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by A Kathirasen
The Thirukkural is a gift of God to mankind. Written by the Sage Thiruvalluvar, the Thirukkural is in the form of couplets which convey noble thoughts.
Indian sages have worked out four great aims in life. The Thirukkural deals with three of the four great aims in life - Aram, porul, and inbam. The fourth great aim in life and the culmination of all the previous three is Veedu. Veedu means consciously returning back to our source. It is Sivagati. It is mukti.
Thiruvalluvar does not deal with the fourth aim in life in his Thirukkural. Some say this is because if you follow the first three perfectly, veedu will be automatically achieved.
The Thirukkural is a code of ethics. It has something noble for the ordinary man, the administrator, the king and the ascetic. It is global in perspective and it is as timely today as when it was written more than 2000 years ago. It deals with the power of virtue, extols self control, urges man to perform sacrifice and charity, elucidates the qualities that go to make perfection in all people - the married and the ascetic.
The Thirukkural consists of 133 chapters with each containing 10 couplets composed in the kural-venba metre. Divided into three sections, the first part called arattupaal in 38 chapters enumerates the ways to live a morally upright life; touching on such things as the happy married life and the greatness of those who renounce.
The second poart, called porutpaal tackles the conduct of those involved in administration and socio-political life; about social relations and citizenship.
The third part, inbatupaal, deals with love; about physical longing, about true love and ethics.
The Thirukkural has achieved a perfect balance between the secular and the spiritual.
Although we can say much about the book, we cannot do the same about the author. Very little is known about Thiruvalluvar and his life.
Indian sages have this unique quality of making themselves unimportant and wishing only for their works to be known and useful. They shy away from talking about themselves. This is one reason why there is little information about many of our sages. They held the belief that their message was more important than themselves. Thiruvalluvar was one of these noble souls.
Thiruvalluvar's parents names are not conclusively known. However his wife's name is given as Vasugi. She is described as the embodiment of chastity with many stories about her purity being often quoted even today.
The Thirukkural can lead to a happy, contented, morally upright and peaceful life. It can lead to harmonious and peaceful social relations and co-existence.
