title: Business incubator

text: Incubators also differ from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Development Centers (and similar business support programs) in that they serve only selected clients. Congress created the Small Business Administration in the Small Business Act of July 30, 1953. Its purpose is to "aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns." In addition, the charter ensures that small businesses receive a "fair proportion" of any government contracts and sales of surplus property. SBDCs work with any small business at any stage of development, not only startup companies. Many business incubation programs partner with their local SBDC to create a "one-stop shop" for entrepreneurial support.


title: Business incubator

text: Within European Union countries there are different EU and state funded programs that offer support in form of consulting, mentoring, prototype creation, and other services and co-funding for them. TecHub is one of the examples for IT companies and ideas.


title: Business incubator

text: In India, the business incubators are promoted in a varied fashion: as technology business incubators (TBI) and as startup incubators—the first deals with technology business (mostly, consultancy and promoting technology related businesses) and the later deals with promoting startups (with more emphasis on establishing new companies, scaling the businesses, prototyping, patenting, and so forth). The mission on creating specific innovations among the young minds of researchers via. 101 specialized incubators have been boosted in various parts of India through AIM-India. For instance, AIC-IIITKottayam, a startup-based incubator, specializes in IoT Cloud research jointly with world class incubators from Germany, the US, Austria, and so forth.


title: Business incubator

text: The formal concept of business incubation began in the US in 1959 when Joseph L. Mancuso opened the Batavia Industrial Center in a Batavia, New York, warehouse. Incubation expanded in the U.S. in the 1980s and spread to the UK and Europe through various related forms (e.g. innovation centres, pépinières d'entreprises, technopoles/science parks).


title: Business incubator

text: The U.S.-based International Business Innovation Association estimates that there are about 7,000 incubators worldwide. A study funded by the European Commission in 2002 identified around 900 incubation environments in Western Europe. As of October 2006, there were more than 1,400 incubators in North America, up from only 12 in 1980. Her Majesty's Treasury identified around 25 incubation environments in the UK in 1997; by 2005, UKBI identified around 270 incubation environments across the country. In 2005 alone, North American incubation programs assisted more than 27,000 companies that provided employment for more than 100,000 workers and generated annual revenues of $17 billion.


title: Business incubator

text: Incubation activity has not been limited to developed countries; incubation environments are now being implemented in developing countries and raising interest for financial support from organizations such as UNIDO and the World Bank.


title: Business incubator

text: The first high-tech incubator located in Silicon Valley was Catalyst Technologies started by Nolan Bushnell after he left Atari. "My idea was that I would fund [the businesses] with a key," says Bushnell. "And the key would fit a lock in a building. In the building would be a desk and chair, and down the hall would be a Xerox machine. They would sign their name 35 times and the company would be incorporated." All the details would be handled: "They'd have a health care plan, their payroll system would be in place, and the books would be set up. So in 15 minutes, they would be in business working on the project."


title: Business incubator

text: Since startup companies lack many resources, experience and networks, incubators provide services which helps them get through initial hurdles in starting up a business. These hurdles include space, funding, legal, accounting, computer services and other prerequisites to running the business.


title: Business incubator

text: According to the Small Business Administration's website, their mission provides small businesses with four main services. These services are:


title: Business incubator

text: There are a number of business incubators that have focused on particular industries or on a particular business model, earning them their own name.


title: Business incubator

text: More than half of all business incubation programs are "mixed-use" projects, meaning they work with clients from a variety of industries. Technology incubators account for 39% of incubation programs.


title: Business incubator

text: One example of a specialized type of incubator is a "bio incubator". Bioincubators specialize in supporting life science-based startup companies. Entrepreneurs with feasible projects in life sciences are selected and admitted to these programs.


title: Business incubator

text: Unlike many business assistance programs, business incubators do not serve any and all companies. Entrepreneurs who wish to enter a business incubation program must apply for admission. Acceptance criteria vary from program to program, but in general only those with feasible business ideas and a workable business plan are admitted. It is this factor that makes it difficult to compare the success rates of incubated companies against general business survival statistics.


title: Business incubator

text: Although most incubators offer their clients office space and shared administrative services, the heart of a true business incubation program is the services it provides to startup companies. More than half of incubation programs surveyed by the National Business Incubation Association in 2006 reported that they also served affiliate or virtual clients. These companies do not reside in the incubator facility. Affiliate clients may be home-based businesses or early-stage companies that have their own premises but can benefit from incubator services. Virtual clients may be too remote from an incubation facility to participate on site, and so receive counseling and other assistance electronically.


title: Business incubator

text: The amount of time a company spends in an incubation program can vary widely depending on a number of factors, including the type of business and the entrepreneur's level of business expertise. Life science and other firms with long research and development cycles require more time in an incubation program than manufacturing or service companies that can immediately produce and bring a product or service to market. On average, incubator clients spend 33 months in a program. Many incubation programs set graduation requirements by development benchmarks, such as company revenues or staffing levels, rather than time.


title: Business incubator

text: Business incubation has been identified as a means of meeting a variety of economic and socioeconomic policy needs, which may include job creation, fostering a community's entrepreneurial climate, technology commercialization, diversifying local economies, building or accelerating growth of local industry clusters, business creation and retention, encouraging minority entrepreneurship, identifying potential spin-in or spin-out business opportunities, or community revitalization.


title: Business incubator

text: About one-third of business incubation programs are sponsored by economic development organizations. Government entities (such as cities or counties) account for 21% of program sponsors. Another 20% are sponsored by academic institutions, including two- and four-year colleges, universities, and technical colleges. In many countries, incubation programs are funded by regional or national governments as part of an overall economic development strategy. In the United States, however, most incubation programs are independent, community-based and resourced projects. The U.S. Economic Development Administration is a frequent source of funds for developing incubation programs, but once a program is open and operational it typically receives no federal funding; few states offer centralized incubator funding. Rents and/or client fees account for 59% of incubator revenues, followed by service contracts or grants (18%) and cash operating subsidies (15%).


title: Business incubator

text: As part of a major effort to address the ongoing economic crisis of the US, legislation was introduced to "reconstitute Project Socrates". The updated version of Socrates supports incubators by enabling users with technology-based facts about the marketplace, competitor maneuvers, potential partners, and technology paths to achieve competitive advantage. Michael Sekora, the original creator and director of Socrates says that a key purpose of Socrates is to assist government economic planners in addressing the economic and socioeconomic issues (see above) with unprecedented speed, efficiency and agility.


title: Business incubator

text: Many for-profit or "private" incubation programs were launched in the late 1990s by investors and other for-profit operators seeking to hatch businesses quickly and bring in big payoffs. At the time, NBIA estimated that nearly 30% of all incubation programs were for-profit ventures. In the wake of the dot-com bust, however, many of those programs closed. In NBIA's 2002 State of the Business Incubation survey, only 16% of responding incubators were for-profit programs. By the 2006 SOI, just 6% of respondents were for-profit.


title: Business incubator

text: Although some incubation programs (regardless of nonprofit or for-profit status) take equity in client companies, most do not. Only 25% of incubation programs report that they take equity in some or all of their clients.


title: Business incubator

text: Incubators often aggregate themselves into networks which are used to share good practices and new methodologies.


title: Business incubator

text: Europe's European Business and Innovation Centre Network ("EBN") association federates more than 250 European Business and Innovation Centres (EU|BICs) throughout Europe. France has its own national network of technopoles, pre-incubators, and EU|BICs, called RETIS Innovation. This network focuses on internationalizing startups.


title: Business incubator

text: Of 1000 incubators across Europe, 500 are situated in Germany. Many of them are organized federally within the ADT ("Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Innovations-, Technologie-, und Gründerzentren e.V.").


title: Kural

text: The Tirukkuṟaḷ (), or shortly the Kural (), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teachings on virtue ("aram"), wealth ("porul") and love ("inbam"), respectively. Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, it is known for its universality and secular nature. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar. The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE. The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450 to 500 CE and that it was composed after the Sangam period.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text is among the earliest systems of Indian epistemology and metaphysics. The Kural is traditionally praised with epithets and alternative titles, including "the Tamil Veda" and "the Divine Book." Written on the foundations of "ahimsa", it emphasizes non-violence and moral vegetarianism as virtues for an individual. In addition, it highlights truthfulness, self-restraint, gratitude, hospitality, kindness, goodness of wife, duty, giving, and so forth, besides covering a wide range of social and political topics such as king, ministers, taxes, justice, forts, war, greatness of army and soldier's honor, death sentence for the wicked, agriculture, education, abstinence from alcohol and intoxicants. It also includes chapters on friendship, love, sexual unions, and domestic life. The text effectively denounced previously held misbeliefs that were common during the Sangam era and permanently redefined the cultural values of the Tamil land.


title: Kural

text: The Kural has been widely admired by scholars and influential leaders across the ethical, social, political, economic, religious, philosophical, and spiritual spheres over its history. These include Ilango Adigal, Kambar, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Ramalinga Swamigal, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Karl Graul, George Uglow Pope, Alexander Piatigorsky, and Yu Hsi. The work remains the most translated, the most cited, and the most citable of Tamil literary works. The text has been translated into at least 40 Indian and non-Indian languages, making it one of the most translated ancient works. Ever since it came to print for the first time in 1812, the Kural text has never been out of print. The Kural is considered a masterpiece and one of the most important texts of the Tamil Literature. Its author is praised for his innate nature of selecting the best virtues found in the known literature and presenting them in a manner that is common and acceptable to all. The Tamil people and the government of Tamil Nadu have long celebrated and upheld the text with reverence.


