Thiruvalluvar is India’s especially revered and loved poet and philosopher for his epic collection of verse, the Tirukurral or simply, Kural – an independent couplet in which the first line consists of four words and the second line three. Scholars often date it between the third and fifth centuries CE, at the end of what is known as the Sangam period, a time of literary flourishing in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The name of the book combines the honorific Tamil prefix Tiru – “eminent,” “beautiful,” “holy”—with the name of the specific Tamil verse form that Tiruvalluvar employs, the ‘kural venpā’. The poet is believed to have lived in Mylapore, a neighbourhood in the central part of the State capital, Chennai. The 1,330 stanzas or kurals in the Tirukkural are divided into 133 chapters or themes called ‘Adhikaarams’.
The themes virtually cover every aspect of a human being’s life. They soar above time and space, cultures and religions, quite effortlessly. They affirm one’s belief in the universality of the human soul, its eternal swings between the grand and the wicked, the power of love, the wastefulness and sourness of strife. In its sweep and scope, it can be likened to Kabir, Rumi, Shakespeare, Milton, Homer and other works of great philosophical scope and earthly poise. Indeed, the Kural is dismissive of caste and other hierarchies.
As the translator Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma says: “ The book 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.” Elsewhere, he adds: “Tiruvalluvar uses this form (stanzas) to elucidate what it means to live a good life.” The Kural gracefully combines philosophy, pithy wit, wry ethics and rugged pragmatism.
Pruiksma explains: “Each chapter of the Kural consists of ten kurals on a single theme, such as friendship, hospitality, or rain. These verses are both complete in themselves and part of a larger whole in which all the different verses complement, augment, and amplify each other. 133 chapters, in turn, are arranged into sections that cover three of the four aims prescribed by Hindu tradition—virtue, wealth, and love. Most commentators claim, and I’m inclined to agree, that Tiruvalluvar leaves out the fourth aim—liberation from the cycle of birth and death—because if a person pursues the first three wholeheartedly, the fourth is a natural result.”
It is scarcely surprising that the Kural has been translated into more than 40 world languages, and with over 50 versions in the English language alone. Pruiksma’s translation is a work of love, dedication, erudition and rigour. Explaining the pattern of verse, he says in his introduction: “More than one translator has referred to the kural form as a couplet, but doing so risks a misunderstanding. While a kural does consist of two lines of poetry, they are not matched metrically, as a couplet by Shakespeare might be… In addition, a kural is not end-rhymed but rather follows a sophisticated and nuanced pattern of assonance and consonance that has characterised Tamil poetry from its beginnings.” The translation tries to capture this cadence. Here are some excerpts from the book which is scheduled for release in January next.
Ministers
631 Great in means in method in timing and in action—
That is a minister
632 Greatness in these five—courage learning wisdom protection
Perseverance—that is a minister
633 Able to divide reunite cherish and keep—
That is a minister
634 Able to discern to act from discernment and to speak
Resolutely—that is a minister
635 One that knows right action sees what is possible and speaks
The fullest words—that is a worthy advisor
638 Though a king without knowledge kills knowledge those
Beside him must speak true
639 A million million enemies—better than a minister
Plotting wrong at one’s side
640 Even planning perfectly ministers without mastery
Complete nothing
Farming
1031 Turn as it will the world follows the plow—toil as one might
Farming is highest
1032 Farmers sustain everyone not farming—they
Are the pin holding the world together
1033 They live who live by farming—all others
Follow and honor them for food
1034 They see many shelters beneath their king’s shelter—
Those whose fields shelter grain
1035 He who eats by his own hand does not beg
And gives freely to beggars
1036 If farmers fold their arms those saying
I need nothing cannot be
Forbearance
151 Like earth that bears digging those who bear scorn
Stand highest
152 To bear transgression is always good—to forget it
Better than good
153 Want in want—turning away guests—strength in strength—
Bearing fools
154 If one seeks excellence without end protect
And practice forbearance
155 Those who hit back—held as nothing—those who forbear—
Cherished like gold
156 For those who hit back—one day of pleasure—for those who
bear—
A life of renown
157 Better to suffer wrong than to wrong
Others who wrong you
158 To overpower arrogant insolence practice
Inborn patience
159 Purer than saints—those who endure
Vicious mouths
160 Those who endure without eating are great—after those
Who endure harsh words
Giving
221 Giving to those with nothing is giving—all else
Expects a return
222 Even leading to heaven taking is wrong—even leading to hell
Giving is good
223 Giving and not crying I have nothing—found
In those of good family
224 It is bitter to be begged—till the face
That begged turns sweet
225 Strength of the strong—strength over hunger—after those
Whose strength relieves hunger
226 Ending the ruinous hunger of the poor—a safe
That stores a man’s wealth
227 The vicious disease that is hunger cannot touch
Those who share food
228 The callous who lose all that they keep—do they not know
The joy of giving
Unworthy Conduct
271 At the hollow conduct of a dishonest heart
The five senses laugh within
272 Knowing wrong in one’s heart what good
To tower to the sky
273 A show of command in one without it—a cow in tiger’s skin
Munching crops
274 One who does wrong behind tavam—hunter
Behind bushes catching birds
275 The false conduct of him who says he needs nothing
Will make him cry out what have I done
276 None more cruel than those seeming to renounce
And living by falsehood
277 Some seeming as regal as a red rosary pea
Are as black at heart as its tip
278 Plunging into the waters of greatness many hide
False conduct in their hearts
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Excerpted from The Kural: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma (Beacon Press, 2021). Reprinted with permission from Beacon Press.
Pearls of wisdom encapsulated in beautiful stanzas.
Good translation by Thomas Pruiksma.
Great indeed.
Thoughtful thoughts.
Remembering Shrimad Rajchandra ‘s sayings.Shrimad ji remembers him in his writings.
Congratulations.