City of Armadale - History House > Records

BOOK CASE - THE THIRUKKURAL (TAMIL POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY)

« Prev Item Next Item »

2022

Overview

Rectangle brown cardboard box. On the right front of the box is an illustration of a man sitting on a yellow platform cross legged. The man is wearing a white robe that leaves his right shoulder and arm bare. He has a black beard and black hair raised up in a bun. In his right hand is a pen like item, in his right is a rectangle sheet of paper with red text on it. Similar sheets of paper are on the ground in front of him. to the left of the illustration is 6 lines of text in gold, bronze and yellow. Text is written in Dravidian, the language of Tamil culture. In top left corner is a gold bow and the word [Gift].
On the back is a similar illustration with five lines of text in yellow, bronze and white. On the sides are the illustration of the man with two lines of text and on the ends are single lines of yellow text.

Historical information

The Thirukkural, also known as the Kural is a collection of 1330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The kurals are attributed to Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar (also known as Poyyil Pulavar, Mudharpavalar, Deivappulavar, Nayanar, Devar, Nanmukanar, Mathanubangi, Sennabbodhakar and Perunavalar). Where and when he was born is unknown. The Kural though can be dated back to 300 BCE.
The Kural is a secular book with each kural providing comment on how one should ethically and morally live their life. The book is divided into three sections that focus on virtue, wealth and love.
The book is very important to Tamil culture and is taught to students at the Valluvan Tamil School, located at Harrisdale Senior High School. The Valluvan Tamil School was started on 9 February 2020 by volunteers from the growing Tamil community in City of Armadale. The school teaches the Tamil language, culture and philosophy.
Tamil culture has spread out from what is today Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India. There they speak Tamil which is a classical Dravidian language. The Tamil culture has spread primarily to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Singapore. Since the early 2000's a Tamil community has been steadily growing in the City of Armadale.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-33-COA2022.54b

Item type

Material

Keywords

Harrisdale Senior High School

Vullvan tamil School

Year

2022

Statement of significance

This collection of objects is associated with the experiences of families and individuals who migrated to Australia in the 1900s and settled in the City of Armadale. The collection represents the challenges they faced in starting a new home in the City, reasons why they chose to come to Australia and the successes they achieved. The collection also tells the story of the important impact migrant families and individuals have had on the cultural, economic and social history of the City of Armadale and how they and their descendants became an important part of the local community.

City of Armadale - History House

Organisation Details
View Collection
Item Feedback