Chapter Two – Verse two

Thupparkku thuppaya thupparkki thupparkku

thuppaya thuum mazai

This is one of the most beautiful verses of Thirukkural. It makes use of one single word “tuppu” meaning “food” as the key word and uses it many parts of speech to provide a beautiful meaning.

One of the most common mistakes that most people (including teachers) do is the way the second last word is pronounced. It is actually written as (thuvum) but the “vu” is silent and must be only pronounced as “thuum”. The silent “vu” is a grammatical rule of Tholkkapiam, where the “u” must be pronounced much longer thus “thuum”.

There is also a change in the meaning for “thuvum” mans raining; while “thuum” means “becoming”. The actual meaning here is becoming, but due to the phrase being under the heading rain, it is normally interpreted as rain.

However, many Tamil scholars know this rule and translate the meaning as “becoming”

For this verse, we will provide the actual translation and later provide the proper meaning.

Thupparkku thuppaya

Meaning “good food for those taking food” but a better word will be “necessary food for those taking food”

thupparkki

Meaning “growing food”

Thupparkku

Meaning “being food for those taking food”

thuppaya thuum (to be read together)

Meaning “becoming food”

Mazai

Meaning “rain or more better water”

Thus the whole sentence means that “water is necessary food for those taking food, grows food and itself becomes food for those who need food”