Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,688

Date uploaded in London –2 May 2026

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

xxxx 

Valluvar is a pukka Hindu is proved by his reference to Indra. There are two interpretations to Kural 25. Manakkudavar, S M Diaz take it as a praise to Indra. Parimelazakar and others have taken it as an insult to Indra because of his immoral approach to Ahalya, wife of Gautama Rishi. Buddha also praised Indra for his great control over five senses. I also pointed out the blunder of Parimel Azakar in one of my articles.

Whatever the interpretation, it shows that Tamils were great Hindus and they are well versed in Puranic Stories.

Another point to be noted is his reference to heaven.

Lost in Translation: in couplet 24, there is a beautiful imagery; Five senses are compared with five elephants in rut and the goad to control them is compared with the will power of a man. All the translators missed elephant and goad that is available in Tamil commentaries. In Upanishads, Horses are used for five senses; five cows are used for five senses in Tirumular’s Tirumanthiram.

***

Following Translations are used:

1.A Aranganatha Mudaliyar – ANM+2 and B.L. Aranganatha iyer and R. Srinivasa Desikan. Year 1933

2.S M Diaz, I G of Police- SMD Year 2000

3.GU Pope – GUP. Year 1886

4.Suddhananda Bharathiyar- SB

5.EVS Publishers, Singapore- EVS. Year 1986

6.Himalayan Academy- HA

7.H A Popley – HAP (not full book) Year 1931

8.Tamil Original

****

21.All the scriptures of the world rapturously sing with one voice, beyond every other blessing, the praise of those who have renounced all and stand true to their rule of conduct in scorn of consequence —ANM+2

***

1.1.3. The Greatness of Ascetics G U Pope

21.All scriptures uphold the fame of householders, who after a full and faultless life,

Renounce active part in it, to become detached, objective and benevolent —SMD

***

21.
The settled rule of every code requires, as highest good,
Their greatness who, renouncing all, true to their rule have stood.
The end and aim of all treatise is to extol beyond all other excellence, the greatness of those who, while abiding in the rule of conduct peculiar to their state, have abandoned all desire.-GUP

***
3. நீத்தார் பெருமை – The merit of Ascetics

No merit can be held so high
As theirs who sense and self deny.         21– SB
***

 21.All the scriptures emphasize, above all other excellence the greatness of those who, having lived according to the injunctions peculiar to their caste and creed, have renounced the worldly life -EVS

***
Greatness of Renunciates Himalayan Academy (HA)

Verse 21 The scriptures exalt above every other good The greatness of virtuous renunciates. HA

***

21.Tis the aim of the holy scripture to reveal

The greatness of those men who all have left for

Virtue’s sake- HAP

***

நீத்தார் பெருமை

ஒழுக்கத்து நீத்தார் பெருமை விழுப்பத்து

வேண்டும் பனுவல் துணிவு.     21

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

22.The greatness of an ascetic baffles one’s understanding ; you may as well count the number of the innumerable dead. —ANM+2

**

22. The greatness of ‘neethar’ is infinite, as is the number,

Of those who have departed from the world—SMD

***

22
As counting those that from the earth have passed away,
‘Tis vain attempt the might of holy men to say.
To describe the measure of the greatness of those who have forsaken the two-fold desires, is like counting the dead. –GUP

***
To con ascetic glory here
Is to count the dead upon the sphere.         22– SB

***

22. To attempt to estimatethe greatness of ascetics is as absurd as to seek the dead in the world – EVS

***

Verse 22 Attempting to speak of the renunciate’s magnitude Is akin to measuring the human multitudes who have ever died. HA

***

22.To tell their greatness who have left their all

Is just like counting up the whole world’s dead  -HAP

***

துறந்தார் பெருமை துணைக்கூறின் வையத்து

இறந்தாரை எண்ணிக்கொண் டற்று.   22

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

23.The greatness of those who weighed this passing empty life  with one eternal beyond the grave and have renounced this world, shines forth on earth. (beyond all others). —ANM+2

**

23.Those who, having experienced  the paths of both householder and  neethar,

Thereafter preach and practise virtue, will be held in high esteem —SMD

***
23.
Their greatness earth transcends, who, way of both worlds weighed,
In this world take their stand, in virtue’s robe arrayed.
The greatness of those who have discovered the properties of both states of being, and renounced the world, shines forth on earth (beyond all others). –GUP

***

No lustre can with theirs compare
Who know the right and virtue wear.         23– SB

***

23.The greatness of those who renounced the world, having discovered its miseries and the happiness of heavenly life, is really the foremost in the world. – EVS

***

Verse 23 Behold those who have weighed the dual nature of things and followed the renunciate’s way. Their greatness illumines the world. HA

***

23.Their greatness shine throughout the world

Who know both states, and virtue here have donned -HAP

***

இருமை வகைதெரிந்து ஈண்டுஅறம் பூண்டார்

பெருமை பிறங்கிற்று உலகு.    23

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

24.Verily he is a seed that can flourish in the soil of heaven who has subdued his rebellious senses with the titanic force of his will. —ANM+2

**

24.The one who has the strength to control his five senses

Prepares the way for a higher place in life—SMD

***

24.
He, who with firmness, curb the five restrains,
Is seed for soil of yonder happy plains.
He who guides his five senses by the hook of wisdom will be a seed in the world of heaven. –GUP
***
With hook of firmness to restrain
The senses five, is heaven to gain.         24– SB

***

24.He who controls his five senses by his will gains heavenly bliss – – EVS

***

Verse 24 He whose firm will, wisdom’s goading hook, controls his five senses Is a seed that will flourish in the fields of heaven. HA

***

24.He, in the best states, a seed will be

Who rules the senses five with firmness goad -HAP

***

உரனென்னும் தோட்டியான் ஓரைந்தும் காப்பான்

வரனென்னும் வைப்பிற்கோர் வித்து.  24

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

25.Indra , the lord of the gods on high is himself a witness to the might of him that has burnt away his five senses–ANM+2

**

25.The lord indra himself is an effective witness to the prowess of a sage

Who has really conquered his five senses—SMD

***
25.
Their might who have destroyed ‘the five’, shall soothly tell
Indra, the lord of those in heaven’s wide realms that dwell.
Indra, the king of the inhabitants of the spacious heaven, is himself, a sufficient proof of the strength of him who has subdued his five senses. –GUP
***
Indra himself has cause to say
How great the power ascetics’ sway.         25– SB
***

25.Indra , the king of the devas himself, will bear testimony to the  will power of those who curbed the desires of the five senses. – EVS

***

Verse 25 So great is the power of those who subdue the five senses, even Indra, Sovereign of spacious heaven’s celestials, suffered their curse. HA

***

25.Indra himself, heavens king, is witness sure

To the might of him who senses five subdues -HAP

***

ஐந்தவித்தான் ஆற்றல் அகல்விசும்பு ளார்கோமான்

இந்திரனே சாலுங் கரி.     25

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To be continued……………………………………

Tags- Tirukkural Encyclopaedia- Chapter Three (Kural 21 to 25), Tiru Valluvar, Pukka Hindu, Indra, Elephant, goad, lost in translation, images of ascetics