THIRUVALLUVAR - 2050

Thiruvalluvar is a Tamil philosopher-poet belonging to the ancient sangam era [roughly 2000 years before]. He is such a great mind that can be paralleled to Aristotle in the ancient Greece. Thiruvalluvar has written Thirukkural consisting of 1330 couplets in 133 chapters. The book has been translated over 80 languages. There are around 50 different versions in English alone. Thirukkural is called the scripture of humanity - not because it is widely available in different languages - because of the content of the book which is common to everyone, irrespective of the religion, creed or the country. Few literatures enjoy the status of being acclaimed as belonging to humanity and we are proud that Thirukkural enjoys such a status.

When somebody enjoys such popularity, there might be always people who either want to identify him as their own or oppose him vehemently as their enemy. Mr. Patel is surely a congress man according to the recorded history; however, it is the present central government whose principles are totally against the congress has constructed the world’s tallest statue of Mr. Patel [600 feet tall] somehow making him as its own ideologue. The congress finds itself in a precarious situation. It cannot oppose an honour that is due to one of its members and therefore has to be silent and accept the honour done to him. But by its silence it also allows one of its members to be absorbed by its own political enemy. A congress man has been immersed into a man of its opposite camp. Absorption of  the members of the opposite camp seems an easy way in politics in India. 

Some such attempts are successful while others are not. Ambedkar’s statues were vandalised and painted in saffron in 2018 and the acts of vandalism were retaliated by the Dalits in UP.  It is quite prevalent in India that some important people’s statues often face vandalism. Now recently in Tamil Nadu, Thiruvalluvar [whose 185 feet tall statue is in Kanyakumari] has been the target of vandalism and absorption. A statue of Thiruvalluvar was desecrated in  the first week of November, 2019 in Pillaiyarpatti, a village near Thanjavur. Later one of the leaders, an associate of the BJP, cleansed the statue and garlanded and paid respect with a saffron towel. I don’t think it to be a problem with paying respect to a person according to the beliefs and colours of the one who pays respect. However, one needs to see this issue of garlanding in a larger context of absorption and diverting the attention of people into an emotional realm. 

The recent trend in India is to create a controversial issue which would divert the people’s attention from their actual problems. Indian economy is down, government companies are at the verge of being privatised. The debates in the media never focus on any of the essential problems of the people. Politicians, whichever party they belong to, seem to engage in this sort of diverting the attention from real problems. These politicians assume the responsibility of experts and scholars by discussing the issues of history and sciences that need scholarship and expertise. It is a sham and shame that politicians, with their influence, modify the historical facts and evidences for their vested interests. If at all there are some discrepancies, it should be left to the battle of the research scholars who objectively evaluate the evidences and establish the truth.  When a state enters into politicising education, an objective research is never possible. Facts and figures will change according to the ruling party. 

Let us take the case of Thiruvalluvar. He was born 2050 years ago. Scholars studying his text and that of others determine the time of the composition and what type of religion he belongs to. Only in researches do we prove others to be wrong and not by desecrating the statue of a man. Once something is established then we could actually change the structure. It is yet another trend in our country that we first change the structure and then try to modify the facts. 

While many scholars believe that Thiruvalluvar belonged to Jainism others believe that he was a buddhist and some believe that he was a man beyond religion who never identified with any religion. I believe that Thiruvalluvar transcends beyond his time and region and is a philosopher of the world. His ideas can be applied to any place and any time and to any God. Let me give an example to the greatness of Thiruvalluvar who cannot be restricted to a particular religion and region and who stands out from other philosophical figures in India. Thiruvalluvar never speaks of a particular God - his notion of God is very common to monotheistic God. That is why he is a great philosopher. Let me give an example of this from the Attributes of God described by him and Thomas Aquinas. 

Thomas Aquinas says that there are 8 attributes of God: God is Simple, Perfect, Good, Infinite, omnipresent, immutable, eternal and Unity [one]. The idea that flows from these attributes are that God alone is the perfect and necessary being who is the first cause (creator) of the universe, who is present everywhere, all the time, without any division and therefore united in Himself. 

Thiruvalluvar has also explained the 8 attributes of God in the first 8 couplets. He says that  1) God is the first cause [as the letter A is the first of all letters, so is God]; 2) God is the  most intelligent Being [pure knowledge]; 3) Omnipresent [He resides even in one’s heart] 4) the most perfect [void of desire or aversion];  5) immutable [No good deed or bad and so unaffected] 6) eternal [faultless, because no desire];  7) Only one [Incomparable]; and 8) all good [Sea of virtue]. 