title: Kural

text: The term is a compound word made of two individual terms, and . is an honorific Tamil term that corresponds to the universally Indian, Sanskrit term meaning "holy, sacred, excellent, honorable, and beautiful." The term has as many as 19 different meanings in Tamil. means something that is "short, concise, and abridged." Etymologically, is the shortened form of , which is derived from , one of the two Tamil poetic forms explained by the Tolkappiyam, the other one being . According to Miron Winslow, is used as a literary term to indicate "a metrical line of 2 feet, or a distich or couplet of short lines, the first of 4 and the second of 3 feet." Thus, "Tirukkuṟaḷ" literally comes to mean "sacred couplets."


title: Kural

text: The work is highly cherished in the Tamil culture, as reflected by its twelve traditional titles: "Tirukkuṟaḷ" (the sacred kural), "Uttaravedam" (the ultimate Veda), "Tiruvalluvar" (eponymous with the author), "Poyyamoli" (the falseless word), "Vayurai valttu" (truthful praise), "Teyvanul" (the divine book), "Potumarai" (the common Veda), "Valluva Maalai" (garland made by the author), "Tamil Manunool" (Tamil ethical treatise), "Tiruvalluva Payan" (fruit of the author), "Muppal" (the three-fold path), and "Tamilmarai" (the Tamil Veda). The work is traditionally grouped under the Eighteen Lesser Texts series of the late Sangam works, known in Tamil as "Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku".


title: Kural

text: The Kural has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE. According to traditional accounts, it was the last work of the third Sangam, and was subjected to a divine test (which it passed). The scholars who believe this tradition, such as Somasundara Bharathiar and M. Rajamanickam, date the text to as early as 300 BCE. Historian K. K. Pillay assigned it to the early 1st century CE. According to Kamil Zvelebil, a Czech scholar of Tamil literature, these early dates such as 300 BCE to 1 BCE are unacceptable and not supported by evidence within the text. The diction and grammar of the Kural, and Valluvar's indebtedness to some earlier Sanskrit sources, suggest that he lived after the "early Tamil bardic poets," but before Tamil bhakti poets era.


title: Kural

text: In 1959, S. Vaiyapuri Pillai assigned the work to around or after the 6th century CE. His proposal is based on the evidence that the Kural text contains a large proportion of Sanskrit loan words, shows awareness and indebtedness to some Sanskrit texts best dated to the first half of the 1st millennium CE, and the grammatical innovations in the language of the Kural literature. Pillai published a list of 137 Sanskrit loan words in the Kural text. Later scholars Thomas Burrow and Murray Barnson Emeneau show that 35 of these are of Dravidian origin and not Sanskrit loan words. Zvelebil states that an additional few have uncertain etymology and that future studies may prove those to be Dravidian. The 102 remaining loan words from Sanskrit are "not negligible", and some of the teachings in the Kural text, according to Zvelebil, are "undoubtedly" based on the then extant Sanskrit works such as the "Arthashastra" and "Manusmriti" (also called the "Manavadharmasastra").


title: Kural

text: In his treatise of Tamil literary history published in 1974, Zvelebil states that the Kural text does not belong to the Sangam period and dates it to somewhere between 450 and 500 CE. His estimate is based on the language of the text, its allusions to the earlier works, and its borrowing from some Sanskrit treatises. Zvelebil notes that the text features several grammatical innovations that are absent in the older Sangam literature. The text also features a higher number of Sanskrit loan words compared with these older texts. According to Zvelebil, besides being part of the ancient Tamil literary tradition, the author was also a part of the "one great Indian ethical, didactic tradition" as a few of the verses in the Kural text are "undoubtedly" translations of the verses of earlier Indian texts.


title: Kural

text: In the 19th century and the early 20th century, European writers and missionaries variously dated the text and its author to between 400 and 1000 CE. According to Blackburn, the "current scholarly consensus" dates the text and the author to approximately 500 CE.


title: Kural

text: In 1921, in the face of incessant debate on the precise date, the Tamil Nadu government officially declared 31 BCE as the year of Valluvar at a conference presided over by Maraimalai Adigal. On 18 January 1935, the Valluvar Year was added to the calendar.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text was authored by Thiruvalluvar ("lit." Saint Valluvar). He is known by various other names including Poyyil Pulavar, Mudharpavalar, Deivappulavar, Nayanar, Devar, Nanmukanar, Mathanubangi, Sennabbodhakar, and Perunavalar. There is negligible authentic information available about Valluvar's life. In fact, neither his actual name nor the original title of his work can be determined with certainty. The Kural text itself does not name its author. The name "Thiruvalluvar" was first mentioned in the later era text "Tiruvalluva Maalai", a Shaivite Hindu text, also of unclear date. However, the Tiruvalluva Maalai does not mention anything about Valluvar's birth, family, caste or background. No other authentic pre-colonial texts have been found to support any legends about the life of Valluvar. Starting around early 19th century, numerous inconsistent legends on Valluvar in various Indian languages and English were published.


title: Kural

text: Various claims have been made regarding Valluvar's family background and occupation in the colonial era literature, all inferred from selective sections of his text or hagiographies published since the colonial era started in Tamil Nadu. One traditional version claims that he was a Paraiyar weaver. Another theory is that he must have been from the agricultural caste of Vellalars because he extols agriculture in his work. Another states he was an outcaste, born to a Pariah woman and a Brahmin father. Mu Raghava Iyengar speculated that "valluva" in his name is a variation of "vallabha", the designation of a royal officer. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai derived his name from "valluvan" (a Paraiyar caste of royal drummers) and theorized that he was "the chief of the proclaiming boys analogous to a trumpet-major of an army". The traditional biographies not only are inconsistent, but also contain incredulous claims about the author of the Kural text. Along with various versions of his birth circumstances, many state he went to a mountain and met the legendary Agastya and other sages. There are also accounts claiming that, during his return journey, Valluvar sat under a tree whose shadow sat still over him and did not move the entire day, he killed a demon, and many more. Scholars consider these and all associated aspects of these hagiographic stories to be fiction and ahistorical, a feature common to "international and Indian folklore". The alleged low birth, high birth and being a pariah in the traditional accounts are also doubtful. Traditionally, Valluvar is believed to have married to Vasuki and had a friend and a disciple named Elelasingan.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text is aphoristic and non-denominational in nature and can be selectively interpreted in many ways. This has led almost every major religious group in India, including Christianity, to claim the work and its author as one of their own. In a manner similar to speculations of the author's biography, there has been much speculation about his religion with no historical evidence. The 19th-century Christian missionary George Uglow Pope, for example, claimed that Valluvar must have lived in the 9th century CE, come in contact with Christian teachers such as Pantaenus of Alexandria, imbibed Christian ideas and peculiarities of Alexandrian teachers and then wrote the "wonderful Kurral" with an "echo of the 'Sermon of the Mount'." This theory is ahistorical and discredited. According to Zvelebil, the ethics and ideas in Valluvar's work are not Christian ethics. Albert Schweitzer hints that "the dating of the Kural has suffered, along with so many other literary and historical dates, philosophies and mythologies of India, a severe mauling at the hands of the Christian Missionaries, anxious to post-date all irrefutable examples of religious maturity to the Christian era."


title: Kural

text: Valluvar is thought to have belonged to either Jainism or Hinduism. This can be observed in his treatment of the concept of ahimsa or non-violence, which is the principal concept of both the religions. In the 1819 translation, Francis Whyte Ellis mentions that the Tamil community debates whether Valluvar was a Jain or Hindu. According to Zvelebil, Valluvar's treatment of the chapters on moral vegetarianism and non-killing reflects the Jain precepts. Certain epithets for God and ascetic values found in the text are found in Jainism, states Zvelebil. He theorizes that Valluvar was probably "a learned Jain with eclectic leanings", who was well acquainted with the earlier Tamil literature and also had knowledge of the Sanskrit texts. According to A. Chakravarthy Nainar, the Jaina tradition associates the work with Kunda Kunda Acharya, also known as Elachariyar in the Tamil region, the chief of the Southern Pataliputra Dravidian Sanghaat, who lived around the latter half of the first century BCE and the former half of the first century CE. Nevertheless, early Digambara or Svetambara Jaina texts do not mention Valluvar or the Kural text. The first claim of Valluvar as an authority appears in a 16th-century Jain text.


title: Kural

text: According to other scholars, Valluvar's writings suggest that he belonged to Hinduism. Hindu teachers have mapped his teachings in the Kural literature to the teachings found in Hindu texts. The three parts that the Kural is divided into, namely, "aṟam" (virtue), "poruḷ" (wealth) and "inbam" (love), aiming at attaining "veedu" (ultimate salvation), follow, respectively, the four foundations of Hinduism, namely, dharma, artha, kama and moksha. While the text extols the virtue of non-violence, it also dedicates many of 700 "poruḷ" couplets to various aspects of statecraft and warfare in a manner similar to the Hindu text "Arthasastra". An army has a duty to kill in battle, and a king must execute criminals for justice. His mentioning of God Vishnu in couplets 610 and 1103 and Goddess Lakshmi in couplets 167, 408, 519, 565, 568, 616, and 617 suggests the Vaishnavite beliefs of Valluvar. P. R. Natarajan lists at least 24 different usage of Hindu origin in 29 different couplets across the Kural text. According to Purnalingam Pillai, who is known for his critique of Brahminism, a rational analysis of the Kural text suggests that Valluvar was a Hindu, and not a Jain. Matthieu Ricard believes Valluvar belonged to the Shaivite tradition of South India. According to Thomas Manninezhath – a theology scholar who grew up in South India, the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" is believed by the natives to reflect Advaita Vedanta philosophy and teaches an "Advaitic way of life".


title: Kural

text: Valluvar is praised by scholars for his innate nature to select the best virtues found in all the known works and present them in a manner that is common and acceptable to everyone. The author is remembered and cherished for his universal secular values, and his treatise has been called "Ulaga Podhu Marai" (the universal scripture).


