Thiruvalluvar, a native of Mylapore wrote Thirukkural during 1st Century AD. St.Thomas was in Mylapore at that time.

Thirukkural is considered one of the oldest known literary works in Tamil – a classical language and the first ever language that man spoke. He is supposed to be a Samanar and a shwethambarar (white clad). Palm leaves (Olai Chuvadi) manuscript containing these couplets numbering one thousand three hundred and thirty – one hundred and thirty-three chapters (adhikaaram) of ten couplets each – was discovered late in the 17th Century AD. (They were stored in the Saraswathi Mahal Tamil Library of Thanjavur till recently but has been reported to be lost). Thiruvalluvar (“the respected court clerk” literally) is supposed to be a contemporary of Thomas and lived in the same area where Thomas finally moved to – Mylapore (a bustling locality then and a part of Chennai, Tamil Nadu today) around AD 50.

Thirukkural contains three chapters as foreword or introduction right at the beginning called the “Paayiram”. The three Adhikaarams are Kadavul Vaazhtthu, Vaan Sirappu and Neethaar Perumai – all three talking about God, His spirit and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ respectively. Certainly, Saint Thomas must have influenced Thiruvalluvar so much that resulted in he writing about the Saviour of the world who was the image of the invisible God and who dwells in the heart of man as His Spirit. Here are three “kurals”, one each from the first three chapters of the Thirukkural:

அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி
பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.
The world has the eternal and triune God for its beginning from whom sprang up letters starting from Akaram. (Synonym to Alpha in Greek and A in English).

பொறிவாயில் ஐந்தவித்தான் பொய்தீர் ஒழுக்க
நெறிநின்றார் நீடு வாழ்வார்.
All those who stand in the principle of righteousness of the One who subdued His five senses on the instrument (cross) to defeat falsehood, will live forever.

நீர்இன்று அமையாது உலகெனின் யார்யார்க்கும்
வான்இன்று அமையாது ஒழுக்கு
Water is essential for the world to exist. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is essential for righteousness to exist in anybody.