Historically, the time of the contributors spans several centuries starting from around 1st century CE. All the contributors of the Tiruvalluva Maalai pre-date the period of the earliest commentators of the Kural text such as Manakkudavar. Historical account Īs with the date of the Tirukkural and its author itself, the exact date of the composition of the verses of the Tiruvalluva Maalai remains unclear.

With four more verses adding to the corpus, including that by divine elements such as the voices of the Oracle, Naamagal ( Goddess Saraswathi), and Iraiyanar (Lord Shiva), the collection came to be known as the Tiruvalluva Maalai or 'the garland to Valluvar'. Idaikkadar and Avvaiyar, who accompanied Valluvar in the journey, couldn't remain silent and gave their opinion in the form of poetry. Scrambling out of the water, the forty-nine scholars pronounced a stanza each in praise of Valluvar and his work. When Valluvar laid his book thereupon, the seat immediately contracted itself to the size of the work throwing all the professors into the lotus pond. The assembly of scholars said to have doubted Valluvar's erudition and said to him that the bench on which they sat will make room for the best treatise in high Tamil, which shall be taken as a sign of acceptance of his work. This is well known by the account of Nakkirar II, one of the later scholar of the Madurai College lineage who even dared to say to Lord Shiva, 'Though you show us your frontal eye, a fault is a fault', on his appearing to favor an amateur poet named Dharumi. The scholars there were adept at finding errors in the most skillful compositions. Legend has it that forty-nine professors 'sat as kings of the sweet tongue' on the bench of poets, known as Sanga palagai, by the tank covered with the golden lotus at the Madurai temple. Upon reaching the Madurai College, Valluvar submitted his text, calling it Muppāl, before Lord Somasundara, in the hearing of the Pandiyan king and his ministers, chiefs, and scholars. On the way to Madurai, at Idaykarlyi, he met Avvaiyar I and Idaikkadar and revealed the purpose of his journey and they joined him, too, in his journey to the College of Madurai. History and Dating Traditional account Īccording to traditional and legendary accounts, after writing the Kural text, Valluvar left for Madurai on the advice of his friends to 'triumph over the college of the doctors' at the Madurai College. Ariel, a French scholar of the 19th century, famously said of the Tirukkural thus: Ce livre sans nom, par un autre sans nom ('The book without a name by an author without a name').

The collection also reveals the name of the author of the Kural text as 'Valluvar' for the first time, as Valluvar himself composed the Kural text centuries earlier without indicating his name anywhere in his work. With the historical details of the ancient philosopher and his work remaining obscure, much of the legend on the Kural and Valluvar as they are known today are chiefly from this work. With the poets' time spanning across centuries starting from around 1st century CE, the collection is believed to have reached its present form by 10th century CE. Tiruvalluva Maalai ( Tamil: திருவள்ளுவ மாலை), literally 'Garland of Valluvar', is an anthology of ancient Tamil paeans containing fifty-five verses each attributed to different poets praising the ancient work of the Kural and its author Valluvar.

Thiruvalluva malai pdf