Thirukkural in IL...

Dear Sriniketan Mam...

You have done a wonderful Job... I read ur blog... the transaltion you have made and the explanations.. are very good.. and you have made it easy in such a way that even non tamil people can get the correct meaning.....

Ulagam potrum tamilmaraiyai... namathu IL..lil konduvandhathuku... ... Mikka nandri....mam... Thodarattum ungal Pani.... Valzhaga Thamil...

love
brindha

Dearest Srini ma'am,

The Kural on desires, just reminded me of our Bhagawad Gita posts. Ya, very true, the one who shuts off his/her senses to desires is the one closest to the Supreme !! But very tough to follow Srini ma'am. Many a time I have tried reducing my desires of eating "biscuits" but all in vein. he he he i know am sounding very childish and silly, but all i could relate is to my own selfish self as soon as i read the Kural !! Oh .. its so tough !!

The Kural on Righteousness reminded me of my dream with Lord Krishna where in i was holding him very tightly and we glided across the starry blue in the horizon !! Of course a dream, but i could feel that i was protected from all the dangers and sorrows that this world had in store for me :)

The blog on Rains was too good. I took a long time to read the Tamil Version Srini ma'am :) Am happy that you are not only educating us with the Kurals, but training my Tamil vocabs too !! :) My mom is happy that I read "thooya Tamil" :)

Kurals 16-20 caught my senses, and I have left my comment there in the Blog Srini ma'am. Thank you very much once again I say with great pride "for educating me" !!

An ascetic is a person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion. .. I just got the apt meaning Srini ma'am !! And the Kural that goes "Thurandhaar Perumai" is absolutely the best !! What a marvel connection between those who renounced materialistic world and the number dead in correlation to the Statistics am telling !! The example of Indra himself being a witness to those who sacrifice all worldly pleasures is remarkable !!

Srini ma'am, all i have in my heart to tell you or give you is

Thank you very much !!

Regards with Loads of Love
RamyaVaradharajan

Brinda,
for your aprreciative words...I have no words to thank you all...

Ramya,
You are making me in your praises...please help...
Did you see how tough is a teacher's job, to put more interest into this subject..that too of thooya tamizh...

You are right, Bhagawad Gita and Thirukkural are considered as Vedham...
No wonder, they have dealt with more or less the same matters...to uplift mankind..

Desires....I too have a lot like you had mentioned...yeah very difficult to overcome..
True, God is our only refuge. I always admire and adore your Bhakthi towards Lord Krishna..

When explaining about rain...have you not been reminded of 'aavadhum pennaalae, azhivadum pennaalae...
Characteristics of a true ascetic is beautifully described here...I too liked the comparison..

Appaada, no doubts in this session...thapichen...

sriniketan

Dearest Srini ma'am,

All those praises you demand !! Yes, its a stupendous assignment that you have committed yourself to, now ! And i always pray the Supreme that you continue to do the translation part with good health and will

Bhagawad Gita I had got a chance to read in English ma'am, but only now am able to understand what the two-liners signify !! Its a great feeling totally. Though am yet to read todays quota, just thought I should give my feedback here :)

Oh the rain aspect.. ummmm now its idea glowing bright for me too !! See that's a teachers job !! And you have handled it so well :)

Thappichitelaa.... ok.. now I will squeeze out some "Kaliman" () and will come with a question !! :):)

Regards with Love
RamyaVaradharajan

Originally Posted by Sriniketan

Ramya,
You are making me in your praises...please help...
Did you see how tough is a teacher's job, to put more interest into this subject..that too of thooya tamizh...

You are right, Bhagawad Gita and Thirukkural are considered as Vedham...
No wonder, they have dealt with more or less the same matters...to uplift mankind..

Desires....I too have a lot like you had mentioned...yeah very difficult to overcome..
True, God is our only refuge. I always admire and adore your Bhakthi towards Lord Krishna..

When explaining about rain...have you not been reminded of 'aavadhum pennaalae, azhivadum pennaalae...
Characteristics of a true ascetic is beautifully described here...I too liked the comparison..

Appaada, no doubts in this session...thapichen...

sriniketan

Ramya,
If you squeeze your 'kaliman' it will become an art...
but if I squeeze mine, confusion remains...

sriniketan

Dear friends,
As suggested by Nakshatra, I thought of giving any information I come across, Thiruvalluvar and Thirukkural.
Even other ilites join in giving any information they come across also, they are welcome..

This information I got from Wikipedia, some of which is new to me..see I am also learning along with you...

Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்) is a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukkural, a well known ethical work in Tamil literature. He is claimed by both the Tamils who practice Hinduism and the Tamils who practice Jainism as their own.^[1] Nevertheless, some consider him as a Jain showing internal textual evidence from Thirukural.^[2]

The statue of Tiruvalluar at Kanyakumari


Thiruvalluvar's period (based on the Thirukkural per se) is between the second century BC and the eighth century AD. ^[3]
Both Thiruvalluvar's faith and identity are disputed. His disputed identity includes a low-caste Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, crypto-Christian, high-caste Hindu, Brahmin, half-Brahmin ^[4], and Sengunthar (weaver descent)\ Traditional accounts
There are little or no clues available to trace Thiruvalluvar's background. However, according to one of the legends, Valluvar was the son of a Brahmin father(Bhagavan) and an 'untouchable' mother (Adi). Further, it is said that he was abandoned as a child to be picked up by a Vellala (high non-Brahmin, landowning caste) woman who named him 'Tiru-Valluvar'. Following objections by her neighbours, the Vellala woman too abandoned Valluvar to be picked up this time by a family of Paraiyars(untouchables). It is said that he later moved to Mylapore(part of Chennai, now) where he worked as a weaver. The name Valluvan might have been a common name representing his caste/occupation rather than his proper name. Even today, the people who earn a living by textile weaving trace their ancestry to the caste of Thiruvalluvar. However, the question of whether the author of Thirukkural (Valluvan) is named after his community or vice versa remains unanswered.
The name Thiruvalluvar (ThiruValluvar) consists of Thiru (a polite Tamil word, similar to Mr, from Sanskrit:Shri)^[5] and Valluvar (a polite name for Valluvan, according to Tamil tradition).
There are a few legends abound about the birthplace of Thiruvalluvar. One legend associates him to Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya rulers who vigorously promoted Tamil literature. According to another he was born and lived in Mylapore, a part of present day Chennai city and travelled to Madurai to submit his work, the Thirukural, for approval of the king (Pandian) and his college of poets.^[6]
There are, also, traditional stories citing the Tamil Sangam of Madurai (the assembly/conference of eminent scholars and researchers conducted on a regular basis) as the authority through which Thirukkural was introduced to the world. Thiruvalluvar might have spent most part of his life in Madurai because it was under Pandia rulers that many Tamil poets flourished. There are also recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre (KHCRC) that Valluvar was a king who ruled Valluvanadu in the hilly tracts of Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. <sup>[7]

Regarding the statue I will post it in my other post...

sriniketan</sup>

Here is the information i got about Thiruvalluvar Statue:

The Thiruvalluvar Statue is a 133 feet (40.5 m) tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and saint Tiruvalluvar, author of the Thirukkural. It was completed in 2000 and is located atop a small island near the town of Kanyakumari, where three oceans meet; the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea. The idea of the Statue was conceived and achieved by Dr. Kalaingar M.Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.
The statue has a height of 95 feet (29 m) and stands upon a 38 foot (11.5 m) pedestal that represents the 38 chapters of "virtue" in the Thirukkural. The statue standing on the pedestal represents "wealth" and "pleasure", signifying that wealth and love be earned and enjoyed on the foundation of solid virtue.^[1]
The combined height of the statue and pedestal is 133 feet (40.5 m), denoting the 133 chapters in the Thirukkural. It has a total weight of 7000 tons.^[2][3]
The statue, with its slight bend around the waist is reminiscent of a dancing pose of the ancient Indian deities like Nataraja. It was sculpted by the Indian sculptor V. Ganapati Sthapati, who also created the Iraivan Temple.

[edit] Construction


Thiruvalluvar Statue and the adjacent Vivekananda Rock Memorial at sunrise


Construction began on September 6, 1990, on the tiny island adjacent to Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Initially, the project stalled but then recommenced in 1997 and was completed on January 1, 2000. At the cost of more than $1 million (U.S.), it employed about 150 workers, sculptors, assistants and supervisors. The slight bend around the waist made the design challenging. V. Ganapati Sthapati solved the problem by creating a full-length wooden prototype before construction. Study of this prototype led to the identification of an energy line (known in Vastu science ^[4] as kayamadhyasutra), currently an empty cavity in the center of the statue from top to bottom. Sthapati designed the statue to survive earthquakes of unexpected magnitude.

The stone work was divided amongst three workshops, in Kanyakumari, Ambasamudram and Shankarapuram. Ambasamudram contributed 5,000 tons of stones, while Shankarapuram was quarried for 2,000 tons of high quality granite stones for the outer portion of the statue. While the largest of the 3,681 stones weighed over 15 tons, the majority weighed three to eight tons. An interesting detail is the 19-foot-high face, with the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, forehead all made of individual stones carved by hand. Stumps of palmyra tree and poles of casuarina (ironwood) were used for scaffolding. It took 18,000 casuarina poles tied together with two truckloads of ropes to reach the top of the statue.

sriniketan

Dear Sri,

Appreciate your efforts in collecting information about Thiruvalluvar, the great. I visit your kurals blog everyday. Sometimes, I'm not able to reply. So, please assume that I'm with you all the times, for all your efforts.

Appreciating your efforts once again...It deserves a life-time appreciation, actually...

Oviya,
I to your kind words, sure I know that you will be visiting...you are the one to give Porkaasugal...and also the 1st fb of encouragement...

sriniketan

Nice muyarchi nabarae.....ungal blog nalla varaverpu perra enn valthugal