The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
The Kural of Tiruvalluvar.
Many of the poems of this period are still extant in a complete form. The most popular of these poems and one which has exercised the greatest influence on succeeding generations is the Muppâl or Kural composed by Valluvar. Very little authentic is known of the life of Tiruvalluvar: but he is generally believed to have been a native of the ancient town of Mailapur which is now a suburb of the town of Madras. He went to Madura with his great work to submit it for the approval of the Pandya and his college of poets. Some of these poets were natives of Madura, while others hailed from Uraiyur and Kavirip-paddinam in the Chola kingdom, from Chellur in the Kongu-nâd, from Venkatam in the Thondai-nâd and from other parts of Tamilakam. There was in that conclave of poets Poothan-chenthanar, author of the small poem Iniya-nârpatu: there was Nallâthanar, author of the moral epigrams called Tirikadukam; there was Nallanthuvanar who compiled the Kalith-thokai; there was Iraiyanar who wrote the Akapporal or grammar of erotic poetry; there was Kapilar to whom we owe the charming little poems, Kurinjip-paddu and Inna-narpatu; there was Mankudi-maruthanar who addressed the ode Maduraik-kanchi to the Pandyan king Nedunj-cheliyan, victor of Alankânam; there was the learned Nakkirar who has left us the beautiful idylls, Nedu-nal-vdai and Thirumurukârruppadai; there was the profound Buddhist scholar Cheethalaich châthanar, who composed the interesting epic Manimekalai; there were besides, others who were styled professors of medicine, of astrology or of literature, but whose works have not come down to us. In this galaxy of the eminent poets and scholars of the period and in the presence of the Pandya Ugrap-peru-valuthi, the greatest patron of letters in the Tamil-land, Valluvar must have stood with an anxious heart when he submitted his work for their criticism. The Muppâl consisted, as implied by its name, of three parts which treated of virtue, wealth and love. It was a code of morals expressed in poetical aphorisms. Though a firm believer in the tenets of his own religion the Nigrantha faith, the author appears to have been a freethinker and held that true wisdom is the science of happiness. “To receive charity is bad though it may serve your need,” said he, “to bestow alms is good even if there is no heaven.” “Dauntless valor is heroic, but far nobler than that is kindness to an unlucky being.” He described eloquently the charms of a happy home and exalted a faithful wife to the rank of a saint. “The pipe is sweet, the lute is sweet, say those who have not heard the prattle of their own children.” “The rain will fall at the bidding of her who serves no god but her husband.” He held up to scorn the life of those who seek the company of prostitutes “The false embrace of a harlot,” said he, “is like the clasping of a corpse in a dark room.” Among the different callings of mankind he preferred that of the husbandman. “Those who till the ground are truly happy, all others live by serving and following (the great).” He laughed at fatalists, and declared that greatness can be achieved by labor. “Those who toil with untiring energy will overcome even fate.”
“Be not faint-hearted fancying that a work is very difficult to accomplish. It is diligence that brings greatness.” He recommended learning to all and said that the life of the ignorant was not worth having. “The ignorant live, but are like the sterile ground that yieldeth nothing.” “Like beasts to men are the ignorant to the learned;” “The wise have all that they want, but the ignorant, though having all, are ever poor.” Being. a Nigrantha, he considered it the greatest virtue, not to take the life of any living thing, and spoke with contempt of the bloody sacrifices of the Brahmins. “Better is it to avoid the killing of one living being, than to pour ghee and perform a thousand sacrifices.” He believed in the existence of what is called Nemesis. “If thou dost evil to others in the forenoon, evil would befall thee in the afternoon.” “If thou dost love thyself truly, do not even think of evil deeds.” He warned the learned to live laborious days, not to be proud of their learning, to attempt nothing which will not lead to good, and to revere and obey the Supreme Intelligence which governs the Universe. “He that doth not court pleasure, can never feel pain.” “Never be proud of thyself: never attempt any work that will lead to no good.” “Alas! of what use is learning, if the learned worship not the blessed feet of Him who is all-knowing?”
A work of this kind had never before been written in any language then known to the Tamil poets. They accepted it therefore as a very creditable performance, and each of the poets expressed his opinion in a stanza addressed to the king. Irayanâr very truly predicted that the work of Valluvar will live for ever and be a source of instruction to many generations to come. Kalladar was surprised that the six religious sects which ever wrangle with one another, for once agreed in accepting as true the Muppâl composed by Valluvar. “Nedu Mâra, that wieldest the sword of victory which has cut down thy enemies !“ exclaimed another poet “having heard from the mouth of Valluvanar, what we never heard before, we know what is virtue, what is wealth, and what is love and clear to us is the way to eternal bliss.” “The Brahmins” observed another poet “preserve the Vedas orally and commit them not to writing, being afraid that they would then be less valued. But the Muppâl of Valluvar though written on leaves and read by all would never lose its value.” ”The Sun, Moon, Venus, and Jupiter swiftly dispel darkness from the face of the earth” remarked an astronomer “but the light which illuminates the minds of men is the Kural of the learned Valluvar.” “Thou (king who exultest in thy strength.) like the elephant which batters rocks with its tusks! all are relieved of their headache by smelling the seenthil salt and sliced dry ginger mixed with honey: but Chathan was relieved of his headache by hearing the Muppâl of Valluvar,” said a physician who took this opportunity of publishing his recipe for headache, and cracked a joke at his fellow-poet Chathanar, who had a habit of striking his head with his iron, stylus, every time he heard an incorrect or inelegant expression, but who did not even once strike his head during the whole of the time that the Kural was being explained to the Sangha or College. “Faultless in verse, in language and in sense, is the sweet Kural which embodies in itself the wisdom of all authors, and all ages” said another poet. Hearing the praise unanimously bestowed on the Kural, the king Ugra Pandya eulogised the author and his great work as follows:— ” The four faced Brahma disguised as Valluvar has imparted to us the truths of the four Vedas, in the Muppâl, which should therefore be adored by the head, perused by the mouth, listened to by the ear and studied by the mind.”