Thirukkural, a saintly work in Tamil, of our Great Philosopher, Thiruvalluvar, contains valuable solutions for our materialistic as well as philosophical issues and is also capable of curing many ills of the society. It gives answers for social and economic problems irrespective of the time, present or future. One such verse is being analysed here with reference to a specific economic concept, 'business cycle or trade cycle'.

Alternate occurrences of upswings and downswings in economic activities are known as trade cycles. Many prominent economists have explained this phenomenon both in non-monetary and monetary terms. The psychological explanation given for trade cycle emphasizes that the outlook about the future as bright or gloomy leads to hectic or slowed down business activities. As a cure they say the mindset of the business people or people in general is to be changed to view the future as bright or gloomy according to the needs or requirements of the economy. This is the non-monetary explanation.

The monetary explanations given Hawtrey and Heyak insist that it is the flow of capital that either stimulates and activates the economic activities or depresses and pulls down these activities. They suggest that appropriate regulation of the supply of money is the cure for such economic disorder.

The Kural,
         ¦À¡Õ¦ÇýÛõ ¦À¡ö¡ Å¢Çì¸õ þÕÇÚìÌõ
         ±ñ½¢Â §¾ÂòÐî ¦ºýÚ

makes it clear and explains the importance of Capital/money/credit, as it could remove the dull and gloomy conditions prevailing in the economy and create the needed mindset. It is prescribed by the economists of recent times that injecting money supply or withdrawing it from the society in the desired dose could either activate or deactivate the economic activities. Such activation or deactivation is needed to take the economy to prosperity or to check it from suffering depression or setbacks, the two phases of trade cycle viz., expansion and contraction.

Thiruvalluvar is of the view that capital is capable of removing the darkness/misery in the economy caused by depression. This concurs with the monetary theories propounded by Hawtrey and Heyak the noted economists. Let us look at the verse in a little more detail.

By the term 'porul' (¦À¡Õû) Valluvar might have meant wealth, which in the economic parlance may be taken as 'capital' (Ó¾ø, ãľÉõ), capital in the form of money or bank credit.

'Poyya Vilakkam' (¦À¡ö¡ Å¢Çì¸õ) means unfailing light, a light giving hope for a bright future, a 'beacon'.

By the term 'enniya theyathu sendru' (±ñ½¢Â §¾ÂòÐî ¦ºýÚ), he means flow of capital into the required sector/section of the economy or nation even foreign countries. It may also be taken as flow of capital in the desired direction or sector or in accordance with the plan in a planned economy.

'Irularukkum' (þÕÇÚìÌõ) means that such capital flow into different sectors will remove the dull or gloomy climate and create in the minds of the investors or people in general an optimistic view about the future/ the scope and opportunities for investment and drive away all the fear about investment and the yield there from. Thus it will lead to what is called recovery and ultimately prosperity of the economy.

Prof. Von Heyak is of the view that the imbalance in investment / use of capital that is over investment will lead to acceleration of economic activities in the economy and hence there will be fluctuations in the economic activities. He also stresses through his theory that flow of money as investment either in excess or dearth of it causes serious consequences in the economy.

Thus, Thiruvalluvar's verse has relevance to the monetary versions of trade cycle. Further more, the verse could also be read with reference to the 'psychological' theory of business cycle according to which, 'it is the optimistic or pessimistic outlook of the people that causes economic fluctuations - the upswings and downswings'. In this context, it may be interpreted that 'poyya vilakkam' (¦À¡ö¡ Å¢Çì¸õ) meaning an unfailing light, may be taken as the optimism - looking at the brighter side of the phenomena/ incidents. Irul (þÕû) may be taken as pessimism, the darker side, the negative outlook. Capital acts as unfailing light injecting confidence in the minds of people and it is 'irularukkum' i.e., it is capable of removing darkness, the fear of risk and loss and gives hope.

Thus, Valluvar's verse concurs not only with materialistic outlook of the modern economists but also their psychological outlook and holds good even in a modern planned economy.

In summary, Thiruvalluvar considers, 'porul' capital or money as 'poyya vilakku', a beacon that develops hopes and optimism and 'irularukkum' will remove the gloom (from among the people or the business community) by 'enniya theyathu sendru' (flowing into the needed or desired sector /nation).