Passing through the corridors of Time, turning the pages of human history with a discerning eye and an open mind, one comes across Great Minds in all climes and in all eras. All these have lived, moved and had their being amidst humanity, always with a sincere desire to live to benefit others, and proclaiming the ancient, ageless, Universal Truths, now in one form and now in another, helping and guiding humanity in its onward march to peace and progress. Some have been Sages, some Raja-rishis, some Poets, some Philosophers, but all Men among men. These belong to the "Deathless Race" and live in their teachings. They have risen above the common distinctions of caste, creed, nationality and even space and time, and thus belong to the whole of humanity which is one and indivisible. Therefore, it is said that humanity has never been without a friend. They are ever in the world, rendering gentle service to all that lives.

The most important contribution of Valluvar (Thiruvalluvar) is his picturing to us the value, dignity and sacredness of the Grihastha Ashrama—the stage of the home-builder, which has unfortunately been very much misunderstood and lowered by modern man. The author of "Living the Higher Life" writes:

To my mind, no ascetics, no teachers of mankind, however eminent and full of the highest knowledge, are really such good and practical benefactors of humanity as Valluvar, of ancient times, who incarnated on earth for the express purpose, among others, of setting an example of an ideal household life to mortals who were prematurely and madly rushing against the rocks of renunciation, and of proving the possibility of leading such a life in any age however degenerated; or as Rama, who, even after having become an avatar-purusha, came down amidst mortals and led a household life. (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 34, p. 5)

India, the ancient land of Aryavarta, has been the birthplace of many a poet, philosopher, saint and sage of universal repute. H.P.B. calls this land "the Motherland of my MASTER" (Raja-Yoga or Occultism). Though these Great Beings lived and moved in the far past, yet today we can contact them through their Teachings, in the hearts and minds of the holy Tathagatas. One such noble soul, who incarnated in South India, is known to us today as "Valluvar."

It is strange that the poet and his work are both without a name. The author himself is commonly known as Thiruvalluva-nayanar (literally, "the sacred devotee"). Since most of the facts concerning his life are vague, where they are not controversial, tradition is our main source of information. It is said that he was a weaver by profession and that he belonged to the Valluva caste, whose profession it was in the ancient days to announce the commands of kings by beating of drums. He was born in Madura and lived in Mylapore, a suburb of what is known today as Chennai.

He was undoubtedly one of the great geniuses; but his fame belongs chiefly to South India and the readers of Tamil—an ancient, living language. He is truly a genius in the Theosophical sense.

Great genius...if true and innate, and not merely an abnormal expansion of our human intellect—can never copy or condescend to imitate, but will ever be original, sui generis in its creative impulses and realizations....True genius is a synonym of self-existent and infinite mind. (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 13, pp. 5 and 8)

The period in which this universal bard of Mylapore lived, is controversial. There are no data whatsoever, which may enable us to fix with precision the period at which the poet flourished. It is, however, generally accepted as between the first century B.C. and second century A.D., or roughly 2000 years ago. He had an intimate friend, a rich merchant and captain of a small vessel called Elela Singan ("Lion of the Surf")—a descendant of a Chola king. Since it is said that the Kural (Tirukkural) was taken to the great Tamil Sangham at Madura in the reign of the Pandhya King Uggeraperuvazhudhi in 125 A.D., we may take the above date as nearly correct.

Some say that Valluvar was a Jain. It is true that he has used several of the Jain technical terms. However, we are quite warranted in imagining Valluvar as a true cosmopolitan and friend of all religions, the thoughtful poet, the eclectic, to whom the teachings of the Jains were as familiar as those of the Hindus. He seems to be one who was not hindered by any caste prejudices from familiar intercourse with foreigners and whose one thought was to gather knowledge from every source. Shri C. Rajagopalachari writes in his translation of Thiruvalluvar's Kural:

He was one of those great and rare men whose catholic spirit rose above all denominations and whose vision was not clouded by dogma or prejudice of any kind.

There is one couplet, the fourth, in Chapter III, which is destructive of the idea that he was a Jain. There is, in fact, no trace in the Kural of many systems, doctrines, and practices, current in South India at different periods, because perhaps, they had been eliminated from the sage's own eclectic system of faith and practice, and also because his work is didactic and not controversial.

