Tirukkural translations

Tirukkural, also known as the Kural, an ancient Indian treatise on the ethics and morality of the commoner, is one of the most widely translated non-religious works in the world. Authored by the ancient Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar and dated around the 1st century BCE, it has been translated into at least 42 world languages, with about 57 different renderings in the English language alone.

Beginning of translations

The Kural text, considered to have been written in the 1st century BCE,[1] remained unknown to the outside world for close to one and a half millennia. The first translation of the Kural text appeared in Malayalam in 1595 CE under the title Tirukkural Bhasha by an unknown author. It was a prose rendering of the entire Kural, written closely to the spoken Malayalam of that time.[1] However, again, this unpublished manuscript remained obscure until it was first reported by the Annual Report of the Cochin Archeological Department for the year 1933–34.[2] It took another three centuries before any translation was published in Malayalam.

The Kural text has enjoyed a universal appeal right from antiquity owing to its secular and non-denominational nature that it suited the sensibilities of all.[3] The universality is such that, despite its having been written in the pre-Christian era, almost every religious group in India and across the world, including Christianity, has claimed the work for itself.[4] Owing to its ethical content, the Kural remained one of the most admired ancient Indian works among the Christian missionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries,[5] who arrived in India during the colonial era and found the Kural text containing many more ideals in addition to those that are similar to their own Christian ideals. This marked the beginning of wider translations of the Kural text.[6]

Beschi, the earliest known translator of the Kural text

In 1730, Constantius Joseph Beschi rendered the Kural text into Latin, introducing the work to the Europeans for the first time. However, only the first two books of the Kural text, namely, virtue and wealth, were translated by Beschi, who considered translating the book on love inappropriate for a Christian missionary. Around 1767, an unknown author made the first French translation, which went unnoticed.[6] The Danish Missionary August Friedrich Caemmerer translated it into German in 1803.[5][7] The first available French version, however, was the one made in 1848 by E. S. Ariel. Here again, only parts of the work was translated.[6] In 1856, Karl Graul translated the Kural into German, claiming that the Kural is closer to the Christian preaching and offers a model of Tamil worldview.[5] The German version was published both at London and Leipzig. In 1865, his Latin translation of the Kural text, along with commentaries in Simple Tamil, was posthumously published.[8]

The first English translation ever was attempted by N. E. Kindersley in 1794 when he translated a select couplets of the Kural. This was followed by another incomplete attempt by Francis Whyte Ellis in 1812, who translated only 120 couplets—69 in verse and 51 in prose.[9][10][11][12] William Henry Drew translated the first two parts in prose in 1840 and 1852, respectively. Along with Drew’s English prose translation, it contained the original Tamil text, the Tamil commentary by Parimelalhagar and Ramanuja Kavirayar's amplification of the commentary. Drew, however, translated only 630 couplets. The remaining portions were translated by John Lazarus, a native missionary, thus providing the first complete English translation. In 1886, George Uglow Pope published the first complete English translation by a single author, which brought the Kural text to a wide audience of the western world.[13]

By the turn of the twenty-first century, the Kural had already been translated to more than 37 world languages,[14] with at least 24 complete translations in English language alone, by both native and non-native scholars. By 2014, the Kural had been translated to more than 42 languages, with 57 versions available in English. Along with the Bible and the Quran, the Kural remains one of the most translated works in the world.[15]

Criticisms on translations

The couplets of the Kural are inherently complex by virtue of their dense meaning within their terse structure. Thus, no translation can perfectly reflect the true nature of any given couplet of the Kural unless read and understood in its original Tamil form.[16] Added to this inherent difficulty is the attempt by some scholars to either read their own ideas into the Kural couplets or deliberately misinterpret the message to make it conform to their preconceived notions. The Latin translation by Father Beshi, for instance, contains several such mistranslations noticed by modern scholars. According to V. Ramasamy, "Beschi is purposely distorting the message of the original when he renders பிறவாழி as 'the sea of miserable life' and the phrase பிறவிப்பெருங்கடல் as 'sea of this birth' which has been translated by others as 'the sea of many births'. Beschi means thus 'those who swim the vast sea of miseries'. The concept of rebirth or many births for the same soul is contrary to Christian principle and belief".[6]

List of Translations

Below is a list of translations of the Kural:[17][18]

