The Principles of Worldly Life in the Books of Pathinenkilkanakku

Abstract

The ancient Tamil scholars thought with a rich sense of knowledge and a sense of self-ownership of the disciplines and ethics of life which are beneficial to the life of human society. They have meticulously studied the various aspects of human life and the objects of the world and classified them as Agam, Puram, etc. Even before the time of Tolkappiyar, there were many books on charity written in Tamil based on dharma. The Tolkappiyam refers to them as ‘Muthumozhi (adage)', 'Vayurai Vaazhthu (Minor Literary Genre)' and 'Seviarivuruvu (a part of Purananooru)’. They could not have been well-developed in justice and moral literature. In this context, many moral books have appeared and developed in Tamil from time to time. The epic and the minor genres of literature refer to the four concrete objects of virtue, wealth, happiness, and home. However, in the history of Tamil literature, books that originated with the aim of conveying only justice are regularly found. From the third century A.D. to the 6th century A.D., such jurisprudence appeared in abundance during the Sangam period. The purpose of this article is to classify the worldly and ethical way of life that has been studied in the moral books and moral texts, as well as the individual social and political ethics of the time, and to understand the social and political ethics of the time.