Scientific Ideologies in Thirukkural

S Vasudevan; P Ilayappillai; S Arokiyaraj

doi:10.34293/sijash.v13iS5-Mar.11079

S Vasudevan Department of Literature, School of Tamil Studies, Tamil University, Thanjavur
P Ilayappillai Department of Literature, School of Tamil Studies, Tamil University, Thanjavur
S Arokiyaraj Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Sejong University, South Korea

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34293/sijash.v13iS5-Mar.11079

Keywords: Thirukkural, Thiruvalluvar, Scientific Ideology, Five Elements, Ecology

Abstract

Thirukkural is an ancient and universal moral scripture that expresses morals which are valid for all life. It is divided into three sections of virtue (Aram), wealth (Porul), and love (Inbam), and consists of 133 chapters and 1330 couplets. The term ‘Tamil’ is used but the word is not mentioned in the text, a deliberate choice by the author to make it a universal scripture with no linguistic or cultural restrictions. Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural combines various spheres of knowledge, ethics, epistemology, natural sciences, and philosophy. The text is based on findings of physiology, psychology, botany, zoology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, soil science and ecology. Curiously, concepts that later came to be used by scientists like Galileo Galilei, Aristotle, Charles Darwin, and Carolus Linnaeus seem to have conceptual counterparts in the Kural centuries that were earlier in development. The purpose of this study is to systematically review and bring to light the scientific ideologies present in Thirukkural in various scientific fields like ecology, hydrology, microbiology and anthropology.