His wife Vasuki was a chaste and devoted lady, an ideal wife, who never disobeyed the orders of her husband, but always carried them out implicitly. Thiruvalluvar showed people that a person could lead the life of a Grihastha or householder, and at the same time, lead a divine life or a life of purity and sanctity. He showed people that there was no necessity to leave the family and become a Sannyasin to lead a divine life of purity and sanctity. All his wise sayings and teachings are now in book form and known as ‘Thirukkural’. The Tamil Calendar is dated from that period and referred as Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year).
The time period of Thiruvalluvar's existence has been based on mostly linguistic evidences rather than archeological evidences since none such has been determined. His period has been estimated to be between 2nd century BC and 8th century AD.
Thirukural itself does not name its author or authors. The name Thiruvalluvar is first mentioned several centuries later in the 10th century in a text called Thiruvalluvarmaalai (Thiruvalluvar's garland). Most of the traditions of Thiruvalluvar appear after this text had been written. It is generally believed that the name Thiru-Valluvar consists of Thiru (a Tamil word meaning honorable, similar to Mr) and Valluvar (a polite name for Valluvan, according to Tamil tradition). The name Valluvan is a common name representing his caste/occupation rather than his proper name. However, the question of whether the author of Thirukkural (Valluvan) is named after his community or vice versa remains unanswered.
There are several claims regarding where he lived. But none of them could be verified. One legend associates him to Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya rulers who vigorously promoted Tamil literature. According to another he was born and lived in Mylapore, a part of present day Madras city and traveled to Madurai to submit his work, the Thirukural, for approval of the king (Pandian) and his college of poets. His wife is named Vasuki.
Thiruvalluvar might have spent most part of his life in Madurai because it was under the Pandiya rulers that many Tamil poets flourished. There is also the recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre (KHCRC) that Valluvar was a king who ruled Valluvanadu in the hilly tracts of Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.
Thirukkural
Thirukkural is one of most revered ancient works in the Tamil. Kural is considered as 'common creed', as it shows the way for human morals and betterment in life. The Kural has been translated into several languages.[citation needed]. The Latin translation of Thirukkural made by Constanzo Beschi in 1730 helped somewhat to make known to European intellectuals Tamil literature.
Thirukkural is divided into three sections. Section one deals with Aram, good ethical behavior with conscience and honor ("right conduct"), Section two discusses Porul, the right manner of conducting worldly affairs, and Section three dwells on Inbam, love between man and woman. The First section has 38 chapters, Second has 70 chapters and the Third 25 chapters. Each Chapters consists of 10 couplets or kurals thus making 1330 couplets in total. Although two section, Aram and Inbam are devoted to private life of an individual more than half the couplets in Thirukural are grouped under Porul which discusses ethics in public life. Thus Thiruvalluvar gives more importance to righteous living in public life.
Other than Thirukural, Thiruvalluvar is attributed as the author to two other Tamil texts in medicines Gnana Vettiyan and Pancharathnam; although many scholars claim that there might have been another a later author with the same name. Morever, these later texts are found to on Siddha medicine written in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
