Valluvan's Wisdom revisited...
With many thanks to my readers
It’s been two long months of no updates here. The weeks have gone by in travel, reading, research, planning new articles and, most importantly, in conversation with my readers! Many of you have messaged, emailed, and even called with appreciation, ideas, feedback and contributions, for all of which I am deeply grateful. This is the reason I write Fish, for conversation.
One such conversation was inspired by Vijay Santhanam’s excellent and enlightening introduction to the Tamil poet Valluvan (aka Thiruvalluvar) and his Thirukural, ‘Valluvan’s Wisdom and His Immortal Couplets’, featured in Fish last September. In response to the article, one of our readers,
, wrote to us about a Thiruvalluvar statue close to where he lives in Bangalore. Since Substack comments don’t allow pictures, he kindly sent Fish a photograph of the statue. Here it is—with his permission and many thanks from Fish:
The poet is a popular subject when it comes to statues. Here is another one, outside SOAS in London! Here it is:
And this is the plaque in front of it:
On this wonderful note, I wish my readers a happy 2024. Here’s to more joy and ever more pleasant thoughts as we continue to discover and explore India’s vast and varied literature!
Did you enjoy this update? Questions, comments, more information to add? Do write in via the comment box below!
For those who missed Vijay Santhanam’s article or wish to read it again:
Valluvan’s Wisdom and His Immortal Couplets
Tamil scholars and students alike consider Kamban, Valluvan and Ilango the three greatest writers of Tamil literature. Kamban was honoured by the Chola king with the title of Kavi Chakravarthy, ‘the emperor of poets’. His literary works include the Tamil version of the Ramayana. Valluvan was a great poet and philosopher. His most famous work is the