On Thiruvalluvar Day, January 16, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi hailed Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar as the brightest saint of Bharatiya Sanatana tradition, and also shared a portrait of Valluvar with saffron robes with Hindu religious marks.
This portrait was in contrast to the official portraits of Valluvar which is used in Tamil Nadu, that depicts him in white robes with no religious marks.
Chief Minister MK Stalin countered the Governor’s message by saying none can stain Valluvar’s contributions in Tamil Nadu.
In 2019, the TN BJP shared, for the first time, an image of Valluvar in saffron robes, triggering heavy political backlash. Political parties had accused the BJP and the right wing of trying to appropriate Valluvar and saffronising him to suit their ideology.
In 2020, the office of the Vice President of India, on the social media platform X, shared an image of Valluvar in saffron robes. After being pointed out that this was not the official portrait, they not only replaced the image with one of him in white robes but also stated that the saffron image was tweeted by mistake by a staff member.
How has the official portrait of Thiruvalluvar evolved over the years? What have the scholars said on his religion?
Presentation: D. Suresh Kumar
Videography: Thamodharan B.
Production: Shibu Narayan
