Tamil Bioethics as Revealed By Food in Aatruppadai Literature

Abstract

Food, clothing and shelter are the necessities of man. Hunger may have been the primary emotion that drove man. The feeling of hunger must have motivated him to think and act and achieve civilization and culture. Primitive man survived by hunting animals for his food. Thinking of cooking food as time goes by, he started a fire with pebbles. The discovery of fire placed him at the forefront of civilization. He started cooking his food with fire and taking care of himself. And in course of time he started to grow his own food. Next, he set up permanent settlements on the banks of the river and tried to live as a community. Food also created a condition of mass living for production. Looking at it in that way, it can be said that human life as a community is for food. Such food is the purpose of this article to explore the messages about Tamil life expressed in the literature.