Thiruvalluvar Day

18 Jan 2022 Thiruvalluvar Day

• Prime Minister remembered Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar on his birth anniversary ‘Thiruvalluvar Day’.
• Presently it is usually celebrated on 15th or 16th January in Tamil Nadu and is a part of Pongal celebrations.

Introduction:

• Thiruvalluvar also known as Valluvar was a Tamil poet-saint.
• Due to religious identities, there are conflicts regarding their period, usually they are dated to the 3rd–4th or 8th–ninth centuries.
• He is generally considered to be related to Jainism. However Hindus claim that Thiruvalluvar belonged to Hinduism.
• Dravidian groups considered him a saint because he did not believe in the caste system.
• Thirukkural or ‘Kural’ was composed by him in the Sangam literature.

Thirukkural consists of 10 poems and 133 volumes, each divided into three books:

• Aram- Aram (Virtue- Virtue).
• Porul- Porul (Government and Society).
• Kamam- Kamam (love).

 Thirukkural has been compared to the great books of major religions of the world.

Sangam literature

• The word ‘Sangam’, the Tamil form of the Sanskrit word Sangha, flourished at different places in three different periods under the patronage of the Pandya kings.
• It was compiled during the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD and was composed in a poetic format around themes of love and war.
• According to Tamil legends, three sangams (gatherings of Tamil poets) were held in ancient South India, called Muchchangam.
• The first Sangam is believed to have been held in Madurai. Deities and great saints were involved in this confluence.  No literary texts of this Sangam are available.
• The second Sangam was held at ‘Kapatpuram’, the only Tamil grammar text of this Sangam available ‘Tolkappiyam’.
• The third Sangam was also held in Madurai. Most of the texts of this Sangam were destroyed.  Some of this material is available in the form of group texts or epics.
• The Sangam literature, which was largely consolidated by the third Sangam, gives information on the living conditions of the people around the beginning of the Christian era.
• It deals with secular matters like public and social activities like government, war charity, trade, worship, agriculture etc.
• The Sangam literature consists of the oldest Tamil works (such as Tolkappiyam), ten poems (Pattupattu), eight compilations (Ettutogai) and eighteen short works (Padinekilakanakku) and three epics.

khyati khare