Modi releases 'Thirukkural's Gujarati translation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday released a Gujarati translation of Thiruvalluvar's "Thirukkural", which holds a prime place among the classical Tamil literary works, an official statement said.

Friday was also observed as 'Thiruvalluvar Day' dedicated to celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher, it said.

"I bow to the great Thiruvalluvar. Simple and vast in scope, his thoughts and writings have been a strong influence on humanity for centuries," Modi said on the occasion.

"The ideas expressed in 'Thirukkural' are so universal that even after almost two millennia they are still relevant and revered. 'Thirukkural' does not refer to any nation, leader, society, language, religion or caste in the entire book, which is why it has been called the universal Veda."

The Central Institute of Classical Tamil, an institute under the human resource development ministry, has taken up the mission of bringing out the "Thirukkural" in all Indian languages in which it has not been translated so far. The institute also proposes to launch an e-version of the book shortly.

The Gujarati translation has been done by P. C. Kokila, born in Gujarat, a professor of Hindi, and a resident of Tamil Nadu.