Despite opposition from the people of Tamilnadu,
Karunanidhi has gone ahead with passing the order
that the 60 year cycle (with Sarvadhari having just started) must be dropped
and from now onwards only Thirvalluvar aandu must be mentioned
along with Christian years in all official and administrative correspondence.
Only a person who has no inkling of the science of ‘mana’ (measurement) of time
can pass such an order.
Only a person who has no grasp of the cultural past of
can pass such an order.
Only a person who has no respect for democracy can pass such an order.
Above all,
only a person who has no knowledge of Thiruvalluvar can initiate Thiruvalluvar aandu!
If only he knows who Thiruvalluvar was,
I bet he would not even turn to his side,
not have built a kOttam and a statue for him.
It looks like an irony of Fate that Thirvalluvar is getting a pet treatment
in the hands of Karunanidhi!!
I wonder what he will do if he comes to know that Thiruvalluvar was a
one who worshiped none but Rama, his bete noire!
And this is exactly what was true of Thiruvalluvar.
Thiruvalluvar’s origins and background had been quite an enigma
but it is possible to unearth the face of him from his work.
One of the intriguing ones is that
whether he had any particular god in mind when he wrote
the first chapter on God (kadavuL vaazhtthu).
There are indeed some clues to unravel this mystery.
Let me go step by step.
There is an overwhelming evidence his book, Thirukkural,
that Thiruvalluvar promoted Vedic religion only.
The very arrangement of the book into 3 divisions (muppaal)
is a vedic concept of Purusharthas, dharma, artha and kaama.
He left out the 4 th division, Moksha, because
adherence to the principles of the first 3
will automatically elevate one to Moksha or
Liberation from the cycle of life and death.
The compartmentalization of the ‘adhikaras’ into the mystic number 108
for Dharma (
also is indicative of a definite plan to present his book
on the vedic notion of spirituality.
The choice of the term, ‘Adhikaram’ itself for the chapters
is indicative of the vedic practice of Yatho-desa paksham –
which means the spread of control / influence by itself and its own sake,
that is, the message of Kural will spread by itself the message of Purusharthas.
The positioning of adhikaram, ‘voozh’ (destiny) after dharma (aratthu-p-paal)
is also demonstrative of a Vedic influence.
How-much-ever dharmic one may be,
one can not stop or escape from the interference of ‘oozh’ or destiny
is the message given at all ages,
from Gita onwards (one has control over one’s actions only, not on the results)
to Silappadhikaaram (oozh vinai urutthu vandhu ootttum)
and this has been aptly given as a finale for Aratthu-p-paal by Thiruvalluvar.
The only source book he quotes for all rules is the ‘nool’
The ‘nool’ that he often speaks in kural is the Vedas
and he has repeatedly glorified the ways the ‘Saandror’ or Aryans.
(read my post on http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-aryan-dravidian-divide-it-was-one_3029.html)
Brahmins (anthanar) and Vyakarana sastras (725)
are the respected ones he looks at,
for any reference to acts of dharma.
Devas and their habit of receiving Havis from humans are often mentioned by him.
He disapproves animal sacrifice in yajnas but not yajnas themselves,
giving indication of his leanings towards vedic practices
and his willingness to usher in modifications –
which is what sages too had said for kali yuga.
The Vamana avatara is clearly mentioned in kural 610
where he tells that the king must be like “ulagu aLandhaan”,
Vamana in conquering worlds.
He makes a veiled mention of Rama’s valour in kural 773
for showing mercy to the enemy in the war field when he is down in spirits.
Most important of these is his veiled reference to Rama
in his opening verse.
Thiruvalluvar begins his book with a worship of god.
The Akaara Brahman is indicated in his very first verse
as also the Bhagam (6 qualities) of Bhagavan – a vedic concept.
Akaara Brahmam is equated to Vishnu in Bhagavad Gita.
Beyond this there is something also.
He has indicated his God – ishta devatha in this verse – ‘agara mudala..’
It has been a practice in ancient times
for the poets to reveal their God or Lord or the Lord of the song (paattudai-th-thlaivan)
in their first verse as a puzzle.
Thirvalluvar too had done that.
These ancient norms of poetry indicated in Tholkaappiyam were aimed
at spreading and preserving the greatness of the Lord or God
who had been praised by the poet.
