Interpreting Thiruvalluvar: fadeout ploys

It has been a long tradition and well-ingrained habit of Sanskritists to (re-)cast non-Sanskrit texts and themes in the Sanskritic / Brahmanist mould. This appears to be part of a much broader game played out throughout history: "eliminate by embrace" and “obliterate by obfuscation”.

Thiruvalluvar (திருவள்ளுவர்) seems to be targeted for such treatment in a website maintained by the Divine Life Society founded by Swami Sivananda. Posted on the site is a biography (click here) of saint Thiruvalluvar and is said to have been extracted from the Swami’s book Lives of Saints. Unfortunately, it turns out to be less of a help to correctly understand Thiruvalluvar but more of a measure of how limited and skewed is the biographer’s (Swami Sivananda’s) understanding of Thiruvalluvar.

For instance, Valluvar had no truck with Vedism / Brahmanism, yet the invented story that Sivananda slips in: “He is regarded as an Avatara of Brahma.”

One cannot help being reminded of the honour bestowed on Gautama Buddha, albeit posthumously. Buddha rebelled against Hinduism, in particular the Brahmanist excesses. There is no place for the concept of God in the Buddhist faith, at best a clear indifference to the concept of God. Yet Buddha was converted back into the Hindu fold as the N-th avatara of Vishnu. {Quiz: How 'manyeth' avatara of Vishnu is Buddha? Answer: see Note 1 below.}

I wonder when Ambedkar / Periyar would begin to be talked of as an avatara of Brahman / Vishnu !?

There is indeed no limit to the inventiveness of these Sankritists / Brahmanists in the matter of myth-making.

Swami Sivananda must be writing for kids. He engages more in stories – of doubtful authenticity - about Valluvar and his devoted wife, and their life together, rather than explain what Valluvar has really said in his 1330 couplets (in Tamil). Of the few that the Swami has selected to mention, one is deciphered or rendered (in English) as follows:

“Learn the Shastras completely and then act according to their injunctions.”


Instead, Valluvar has urged EVERYONE (no exceptions, no exclusions) to:

கற்க கசடறக் கற்பவை கற்றபின்
நிற்க அதற்குத் தக (391)

a) learn / study without fault or doubt (with right understanding) - kaRka kacaTaRa (கற்க கசடற);

b) study what are fit for to be learnt - kaRpavai kaRRapin (கற்பவை கற்றபின்);

c) live by what you have learnt / studied - kaRRapin niRka atharkuth thaka (கற்றபின் நிற்க அதற்குத் தக) .

By no chance would Valluvar have limited learning / education to the Shastras that Swami Sivananda has in mind. It is also most likely that Valluvar would not have included much of the Shastras (infused with / contaminated by Varnashramam) as material fit for learning, least of all to be lived by. And Valluvar wanted ALL to learn (seek education), unlike Brahmanism that sought to impose its heinous doctrine of Varnashrama on society and deny education to the lower castes, thereby trapping large sections of Indian society in eternal ignorance, material deprivation and servitude.

EVEN IF one were to read / hear what are NOT fit to be read / heard, Valluvar has left behind a strong advice for, again, EVERYONE (no exceptions, no exclusions):

எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள்
மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்பதறிவு (423)

epporul yaaryaarvaaik kETpinum apporuL meypporuL kaanpathaRivu.
WHATSOEVER you may hear from WHOSOEVER seek out its true meaning / import.


You cannot hope to contain the sage Thiruvalluvar within the parochial Sanskritic / Brahminist mould. He is TOO BIG, TOO PROFOUND, TOO HUMANE and too much of a UNIVERSALIST for that. In fact, the humanist philosophy (Kuralism) expounded by Thiruvalluvar is antithetical to the very grain of Brahminism / Varnashramam in very fundamental ways. Swami Sivananda is clearly ill-equipped to interpret this great Tamil sage.


Note 1: Buddha is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, after Ram and Krishna

Comments may be forwarded to: anbarul@yahoo.com