Madras High Court junks plea to declare Tiruvalluvar’s birthday on Vaikasi Anusham

The Madras High Court has refused to declare the day of Anusham star in the Tamil month of Vaikasi as the birthday of Tiruvalluvar, who is believed to have penned Tirukkural, a highly celebrated compendium of 1,330 couplets containing life lessons.

The Madras High Court has refused to declare the day of Anusham star in the Tamil month of Vaikasi as the birthday of Tiruvalluvar, who is believed to have penned Tirukkural, a highly celebrated compendium of 1,330 couplets containing life lessons.

Justice M. Dhandapani also refused to issue a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to shift the annual celebration of ‘Tiruvalluvar day’ from the second day of Tamil month Thai, as it is being followed now, to the Vaikasi Anusha Natchathiram day.

The judge dismissed a writ petition filed in 2021 by Samy Thiagarajan, the president of Tiruvalluvar Tirunatkazhagam. The petitioner had claimed to be a Tamil professor with 36 years of teaching experience and a doctorate for his research on Tirukkural.

He stated that a temple for Tiruvalluvar was in existence at Mylapore in Chennai and that it was around 600 years old. The temple was under the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department and it celebrates the birth anniversary of the saint-poet on Vaikasi Anusham day, he said.

It was also brought to the notice of the court that Tiruvalluvar Tirunatkazhagam was founded by Padmasri Subbaya Pillai in 1935. Then, the birthday of Tiruvalluvar was celebrated on Vaikasi Anusham, which fell on May 18, 1935. Tamil scholar Maramalai Adigalar had participated in the celebration.

The petitioner said that even Colombo-based Tamil scholar K.P. Ratnam, who founded Tamil Marai Kazhagam, had spread the message worldwide that the birth anniversary of Tiruvalluvar must be celebrated only on Vaikasi Anusham and it was being followed by many Tamil enthusiasts.

Even a Government Order issued on March 18, 1966, after the conclusion of the first Tiruvalluvar conference, had ordered that ‘Tiruvalluvar day’ would be celebrated on June 2, 1966, which was a Vaikasi Anusham day. However, in the subsequent years, it was shifted to the second day of Thai, the litigant said.