(consisting of 1,330 eouplets) which is of perennial interest to the nations of the world. The work has been translated into several important languages of the world. Close students of Thirukkural like Dr. G. U. Pope, Mr. Ellis and Rev. H. A. Popley have paid glowing tributes to the author and have stated that the Thirukkural is a beacon light for the world. Scholars like Dr. Albert Schweitzer have acclaimed the work as a marvellous treatise on ethics, which, while laying emphasis on self-affirmation instead of on self-negation, shows to the world how people should love one another, revere one another and understand one another. On the foundations of understanding, tolerance, love and reverence for life, the edifice of the Unity of Mankind is to be erected. Thiruvalluvar has done a great deal to pave the way for Universal Brotherhood, Peace and Plenty.

Thiruvalluvar has the message that one can either be a householder or an ascetic and one can prosper in both states and attain bliss. Sometimes, stray verses from Thirukkural are cited to show that Thiruvalluvar placed the life of an ascetic over and above the life and doings of a man pursuing domestic life. Yet one can cite authority for the other view also. For instance, in Kural 48 he says that the householder who, not swerving from virtue, helps the ascetic in his way of life, endures more than those who endure penance. In Kural 38 he says that he who suffers no day to pass without doing some good turn to others will by such conduct permanently block future births.

He has laid stress on the attitude of the heart rather than on the externals of religion. In Kural 34 he says whatever is done with a spotless mind is virtue; all else is vain show. In another place (in Kural 280) he says that there is no use of a shaven crown or of tangled hair, if one abstains from such deeds as the wise have derided.

The message of Thiruvalluvar is not pessimistic but optimistic. He has asked us to brave dangers and to stand fast. More than this, he has asked us to be cheerful under adverse circumstances. (See for instance Kural 621-If troubles come, simply laugh; there is nothing like laughter which can overcome sorrow.) In another place, he pities people who cannot be cheerful at all. In Kural 999 he says, "To those who cannot rejoice, the whole world is buried in darkness even in broad daylight." One of the ways in which one can be cheerful is to avoid wrath. He asks in Kural 304, "Are there greater enemies than wrath, which would crush laughter and joy?"

Sometimes, Thiruvalluvar is looked upon as having underlined the inexorable nature of fate. Though in a chapter (Chap. 38), he has stressed the importance of fate and though in the concluding couplet of that chapter he has asked "What is stronger than fate?