title: Kural

text: The Kural is structured into 133 chapters, each containing 10 couplets (or kurals), for a total of 1,330 couplets. All the couplets are in "kural venba" metre, and all the 133 chapters have an ethical theme and are grouped into three parts, or "books":


title: Kural

text: The book on "aṟam" (virtue) contains 380 verses, that of "poruḷ" (wealth) has 700 and that of "inbam" or "kāmam" (love) has 250. Each "kural" or couplet contains exactly seven words, known as "cir"s, with four "cir"s on the first line and three on the second, following the kural metre. A "cir" is a single or a combination of more than one Tamil word. For example, the term "Tirukkuṟaḷ" is a "cir" formed by combining the two words "tiru" and "kuṟaḷ". The Kural text has a total of 9310 "cir"s made of 14,000 Tamil words.


title: Kural

text: Of the 1,330 couplets in the text, 40 couplets relate to god, rain, ascetics, and virtue; 340 on fundamental everyday virtues of an individual; 250 on royalty; 100 on ministers of state; 220 on essential requirements of administration; 130 on social morality, both positive and negative; and 250 on human love and passion.


title: Kural

text: Along with the Bhagavad Gita, the Kural is one of the earliest systems of Indian epistemology and metaphysics. The work largely reflects the first three of the four ancient Indian aims in life, known as "purushaarthas", viz., virtue ("dharma"), wealth ("artha") and love ("kama"). The fourth aim, namely, salvation ("moksha") has been omitted from being dealt with as the fourth book since it does not lend itself to didactic treatment, but is implicit in the last five chapters of Book I. The components of "aṟam", "poruḷ" and "inbam" encompasses both the "agam" and "puram" genres of the Tamil literary tradition as explained in the Tolkappiyam. According to Sharma, "dharma" ("aṟam") refers to ethical values for the holistic pursuit of life, "artha" ("poruḷ") refers to wealth obtained in ethical manner guided by "dharma", and "kāma" ("Inbam") refers to pleasure and fulfilment of one's desires, also guided by "dharma". The corresponding goals of "poruḷ" and "inbam" are desirable, yet both need to be regulated by "aṟam", according to J. Arunadevi. According to Indian philosophical tradition, one must remain unattached to wealth and possessions, which can either be transcended or sought with detachment and awareness, and pleasure needs to be fulfilled consciously and without harming anyone. The Indian tradition also holds that there exists an inherent tension between "artha" and "kama". Thus, wealth and pleasure must be pursued with an "action with renunciation" (Nishkama Karma), that is, one must act without craving in order to resolve this tension.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text is the work of a single author because it has a consistent "language, formal structure and content-structure", states Zvelebil. Neither is the Kural an anthology nor is there any later additions to the text. The division into three parts ("muppāl") is probably the author's work. However, the subdivisions beyond these three, known as "iyal"s, as found in some surviving manuscripts and commentaries, are likely later additions because there are variations between these subtitles found in manuscripts and those in historical commentaries.


title: Kural

text: Starting from the medieval era, commentators have multifariously divided the Kural text into different "iyal" sub-divisions, grouping the Kural chapters diversely under them. The idea of subdividing the Tirukkural into "iyal" sub-divisions was first put forth by a Tiruvalluva Maalai verse attributed to Nanpalur Sirumedhaviyar. The medieval commentators have variously grouped the chapters of Book I into three and four "iyal"s, grouping the original chapters diversely under these divisions and thus changing the order of the chapters widely; while Parimelalhagar divided it into three "iyal"s, others divided it into four, with some 20th-century commentators going up to six. Book II has been variously subdivided between three and six "iyal"s. The chapters of Book III have been variously grouped between two and five "iyal"s. For example, the following subdivisions or "iyal"s are found in Parimelalhagar's version, which greatly varies from that of Manakkudavar's:


title: Kural

text: Modern scholars and publishers chiefly follow Parimelalhagar's model for couplet numbering, chapter ordering, and grouping the chapters into "iyal"s.


title: Kural

text: Such subdivisions are likely later additions, but the couplets themselves have been preserved in the original form and there is no evidence of later revisions or insertions into the couplets. Thus, in spite of these later subdivisions by the medieval commentators, both the domestic and ascetic virtues in Book I are addressed to the householder or commoner. As Yu Hsi puts it, "Valluvar speaks to the duties of the commoner acting in different capacities as son, father, husband, friend, citizen, and so forth." According to A. Gopalakrishnan, ascetic virtues in the Kural does not mean renunciation of household life or pursuing of the conventional ascetic life, but only refers to giving up immoderate desires and having self-control that is expected of every individual. According to Joanne Punzo Waghorne, professor of religion and South Asian studies at the Syracuse University, the Kural is "a homily on righteous living for the householder."


title: Kural

text: Like the three-part division, and unlike the "iyal" subdivisions, the grouping of the couplets into chapters is the author's. Every topic that Valluvar handles in his work are presented in ten couplets forming a chapter, and the chapter is usually named using a keyword found in the couplets in it. Exceptions to this convention are found in all the three books of the Kural text as in Chapter 1 in the Book of Aram, Chapter 78 in the Book of Porul, and Chapter 117 in the Book of Inbam, where the words used in title of the chapters are not found anywhere in the chapter's couplets. Here again, the titles of all the chapters of the Kural text are given by Valluvar himself. According to S. N. Kandasamy, the naming of the first chapter of the Kural text is in accord with the convention used in the "Tolkappiyam".


title: Kural

text: According to Zvelebil, the content of the Kural text is "undoubtedly patterned" and "very carefully structured." There are no structural gaps in the text, with every couplet indispensable for the structured whole. There are two distinct meanings for every couplet, namely, a structural one and a proverbial one. In their isolated form, that is, when removed from the context of the 10-couplet chapter, the couplets lose their structural meaning but retain the "wise saying, moral maxim" sense. In isolation, a couplet is "a perfect form, possessing, in varying degree, the prosodic and rhetoric qualities of gnomic poetry." Within the chapter-structure, the couplets acquire their structural meaning and reveal the more complete teaching of the author. This, Zvelebil states, is the higher pattern in the Kural text, and finally, in relation to the entire work, they acquire perfection in the totality of their structure. In terms of structural flow, the text journeys the reader from "the imperfect, incomplete" state of man implicit in the early chapters to the "physically, morally, intellectually and emotionally perfect" state of man living as a husband and citizen, states Zvelebil. In poetic terms, it fuses verse and aphoristic form in diction in a "pithy, vigorous, forceful and terse" manner. It is an ethics text that expounds a universal, moral and practical approach to life. Throughout the work, Valluvar is more considerate about the substance than the linguistic appeal of his writing.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text is marked by pragmatic idealism, focused on "man in the totality of his relationships". Despite being a classic, the work has little scope for any poetic excellence. According to Zvelebil, the text does not feature "true and great poetry" throughout the work, except, notably, in the third book, which deals with love and pleasure. This emphasis on substance rather than poetry suggests that Valluvar's main aim was not to produce a work of art, but rather an instructive text focused on wisdom, justice, and ethics.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text begins with an invocation of God and then praises the rain for being the vitalizer of all life forms on earth. It proceeds to describe the qualities of a righteous person, before concluding the introduction by emphasizing the value of "aṟam" or virtue. It continues to treat "aṟam" in all walks of life, supplementing it with a chapter on predestination. Valluvar extols rain next only to God for it provides food and serves as the basis of a stable economic life by aiding in agriculture, which Valluvar asserts as the most important economic activity later in Book II of the Kural text.


title: Kural

text: The three books of the Kural base "aṟam" or dharma (virtue) as its cornerstone, which resulted in the Kural being referred to simply as "Aṟam". Contrary to what other contemporary works say, Valluvar holds that "aṟam" is common for all, irrespective of whether the person is a bearer of palanquin or the rider in it. According to Albert Schweitzer, the idea that good must be done for its own sake comes from various couplets across the Kural text. The text is a comprehensive pragmatic work that presents philosophy in the first part, political science in the second and poetics in the third. Of the three books of the Kural literature, the second one on politics and kingdom ("poruḷ") is about twice the size of the first, and three times that of the third. In the 700 couplets on "poruḷ" (53 percent of the text), Valluvar mostly discusses statecraft and warfare. While other Sangam texts approved of, and even glorified, the four immoral deeds of meat-eating, alcohol consumption, polygamy, and prostitution, the Kural literature strongly condemns these as crimes. In fact, it was the Kural text that condemned these as crimes for the first time in the history of the Tamil land.


title: Kural

text: The Kural is based on the doctrine of "ahimsa". According to Schweitzer, the Kural "stands for the commandment not to kill and not to damage." Accordingly, Valluvar dictates the householder to renounce the eating of meat "in order that he may become a man of grace." While the Bible and other Abrahamic texts condemns only the taking away of human life, the Kural unequivocally and exclusively condemns the "literal taking away of life," regardless of whether it is human or animal. The greatest of personal virtues according to the Kural text is non-killing, followed by veracity, and the two greatest sins that Valluvar feels very strongly are ingratitude and meat-eating. The Kural differs from every other work on morality in that it follows ethics, surprisingly a divine one, even in its Book of Love. In the words of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Valluvar maintains his views on personal morality even in the Book of Love, where one can normally expect greater poetic leniency, by describing the hero as "a one-woman man" without concubines. In a social and political context, the Kural text glorifies valour and victory during war and recommends a death sentence for the wicked only as a means of justice.