When a scholar compares the two different versions of the attributes of God, coming from two different epochs and cultures, he/she may find lots of similarities. If we have enough space, we could actually establish that both have been roughly saying the same attributes. Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural is called a World’s scripture because his writings go beyond his time and religion. Therefore he cannot be really be coloured with a particular religion. Though he is rooted in this soil, he extends his branches worldwide. Let me move on to write that how comparative studies can be also misleading.

We have shown that there are similarities between Valluvar and Aquinas. Therefore, can I claim that Aquinas was a disciple of Valluvar? If I do so then that would be totally a baseless claim. I cannot use my political supremacy to say that Aquinas is a Jain / buddhist/ Saivite, because Aquinas gives the same attributes to God as does Valluvar. I think if somebody wishes to propose this hypothesis, he needs to establish the fact of Aquinas’ visitation to Tamilnadu or at the least the possession of Thirukkural in his library. Until it is established or proven with facts and conclusive evidences, the claim is only a hypothesis intended to divert the people’s attention or to create riots among people.

Let me focus now on another point for our consideration explaining why Valluvar cannot be absorbed by those who claim that he belongs to them. The entire writings and ideas of Valluvar has to be taken into consideration before identifying him with my religious identity. Valluvar is a philosopher against casteism which determines one’s worth with birth and therefore the business is determined by one’s birth. When one believes that our trade is determined by birth, the son of a scavenger will be a scavenger, the son of a business man will be a business man and the son of a priest will be a priest. Birth takes precedence over business and therefore birth is suffice to determine one’s superiority over the other. 

Valluvar reverses this idea of birth determining one’s worth saying that all humans are equal by birth and we are different (not superior over others) only by profession. This means that the son of a business man can become a priest and his son can become a soldier. If we understand the importance of virtue in Thirukkural, it is not difficult to translate the couplet 972: “Birth is equal to all; good deeds or bad deeds in our professions determine our worth.” If someone does his business virtuously he is respected because of his profession. If somebody cheats others in his business, he is disrespected because of his profession. Hence someone, who believes that we are good or bad by birth, has no right to absorb Valluvar as his/her own.

Just because Gandhi said that he liked Christ and his teachings, I cannot claim and say that Gandhi is a Christian if we take into consideration most of his writings and explanations. If I do so then it is clear that I am doing it for my own political vested interest. The case of Valluvar also is the same. Just because there are similarities between Thirukkural and different religions, one can never absorb Valluvar in to his/her own religion or culture. And just by modifying the statues, one cannot rewrite history. Let us be generous in leaving out the research to the scholars. Let the scholars fight over this. Let the politicians fight for the rights of the people. 

By way of concluding, we could listen to Valluvar who has a lesson to teach us: “if a man inflicts sorrow upon others in the morning, it will come upon him unsought in the very evening”[319]. And there is yet another lesson that is to be learned from him. “The (proper) punishment to those who have done evil (to you), is to put them to shame by showing them kindness in return” [314].  

We need to respond to them with kindness, but, would that kindness have any effect? I hope so.

[Published in 2019 December - Vailankanni Calling]

PHILOSOPHY SYMPOSIUM - September 20 and 21

Parliamentary Election 2019 - Some Pointers

Parliamentary Election - Some Pointers 

The parliamentary election to be held in the months of April & May is important for the citizens of the country to rise up to the occasion and cast their votes since it is only by exercising the fundamental duty of the citizen could he/she claim his/her right in the country.

This is a very important election which would have lots of impact on the country both within the states and beyond. Since we don’t have the power to see what the future will be and who would form the government, we could only pray that the citizens choose who they think the right person is.

There is no doubt that democracy is one of the most precious gifts of modernity. It is because of the principles of democracy, the citizens have the right to choose who should rule them. At the same time the candidates who pursue to become their rulers have the right to pursue the citizens to vote for them. It seems that there is a fair deal of democratic negotiations before the elections. But these days the discussions have become simple rhetorics mixed with lies. People have mastered the art of rhetoric to make them believe what they say is true rather than what the truth is. Rhetoric in fact is a threat to democracy.

Candidates have started using catchy phrases and statements. We are easily caught by these tag-lines. It is then the duty of the hearers to find out the truth. Would you believe if I attach here a photo of myself standing in the Moon? You would certainly know that I have morphed the photo. Instead, imagine that I post here my photo taken in front of Taj Mahal;  you would start believing that I had gone to Agra to visit Taj Mahal. But the truth is that I have not gone to Agra so far in my life. But I can very easily make you believe that the second photo is true since you would not go deeper to analyse the authenticity of the photo. Even if somebody says that the photo in Agra is a morphed one, some of you would still believe that photo to be true and the critics speak out of jealousy. 

