Tirukkural - On Virtue - In Praise Of Rain - Kural - 12

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An elegant translation of this Kural is provided by Thiru K Srinivasan in his book Tirukkural published in 1969.

All food is produced because of rain,
which itself is food again.

It is rain that raises essential food for all. It also serves as food by itself. Food satisfies hunger as water satisfies thirst. These two constitute food. This couplet may be considered as versified poetic beauty of a special kind. For the word 'thupu' is used in this Kural five times, successively to mean different connected ideas.

It is because of this special place of rain as a fundamental economic resource that it has been included in the Payiram after God. It is perhaps likely that a contemporary need in the country for a self-sufficiency in agriculture, then as now, prompted such placement of the chapter on rain.

In any case, Puranaanuuru has a reference to the importance of land and water in food production as below:

'Unavaenapaduvadhu Nilathodu Neerae'