title: Kural

text: According to Kaushik Roy, the Kural text in substance is a classic on realism and pragmatism, and it is not a mystic, purely philosophical document. Valluvar presents his theory of state using six elements: army ("patai"), subjects ("kuti"), treasure ("kul"), ministers ("amaiccu"), allies ("natpu"), and forts ("aran"). Valluvar also recommends forts and other infrastructure, supplies and food storage in preparation for siege. A king and his army must always be ready for war, and should launch a violent offensive, at the right place and right time, when the situation so demands and particularly against morally weak and corrupt kingdoms. A good and strong kingdom must be protected with forts made of thick, high and impenetrable walls. The text recommends a hierarchical military organization staffed with fearless soldiers who are willing to die in war, drawing from the Hindu concepts of non-mystic realism and readiness for war.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text does not recommend democracy; rather it accepts a royalty with ministers bound to a code of ethics and a system of justice. The king in the text, states K. V. Nagarajan, is assigned the "role of producing, acquiring, conserving, and dispensing wealth". The king's duty is to provide a just rule, be impartial and have courage in protecting his subjects and in meting out justice and punishment. The text supports death penalty for the wicked in the book of "poruḷ", but does so only after emphasizing non-killing as every individual's personal virtue in the book of "aṟam". The Kural cautions against tyranny, appeasement and oppression, with the suggestion that such royal behavior causes natural disasters, depletes the state's wealth and ultimately results in the loss of power and prosperity.


title: Kural

text: Valluvar remained a generalist rather than a specialist in any particular field. He never indulged in specifics but always stressed on the basic principles of morality. This can be seen across the Kural text: while Valluvar talks about worshiping God, he refrains from mentioning the way of worshiping; he refers to God as an "ultimate reality" without calling him by any name; he talks about land, village, country, kingdom, and king but never refers them by any name; though he mentions about the value of reading and reciting scriptures, he never names them; he talks about the values of charity without laying down the rules for it; though he repeatedly emphasizes about the importance of learning, he never says what is to be learnt; he recommends taxation in governance but does not suggesting any proportion of collection.


title: Kural

text: The author seldom shows any concern as to what similes and superlatives he used earlier while writing later chapters, purposely allowing for some repetitions and apparent contradictions in ideas one can find in the Kural text. Despite knowing its seemingly contradictory nature from a purist point of view, Valluvar employs this method to emphasise the importance of the given code of ethic. Following are some of the instances where Valluvar employs pseudo-contradictions to expound the virtues.


title: Kural

text: The ethical connections between these verses are widely elucidated ever since the medieval commentaries. For example, Parimelalhagar elucidates the ethical connections between couplets 380 and 620, 481 and 1028, 373 and 396, and 383 and 672 in his commentary.


title: Kural

text: The Kural is one of the most reviewed of all works in Tamil literature, and almost every notable scholar of Tamil has written exegesis or commentaries (explanation in prose or verse), known in Tamil as "urai", on it. Some of the Tamil literature that was composed after the Kural quote or borrow its couplets in their own texts. According to Aravindan, these texts may be considered as the early commentaries to the Kural text.


title: Kural

text: Dedicated commentaries on the Kural text began to appear about and after the 10th century CE. There were at least ten medieval commentaries of which only six have survived into the modern era. The ten medieval commentators include Manakkudavar, Dharumar, Dhamatthar, Nacchar, Paridhiyar, Thirumalaiyar, Mallar, Pari Perumal, Kaalingar, and Parimelalhagar, all of whom lived between the 10th and the 13th centuries CE. Of these, only the works of Manakkudavar, Paridhi, Kaalingar, Pari Perumal, and Parimelalhagar are available today. The works of Dharumar, Dhaamatthar, and Nacchar are only partially available. The commentaries by Thirumalaiyar and Mallar are lost completely. The best known among these are the commentaries by Parimelalhagar, Kaalingar, and Manakkudavar. Among the ten medieval commentaries, scholars have found spelling, homophonic, and other minor textual variations in a total of 900 couplets, including 217 couplets in Book I, 487 couplets in Book II, and 196 couplets in Book III.


title: Kural

text: The best known and influential historic commentary on the Kural text is the "Parimelalhakiyar virutti". It was written by Parimelalhagar – a Vaishnava Brahmin, likely based in Kanchipuram, who lived about or before 1272 CE. Along with the Kural text, this commentary has been widely published and is in itself a Tamil classic. Parimelalhagar's commentary has survived over the centuries in many folk and scholarly versions. A more scholarly version of this commentary was published by Krisnamachariyar in 1965. According to Norman Cutler, Parimelalhagar's commentary interprets and maneuvers the Kural text within his own context, grounded in the concepts and theological premises of Hinduism. His commentary closely follows the Kural's teachings, while reflecting both the cultural values and textual values of the 13th- and 14th-century Tamil Nadu. Valluvar's text can be interpreted and maneuvered in other ways, states Cutler.


title: Kural

text: Besides the ten medieval commentaries, there are at least three more commentaries written by unknown medieval authors. One of them was published under the title "Palhaiya Urai" (meaning ancient commentary), while the second one was based on Paridhiyar's commentary. The third one was published in 1991 under the title "Jaina Urai" (meaning Jaina commentary) by Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur. Following these medieval commentaries, there are at least 21 venpa commentaries to the Kural, including Somesar Mudumoli Venba, Murugesar Muduneri Venba, Sivasiva Venba, Irangesa Venba, Vadamalai Venba, Dhinakara Venba, and Jinendra Venba, all of which are considered commentaries in verse form. The 16th-century commentary by Thirumeni Rathna Kavirayar, and the 19th-century commentary by Ramanuja Kavirayar, are some of the well-known scholarly works before the 20th century.


title: Kural

text: Several modern commentaries started appearing in the 19th and 20th centuries. Of these, the commentaries by Kaviraja Pandithar and U. V. Swaminatha Iyer are considered classic by modern scholars. Some of the commentaries of the 20th century include those by K. Vadivelu Chettiar, Krishnampet K. Kuppusamy Mudaliar, Iyothee Thass, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Thiru Vi Ka, Bharathidasan, M. Varadarajan, Namakkal Kavignar, Thirukkuralar V. Munusamy, Devaneya Pavanar, M. Karunanithi, and Solomon Pappaiah, besides several hundred others. The commentary by M. Varadarajan entitled "Tirukkural Thelivurai" (lit. Lucid commentary of the Kural), first published in 1949, remains the most published modern commentary, with more than 200 editions by the same publisher.


title: Kural

text: According to K. Mohanraj, as of 2013, there were at least 497 Tamil language commentaries written by 382 scholars beginning with Manakkudavar from the Medieval era. Of these at least 277 scholars have written commentaries for the entire work.


title: Kural

text: The Kural has been the most frequently translated ancient Tamil text. By 1975, its translations in at least 20 major languages had been published:


title: Kural

text: The text was likely translated into Indian languages by Indian scholars over the centuries, but the palm leaf manuscripts of such translations have been rare. For example, S. R. Ranganathan, a librarian of University of Madras during the British rule, discovered a Malayalam translation copied in year 777 of the Malayalam calendar, a manuscript that Zvelebil dates to late 16th century.


title: Kural

text: The text was translated into several European languages during the colonial era, particularly by the Christian missionaries. The first European language translation was made in Latin by Constantius Joseph Beschi and was published in 1730. However, he translated only the first two books, viz., virtue and wealth, leaving out the book on love because its erotic and sexual nature was deemed by him to be inappropriate for a Christian missionary. The first French translation was brought about by an unknown author by about 1767 that went unnoticed. The first available French version was by E. S. Ariel in 1848. Again, he did not translate the whole work but only parts of it. The first German translation was made by Karl Graul, who published it in 1856 both at London and Leipzig. Graul additionally translated the work into Latin in 1856.


title: Kural

text: The first, and incomplete, English translations were made by N. E. Kindersley in 1794 and then by Francis Whyte Ellis in 1812. While Kindersley translated a selection of the Kural text, Ellis translated 120 couplets in all—69 of them in verse and 51 in prose. E. J. Robinson's translations of part of the Kural into English were published in 1873 in his book "The Tamil Wisdom" and its 1885 expanded edition titled "The Tales and Poems of South India", ultimately translating the first two books of the Kural text. W. H. Drew translated the first two books of the Kural text in prose in 1840 and 1852, respectively. It contained the original Tamil text of the Kural, Parimelalhagar's commentary, Ramanuja Kavirayar's amplification of the commentary and Drew's English prose translation. However, Drew translated only 630 couplets, and the remaining were translated by John Lazarus, a native missionary, providing the first complete translation in English made by two translators. Like Beschi, Drew did not translate the third book on love. The first complete English translation of the Kural by a single author was the one by the Christian missionary George Uglow Pope in 1886, which introduced the complete Kural to the western world.


title: Kural

text: The translations of the Kural in Southeast Asian and East Asian languages were published in the 20th century. A few of these relied on re-translating the earlier English translations of the work.


title: Kural

text: By the end of the 20th century, there were about 24 translations of the Kural in English alone, by both native and non-native scholars, including those by V. V. S. Aiyar, K. M. Balasubramaniam, Shuddhananda Bharati, A. Chakravarti, M. S. Purnalingam Pillai, C. Rajagopalachari, P. S. Sundaram, V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, G. Vanmikanathan, Kasturi Srinivasan, S. N. Sriramadesikan, and K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar. The work has also been translated into Vaagri Booli, the language of the Narikuravas, a tribal community in Tamil Nadu, by Kittu Sironmani. As of , the Kural text had been translated into at least 42 languages, with some 100 different translations in English alone. In October 2021, the Central Institute of Classical Tamil announced its translating the Kural text into 102 world languages.


title: Kural

text: With a highly compressed prosodic form, the Kural text employs the intricately complex "Kural venba" metre, known for its eminent suitability to gnomic poetry. This form, which Zvelebil calls "a marvel of brevity and condensation," is closely connected with the structural properties of the Tamil language and has historically presented extreme difficulties to its translators. Talking about translating the Kural into other languages, Herbert Arthur Popley observes, "it is impossible in any translation to do justice to the beauty and force of the original." After translating a good portion of the Kural text, Karl Graul stated, "No translation can convey any idea of its charming effect. It is truly an apple of gold in a net-work of silver." Zvelebil claims that it is impossible to truly appreciate the maxims found in the Kural couplets through a translation but rather that the Kural has to be read and understood in its original Tamil form.


