Jain Journal 1970 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 33

Religion and Birth Place of Tiruvalluvar
S. PADMANABHAN
“The religion of Valluvar” says Dr. G. U. Pope, “is a standing puzzle.” Though Tirukkural of Tiruvalluvar is a mine of information and instruction it does not give us any clue to the life of its author. The name Tiruvalluvar means, 'the great man of Valluva community', and the title of the work Kural signifies the metre of the poem he used. Neither the author nor his work bears any proper or distinctive name.
Tirukkural is an epitome of moral codes applicable to all religions and nations. The author has taken the best of all religions and woven them together into a string of beautiful pearls. Open-minded and openhearted he welcomed all truths wherever found. “Whate'er it be, whate'er its nature be-in that to see the Truth, is knowledge”.1 In spite of his religious integration, and toleration, Tiruvalluvar is undoubtedly a staunch adherent of Jainism. The epithets, Adi Bhagavān (Arhat), Malarmisai Yekinan (one who walks on the lotus flower), Aravalianthanan (the Brahmin who has the Wheel of Dharma), Engunathan (one who has the eight-fold qualities) and Venduthal Vendamaiilan (one who has no likes or dislikes) which Valluvar used in the opening chapter of Invocation to God are all applicable to Arhat alone. The subsequent Jaina works Silapathikaram, Jivakachinthamani, Tirukkalambakam, Tiruppamalai, Merumanthirapuranam, etc., also use the same words for the Almighty. The Jaina authors considered Tirukkural as their moral code and used freely its golden sayings in their own works. The word 'Enguņa Iraivan' is found in the inscription of the Jaina temple at Tirumalai in North Arcot district.
The birth place of Tiruvalluvar is also a matter of controversy. There is one tradition that it was Mylapore which was once a Jaina centre. Some scholars say that it was Madurai, which was also a stronghold of Jainism. But there is substantial evidence to show that the birth place of Tiruvalluvar was Tirunayanarkurichi near Muttom in Kanyakumari district which was also a centre of Jaina domination. Jainism seems to have come into this area during the period of Candragupta Maurya, when Bhadrabahu, in anticipation of a twelve-year famine, led an exodus of Jaina monks to the south. The Jaina mo who were in Ceylon before the 3rd century B.C. are said to have migrated from India through Kanyakumari by land route. 2
1 Kural, 355. 2 Jain Journal, Volume IV, No. 2, page 91.