The Kural · Chapter
Thiruvalluvar explained
This chapter recounts the life and times of the Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, focusing on his marriage to Vāsuki, their ideal domestic life, her death, and his subsequent renunciation.
What happens
This chapter recounts the life and times of the Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, focusing on his marriage to Vāsuki, their ideal domestic life, her death, and his subsequent renunciation. It also discusses the scant historical evidence for his dates, his caste background, and the legendary tests of Vāsuki's obedience and devotion.
Themes in this chapter
Family Life and Duty
The chapter highlights the ideal married life of Thiruvalluvar and Vāsuki, emphasizing wifely obedience, domestic harmony, and the poet's view that married life is best for scholars if they find a wife like Vāsuki.
Love and Marriage
The love between Thiruvalluvar and Vāsuki is portrayed through tests of faith, mutual devotion, and the poet's lament upon her death, illustrating the depth of their marital bond.
Asceticism and Spiritual Discipline
After Vāsuki's death, Thiruvalluvar renounced the world and became an ascetic, showing the transition from householder life to spiritual pursuit.
Characters to notice
- Thiruvalluvar
The poet-saint, a weaver by profession, who tested his wife's faith and lived a happy married life until her death, after which he became an ascetic.
- Parimêlajahar
Not directly mentioned in the excerpts; included as a canonical figure but no specific role in this chapter.
- Dr. Pope
Not directly mentioned in the excerpts; included as a canonical figure but no specific role in this chapter.
- Pallor
Not directly mentioned in the excerpts; included as a canonical figure but no specific role in this chapter.
- Bouderie
Not directly mentioned in the excerpts; included as a canonical figure but no specific role in this chapter.
- Lakshmi
Not directly mentioned in the excerpts; included as a canonical figure but no specific role in this chapter.
Key passages
“O loving one! O thou who usedst to cook delicious dishes for me and who hast never disobeyed me! who wouldst chafe my feet at night and sleep after I had slept and wake before I had waked! Art thou going away from me now, O artless one? When shall these eyes know sleep again?”
Thiruvalluvar mourns his wife Vāsuki, recalling her devoted care and obedience, and expresses his profound grief and sleeplessness after her death.
This verse is attributed to Thiruvalluvar upon the death of his wife, reflecting the depth of their marital bond.
“married life is the best even for scholars and searchers after truth if they can find a wife like Vāsuki; otherwise they had better continue single all their life.”
Thiruvalluvar advises that a virtuous wife makes married life ideal for spiritual seekers, but without such a partner, celibacy is preferable.
This is the poet's answer to a sage inquiring about the value of marriage.