title: Kural

text: Besides these inherent difficulties in translating the Kural, some scholars have attempted to either read their own ideas into the Kural couplets or deliberately misinterpret the message to make it conform to their preconceived notions. The Latin translation by the Christian missionary Father Beshi, for instance, contains several such mistranslations. According to V. Ramasamy, "Beschi is purposely distorting the message of the original when he renders as 'the sea of miserable life' and the phrase as 'sea of this birth' which has been translated by others as 'the sea of many births'. Beschi means thus 'those who swim the vast sea of miseries'. The concept of rebirth or many births for the same soul is contrary to Christian principle and belief."


title: Kural

text: According to Norman Cutler, both in the past and in the contemporary era, the Kural has been reinterpreted and fit to reflect the textual values in the text as well as the cultural values of the author(s). About 1300 CE, the Tamil scholar Parimelalhagar interpreted the text in Brahmanical premises and terms. Just like Christian missionaries during the colonial era cast the work in their own Christian premises, phrases and concepts, some Dravidianists of the contemporary era reinterpret and cast the work to further their own goals and socio-political values. This has produced highly divergent interpretations of the original.


title: Kural

text: The "Tirukkuṟaḷ" remained largely unknown outside India for over a millennium. As was the practice across the ancient Indian subcontinent, in addition to palm-leaf manuscripts, the Kural literature had been passed on as word of mouth from parents to their children and from preceptors to their students for generations within the Tamil-speaking regions of South India. According to Sanjeevi, the first translation of the work appeared in Malayalam (Kerala) in 1595.


title: Kural

text: The first paper print of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" is traceable to 1812, credited to the efforts of Ñānapirakācar who used wooden blocks embossed from palm-leaf scripts to produce copies of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" along with those of "Nalatiyar". It was only in 1835 that Indians were permitted to establish printing press. The Kural was the first book to be published in Tamil, followed by the Naladiyar. When Francis Whyte Ellis, a British civil servant in the Madras Presidency and a scholar of Tamil and Sanskrit who had established a Tamil "sangam" (academy) in Madras in 1825 and asked Tamil enthusiasts to "bring to him ancient Tamil manuscripts for publication," Kandappan, the butler of George Harrington, a European civil servant possibly in the Madurai district, and the grandfather of Iyothee Thass handed in handwritten palm-leaf manuscripts of the Kural text as well as the "Tiruvalluva Maalai" and the "Naladiyar" which he found in a pile of leaves used for cooking between 1825 and 1831. The books were finally printed in 1831 by Ellis with the help of his manager Muthusamy Pillai and Tamil scholar Tandavaraya Mudaliar. Subsequent editions of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" appeared in 1833, 1838, 1840, and 1842. Soon many commentaries followed, including those by Mahalinga Iyer, who published only the first 24 chapters. The Kural has been continuously in print ever since. By 1925, the Kural literature had already appeared in more than 65 editions and by the turn of the 21st century, it had crossed 500 editions.


title: Kural

text: The first critical edition of the "Tirukkaral" based on manuscripts discovered in Hindu monasteries and private collections was published in 1861 by Arumuka Navalar – the Jaffna born Tamil scholar and Shaivism activist. Navalar, states Zvelebil, was "probably the greatest and most influential among the forerunners" in studying numerous versions and bringing out an edited split-"sandhi" version for the scholarship of the Kurral and many other historic Tamil texts in the 19th century.


title: Kural

text: Parimelalhagar's commentary on the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" was published for the first time in 1840 and became the most widely published commentary ever since. In 1850, the Kural was published with commentaries by Vedagiri Mudaliar, who published a revised version later in 1853. This is the first time that the entire Kural text was published with commentaries. In 1917, Manakkudavar's commentary for the first book of the Kural text was published by V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. Manakkudavar commentary for the entire Kural text was first published in 1925 by K. Ponnusami Nadar. As of 2013, Perimelalhagar's commentary appeared in more than 200 editions by as many as 30 publishers.


title: Kural

text: Since the 1970s, the Kural text has been transliterated into ancient Tamil scripts such as the Tamil-Brahmi script, Pallava script, Vatteluttu script and others by Gift Siromoney of the International Institute of Tamil Studies (IITS, Madras Christian College).


title: Kural

text: The Kural text is a part of the ancient Tamil literary tradition, yet it is also a part of the "one great Indian ethical, didactic tradition", as a few of his verses are "undoubtedly" translations of the verses in Sanskrit classics. The themes and ideas in "Tirukkuṟaḷ" – sometimes with close similarities and sometimes with significant differences – are also found in Manu's "Manusmriti" (also called the "Manavadharmasastra"), Kautilya's "Arthashastra", Kamandaka's "Nitisara", and Vatsyayana's "Kamasutra". Some of the teachings in the "Tirukkuṟaḷ", states Zvelebil, are "undoubtedly" based on the then extant Sanskrit works such as the more ancient "Arthashastra" and "Manusmriti".


title: Kural

text: According to Zvelebil, the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" borrows "a great number of lines" and phrases from earlier Tamil texts. For example, phrases found in "Kuruntokai" (lit. "The Collection of Short [Poems]") and many lines in "Narrinai" (lit. "The Excellent Love Settings") which starts with an invocation to Vishnu, appear in the later "Tirukkuṟaḷ". Authors who came after the composition of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" similarly extensively quoted and borrowed from the "Tirukkuṟaḷ". For example, the Prabandhas such as the "Tiruvalluvamalai" probably from the 10th century CE are anthologies on "Tirukkuṟaḷ", and these extensively quote and embed it verses written in meters ascribed to gods, goddesses, and revered Tamil scholars. Similarly, the love story "Perunkatai" (lit. "The Great Story") probably composed in the 9th century quotes from the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" and embeds similar teachings and morals. Verse 22.59–61 of the "Manimekalai" – a Buddhist-princess and later nun based love story epic, likely written about the 6th century CE, also quotes the "Tirukkuṟaḷ". This Buddhist epic ridicules Jainism while embedding morals and ideals similar to those in the Kural.


title: Kural

text: The "Tirukkuṟaḷ" teachings are similar to those found in "Arthasastra" but differ in some important aspects. In Valluvar's theory of state, unlike Kautilya, the army ("patai") is the most important element. Valluvar recommends that a well kept and well-trained army ("patai") led by an able commander and ready to go to war is necessary for a state.


title: Kural

text: According to Hajela, the "Porul" of the Kural text is based on morality and benevolence as its cornerstones. The "Tirukkuṟaḷ" teaches that the ministers and people who work in public office should lead an ethical and moral life.Unlike the "Manusmriti", the Kural does not give women a lowly and dependent position but are rather idealised. The "Tirukkuṟaḷ" also does not give importance to castes or any dynasty of rulers and ministers. The text states that one should call anyone with virtue and kindness a Brahmin.


title: Kural

text: Scholars compare the teachings in the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" with those in other ancient thoughts such as the Confucian sayings in Lun Yu, Hitopadesa, Panchatantra, Manusmriti, Tirumandiram, Book of Proverbs in the Bible, sayings of the Buddha in Dhammapada, and the ethical works of Persian origin such as Gulistan and Bustan, in addition to the holy books of various religions.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text and the Confucian sayings recorded in the classic Analects of Chinese (called "Lun Yu", meaning "Sacred Sayings") share some similarities. Both Valluvar and Confucius focused on the behaviors and moral conducts of a common person. Similar to Valluvar, Confucius advocated legal justice embracing human principles, courtesy, and filial piety, besides the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and trustworthiness as foundations of life. While ahimsa or non-violence remains the fundamental virtue of the Valluvarean tradition, Zen remains the central theme in Confucian tradition. Incidentally, Valluvar differed from Confucius in two respects. Firstly, unlike Confucius, Valluvar was also a poet. Secondly, Confucius did not deal with the subject of conjugal love, for which Valluvar devoted an entire division in his work. Child-rearing is central to the Confucian thought of procreation of humanity and the benevolence of society. The Lun Yu says, "Therefore an enlightened ruler will regulate his people's livelihood so as to ensure that, above they have enough to serve their parents and below they have enough to support their wives and children."


title: Kural

text: The Kural text has received highly esteemed reception from every section of the society ever since the ancient times. Many post-Sangam and medieval poets have sung in praise of the Kural text and its author. Avvaiyar praised Valluvar as the one who pierced an atom and injected seven seas into it and then compressed it and presented it in the form of his work, emphasizing on the work's succinctness. The Kural remains the only work that has been honored with an exclusive work of compiled paeans known as the Tiruvalluva Maalai in the Tamil literary corpus, attributed to 55 different poets, including legendary ones. All ancient Indian religions, including Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Jainism, and Buddhism, have greatly celebrated the Kural text, many of which incorporated Kural's teachings in both their religious and non-religious works, including the Silappathikaram, Manimekalai, Tirumurai, Periya Puranam, and Kamba Ramayanam.


title: Kural

text: The Kural has been widely praised within and outside India for its universal, non-denominational values. The Russian philosopher Alexander Piatigorsky called it chef d'oeuvre of both Indian and world literature "due not only to the great artistic merits of the work but also to the lofty humane ideas permeating it which are equally precious to the people all over the world, of all periods and countries." G. U. Pope called its author "a bard of universal man" for being a generalist and universal. According to Albert Schweitzer, "there hardly exists in the literature of the world a collection of maxims in which we find so much of lofty wisdom." Leo Tolstoy called it "the Hindu Kural," and Mahatma Gandhi called it "a textbook of indispensable authority on moral life" and went on to say, "The maxims of Valluvar have touched my soul. There is none who has given such a treasure of wisdom like him."


title: Kural

text: Jesuit, Catholic and Protestant missionaries in colonial-era South India have highly praised the text, many of whom went on to translate the text into European languages. The Protestant missionary Edward Jewitt Robinson said that the Kural contains all things and there is nothing which it does not contain. The Anglican missionary John Lazarus said, "No Tamil work can ever approach the purity of the Kural. It is a standing repute to modern Tamil." According to the American Christian missionary Emmons E. White, "Thirukkural is a synthesis of the best moral teachings of the world."


