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Thirukkural, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and the genesis of the non-violent movement.

Thirukkural is a Tamil Classic which deals with the "art of living" and was written about 2000 years back by sage poet Thiruvalluvar. As per Tamil culture, the word "Thiru" is prefixed to a person or a thing as a show of respect. Thus the original name of the work could have been just Kural meaning "voice" in Tamil and the name of the poet being Valluvar. Thirukkural is recognized as a classic world literature. Apart from being renowned for imparting timeless wisdom, the work is also renowned for its  aesthetic and literary value. It consists of 133 chapters of 10 couplets each, totalling 1330 couplets, systematically arranged in three parts - Virtue, Wealth and Love. Each couplet is the epitome of linguistic efficiency with just 7 words and thus each chapter contains just 70 words or in other words this magnum opus which has maintained its relevance through the centuries has just 9,310 Tamil words.

G.U. Pope, who translated this work into English metric verses a century ago, explains poetically the beauty of Thirukkural thus : " Their construction resembles that of a design in a mosaic. The materials fitted together are sometimes mere bits of colored glasses, but sometimes also very previous stones and pure gold".

Thirukkural was among the earliest of the Tamil classics translated by the Christian missionaries. Rev.Fr.Beschi (1700-1742) translated it into Latin. There are also versions of Thriukkural in French by Monsieur Ariel and in German by Dr.Graul. The significance of Thirukkural to the missionaries and others has been its ethical content presented in a creed agnostic manner.

Mahatma Gandhi calls it ' a textbook of indispensable authority on moral life' and goes on to say 'The maxims of Valluvar have touched my soul. There is none who has given such a treasure of wisdom like him'. Mahatma Gandhi has also significantly said that he came to know about Thirukkural from Leo Tolstoy, who said that the concept of Non-violence was taken by him from a German version of the Kural. It is interesting to note that the seed of non-violence was sown first in the fertile mind of Leo Tolstoy through the Kural and it bore fruits under the patronage of his able disciple M.K.Gandhi who is now synonymous with non-violent struggle for truth, rights and peace.