carefully initiated into the rules of state policy and good government that abound in it and in Parimêlajahar. Would that these great books are again restored to their proper place in the curricula of study of our young men both rich and poor!
In undertaking this translation, my object has been not only to spread a knowledge of Tiruvalluvar’s grand work as widely as possible in the world, but also to induce my own countrymen speaking other languages than Tamil to retranslate it into their different vernaculars, so that the words of a great moral teacher who intended his message for all the world and for all time, may not fail at least now to reach the ears of the poorest of the poor and the simplest of the simple of his own countrymen, and to sow in their hearts the seeds of a noble, dignified, virtuous, and manly life. If I shall be able to say to myself that I have contributed something towards spreading the ideas of the Great Master among a wider audience among my countrymen, I shall consider that I have been amply rewarded for my labours.
