Kural 17 நெடுங்கடலும் தன்நீர்மை குன்றும் தடிந்தெழிலி தான்நல்கா தாகி விடின் Transliteration (Tamil to English): Nedungadalum thanneermai kundrum thadinthezhili Thaanalgaa thagi vidin Simple meaning The mighty ocean’s natural tendency will be reduced if the clouds that have directly absorbed the water (in the form of a water spout or vapour) fail to give rain. Explanation In the previous Kural, Valluvar said that rain is important to even the smallest of living things (blade of grass). In this Kural he says that rain is important even for the mighty ocean. Whenever we are stressing the importance of anything we have to specify the importance for the tiniest and the mightiest. Then the magnitude of the importance will be well understood. So he has touched the importance for both the lowest of creation and highest of creation, in these two Kurals. Sometimes we may have observed that water will be directly absorbed from the sea by the clouds, like a pillar of water.
Kural 12 துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய துப்பாக்கித் துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய தூஉ ம் மழை Transliteration(Tamil to English): Thupparku thuppaya thuppagi Thupparkku Thuppayathooum mazhai Simple Meaning For all beings that consume food, rain helps create edible food and becomes food by itself. Explanation Thuppu means ‘food’ In the Kural 11, Valluvar said that Rain is the ambrosia or Amrita for the earth. In this Kural he explains how. How is Rain consumed by living beings? In two ways (1) Rain helps to create food and (2) Rain becomes food itself as it is consumed as water. This applies to all forms in life on earth. Is there anything else in nature that helps to create food and also becomes food in itself? I’m not sure. Kural 13 விண்இன்று பொய்ப்பின் விரிநீர் வியனுலகத்து உள்நின்று உடற்றும் பசி. Transliteration(Tamil to English): Vin-nindru poippin virineer viyanulagathu ul-nindru udatrum pasi Simple meaning If it stops raining, the entire expanse of world