The praise of the Lord to live long can not just be empty words
but it also must incorporate certain features
that help in making the Lord and his name immortal.
We come across such norms of Tholkappaiyam explained in Choodamani nigandu, as sutras
and when I attempted to apply these rules to Thirukkaural,
I am in for a surprise.
Thiruvalluvar indeed had followed these ancient norms
and had indicated his Lord, his Ishta devatha as Rama!!
One will be surprised to know that these norms were in tandem
with certain rules of astrology, meant for longevity and greatness!
In 12-31 (“I-vagai sthaanam for seyyuL”) of Choodamani nigandu is like this.
This is about the sthanas.
A person is said to undergo 5 stages of life, such as
Bala (infant)
Kaumara (boyhood)
Youvana (youth)
Vriddha (old age) and
Marana (death)
These are known as 5 sthaanas.
In astrology, each house / rasi (constellation) is divided
into these 5 sthanas also known as avasthas
and predictions depend on the position of a planet in the sthana
Even is a planet is exalted, if it is placed on, say, marana sthana / avastha
(the degrees indicating death), the planet can not bestow the results of its exaltation.
That planet is as good as dead.
That is the implication and interpretation.
Therefore this sthana-bala was given prime importance by ancients,
even in poetry.
Their rule of poetry is that the lord / god of the Poet
must be indicated in the first verse.
But that indication must happen in the favorable sthaana or position.
Of the 5 sthaanas, the first 3 are about growth, a period of happiness.
So the norm was that the name of the Lord must be indicated in the first 3 sthanas.
If indicated in the last 2 sthanas (of old age and death)
the poet’s work would not stand long in spreading the name of his lord.
The Sutra in Choodamani nigandu says
that the poet must indicate the first letter of his lord
in the first 3 letters of the first verse of the poem.
But it must be given as the shortened one, if the letter has deergha swara.
That is if the letter is ‘nedil’, its complimentary ‘kuril’ must be used.
“baalanE kumaran mannan padu muthir kizhavan saavu
kOlundhan pEr ezhutthu kuritthadu mudalaaga-k-koLga
yElu mun ezhutthu moondrum inbham pin-irandum theedhaam
saalu moovagai seer thane saatriya kavidahikki inbham.”
(bala, kumara, mannan (king), old man and death.
Fix the first letter of your lord as a shortened swara (kuril- ezhutthu) in these.
The first 3 are good. The last 2 are bad.
Fixing the letter in the first 3 is a happy beginning for the poem)
Applying this to the first verse of Thirukkural,
Agara mudhala –
we have to look into
‘agara’ only, that has three letters, a, ga, ra.
All these are ‘kuril’ only.
The Lord of Thiruvalluvar must begin with any of these 3 only
and that letter could also be ‘aa’, ‘gaa’ and ‘raa’,
reduced into ‘kuril’.
Now the next rule is given in 12-102 of Choodamanu nigandu
as “seyyuLukkuriya nakshathram”. (the star of the poem)
“thanadu naaLil pinnaLum saarnthiru naalum aarum
vinaviya ettu vonbaanum viruttham vondrillai thanaaL
iNaiya moondrudan aindhaa naaL yEzhaa naaL ivai porundhaa
ninaiyum im-moondru vonbhan yErpadu moondru vattam”.
As per this rule, the poet must indicate the letters of those stars
which are 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th from the birth star of the lord
counted in 3 rounds of 9 stars for all the 27 stars.
The 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7 th stars from the birth star of the lord are not advised.
This means the poet must begin the poem with the letter that are indicated for the stars
that are 2 nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th from the birth star of the Lord.
In Vedanga Jyothisha, each star is assigned some letters
which one can refer from the almanacs.
The poem must start with the letter of those stars that are 2nd, 4th, 6th , 8th or 9th from the
birth star of the Lord, counted in groups of 3 covering all 27 stars.
The Kural begins with ‘a’.
“a” is the letter for the star krittika.
If we look at probable stars that come in that order mentioned above,
we get Punarpoosam (punarvasu) as the star of the Lord.
Krittika is the 6th star from Punarvasu in the 3rd round of 9 stars.
Punarvasu is the birth star of Sri Rama.
