Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released the Gujarati translation of Thirukkural, which holds a prime place among the classical literary works of Tamil, on 'Thiruvalluvar Day'.
Prime Minister Modi also paid homage to the great poet and philosopher.
"I bow to the great Thiruvalluvar. Simple and vast in scope, his thoughts and writings have been a strong influence on humanity for centuries," he said.
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 Ministry of Human Resource Development, 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.
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The Gujarati translation has been done by Dr. P. C. Kokila, born in Gujarat, a Professor of Hindi, and a resident of Tamil Nadu.
Union HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani was also present on the occasion.