Thiruvalluvar is celebrated as a great Tamil Poet. Actually his real name is Valluvar. Due to his divine characters including high discipline and his books hidden quality, has created thirumai (divine quality) to him, thereby thiru is amalgamated in front of Valluvar’s name and called as Thiruvalluvar.
He also sometimes called as Theiva Pulavar (“Divine Poet”), Valluvar, Poyyamozhi Pulavar, Gnana Vettiyan , Senna Pothar, or Ayyan. Thiruvalluvar wrote 1330 thirukurals with 133 stanzas, each stanza contains 10 kurals.
Personal Life:
There is no proper record about in which century he lived but it is a guess that he might have lived between 3rd century and 7th century (Tholkapiar period). It is say, that first Thiruvalluvar lived in Madurai and later he lived in Maylapur. When he was in Madurai he was worked in kingdom and later he shifted to Mayalapur presently known as Chennai.
Parents:
His Mother name is Aadhi and his father name is Bhagavan. In respect to their parents he wrote first kural using his parents’ name.
Wife:
His wife name is Vasuki. She was pure and dedicated lady, an ideal wife. She never disobeyed the orders of her husband.
One day Thiruvalluvar was taking cold rice in the morning. He said to his wife: “Vasuki, the rice is very hot, bring a fan (hand fan) to cool it”. At that moment, Vasuki was drawing water from the well. When her husband called her; at once she left the rope and sprinted to him with a fan to cool the rice. She did not argue to her husband: “How can the cold rice be hot? Why do you want a fan now?” She just obeyed his instructions. The container that contained water was hanging in half-way inside the well without support; this shows her Pativrata Dharma Shakti.
The candidates noticed this phenomenon and the noble conduct of Vasuki and were simply struck with amazement.
Job:
Thiruvalluvar earned a living by weaving cloth and selling it. A small story to know about his divine character.
Thiruvalluvar earned a living by weaving cloth and selling it. In the same place there lived a rich man. This rich guy came to the weaver and asked what the price of the sari he was selling was. The Valluvar replied, “Three rupees (price in those days)”. The rich guy tore the sari into half piece and asked what the price of the half of the sari was. The Valluvar replied, “One and half rupee.” The rich guy tore it again into two and asked what the price of the torn piece was. The Valluvar replied, “It cost twelve annas” (three fourths of a rupee). Thiruvalluvar did not get angry at the rich man behavior. He was quiet and relaxed. The rich man was astounded. He asked the weaver (Thiruvalluvar) why you are not getting angry on me? Thiruvalluvar replied, being patience is my character. Being impatience is your character. The rich man asked, how did you get the quality of patience (Kshama)?” Thiruvalluvar replied, “Patience is truth. It is non-violence. It is right conduct. It is bliss itself. It is an origin of great joy. There is nothing greater than tolerance in this world.