinthamani (a text on astrology), Tiruvalluvar Gyanam, and
Tiruvalluvar Kanda Tirunadanam.[99] Several scholars, such as Devaneya Pavanar, deny that
Thiruvalluvar was the author of these texts.[100]

Reception
A 1960 commemorative stamp of Valluvar

George Uglow Pope called Valluvar "the greatest poet of South India", but according to Zvelebil,
he does not seem to have been a poet. According to Zvelebil, while the author handles the metre
very skillfully, the Tirukkuṟaḷ does not feature "true and great poetry" throughout the work, except,
notably, in the third book, which deals with love and pleasure. This suggests that Valluvar's main
aim was not to produce a work of art, but rather an instructive text focused on wisdom, justice,
and ethics.[16]

Valluvar is revered and highly esteemed in the Tamil culture, and this is reflected in the fact that
his work has been called by nine different names: Tirukkuṟaḷ (the sacred kural), Uttaravedam (the
ultimate Veda), Thiruvalluvar (eponymous with the author), Poyyamoli (the falseless word),
Vayurai valttu (truthful praise), Teyvanul (the divine book), Potumarai (the common Veda), Muppal
(the three-fold path), and Tamilmarai (the Tamil Veda).[25]

Its influence and historic use is legendary. In 1708, the German missionary, Bartholomaus
Ziegenbalg, remarked that the Malabaris "think very highly of it", they make it "their handbook"
often quoting from it to prove the validity of their traditions and arguments, and such books are
"not just read but learned by heart" by the learned among them.[101] According to Blackburn, it is
hard to outdo the "hyperbolic honors" heaped on Valluvar and his work by the early Europeans in
colonial India. Gover, for example, praised it as "Tamil Homer, The Ten Commandments, and
Dante rolled into one".[101] During the colonial era, it was the text the Hindus used to respond to
the "Christian allegations of Hindu superstition and barbarity".[102]

Temples
…
Valluvar is traditionally worshiped as a god and saint by various communities across the
Southern region of India. Many communities, including those in Mylapore, and Tiruchuli, worship
Valluvar as the 64th Nayanmar of the Saivite tradition.[103] There are various temples exclusively
dedicated to Valluvar across South India. The most famous of these is the temple at Mylapore,
Chennai. Built in the early 16th century, the temple is located within the Ekambareeswara-
Kamakshi (Shiva-Parvati) temple complex in Mylapore.[104] The locals believe that this is where
Valluvar was born, underneath a tree within the shrines complex. A Valluvar statue in a seated
posture holding a palm leaf manuscript of Tirukkuṟaḷ sits under the tree.[104] In the shrine
dedicated to him, Valluvar's wife Vasuki is patterned after the Hindu deity Kamakshi inside the
sanctum. The temple shikhara (spire) above the sanctum shows scenes of Hindu life and
deities, along with Valluvar reading his couplets to his wife.[104] The sthala vriksham (holy tree of
the temple) is the iluppai tree under which Valluvar is believed to have been born.[52] The temple
was extensively renovated in the 1970s.[105]

At the Valluvar temple at Tiruchuli near Aruppukkottai in Virudhunagar district of the Indian state
of Tamil Nadu, Valluvar is taken in a procession as the 64th Nayanmar on his death anniversary
in the Tamil month of Maasi (February–March) by the Valluvar community, who are into fortune-
telling, chiefly in the Periya Pudupatti village.[103]

Other temples for Valluvar are located at Periya Kalayamputhur, Thondi, Kanjoor Thattanpady,
Senapathy, and Vilvarani.[106]

Memorials …
Thiruvalluvar statue at SOAS, University of London.