In the election time we will have lots of morphed speeches, morphed images and morphed statistics like my morphed photo of Agra. Unless you take extra efforts to know and understand who says what and what the truth is, you will never know the falsity of the statements they utter.  

Some might argue that only now our country has developed after independence as though people had not been eating so far. Some might claim that the country had never been significantly known well in the international arena for the past 60 years. Some might still argue that there were no Abdul Kalams so far in the country and only now we have come to know about rockets. The election campaign does not seem to rest on what has been done in the past four years – it simply rests on what they say has been done in the past four years. It is one thing to say that the country has developed and it is another thing to say that the government says that the country has developed. Statistics claim that demonetization has not served its purpose at all. However the government is making contrary claims.

The media are supposed to be the guardian of truth and they should take the place of the opposition party. However things have changed in the past four years. Every press and television seems to simply echo the voice of the government and missing the critical eyes. There may be a reason for this.

One should know that the present government has spent almost 4880 CRORES on advertisements alone from 2014 to May 2018. Roughly it has been spending 1200 crores per annum for the advertisements. If the calculations are correct, in the past five years the government must have spent 6000 crores on advertisement alone. Why should the media speak against the government when it creates regular income for them. It seems then the duty of the citizens not to be carried away by what they see in the media but should try to understand the matter using their rational debates and looking for the truth of what is being said.

Candidates may try everything possible to capture the attention of the citizens. Recently a minister prostrated at the feet of the mother a solder - respect shown to the soldier! Our prime minister washed the feet of the sanitation workers. There is nothing wrong in symbolically showing their respects for the soldiers and workers. But what is important to know is that when thousands of farmers were in Delhi wanting to see the prime minister, he did not have time to meet them. We know that it is the country of the farmers.  We might well be easily be deceived by these symbolic gestures forgetting what had happened in the past. I think that the citizens have to become aware of this.

There are more hatred speeches in the country now. A leader in Tamil Nadu openly said that they would not support a muslim or a christian candidate even if they are official candidates of the alliances with BJP. Leaders of these sorts are anti-nationals. There was no media which condemned it. There were no actions taken against him - neither the state nor the election commission. If this sort of voice is raised what will happen in the country tomorrow. Imagine that one wants to fly, will he has to check the Athar Card of the pilot and make sure that he is neither a Christian not a muslim. Imagine if this is extended to language and other areas of life in India. 

Well. How should we respond to these sorts of speeches when the whole media is silent. Should we oppose them? Should we take a protest rally? If we probably respond to the hatred speeches of these minority extremists, then the whole media will project us to be working on religious grounds. The best thing now would be to engage in as much rational debates as possible and to discuss with people of good will on facts and figures. We need more people who can expose the rhetorics and morphing in politics. It is time that everyone becomes the media who can question the popular, corporate and advertising media. Only then could we be truly able to exercise our rights as citizens of this country.

There is a new tag-line which is becoming very famous or made famous - chowkidar, which means watchman or gate keeper. Let this be their slogan. It is true that our leaders have to be our watchmen. Because we, the Indians - hindus, muslims, christians and every citizen belonging to every religion and race - are the Maliks - the owners of this country. The watchmen are supposed to serve their masters, the citizens of the country. If they fail in this duty of being a watchman and behaves as a boss, it is time for every citizen to add the tagline - I am Malik and you are chowkidar. We will have to tell them how they ought to be watchmen. That would be possible if only you cast your vote and if only you think before you cast your vote. By the way, ask this question - how could a chowkidar wear a four lakh suit while the Maliks are wearing only langoti  [loincloth]? 

Cast your vote - but find out the truth behind the Rhetorics and engage in rational & meaningful debates before you cast your precious vote. 

[Written for the voice from the East - V C]

Amartya Sen on Secular India

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen confirmed his hope in secular India that he wishes that a secular person who can make all the citizens of the country feel more secure in the country. He complained that Modi, who is said to the be next prime minister candidate for the BJP in the forthcoming national election in India.

Sen said: "“No, I don’t approve of it... I don’t think the record is very good. I think I don’t have to be a member of the minority in order to feel insecure... We Indians don’t want a situation where the minority feel insecure and could legitimately think that there was an organised violence against them in 2002. I think that is a terrible record and I don’t think Indian Prime Minister as an Indian citizen... Of who has that kind of record. No, I do not.” [the Hindu]

While there are lot of political scientists were critical of secular India, Sen has been on the other end that India should be a secular country. He has confirmed his hope in secularism once again.