Tirukural: the Tamil Veda (HOLY BOOK) was written 2000 years ago, so its author, Saint Tiruvalluvar, was a contemporary of Jesus Christ. The contents of Tirukural apply even to modern thought and education. Kural means any short verse. The title ‘Tiru’ (or Thiru) is added as a mark of respect to both the verses and the poet. For brevity, it is mentioned in a few places as Kural and Valluvar respectively. Tirukural belongs to the SANGAM LITERATURE of the Tamil language. Tamil Sangam means an association of learned Tamil scholars from Madurai, the ancient capital of the PANDYA kingdom, where the written works of poets were recognized after great scrutiny and review by eminent Tamil scholars. Tirukural is one of those recognized literal works among the 18 Sangam books during the 1st century BC. C. Tirukural has been translated into all the major languages ​​of the world. In fact, Rev. Father GUPope was very impressed by his Latin translation and ventured to translate it into English. He compared the Tiruvalluvar saying “All living things are born equal” (pirappokkum ella uyirkkum) with the teaching of the Bible.

There are 1330 verses in total in 133 chapters of 10 verses each on different topics.

This article is about what Tiruvalluvar has to say about EDUCATION. The ten verses he has written on education form couplets 391 to 400, that is, chapter 40 which falls under the category of Materialism. This is not a word-for-word translation, but a treatise on the subject of how Bliss can be attained in a single birth by obtaining the high value of Education during one’s lifetime.

1. (Kural 391 onwards): one should learn everything that has to be learned without any fault. Once such apprenticeship is complete, he must live up to the lessons he has already learned true to the spirit of apprenticeship. Perfect learning, devoid of all mistakes and doubts, is the basis of education. One must be clear about all aspects of the chosen topic. More importantly, there should be no question about questions that may arise at a later date, even after the education is complete. Only such education could make one fit for a higher self. Also, upon completion of education, one should never deviate from the path guided by education. Therefore, such a high value for education, regardless of the chosen field of profession, such as medicine, jurisprudence, engineering and others!

2. Numbers (which are part of arithmetical knowledge) and Alphabets (which are the basis of literal knowledge) must be considered as two eyes of living beings.

3. Only educated people are considered to have Vision. The uneducated have no ‘eyes’, but have only two punctures in the place of the eyes. Without education, the so-called eyes will be useless. Is it not true that sight is the most important physical property of a human being, by which alone the entire physical Universe can be visualized? Education is compared to this unique property of the living person through these 2 Kurals.

4. Even friendship receives a new definition among those who are well educated. Their meetings and mutual discussions each time is a source of great pleasure and joy and when they separate there is a great longing to meet again.

5 An educated person is rich in all respects because he is in possession of knowledge, compared to an uneducated person who has to bow down in all humility because he is in the lowest rank of society.

6. Many similes are used to clarify these points. Knowledge is compared to water flowing from muddy ground. A pond of water will sprout water in proportion to the extent to which it is dug and in the same way knowledge will improve progressively as it is learned deeply.

7. For an educated person, each town is his own town and each country is his country. “Then why is one persistently wasting his life to death without education?” Tiruvalluvar wonders.

This Kural can be compared to the saying in another Sangam classic ‘Purananuru’ (four hundred songs representing external social life): which reads:

“All places are my native place, and all men are my relatives”

(“yadhum urey, yavarum kelir”-Tamil equivalent)

These words are specially quoted here because they are the favorite words of the learned Tamils. It emphasizes unity and a universal brotherhood with an exceptional sense of understanding and peaceful coexistence that existed 2,000 years ago.

8. The popular Hindu belief is that one has seven births before attaining salvation. But, the poet claims, the education one learns in one birth will be enough for all seven births. It goes without saying that you must learn it without any flaws and with the best of its content. Such education will give you pleasure for all seven births. In other words, perfect education gives one MUKTHI, meaning salvation in the present birth itself. Even if one is not a believer in subsequent births, he can accept this Kural which assures him permanent peace in one birth, provided he is perfectly educated.

9. It is also stressed that the nature of an enlightened person is to gain more pleasure in learning and also to yearn for more knowledge, seeing that the pleasure he gains through education is shared by society as a whole. The benefit and pleasure of education is not only for the individual but for the collective. The pleasure of others acts as a catalyst for him that empowers him for such an accumulation of learning. He loses nothing by sharing the knowledge with others, and indeed his knowledge and pleasure are multiplied in due time.

10. It is categorically stated that the only viable wealth a person can possess is education and other wealth is, in fact, useless. No flood, fire or robbery can take away from us the great wealth of knowledge that education generates.

An introduction to this world-famous epic has been given and if the readers’ interest in learning the entire book has been piqued, the purpose of this article is served. Needless to add, such readers will attain eternal bliss in this very birth as listed in the above paragraphs.