A temple-like memorial to Valluvar, Valluvar Kottam, was built in Chennai in 1976.[107] This
monument complex consists of structures usually found in Dravidian temples,[108] including a
temple car[109] carved from three blocks of granite, and a shallow, rectangular pond.[107] The
auditorium adjoining the memorial is one of the largest in Asia and can seat up to 4,000
people.[110]

A 133-foot tall statue of Valluvar was unveiled on January 1, 2000, at Kanyakumari at the
southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian
Ocean converge. The 133 feet denote Tirukkuṟaḷ's 133 chapters or athikarams and the show of
three fingers denote the three themes Aram, Porul, and Inbam, that is, the sections on morals,
wealth and love. The statue was designed by V. Ganapati Sthapati, a temple architect from Tamil
Nadu.[111] On 9 August 2009, a statue was unveiled in Ulsoor, near Bengaluru, also making it the
first of its kind in India for a poet of a local language to be installed in its near states other than
his own home land. A 12-foot statue of Valluvar was also installed in Haridwar,
Uttarakhand.[112][113] There is also a statue of Valluvar outside the School of Oriental and African
Studies in Russell Square, London.[114][115] A life-size statue of Valluvar is one among an array of
statues installed by the Tamil Nadu government on the stretch of the Marina.[116]

The Government of Tamil Nadu celebrates the 15th (16th on leap years) of January (the 2nd of
the month of 'Thai' as per Tamil Calendar) as Thiruvalluvar Day in the poet's honour, as part of the
Pongal celebrations.[117] Thiruvalluvar Day was first celebrated on the 17th and 18th of May
1935.[118]
Music
…
Valluvar's works have also influenced the South Indian classical music and popular culture.
Carnatic musicians and composers such as Mayuram Vishwanatha Shastri and M. M.
Dandapani Desigar have tuned select couplets in the 19th and 20th centuries. In January 2016,
Chitravina N. Ravikiran set music to the entire 1330 verses using over 169 Indian ragas.[119] The
Kural couplets have also been recorded by various Tamil film music composers.

See also

Sarvajna and Tiruvalluvar statue installation

Valluvar Kottam

List of Sangam poets

Thiruvalluvar year

Thiruvalla

Kingdom of Valluvanad

Notes

1. Blackburn suggests 10th century, but expresses his doubt with a question mark.[13]

2. For examples of Sanskrit loan words, see Zvelebil's The Smile of Murugan.[41]

3. Zvelebil gives several date ranges. In 1973, he suggested 450–550 CE.[43] In 1974 and 1975 publications,
he narrowed that to 450–500 CE.[44][45]

4. An example would be the use of the suffix -kal for both nouns of the higher and lower class. Another
example is the frequent use of condition suffix -el, a feature absent in early Tamil literature and common
by about the 5th-century.[46]

a. ^ The period of Valluvar is dated variously by scholars from c. 4th century BCE to c. 5th century CE, based
on various methods of analysis, including traditional accounts and linguistics analyses. The officially
accepted date, however, is 31 BCE, as ratified by the government in 1921, and the Valluvar Year is being
followed ever since.[11] For more in-depth analysis, see Dating the Tirukkural.
b. ^ "Valluvanadu" was a Taluk in erstwhile Madras Presidency as part of Malabar District. Currently, that
area is part of Palakkad and Malappuram districts of Kerala adjoining the Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu. The
Valluvanadu kings claim that they descended from Pallava Kings and were ruling earlier from the Nilgiri
area.

References

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2. Muthiah, 2014, p. 232.

3. P. R. Natarajan 2008, p. 2.

4. Zvelebil, 1973, pp. 157–171.

5. Zvelebil, 1975, pp. 123–127.

. Mohan Lal, 1992, pp. 4333–4334, 4341–4342.

7. Lal, 1992, pp. 4333–4334, 4341–4342.

. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, pp. 123–124.

9. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 124.

10. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 125.

11. Arumugam, 2014, pp. 5, 15.

12. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 155–156 (c. 450–550 CE);

Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 119 (c. 450–500 CE);
Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 124 (c. 500 CE)

13. Stuart Blackburn 2000, p. 454.

14. Velusamy and Faraday, 2017, pp. 7–13.

15. Sundaramurthi, 2000, p. 624.

1 . Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 168.

17. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 155.

