Thiruvalluvar Day- Key Facts

Thiruvalluvar Day was observed on January 15, 2021. It is celebrated as a part of Pongal celebrations in Tamil Nadu.

Key Points

• It is celebrated to honor of the Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar.
• Thiruvalluvar is best known for his work “Thirukku?a?”. It is a collection of couplets on ethics, love, and economic and political matters.
• The 1st Thiruvalluvar Day was celebrated in the year 1935 on May 17 and 18.
• Many facts about Poet Thiruvalluvar are not known but he lived in the 4th century.
• PM Modi also remembered Thiruvalluvar on the day and has urged the youth to read Kural.
• Kural is a collection of 1330 couplets which were written by Thiruvalluvar around 2000 years.

A temple was also dedicated to Thiruvalluvar. It was built in Mylapore, Chennai within the Ekambareswarar temple complex. This temple was built in the early 16th century. “Valluvar Kotam”, a temple-memorial was built in the year 1976 in Chennai. The temple-memorial also houses one of the largest auditoriums in Asia. A 133-foot tall statue of Thiruvalluvar is also there in Kanyakumari. Another statue of the poet is in Ulsoor (near Bengaluru). The statue was unveiled in the year 2009.