Tiru Valluvar in Malaya Magazine

Brahmin Tiru Valluvar with Punul/sacred thread, Mylapore, Madras

Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,767

Date uploaded in London –21 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 

Tiru Valluvar indirectly refers to the Puranic stories and great people of India in this chapter. In the case of Markandeya, Druvan and Adi Sankara we read that the parents got their children after a severe penance. Only Hindus believe in such a penance. And only Hindu legends such stories. No other religion has documented such a penance. So, couplet 70 shows that Valluvar was a practising Hindu.

There are Sanskrit words in 600 Kural couplets which betray his age. All the chapter have the Sanskrit word Adikaram like Silappadikaram and Tolkappiam. All the three books are done or redacted or finalised around fifth century CE. Contents are older than the current book.

The Sanskrit words in chapter seven are Amrit (Kural 64), Sabha (67) Maha (68) and Adikaram.

Sabha in Rig Veda is Avai in Tamil because Tolkappiar banned Sa in Tamil as initial letter.  B=V change is even in Zend Avesta of sixth century BCE.

Maha is Tamlilized as Maa in Maanilam (Kural 68).

In short, Chapter seven summarises Hindu belief in getting wise children through penance and their capacity to enlighten the world (see Kural 68)

***

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.Rev.Dr. GU Pope – GUP. Year 1886

4.Suddhananda Bharathiyar- SB

5.EVS Publishers, Singapore- EVS. Year 1986

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

7.Tamil Original

****

Chapter 7 Children or The Gift of Children 66-70

66.Only to them the voice of the flute and the veena is sweet, who  have not heard the lispings of their little ones– A Aranganatha Mudaliyar – ANM+2 and B.L. Aranganatha iyer and R. Srinivasa Desikan. Year 1933 
***
66.Only those who have not heard and enjoyed their children’s lisping prattle

Will say that the pipe and the Yal are sweet- S M Diaz, I G of Police- SMD Year 2000

***

66.
‘The pipe is sweet,’ ‘the lute is sweet,’ by them’t will be averred,
Who music of their infants’ lisping lips have never heard.
“The pipe is sweet, the lute is sweet,” say those who have not heard the prattle of their own children. –Rev.Dr. GU Pope – GUP. Year 1886

***

66.The flute and lute are sweet they say
Deaf to baby’s babble’s lay!  —  Suddhananda Bharathiyar- SB

***

66.Sweet is the music of flute and lute to those who know not  the melody of their little one’s prattle— EVS Publishers, Singapore- EVS. Year 1986

***

66.‘The flute is sweet, the lute is sweet’ say those who have never heard the pretty prattle of their little ones— H A Popley – HAP (not full book) Year 1931

***

66. குழல்இனிது யாழ்இனிது என்பதம் மக்கள்
மழலைச்சொல் கேளா தவர்

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

67.What duty is there more sacred for a father than to make his son worthy to adorn the highest seat in the council of the learned and the wise? – ANM+2

***
67.The good which a father can do to his son, is to prepare him,

For a prominent role in the assembly of the learned- SMD

***

67.
Sire greatest boon on son confers, who makes him meet,
In councils of the wise to fill the highest seat.
The benefit which a father should confer on his son is to give him precedence in the assembly of the learned. – GUP

***

67.A father’s duty to his son is
To seat him in front of the wise.   —   SB
***

67.What a father expected to do his son is to make him fit to hold the foremost place among the learned—– EVS

***

67.To make him first in the assembly of the wisse

Is all a father for his son can do— HAP

***

12 year oldRahul

67. தந்தை மகற்குஆற்றும் நன்றி அவையத்து
முந்தி யிருப்பச் செயல்

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

68.Far more than the parents doth the world delight in children who are wise–– ANM+2

***
68.If children are better equipped with a broader and more human outlook

The whole world will feel happy with them— SMD

***

68.
Their children’s wisdom greater than their own confessed,
Through the wide world is sweet to every human breast.
That their children should possess knowledge is more pleasing to all men of this great earth than to themselves. – GUP

***

68.With joy the hearts of parents swell
To see their children themselves excel–   SB

***

68.The wisdom of one’s children will be a blessing to the world at large rather than to the parents –– EVS

***

68.To all upon this earth, that children wisdom win

More precious than even their very selves— HAP

***

68. தம்மின்தம் மக்கள் அறிவுடமை மாநிலத்து
மன்னுயிர்க் கெல்லாம் இனிது

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

four year old boy genius

69.A mother’s eyes sparkle with delight at the first  cry of her infant son,, but far greater is her joy when she hears the world call him wise—– ANM+2

***
69.Greater joy than at hiss birth, a mother feels, when she hears,

Her son being hailed as ‘Sanron’ by cultured people- SMD

***

69
When mother hears him named ‘fulfill’d of wisdom’s lore,’
Far greater joy she feels, than when her son she bore.
The mother who hears her son called “a wise man” will rejoice more than she did at his birth. – GUP

***

69.The mother, hearing her son’s merit
Delights more than when she begot–   SB

***

69.A mother’s joy at hearing her son acclaimed as full of virtue and refinement is greater than her joy at the time of his birth—– EVS

***

69.The mother who has her son called ‘great’

Gains greater joy than even at his birth— HAP

***
69. ஈன்ற பொழுதிற் பெரிதுவக்கும் தன்மகனைச்
சான்றோன் எனக்கேட்ட தாய்

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

eleven year old boy genius

70.No deeper debt of gratitude does a son owe to his father than to make the world ring with a joyous cry, “what penance has he done to be blessed with such a worthy son”— – ANM+2

***

70.The way of showing filial devotion is to make others exclaim within the hearing of the father

What penance the father must have performed to beget such a son- SMD

**

70.
To sire, what best requital can by grateful child be done?
To make men say, ‘What merit gained the father such a son?’
(So to act) that it may be said “by what great penance did his father beget him,” is the benefit which a son should render to his father. – GUP

***

70.The son to sire this word is debt
“What penance such a son begot!”   —   SB

***

70.The duty of the son to the father is to make others exclaim ‘what penance has he done to be blessed with such a son’–– EVS

***

70.To live that men will ask ‘what penance that did father do?-

This is the greatest help that son can render to his ire— HAP

***

three year old boy genius Gnana Sambandar

70. மகன்தந்தைக்கு ஆற்றும் உதவி இவன்தந்தை
என்னோற்றான் கொல்எனுஞ் சொல்

To be continued……………………

Tags– Children through Penance, Tirukkural Encyclopaedia, Chapter 7 (Kural 66 to 70)