Thirukkural
The monument – Valluvar Kottam:
The picture to the left is of a monument in Chennai, India. It was built in 1970 and is dedicated to Thiruvalluvar, the author of this classical Tamil poem collection named Thirukkural.
Interesting facts about Thirukkural:
Thirukkural was written few thousand years ago on Palm Tree Leaves using metal stylus (knife pen) by the author known as Thiruvalluvar, aka., Poyyamozhi Pulavar and Theivappulavar
It is a classic Tamil-language poem collection consisting of three main sections, namely, Virtue, Wealth, and Pleasure. Each section covers several topics. Section one contains 38 topics, Section two contains 70 topics, and Section three contains 25 topics. Each topic contains 10 couplets (Kurals).
It consisted of a total of 1,330 short, two-line couplets. Each couplet is written using only seven words; however, information is packed within it, like the DNA, which holds a lot of information.
Its first poem starts with the first letter of the Tamil Alphabet, ‘அ’ (sounds like ‘ah’) and the last one ends with the last letter of Tamil Alphabet, ‘ன்’. That reflects the author’s exceptional talent and his mastery skills of the Tamil language.
It is an all-inclusive ethical guide, because it gives guidance on how to lead a good life.
It is an essential book on ethical philosophy. It portrays a way of life and it lays down a code of conduct.
The author’s breadth and depth of knowledge is amazing. The author’s high intelligence will be very visible throughout his work.
If you read the Tamil script of this masterpiece, you will notice the author’s excellent writing skills and word choices and you will experience an immense pleasure while reading it. I am lucky being born as a Tamilian to enjoy that.
It was translated into English in the 1850’s and it was translated into many other languages too. It is a world renowned classic Tamil literature.
About this Project:
This website provides an explanation of the classic Tamil language’s masterpiece poem collection called “Thirukkural” in simple and modern English. It is the supreme work of all the Tamil literature written so far. The main purpose of this site is to raise awareness about it among English and Tamil readers and for them to learn important information from it as well.
In addition to that, my goal is to provide explanations using simple and modern English, which would help the readers understand the material very well without losing the original meaning, concept, and core value of this masterpiece of Tamil work. The same thing applies for the explanations provided in Tamil as well.
For this project, I have used several sources, including books and the thirukkural.com website. I have read seven different authors’ Tamil explanations and interpretations and an author’s English explanation work done in the 1850s.
For Tamil dictionary references, I have used these websites: ilearntamil.com and https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/kadirvelu/.
For Tamil explanation scripts, I have used this website: tamiltyping.in.
For Tamil grammar and spell check, I have used this website: http://vaani.neechalkaran.com/.
For English dictionary references, I have used lots of online websites: Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster online dictionary websites.
For English grammar and spell check, I have used the paid version of the AI tool, https://quillbot.com/.
For an online search, I have used Google.com.
What is special about my work?
I have to read and reread the couplet (kural) in order to understand it better, and then I have to perform thorough analysis and research on finding the meaning of the word(s) in use. In addition to that, I have to read other authors’ Tamil explanations as well. I have to perform those things, mainly because the original work is in olden-style Tamil and there are many meanings for a Tamil word, and a given meaning will be based on the context.
In many of the couplets, the original author, ThiruValluvar, makes gender-neutral references, but that was being presented using masculine references in most of the other authors work. That could be because the norm exists in society to refer to masculine as the first choice with reference to the general context. However, that is where I try to make the distinction in my explanation by reflecting the original authors’ references as-is, where applicable.
My Tamil and English explanations are in a relatively modern style, and they reflect and retain the original meaning, concept, and core values of Thirukkural.
About Myself:
My name is MANICKAVASAGAM (AKA Mani). In 1964, I was born in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. In 1987, I received a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Madras. Back in 1994, I had the opportunity to migrate to the USA to work in the computer systems industry. Since then, I have been living in the USA. My hobbies include playing tennis, reading, and a special focus on Tamil literature readings.