ETHICAL VALUES FROM THIRUKKURAL
INTRODUCTION
THIRUKKURAL/Tiruvalluvar
Thirukkural written by Thiruvalluvar is one of the most notable literary and ethical treatises in the Indian languages.
There is a general consensus among the historians and literary authorities that Thirukkural was written around 2000 years ago. Thirukkural is one of the few literary works that have survived over the past two thousand years and is regarded as relevant even today.
Thirukkural aims at guiding human beings to lead a moral, ethical and useful life in this world. Its focus, unlike religious works, is “life on earth” and “life-affirmation”. According to him , “One who lives an ideal life in this world will be ranked amongst the Gods in heaven”.
In an ever-changing world, Thirukkural deals with certain basic, but permanent, aspects of life such as morality, ethics, politics, and romance. Thirukkural has been translated in more than 30 languages, and is the most translated book on ethics in the world next only to the Bible and the Koran.
The most important features of Thirukkural are:
1) it is secular in nature,
2) it is universal and applicable to people living everywhere,
3) it is everlasting and its messages transcend time.
This secular, universal and immortal nature of Thirukkural combined with its conciseness and literary charm has been the pride of Tamil people for the past many centuries.
INTRODUCTION
Ø Like the great Vedic literature, the Rarnayana and the Mahabharata, Thirukkural by Thiruvaluvar is also an epic.
Ø The word Thirukkural is a combination of two Tamil words “thiru” and “kural“. The word ‘Thiru‘ means beautiful or auspicious. The word “kural‘ means short poem consisting of two lines, a couplet.
Ø Thirukkural consists of 1,330 couplets (kural) and divided into three parts. The first part deals with the ethical code of conduct (virtues: aroma) and the second part deals with political governance, wealth and other topics of social and material interest(pond).
Ø The third part deals with romance and love(inbam). Thirukkural expounds various aspects of life also known as rarniimarai (Tamil Veda); poyyarnozhi (speech that does not become false) and dheiva two! (divine text).
Thirukkural written by Thiruvalluvar is one of the most notable literary and ethical treatises in the Indian languages.
There is a general consensus among the historians and literary authorities that Thirukkural was written around 2000 years ago. Thirukkural is one of the few literary works that have survived over the past two thousand years and is regarded as relevant even today.
Thirukkural aims at guiding human beings to lead a moral, ethical and useful life in this world. Its focus, unlike religious works, is “life on earth” and “life-affirmation”. According to him , “One who lives an ideal life in this world will be ranked amongst the Gods in heaven”.
In an ever-changing world, Thirukkural deals with certain basic, but permanent, aspects of life such as morality, ethics, politics, and romance. Thirukkural has been translated in more than 30 languages, and is the most translated book on ethics in the world next only to the Bible and the Koran.
The most important features of Thirukkural are:
1) it is secular in nature,
2) it is universal and applicable to people living everywhere,
3) it is everlasting and its messages transcend time.
This secular, universal and immortal nature of Thirukkural combined with its conciseness and literary charm has been the pride of Tamil people for the past many centuries.
· The great sage Tiruvalluvar has presented his thoughts in verses of extreme beauty and delicacy. The combination of ideas, language and metre is unique. The verses presented in this article are all translations from the original Tamil.
· Every translator, without exception, has admitted that it is not possible to capture the elegance of Tiruvalluvar’s beautiful style and rhythm in a translation.
· It can, at best, be a pale reflection of the original work. His teachings have had a warm place in the hearts of the Tamil people for many generations, and have become part of their culture and life.
· They might not have always followed the saint, but they have loved, cherished and revered him. The following are few of the tributes in honour of Thirukkural
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