Karunanidhi's hatred for Brahmins and sacred thread is well known. When faced with a criticism, he used to reply that he was targeted because he was not wearing the sacred thread! When A.Raja was implicated in the Spectrum case, he 'blamed' it on sacred thread saying that Raja was accused because he was not wearing the sacred thread. As told in the previous article, this is also an issue which he speaks so often without knowing the truth behind it.
The truth is that Thiruvalluvar wore the sacred thread. This is known from the statue of Thiruvalluvar that was unearthed from the temple of Thiruvalluvar in Mylapore, Chennai. This statue dated at 14th /15th century AD, shows Thiruvalluvar like a Rishi wearing a sacred thread.
Source:- Iravatham Mahadevan's article in http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=539
The above link has the pics of gold coins with the image of Thiruvalluvar made by the Madras collector, Francis Whyte Ellis (1777–1819).
Thikruvalluvar is shown as a Jain in this coin!
Before someone goes to praise Ellis for minting the coin on Thiruvalluvar, I wish to point out that any Christian who praises Tamil and Thiruvalluvar would have an agenda. Ellis was no different man. He towed the line of Caldwell by meddling with Tamil with an agenda to help evangelists. Portrayal of Thiruvalluvar as a Jain also could have been his handiwork. But fortunately his further attempts to project Thiruvalluvar as a Jain through the gold coin did not materialise as a new rule by the British government barred the minting of gold coins.
It takes decades and even a life time to understand and grasp Vedic wisdom and the best of wisdom from Tamil sangam texts and Thirukkural. But people just go by a few concepts that they know and claim that they have mastered them. Particularly I just can't understand how people like Ellis and Caldwell could have learnt the languages which were foreign to them and claimed to trace the history of Tamils and personalities such as Thiruvalluvar. While Thirukkural is entirely a Hindu concept, these 'scholars' , with some Jain words here and there matching with some words of Thirukkural claimed that he was a Jain . Even today this trend is continuing but the difference is that this rishi who was portrayed as a Jain by the British period Christians is now being 'converted' in to a Christian by empty scholars having the sole agenda of conversion.
In this background, the surfacing of this statue of Thiruvalluvar is a significant one. But unfortunately those in the know of it are turning away from the fact of Thiruvalluvar's Hindu identity and instead are speaking on trivial matters.
In this post, I want to point out that Karunanidhi promoted Thiruvalluvar who has sported a sacred thread!!
Compare this with what Karunanidhi did in the Thiruvalluvar statue that he erected at Kanyakumari.
This is something which no gyani or teacher of our land of Bharath had ever shown!! This carries no meaning. But this is Karunanidhi's idea and that is why found like this. People may say that this symbol represents the 3 chapters of Thirukkural. Then also they are wrong, for, the 3 chapters of Thirukkural are infact part of 4 Purusharthas, of which the 4th one is Moksha. He did not write on Moksha, nor did anyone who speak about these 4, because that is something which one could not and would not narrate.
The Moksha mudra will be seen in deities with right hand showing the feet of the lord as a message to surrender in His feet. Thiruvalluvar said that in words in his last verse in Kadavul vaazththu. The Chin mudra in his hand (in the statue recovered in Mylapore) is a mark of wisdom (of Moksha).
We can also see a ring around his thumb finger in the right hand.
Such rings show some royal or high ranking authority the person enjoys. Thiruvalluvar could have enjoyed a prime position in the court of the Pandyan king or he could have headed a Mutt. Or this could also mean a prime authority vested with him as a supreme teacher. Or he could have been worshiped as a Deva, deity. Mamoolanar, one of the Sangam poets had expressed that it is wrong to call him, Valluvar (today this is a caste name which is in the category of SC/ST. A Valluva is an astrologer !) . Only an ignorant would call him Valluvar whereas he is fit enough to be called as a Deva. Perhaps that was what people did – held him as a Deva!
Karunanidhi had done the right thing by projecting the importance of Thiruvalluvar. But it is doubtful he would have done it if he had known that Thiruvalluvar wore a sacred thread! He would have liked to see him either as a Jain or a Christian but definitely not as a Hindu!! He removed all the Hinduness in his commentary to Thirukkural and in the figure of Thiruvalluvar in Kanyakumari . But the Mylapore statue shows Thiruvalluvar as a Hindu and as a person who has learnt Vedas –which is what the sacred thread shows.
This makes me ask these questions:-
- · Would Karunanidhi still like to have this Hindu saint for Tamil years?
- · Is it an irony of Fate or his usual idiocy that he supports a festival of Krishna –cult as the New Year (at Pongal) and a perfect Hindu Rishi for the year name?
