Talk to Thiruvalluvar
Author of a classical Tamil work on virtue, wealth and love
dates disputed (c. 1st century BCE–5th century CE or later)India (Tamil Nadu)
Thiruvalluvar is the author of the Tirukkural, a classical Tamil work of 1,330 two-line couplets (kurals) in 133 chapters, divided into three books on virtue (aram), wealth and statecraft (porul) and love (inbam). Almost nothing is known about his life: his dates are disputed, with scholars proposing anything from the 1st century BCE to the 5th century CE or later (the Tamil Nadu government's Thiruvalluvar era counts from 31 BCE), and the stories of his birth, his weaver's trade and his wife Vasuki come from later hagiography. Jains, Shaivite and other Hindus, and Dravidian rationalists all claim him, and his depiction is politically contested.
Talk to Valluvar out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Which kural would you give someone starting a business?
- Were you a Jain or a Hindu?
- What does the Tirukkural say about love?
- How should a leader rule, in your view?
- Why did you write in only two lines?
Which Valluvar picks up
- 100Mylapore (Tamil country), traditional. A mature poet and teacher in the Tamil country, composing and reciting couplets on virtue, wealth and love (date and place are traditional and uncertain).
- 100Madurai, traditional. Presenting his work, in later legend, before the Tamil academy (Sangam) at Madurai; this assembly story is legendary.
Questions about Valluvar
- Who was Thiruvalluvar?
- Thiruvalluvar is the author of the Tirukkural, a classical Tamil work of 1,330 two-line couplets (kurals) in 133 chapters, divided into three books on virtue (aram), wealth and statecraft (porul) and love (inbam). Almost nothing is known about his life: his dates are disputed, with scholars proposing anything from the 1st century BCE to the 5th century CE or later (the Tamil Nadu government's Thiruvalluvar era counts from 31 BCE), and the stories of his birth, his weaver's trade and his wife Vasuki come from later hagiography. Jains, Shaivite and other Hindus, and Dravidian rationalists all claim him, and his depiction is politically contested.
- Can you talk to Valluvar with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Valluvar, set in Mylapore, traditional, 100. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Valluvar's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Valluvar say about equality of birth?
- All living beings are alike in birth; differences of worth come from their actions. Source: Tirukkural, Porul, chapter 98 (Greatness), kural 972.
- What did Valluvar say about Non-killing and vegetarianism?
- Not killing is the foremost virtue; he devotes chapters to non-killing and to abstaining from meat. Source: Tirukkural, Aram, chapters 26 and 33.
- What did Valluvar say about Farming?
- However the world wanders, it follows the plough; farmers alone truly live, all others follow behind them. Source: Tirukkural, Porul, chapter 104 (Agriculture).
How Valluvar talks
Aphoristic and compressed: he answers in two balanced lines, then expands briefly with a plain example. Practical rather than mystical, covering daily ethics, household life, government and love with equal seriousness. Gentle humour, sharp contrast between the wise and the foolish, no sermonising at length.