title: Kural

text: The Kural has historically been exalted by leaders of political, spiritual, social and virtually every other domain. Rajaji commented, "It is the gospel of love and a code of soul-luminous life. The whole of human aspiration is epitomized in this immortal book, a book for all ages." According to K. M. Munshi, "Thirukkural is a treatise par excellence on the art of living." The Indian nationalist and Yoga guru Sri Aurobindo stated, "Thirukkural is gnomic poetry, the greatest in planned conception and force of execution ever written in this kind." E. S. Ariel, who translated and published the third part of the Kural to French in 1848, called it "a masterpiece of Tamil literature, one of the highest and purest expressions of human thought." Zakir Hussain, former President of India, said, "Thirukkural is a treasure house of worldly knowledge, ethical guidance and spiritual wisdom."


title: Kural

text: The "Tirukkuṟaḷ" remained the chief administrative text of the Kongu Nadu region of the medieval Tamil land. Kural inscriptions and other historical records are found across Tamil Nadu. The 15th-century Jain inscriptions in the Ponsorimalai near Mallur in Salem district bear couplet 251 from the "Shunning meat" chapter of the Kural text, indicating that the people of the Kongu Nadu region practiced ahimsa and non-killing as chief virtues. Other inscriptions include the 1617 CE Poondurai Nattar scroll in Kongu Nadu, the 1798 CE Palladam Angala Parameshwari Kodai copper inscriptions in Naranapuram in Kongu Nadu, the 18th-century copper inscriptions found in Kapilamalai near Kapilakkuricchi town in Namakkal district, Veeramudiyalar mutt copper inscriptions in Palani, Karaiyur copper inscription in Kongu Nadu, Palaiyakottai records, and the 1818 Periya Palayathamman temple inscriptions by Francis Ellis at Royapettah in Chennai.


title: Kural

text: Various portraits of Valluvar have been drawn and used by the Shivaite and Jain communities of Tamil Nadu since ancient times. These portraits appeared in various poses, with Valluvar's appearance varying from matted hair to fully shaven head. The portrait of Valluvar with matted hair and a flowing beard, as drawn by artist K. R. Venugopal Sharma in 1960, was accepted by the state and central governments as an official version. It soon became a popular and the most ubiquitous modern portrait of the poet. In 1964, the image was unveiled in the Indian Parliament by the then President of India Zakir Hussain. In 1967, the Tamil Nadu government passed an order stating that the image of Valluvar should be present in all government offices across the state of Tamil Nadu.


title: Kural

text: The Kural does not appear to have been set in music by Valluvar. However, a number of musicians have set it to tune and several singers have rendered it in their concerts. Modern composers who have tuned the Kural couplets include Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri and Ramani Bharadwaj. Singers who have performed full-fledged "Tirukkuṟaḷ" concerts include M. M. Dandapani Desikar and Chidambaram C. S. Jayaraman. Madurai Somasundaram and Sanjay Subramanian are other people who have given musical rendering of the Kural. Mayuram Vishwanatha Shastri set all the verses to music in the early 20th century. In January 2016, Chitravina N. Ravikiran set the entire 1330 verses to music in a record time of 16 hours.


title: Kural

text: In 1818, the then Collector of Madras Francis Whyte Ellis issued a gold coin bearing Valluvar's image. In the late 19th century, the South Indian saint 'Vallalar' Ramalinga Swamigal taught the Kural's message by conducting regular Kural classes to the masses. In 1968, the Tamil Nadu government made it mandatory to display a Kural couplet in all government buses. The train running a distance of 2,921 kilometers between Kanyakumari and New Delhi is named by the Indian Railways as the "Thirukural Express".


title: Kural

text: The Kural is part of Tamil people's everyday life and is used in all walks of life. K. Balachander's Kavithalayaa Productions opened its films with the very first couplet of the Kural sung in the background. Kural's phrases and ideas are found in numerous songs of Tamil movies. Several "Tirukkuṟaḷ" conferences were conducted in the twentieth century, such as those by Tirukkural V. Munusamy in 1941 and by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in 1949. These were attended by several scholars, celebrities and politicians. The Kural's couplets and thoughts are also widely employed in visual arts, music, dance, street shows, recitals, activities, and puzzles and riddles. The couplets are frequently quoted by various political leaders even in pan-Indian contexts outside the Tamil diaspora, including Ram Nath Kovind, P. Chidambaram, and Nirmala Sitaraman. When Jallikattu aficionados claimed that the sport is only to demonstrate the "Tamil love for the bull", the then Indian Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi denied the claim citing that the Tirukkural does not sanction cruelty to animals. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has quoted the couplets on several occasions, including his recital to the Indian armed forces in 2020. The Kural literature is one of the ancient texts from which the Economic Survey of India, the official annual report of the state of India's economy, draws heavy references.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text and its author have been highly venerated over the centuries. In the early 16th century, the Shaiva Hindu community built a temple within the Ekambareeswara-Kamakshi (Shiva-Parvati) temple complex in Mylapore, Chennai, in honor of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ"'s author, Valluvar. The locals believe that this is where Valluvar was born, underneath a tree within the shrine's complex. A Valluvar statue in yoga position holding a palm leaf manuscript of the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" sits under the tree. In the shrine dedicated to him, Valluvar's wife Vasukiamma is patterned after the Hindu deity Kamakshi inside the sanctum. The temple shikhara (spire) above the sanctum shows scenes of Hindu life and deities, along with Valluvar reading his couplets to his wife. The "sthala vriksham" (holy tree of the temple) at the temple is the oil-nut or "iluppai" tree under which Valluvar is believed to have been born. The temple was extensively renovated in the 1970s.


title: Kural

text: Additional Valluvar shrines in South India are found at Tiruchuli, Periya Kalayamputhur, Thondi, Kanjoor Thattanpady, Senapathy, and Vilvarani. Many of these communities, including those in Mylapore and Tiruchuli, consider Valluvar as the 64th Nayanmar of the Saivite tradition and worship him as god and saint.


title: Kural

text: In 1976, Valluvar Kottam, a monument to honor the Kural literature and its author, was constructed in Chennai. The chief element of the monument includes a chariot, a replica of the chariot in the temple town of Thiruvarur, and it contains a life-size statue of Valluvar. Around the chariot's perimeter are marble plates inscribed with "Tirukkuṟaḷ" couplets. All the 1,330 verses of the Kural text are inscribed on bas-relief in the corridors in the main hall.


title: Kural

text: Statues of Valluvar have been erected across the globe, including the ones at Kanyakumari, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Vishakapatnam, Haridwar, Puttalam, Singapore, London and Taiwan. The tallest of these is the stone statue of Valluvar erected in 2000 atop a small island in the town of Kanyakumari on the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. This statue is currently India's 25th tallest. A life-size statue of Valluvar is one among an array of statues installed by the Tamil Nadu government on the stretch of the Marina Beach.


title: Kural

text: The Kural remains one of the most influential Tamil texts admired by generations of scholars. The work has inspired Tamil culture and people from all walks of lives, with parallels in the literature of various languages within the Indian subcontinent. Its translations into European languages starting from the early 18th century brought it global fame. Authors influenced by the Kural include Ilango Adigal, Seethalai Satthanar, Sekkilar, Kambar, Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Ramalinga Swamigal, E. S. Ariel, Constantius Joseph Beschi, Karl Graul, August Friedrich Caemmerer, Nathaniel Edward Kindersley, Francis Whyte Ellis, Charles E. Gover, George Uglow Pope, Vinoba Bhave, Alexander Piatigorsky, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and Yu Hsi. Many of these authors have translated the work into their languages.


title: Kural

text: The Kural is an oft-quoted Tamil work. Classical works such as the Purananuru, Manimekalai, Silappathikaram, Periya Puranam, and Kamba Ramayanam all cite the Kural by various names, bestowing numerous titles to the work that was originally untitled by its author. Kural couplets and thoughts are cited in 32 instances in the Purananuru, 35 in Purapporul Venba Maalai, 1 each in Pathittrupatthu and the Ten Idylls, 13 in the Silappathikaram, 91 in the Manimekalai, 20 in Jivaka Chinthamani, 12 in Villi Bharatham, 7 in Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam, and 4 in Kanda Puranam. In Kamba Ramayanam, poet Kambar has used Kural thoughts in as many as 600 instances. The work is commonly quoted in vegetarian conferences, both in India and abroad.


title: Kural

text: The Kural text was first included in the school syllabus by the colonial era British government. However, only select 275 couplets have been taught to the schoolchildren from Standards III to XII. Attempts to include the Kural literature as a compulsory subject in schools were ineffective in the decades following Independence. On 26 April 2016, the Madras High Court directed the state government to include all the 108 chapters of the Books of Aram and Porul of the Kural text in school syllabus for classes VI through XII from the academic year 2017–2018 "to build a nation with moral values." The court further observed, "No other philosophical or religious work has such moral and intellectual approach to problems of life."


title: Kural

text: The Kural has inspired many, including Mahatma Gandhi, to pursue the path of ahimsa or non-violence. Leo Tolstoy was inspired by the concept of non-violence found in the Kural when he read a German version of the book, who in turn instilled the concept in Mahatma Gandhi through his A Letter to a Hindu when young Gandhi sought his guidance. Gandhi then took to studying the Kural in prison, which eventually culminated in his starting the non-violence movement to fight against the British. 'Vallalar' Ramalinga Swamigal was inspired by the Kural at a young age, who then spent his life promoting compassion and non-violence, emphasizing on non-killing and meatless way of life.


title: Kural

text: a. The Kural strictly insists on moral vegetarianism, the doctrine that humans are morally obligated to refrain from eating meat or harming sentient beings, which is equated to veganism of today. The concept of ahimsa or , which remains the moral foundation of vegetarianism and veganism, is described in the Kural chapter on non-violence (Chapter 32). For modern philosophers' take on this, see, for example, Engel's "The Immorality of Eating Meat" (2000).