1 . Pope, 1886, p. i.

19. Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 449–482.

20. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 125 with footnotes).

21. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 155 with footnotes).

22. Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 456–457.

23. Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 458–464.

24. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, pp. 124–125.

25. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 156.

2 . Pavanar, 2017, pp. 24–26.

27. Moffatt, 1979, p. 19-21.

2 . Periyanna, 1968, p. 23.

29. Periyanna, 1968, p. 227.

30. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 227.

31. Kamil Zvelebil 1991, p. 25.

32. Shuddhananda A. Sarma 2007, p. 76.

33. Irāmaccantiran̲ Nākacāmi 1997, p. 202.

34. Pavanar, 2017, pp. 32–33.

35. Mohan Lal 1992, p. 4341.

3 . Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 460–464.

37. Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 459–464.

3 . Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 464–465.

39. Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 467–469.

40. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 124 with footnotes.

41. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 169–171.

42. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 170–171.

43. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 155–156 (c. 450–550 CE).

44. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 119 (c. 450–500 CE).

45. Kamil Zvelebil 1975, p. 124 (c. 500 CE).

4 . Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 169.

47. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 171.

4 . Stuart Blackburn 2000, pp. 454 with footnote 7.

49. Thiruvalluvar Ninaivu Malar, 1935, p. 117.

50. Iraikkuruvanar, 2009, p. 72.

51. Robinson, 1873, pp. 15, 20.

52. Ramakrishnan, Deepa H. (15 November 2019). "As a war of words rages outside, peace reigns inside this
temple" (https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/as-a-war-of-words-rages-outside-peace-reigns-i
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53. Research team claims to have found Thiruvalluvar's kingdom, 2005.

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57. Kovaimani and Nagarajan 2013, p. 148.

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59. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 157.

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4. Swamiji Iraianban 1997, p. 13.

5. P.S. Sundaram 1987, pp. xiii–xvii, Appendix note on verse 1103.

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Tirukkural". East and West. 44 (2/4): 325. JSTOR 29757156 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757156) .,
Quote: "Non-killing is an absolute virtue (Aram) in the Arattuppal (the glory of virtue section), but the
army's duty is to kill in battle and the king has to execute a number of criminals in the process of justice.
In these cases, the violations of the Aram [in the earlier section] are justified [by Thiruvalluvar] in virtue of
the special duties cast on the king and the justification is that 'a few wicked must be weeded out to save
the general public' (TK 550)."

. Ricard, 2016, p. 27.

9. Kaushik Roy (2012). Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present (htt
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70. Norman Cutler 1992, pp. 553–554.

71. Norman Cutler 1992, pp. 554–555.

72. P.S. Sundaram 1987, pp. 21, 159.

73. A.K. Ananthanathan (1994). "Theory and Functions of the State The Concept of aṟam (virtue) in
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74. P. R. Natarajan 2008, pp. 1–6.

75. Norman Cutler 1992, pp. 555–558.

7 . Kovaimani and Nagarajan 2013, pp. 145–148.

77. Kamil Zvelebil (1984). "Tirukural, translated from Tamil into Russian by J. Glazov". Archiv Orientální. 32:
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7 . Raj Pruthi & Bela Rani Sharma 1995, p. 113.

79. Norman Cutler 1992, pp. 558–561, 563.

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2. K. A. Geetha 2015, p. 49.

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107. Abram(Firm), 2003, p. 421.

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109. Hancock, 2010, p. 113–.

110. Kamath, 2010, p. 34–.

111. TiruvaḷḷuvarSubramuniyaswami, 2000, pp. 31–32.

112. Upadhyay, Kavita (20 December 2016). "Thiruvalluvar finally gets pride of place in Haridwar" (https://ww
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6907620.ece) . The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0971-751X) . Retrieved
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113. Dec 20, Sheo S. Jaiswal | TNN |; 2016; Ist, 08:32. "Six months on, Thiruvalluvar's statue unveiled in
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117. Various, 2010, p. 13.

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