It will not be out of place to mention one or two anecdotes about Valluvar's family life. Tradition says that the life of the poet in Mylapore with his wife Vasuki was in perfect accordance with the Chapters in the Kural on the householder's life.

In Thiruvalluvar's youth, Vasuki's father Markasakyan, struck with his virtues, offered him his daughter in marriage. He was inclined to marry, recognizing domestic virtue as the highest, yet resolved first to try the maiden's temper and gifts. He replied: "If she will take this sand and make it into rice for me, I will take her as my wife."

Vasuki meekly took the basket of sand and feeling sure that what the holy man had ordained was possible and right, proceeded to boil it; and as the virtuous woman is said to have had power with the gods, so it came to pass with her (verse 55); she brought him the rice for which he had asked. She became his wife, faithful and obedient.

In after years, when the poet's fame had spread through all the Tamil country, a noble stranger came one day to the weaver's cottage and asked the question—much discussed in those days—"Which is greater—domestic life, or a life of asceticism?" The sage, while courteously entertaining the stranger, gave no reply in words to the query. The inquirer was left to see domestic life in its perfect grace and to judge for himself. What he saw was this. One day when Vasuki was drawing water from the well the sage suddenly called her and the obedient wife instantly came to attend to his wishes, leaving the bucket hanging midway down the well. When she went back she found the bucket hanging in mid-air just as she had left it.

Another day when the good wife served her husband his morning meal of cold rice, he complained that it was too hot. She unquestioningly began to fan it. It is said that steam rose from the rice. Another day, at noon, when glaring light was everywhere, the sage who was at work at his loom, let fall his shuttle and called for light to see his work. Vasuki lit a lamp and brought it to him with unquestioning obedience. The inquirer had learnt his lesson: "Where such a wife is found, domestic life is the best. Where such a wife is not, the life of the ascetic is to be preferred."

So the poet and his wife Vasuki, this Griselda of olden Tamil days, lived till the time she had to leave him. The dying wife looked wistfully at her husband.

"What is it?" he asked.

"When you married me, on that day I stood and spread the rice for you, and you gave me a commandment to always place with your meals, a cup of water and needle. I know not why it was."

"It was," he replied, "so that if a grain of rice were spilt, I might pick it up and purify it."

Satisfied, she closed her eyes forever. Also it is clear that no grain of rice had ever been spilt! For the 20th-century man these may seem mere fancies, or fairytales; their significance is that in Vasuki, Valluvar had a wife who conformed to the ideals of wifehood that he set forth in the Kural. As a result, his home life was one of concord and great felicity, the importance of which he so much emphasizes in the chapters on "The Householder's Life."

The Tirukkural is the precious gem of universal Ethics. What the Bhagavad-Gita is to the Hindus and the Bible to the Christians, the Kural is to the lovers of Tamil.

It may be mentioned that the eminent critic, Professor Winslow, is of the opinion that no language is better suited for poetic expression than ancient Greek and Tamil. The Rev. G. U. Pope has written of Tamil that it is not a dialect of Sanskrit but an independent language with a copious and original vocabulary, having a very clear and philosophical grammatical system, very highly cultivated and in every respect equals Sanskrit itself. It is the mother of the south Indian languages.

The Tirukkural is the Tamil Veda. M. Ariel, in a letter to Burnouf, published in the Journal Asiatique (Nov.-Dec. 1848), speaks of this great work as

the masterpiece of Tamil literature—one of the highest and purest expressions of human thought. That which above all is wonderful in the Kural is the fact that its author addresses himself, without regard to castes, peoples or beliefs, to the whole community of mankind; the fact that he formulates sovereign morality and absolute reason; that he proclaims in their very essence, in their eternal abstractedness, virtue and truth; that he represents as it were, in one group the highest laws of domestic and social life; that he is equally perfect in thought, in language and in poetry, in the austere metaphysical contemplation of the great mysteries of the Divine Nature, as in the easy and graceful analysis of the tenderest emotions of the heart.

(To be continued)

Thou must overcome the need of remorse, the pain of penitence, the labour of confession, the love of the world, temptation of the devil, pride of the body, and annihilation of self-will which drags so many souls back that they never come to real love.

—Mechthild of Magdeburg