title: Kural

text: d. Nallaswamy Pillai declares Pope's claim as "an absurd literary anachronism" and says that the first two books of the Kural in particular are "a stumbling block which can browbeat the most sublime ideas of Christian morality." John Lazarus observes that, in stark contrast to the Bible's concept of killing, which refers only to the taking away of human life, the Kural's concept of killing "deals exclusively with the literal taking away of life" and thus applies to both humans and animals.


title: Kural

text: e. Quote: "Non-killing is an absolute virtue ("aram") in the "Arattuppal" (the glory of virtue section), but the army's duty is to kill in battle and the king has to execute a number of criminals in the process of justice. In these cases, the violations of the "aram" [in the earlier section] are justified [by Thiruvalluvar] in virtue of the special duties cast on the king and the justification is that 'a few wicked must be weeded out to save the general public' (TK 550)."


title: Kural

text: f. The couplets are generally numbered in a linear fashion across the three books, covering all the 1,330 couplets. They can also be denoted by their chapter number and couplet number within the chapter. Thus, the third couplet in Chapter 104 (Agriculture), for instance, can be numbered either as 1033 or, less commonly, as 104:3. Since the medieval commentators have variously changed the chapter ordering within the books of the Kural text and couplet ordering within the chapters, the present numbering of the chapters and couplets is not the author's.


title: Kural

text: g. Avvaiyar's "Gnanakural" and Umapathi Shivachariyar's "Tiruvarutpayan", both of which appeared centuries later, further the ideas of the Kural's chapters on "veedu" or "moksha" and are considered as "Veettuppāl" (Books of Salvation).


title: Kural

text: h. The doctrine of "nishkama karma" in Hinduism states that the dharmic householder can achieve the same goals as the renouncing monk through "inner renunciation", that is "motiveless action." Cf. Kural 629: "He who never exulted in joy will not be depressed by sorrow." This is recommended by the Bhagavad Gita as well, which discusses and synthesizes the three dominant trends in Hinduism, namely, enlightenment-based renunciation, dharma-based householder life, and devotion-based theism, and this synthetic answer of the Gita recommends that one must resist the "either–or" view, and consider a "both–and" view.


title: Kural

text: i. As observed by P. S. Sundaram in the introduction to his work, while "all other sins may be redeemed, but never ingratitude," Valluvar couldn't understand "how anyone could wish to fatten himself by feeding on the fat of others."


title: Kural

text: j. "Commentary" – sometimes referred to as "bhashya" in the Indian tradition – refers to explanations and interpretations of aphoristic texts. These are written by various scholars to develop, comment on and expound the terse ideas such as a "kural" or a "sutra" or any text of significant significance (e.g. Jain, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures).


title: Kural

text: m. A stone inscription found on the walls of a well at the Periya Palayathamman temple at Royapettai indicates Ellis' regard for Valluvar. It is one of the 27 wells dug on the orders of Ellis in 1818, when Madras suffered a severe drinking water shortage. In the long inscription Ellis praises Valluvar and uses a couplet from the "Tirukkuṟaḷ" to explain his actions during the drought. When he was in charge of the Madras treasury and mint, he also issued a gold coin bearing Valluvar's image. The Tamil inscription on his grave makes note of his commentary of "Tirukkuṟaḷ".


title: Kural

text: n. The original inscription in Tamil written in the "asiriyapa" metre and first-person perspective: (The kural couplet he quotes is in italics) | | | | | | | | | ' | ' | | | | | | | | | | .


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted university status by royal charter in 1966. It is the eighth-oldest higher education institute in the UK. The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventor James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith George Heriot.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Known for its focus on science and engineering, it is one of the 23 colleges being granted university status in the 1960s and sometimes considered a plate glass university in the likes of Keele and Newcastle.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt was established as the School of Arts of Edinburgh (not to be confused with Edinburgh College of Art) by Scottish businessman Leonard Horner on 16 October 1821. Having been inspired by Anderson's College in Glasgow, Horner established the school to provide practical knowledge of science and technology to Edinburgh's working men. The institution was initially of modest size, giving lectures two nights a week in rented rooms and boasting a small library of around 500 technical works. It was also oversubscribed, with admissions soon closing despite the cost of 15 shillings for a year's access to lectures and the library.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The school was managed by a board of eighteen directors and primarily funded by sponsors from the middle and upper classes including Robert Stevenson and Walter Scott. It first became associated with the inventor and engineer James Watt in 1824, as a means of raising funds to secure permanent accommodation. Justifying the association, School Director Lord Cockburn said:


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: "[The building] shall be employed for the accommodation of the Edinburgh School of Arts; whereby the memory of Watt may forever be connected with the promotion, among a class of men to which he himself originally belonged, of those mechanical arts from which his own usefulness and glory arose. "


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 1837, the School of Arts moved to leased accommodation on Adam Square, which it was able to purchase in 1851 thanks to funds raised in Watt's name. In honour of the purchase, the School changed its name to the Watt Institution and School of Arts in 1852.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt's time as the Watt Institution marked a transitional period for the organisation, as its curriculum broadened to include several subjects beyond mathematics and the physical sciences. While the School of Arts had catered almost exclusively to working-class artisans and technical workers, the Watt Institution admitted a large number of middle-class students, whom it attracted with new subjects in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. By 1885, the skilled working class were no longer the majority in an institution that had been created explicitly for them.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: A shifting class make-up was not the only demographic change to affect the student body, as in 1869 women were permitted to attend lectures for the first time. This move put the Watt Institution some way ahead of Scottish universities, who were only permitted to allow women to graduate 20 years later following the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1889. The decision to admit women was made in large part owing to pressure from local campaigner Mary Burton, who later became the institution's first female director in 1874.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 1870, the Watt Institution was forced to move following the demolition of Adam Square. After a brief period on Roxburgh Place, it relocated to the newly constructed Chambers Street near where its former site had stood. The move caused the institution severe financial difficulties, which were compounded by a combination of declining funds from subscribers and increased costs from its growing student body.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 1873, the directors turned to George Heriot's Trust for support and agreed to a merger of the Trust's endowment with the institution's own. The proposed merger was provisional to changes in the structure of the Watt Institution, which would see the organisation become a technical college with representatives of the Trust in management positions. Accepting these changes, the Watt Institution officially became Heriot-Watt College in 1885 and was subsequently on far firmer financial ground.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The Watt Club was founded at the Watt Institution on 12 May 1854, and is today the oldest alumni organisation in the UK. Following the unveiling of a statue of James Watt outside the institution, local jeweller J.E Vernon proposed that


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: "[a club should be formed] whose object would be to sup together on the anniversary of the birth of James Watt…and also to promote the interests of the School, by raising a fund each year to provide prizes."