The ‘ra’ in agara is the 3rd letter which is the kuril of ‘raa’ of Rama.
This is place at “mannan” sthaana as per the Sutra of Nigandu.
This also stands for Youvana – youth immortalized in verses.
This means the poetic work as well as the Lord of the poet
will live for ever.
The second rule is to start the poem with letter of the star of Rama’s star group.
It is done.
The poem starts with ‘a’, the star of krittika
which is 6th in the 3rd round from Punarvasu.
Thiruvalluvar has followed this ancient rule of poetry writing
and has succinctly indicated his Ishta devata as Rama.
Needless to say
he went on to incorporate the Brahma-tattva
in the very first verse itself
in akkaraantha Brahman and Bhagavan.
The only other god that he has mentioned in his work
is Lord Vamana.
What an irony of Destiny
that an avowed hater of Brahmanic and Vedic culture,
promoting one whose book is nothing but Vedas in Tamil
(Tamil marai, uttara vedam are the other names of Thirukkural)
Such a devotee of Rama and follower of Vedic ways,
is being resurrected by none other than Karunanidhi,
to demonstrate his Tamil leanings.
If only Karunanidhi is sincere in his love for Thiruvalluvar,
let him first close all Tasmac shops (liquor shops).
Only then he would get the blessings of Valluvar who was dead against drinking.
Particularly when the liquor shops are run by the government
and the government shamelessly boasts of increasing the liquor sales
in the excuse that it is being used to augment the expenses
for buying Colour TVs for the poor,
Thiruvalluvar would not like to have anything to do with him.
He would not live in any kottam or statue or aandu that
Karunanidhi proposes .
Next issue is that
Karunanidhi must stop meddling with years and
instead revert to Prabhavaadhi cycle of years.
Only then he could get the blessings of Thiruvalluvar.
Of all the people Thiruvalluvar could not have tolerated
the scrapping up of the prevalent system of years and New year.
He is one who sticks to ancient practices.
By scrapping the existing years, Karunanidhi is
causing irreparable loss
to the ancient body of knowledge.
Already we lost many ancient treasures, due to negligence and ignorance.
To state an example, we know about the 60 years
starting from Prabhava from Surya siddhantha.
But the Siddhnatha talks about them in the context of Brahaspatya mana
-of the rounds 5x12=60 years of Jupiter, that start from Vijaya of this cycle.
The start of Soura mana with Prabhava is yet to be located in the texts.
Though we have information that this 60 year cycle of the sun
undergoing 3 stages of 20 years , of superior, medium and inferior kind of results,
we are still trying locate the source that tells about the origins of this cycle.
All clues lead to Prajapatya mana that describe manvantharas,
that might have contained information on yuga classification
on the basis of precision of equinoxes,
starting from Prabhava
But that knowledge seems to have been lost.
Today, by dropping the cycle of Prabahva etc,
Karunanidhi is committing a grave blunder -
a blunder that will be not forgiven by destiny for un-doing the existing knowledge.
The future generations are likely to lose all knowledge about this
as how we have already lost most treasures of the past.
Another issue is that
Thiruvalluvar himself would not have allowed the switch over
to this Thiruvalluvar aandu,
for, he was not born at that time that Karunanidhi and his coteries say that he was born
and he would have been dead against changing the age old system
which was based on sound principles of astronomy
and measurement of time.
The irony of sorts is that Karunanidhi is promoting a core Vishnu-bahkta,
who has indicated his Lord as Rama in his wonderful book of Dharama-artha-kaama
in a beautiful way in conformity with the norms of poetry writing.
The mockery of sorts is that Karunanidhi who had no qualms in writing preface to a work
that said that Thiruvalluvar copied from Christian thoughts
(a so-called research work by M.Deivanayagam, “Thiruvalluvar Christhuvara?”
-“Was Thiruvalluvar a Christian?” had the preface written to it
by none other Karunanidhi),
should promote Thiruvalluvar’s name for Tamil / Hindu years.
The sad state of times is that
if Thiruvalluvar were to be born again,
he would be given a SC status!!
Valluvar and Thiruvalluvar are scheduled castes according to Tamilnadu govt.
What a beautiful service these people are doing to Thiruvalluvar’s memory!!
.