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Watt Club Medals are still awarded by the organisation each year to Heriot-Watt's most highly achieving students, while the Watt Club Prize is awarded by The Watt Club Council to recognise student initiative and enterprise.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: After the establishment of Heriot-Watt as a technical college, the new management committee set about extending the institution's buildings and strengthening its academic reputation. In its new form the college was one of only three non-university institutions in the UK with the power to appoint professors, and the first of these was appointed in 1887. In 1902 the college became a central institution, while in 1904 it introduced awards for graduating students which were similar to university degrees.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Expansion meant that the college made increasing demands on George Heriot's Trust throughout the first part of the 20th century, which ultimately led to the independence of the two bodies in 1927. While the Trust continued to pay Heriot-Watt a fixed sum each year, from then on the college was responsible for managing its own financial affairs. Heriot-Watt continued to expand after becoming independent, opening a new extension in 1935.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Both World Wars impacted on the speed of the college's expansion. During World War I, student numbers dropped as young men joined the army, while teaching in engineering stalled as the department was used for the manufacture of shells and munitions. During World War II, student numbers dropped again and the electrical engineering department became involved in training the armed services in the use of radar.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: After the college introduced a postgraduate award in 1951, it offered awards equivalent to university degrees and doctorates in all practical respects. Recognising this, in 1963 the Robbins Report recommended that it should be awarded university status. On 1 February 1966 the recommendation was enacted, as the institution officially became Heriot-Watt University.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: While Heriot-Watt continued to expand in the centre of Edinburgh after attaining university status, the institution had grown big enough that relocation was felt to be desirable. In 1966 Midlothian County Council gifted the Riccarton estate north of Currie to the university and in 1969 work began on transforming the site into a future campus. The process of relocation to Riccarton continued until 1992, with teaching and facilities divided between the new campus and the city centre until this time.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The university has continued to grow after completing its move to Riccarton, constructing additional student halls, a sports centre and a postgraduate centre on the site. The institution also expanded beyond Edinburgh, merging with the Scottish College of Textiles to create a campus in the Scottish Borders in 1998, opening a campus in Dubai in 2006 and a campus in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in 2012.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In recent years, the university's campus in Edinburgh has benefited from major infrastructural projects worth £60 million, with another £68 million worth investment announced. These include the UK's first purpose-built graduate centre (£6 million), Scotland's elite Oriam Sports Performance Centre facility (£33 million), and the UK's first FlexBIO flexible downstream bioprocessing centre (£2 million). It is also constructing a 5,000m² Watt Innovation Building supporting Global Research, Innovation and Discovery [GRID] to boost 'creativity and ideas generation' on the university's growing Edinburgh campus.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: GRID is a new ground-breaking facility to advance our global research, innovation and discovery. It has been designed to create cohesion between academic disciplines, industry partners and the global community, providing an innovative teaching and learning environment for mathematics, engineering, physical sciences and computer science students and staff. The university has plans to host a major £65 million film studio and a £2.5 million academic partnership with the oil and gas firm Total.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: However, in 2017 it was also announced that a major budget shortfall and the impact of Brexit would result in Heriot-Watt shedding 100 jobs by voluntary redundancies.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt currently has five campuses, and also runs distance learning programmes through 53 approved learning partners to students around the world.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt's main campus is located in Riccarton in South West Edinburgh on of parkland. The campus consists of: academic buildings, student residences, a postgraduate centre, shops, several library collections, childcare, healthcare, a chaplaincy, a variety of recreational and sports facilities, and a museum, as well as the Student Union's main premises. It is also home to the Edinburgh Conference Centre and Europe's oldest research park, Heriot-Watt University Research Park which opened in 1971. The university's Institute of Petroleum Engineering is based at its Edinburgh campus.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt's Scottish Borders Campus in Galashiels is home to the university's School of Textile and Design. The school began life in 1883 when the Galashiels Manufacturer's Corporation began running classes in practical courses for its workers. The institution gradually grew both in terms of student numbers and the number of courses it offered, and it ultimately became known as the Scottish College of Textiles in 1968. In 1998 the college merged with Heriot-Watt, leading to the creation of the School of Textiles and Design in its modern form.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The school is one of the few fashion schools in the world which offers a menswear course at bachelor's degree level, and the only school in Scotland to offer a fashion communication course. It was ranked 11th place in the UK for art and design in the 2013 Complete University Guide, produced a winner and five other finalists for the Scottish Fashion Awards Graduate of the Year in June 2012.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: While the Scottish Borders Campus shares some facilities and administrative functions with Edinburgh, it is largely self-contained. As well as its own library, accommodation and catering facilities, it has its own branch of the Student Union which runs events on the site and is home to a collection of textile records and artefacts. A new £12m student village opened at the Campus in September 2012.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The entire campus is shared with Borders College, whose students make up the majority of those who study at the site.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Marillion's 1985 song Kayleigh was inspired by an SCT student, and refers to the snow and college halls of Galashiels.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt' s Dubai Campus opened in 2005. It was the first British university to set up in Dubai International Academic City.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses similar to those found in Scotland, the Campus facilitates student exchanges between Britain and the Emirates. It has facilities including a library, catering, computer access and shops. An expanded campus opened in the city in November 2011, allowing double the number of students to study for a Heriot-Watt degree in the city.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 2019, the campus was named one of Dubai’s top universities and awarded five stars in the first-ever quality rankings undertaken by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the supreme educational quality assurance and regulatory authority of the Government of Dubai. The same year in April, Heriot-Watt's Dubai campus was crowned 'Best University' in the Middle East at the first ever Forbes Middle East Higher Education Awards.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt University Malaysia's purpose-built campus opened in Putrajaya in September 2014, £35 million was invested in the Malaysian campus, which is the first 'green campus' in the country. It is situated in a lakeside location of offering undergraduate as well as master's degree.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt's campus in Stromness, Orkney, is home to the International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT), part of the university's School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society. The Campus provides education to a small number of postgraduate students and is host to eight members of research staff.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: From 1 August 2016, the former School of Life Sciences was merged with other schools, with programmes transferred to the School of Management and Languages, the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society and the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Heriot-Watt University was named International University of the Year by "The Times" and "Sunday Times Good University Guide" 2018. Heriot-Watt is known for the strong prospects of its students, with 80% in graduate-level jobs or further study six months after leaving the institution.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 2011, Heriot-Watt was named as "The Sunday Times" Scottish University of the Year 2011–2012, with the paper emphasising the employability of the institution's graduates. In 2012, it was again Scottish University of the Year 2012–2013 for the second year running, and also became UK University of the Year for student experience. The same year it came 1st in Scotland and 4th in the UK in the 2012 National Student Survey.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: "Times Higher Education"s 'Table of Tables' is the combined results of the three main UK university league tables - the "Good University Guide" (published by "The Times" and "The Sunday Times"), "The Guardian" and "The Complete University Guide". In the Table of Tables 2015, Heriot-Watt was placed 27th in the UK and 3rd in Scotland. It is ranked 28th in the UK by "The Complete University Guide 2018" and 26th in the UK by "The Guardian" University League Table 2018. In a 2015 detail report on UK universities, Durham academic Vikki Boliver placed Oxford and Cambridge in the first tier, and included Heriot-Watt in the second tier made of the remaining 22 Russell Group universities and 17 other "pre-92" universities.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 2020, Heriot-Watt was ranked at 314 by "QS World University Rankings" and at 251-300 by "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" in the world. It was ranked 243rd in the world for engineering and technology by QS Rankings in 2019. It was ranked 143rd in the world for technical sciences in 2018 by Round University Ranking.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: In 2017, "Business Insider" ranked Heriot-Watt the 3rd best UK university to study economics. It was ranked among 201-250 globally for Business and Economics by Times in 2019. In 2018, "ARWU" ranked Heriot-Watt globally among 51-75 for Telecom Engineering and 101-150 for Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Oceanography.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Nationally, the university is ranked highly for Planning and Building education. In 2019, the university was ranked 4th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Town & Country Planning and Landscape Design by "The Complete University Guide". It was also ranked 9th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Building and Town & Country Planning by "The Guardian" in the same year. In the 2019 "The Complete University Guide" national subject rankings Heriot-Watt had the following rankings: 2nd (of 34) - Building education, 17th (of 104) - Accounting and Finance, 15th (of 81) - Art and Design, 14th (of 30) - Chemical Engineering, 23rd (of 60) - Chemistry, 1 (of 56) - Civil Engineering, 25th (of 110) - Computer Science, 22nd (of 77) - Economics, 23rd (of 68) - Electrical Engineering, 15th (of 72) - Mathematics, 14th (of 69) - Mechanical Engineering, and 25th (of 48) - Physics and Astronomy. The university has been constantly ranked among the top 10 universities in UK for Building education since 2010.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: As of February 2017, approximately 13,700 students are enrolled at one of Heriot-Watt's campuses: 66.6% in Scotland, 24.2% in Dubai and 9.2% in Malaysia. In the Scotland campus, the university has a female:male ratio of 41:59.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: Under the framework of the European Education system and as part of the Erasmus Mundus program Heriot-Watt University offers a Masters in Strategic Project Management jointly with Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and Umeå University (Sweden). Students in the program study at all three institutions over two years and at the conclusion receive degrees issued by all three. The program ranks number 11 in the Eduniversal Bests Masters Ranking and number 25 in the QS World University Rankings worldwide.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The Student Union at Heriot-Watt is a student-led organisation headed by individuals elected from the student population. The association has represented students both locally and nationally since its foundation in 1966, and is a member of both the Edinburgh Students' Forum and the National Union of Students (NUS). It is also responsible for running the university's Student Union, which runs events for students and supports student societies. Over 50 societies currently exist, including the Brewing Society which organises an annual charity beer festival. In addition, the Student Union runs several services at the Edinburgh and Scottish Borders campuses including catering facilities, a nightclub, an advice centre and a student shop. The Student Union also works closely with the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Student Council and the Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Student Association. In 2018 the Student Union won the University Student Union of the Year and also Officer Team of the Year at the NUS Scotland Awards 2018.


title: Heriot-Watt University

text: The Sports Union is responsible for the university's 30 sports clubs. and runs annual social events for students involved in sport. As with the Students' Association, the organisation is headed by elected Heriot-Watt students.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team in the Chin Cup inter-school competition. One of his childhood memories is of sitting in a tree outside the ground overlooking the sightscreen watching Garry Sobers score two centuries for West Indies v Pakistan.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: In 1971 he was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s. He is one of the most successful Test captains of all time: during his captaincy the side had a run of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in succession (Viv Richards acted as captain for one of the 27 matches, against Australia at Port of Spain in 1983–84). He was the first West Indian player to earn 100 international caps. Lloyd captained the West Indies in three World Cups, winning in 1975 (with Lloyd scoring a century) and 1979 while losing the 1983 final to India.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: Lloyd was a tall, powerful middle-order batsman and occasional medium-pace bowler. In his youth he was also a strong cover point fielder. He wore his famous glasses as a result of being poked in the eye with a ruler.<ref name="WWOS/ref"> "Wide World of Sports" Cricket Yearbook 1985 – "Farewell Super Cat" written by Ian Chappell, pp: 110–13, PBL Marketing, Pty Ltd, 1985. ISSN 0813-7439 </ref> His Test match debut came in 1966. Lloyd scored 7,515 runs at Test level, at an average of 46.67. He hit 70 sixes in his Test career, which is the 14th highest number of any player. He played for his home nation of Guyana in West Indies domestic cricket, and for Lancashire (he was made captain in 1981) in England. He is a cousin of spin bowler Lance Gibbs. Since retiring as a player, Lloyd has remained heavily involved in cricket, managing the West Indies in the late 1990s, and coaching and commentating. He was an ICC match referee from 2001 to 2006.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: In 2009, Lloyd was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to cricket.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: Lloyd made his Test debut on 13 December, 1966 against India. He scored 82 in the first innings and 78 not out in the second.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: In 1971–72, Lloyd suffered a back injury while playing for a Rest of the World team at the Adelaide Oval. He was fielding in the covers when Ashley Mallett hit a lofted drive towards his area. He made an effort to take the catch but it bounced out of his hands when he hit the ground awkwardly. When he went to get up, he felt a stabbing pain in his back and he was unable to move. He spent the next few weeks in an Adelaide hospital flat on his back.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: In the 1975 Cricket World Cup Final against Australia, the West Indies were deep in trouble at 3/50 when Lloyd strode to the crease. He duly made 102 from 85 balls, the only limited overs international century of his career. With Rohan Kanhai he added 149 for the West Indies to win by 17 runs. Play ended at 8:40pm and was the longest day's play ever at Lord's.


title: Clive Lloyd

text: On 22 January 1985, Lloyd was made an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the sport of cricket, particularly in relation to his outstanding and positive influence on the game in Australia.