S.No.	Language	Translator(s)	Title of the Translation	Place of Publication	Year	Coverage and Form	Notes	Translation for comparison: Kural (verse) 251 (Chapter 26:1)
1	Arabic	Muhammad Yousuf Kokan	Sacred Verses		1976–1980	Complete	[19]	كيف يكون احد رؤوفا ورحيما إن يأكل الحيوانات لا زدياد شحمه ودسمه فى جثـتـه وجسمه
		Amar Hasan	Thirukkural		2015	Complete	[20]
2	Bengali	Nalini Mohan Sanyal	Thirukkural	Calcutta	1939	Prose
		E. C. Sastri	Thirukkural	Calcutta	1974	Prose
		N. Ramanuja Das	Thirukkural		1993	Prose
		S. Krishnamoorthy	Thirukkural	Calcutta	2001	Verse
3	Burmese	U. Myo Thant	Thirukkural	Rangoon	1964	Complete—Prose
4	Chinese	Ch'eng Xi	Gula Zhenyan (古臘箴言)	Hong Kong (Xianggang Daxue Chubanshe)	1967			如何真正实践慈悲谁吃动物肉养肥自己的血肉?
		Yu Hsi	Thirukkural	Taipei, Taiwan	2014	Complete	Book released by former President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam[21]
5	Czech	Kamil V. Zvelebil	Thirukural (Selections)	Prague	1952–1954	Selections
6	Dutch	D. Kat	Thirukural (Selections)	Netherlands	1964	Selections
7	English	Nathaniel Edward Kindersley	Teroovalluvar Kurral or The Ocean of Wisdom	London (W. Bulmer and Co.)	1794	Selections—Verse		Not translated.
		Francis Whyte Ellis	Thirukural on Virtue (in verse) with Commentary	Madras	1812 (reprint 1955)	Selections—Mixed	Incomplete translation—only 120 couplets translated, 69 in verse and 51 in prose	Not translated
		William Henry Drew	The Cural of Thiruvalluvar with Commentary of Parimelazhakar	Madurai (American Mission Press)	1840	Partial—Prose	Translated only the first 630 couplets	How can he be possessed of kindness, who, to increase his own flesh, eats the flesh of other (creatures)?
		Charles E. Gover	Odes from the Kural (Folksongs of South India)	Madras (Higginbothams)	1872	Selections–Verse	Reprinted in 1981 by Gian Publications, Delhi
		Edward Jewitt Robinson	Tamil Wisdom	London (Paternoster Row)	1873	Partial—Verse	Translated only Books I and II (1080 couplets)	What graciousness by those is shown Who feed with others' flesh their own?
		William Henry Drew, and John Lazarus	Thirukural (in verses)	Madras	1885	Partial—Prose	Lazarus revised Drew's work and translated the remaining portion (couplets 631 to 1330) in prose as done by Drew, thus making the incomplete work of Drew a complete one.	How can he be possessed of kindness, who, to increase his own flesh, eats the flesh of other (creatures)?
		George Uglow Pope	A Collection of the English Translation of Thirukural	Madras	1886	Complete—Verse	First complete translation in English by a single author	How can the wont of 'kindly grace' to him be known, Who other creatures' flesh consumes to feed his own?
		T. Thirunavukarasu	Kural—A Selection of 366 Verses (A Gem for Each Day)	Madras (SPCK Press)	1915	Selections—Prose
		V. V. S. Aiyar	Kural: Maxims of Thiruvalluvar	Madras (Amudha Nilayam)[22]	1916	Complete–Prose		How can he feel pity, who eateth other flesh in order to fatten his own?
		S. Sabaratna Mudaliyar	Kural	Madras	1920
		A. Mathavaiyah	Kural in English with Commentary in Tamil	Madras	1926	Selections—Verse
		T. V. Parameswaran Aiyar	108 Gems from the Sacred Kural	Kottayam	1928
		H. A. Popley	The Sacred Kural (Selections in verses)	Calcutta	1931	Selections—Verse		How can kindliness rule that man, Who eateth other flesh to increase his own?
		A. Ranganatha Muthaliar	Thirukural Moolamum Uraiyum with English Translation	Madras	1933
		C. Rajagopalachari	Kural, the Great Book of Thiruvalluvar	Madras	1935	Partial—Prose
		M. S. Purnalingam Pillai	The Kural in English	Tirunelveli (Sri Kanthimathi Vilasam Press)	1942	Complete–Prose		How can a man grace who eats the meat of other animal to fatten himself?
		S. M. Michael	The Sacred Aphorisms of Thiruvalluvar (in verse)	Nagarcoil	1946	Complete—Verse		Who eats flesh other his own to expand, How can he grace command?
		V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar	Thirukural in English with Roman Translation	Madras	1949	Complete—Prose		He who fattens on the flesh of animals, can he ever understand the rule of love?
		M. R. Rajagopala Aiyangar	Tirukkural	Kumbakonam	1950	Complete–Prose
		P. Raja	Thirukural (in verses)	Kumbakonam	1950
		A. Chakravarti	Thirukural in English with Commentary	Madras	1953	Complete—Prose		How can a person cultivate the habit of universal benevolence if he for the purpose of fattening his own flesh (body) eats flesh of other animals?
		I. D. Thangaswami	Thirukural (Selections in Verse)	Madras	1954	Selections—Verse
		K. M. Balasubramaniam	Thirukural of Thiruvalluvar	Madras	1962	Complete—Verse		How can the one who eats a flesh to have his own flesh swell Possess a melting heart in which compassion could e'er dwell?
		T. Muthuswamy	Thirukural in English	Madurai	1965	Partial—Prose
		V. Chinnarajan	The Kural Gems	Udumalpet	1967	Selections–Verse
		C. R. Soundararajan			1968	Complete–Prose
		Emmons E. White	The Wisdom of India	New York City (The Pater Pauper)	1968	Selections–Verse	Published as The Wisdom of the Tamil People in 1976
		Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi	Thirukural with English Couplets	Madras	1968	Complete—Verse		What graciousness can one command Who feeds his flesh by flesh gourmand?
		G. Vanmikanathan	The Thirukural—A Unique Guide to Moral, Material and Spiritual Prosperity	Trichy	1969	Complete—Prose		How will he exercise charity, who eats the flesh of another (creature) to fatten his own flesh?
		Kasturi Srinivasan	Thirukural: An Ancient Tamil Classic (in couplets)	Bombay	1969	Complete—Verse		To feed his flesh, who flesh consumes What kindly grace, such man presumes?
		A. Gajapathy Nayagar	The Rosary of Gems of Thirukkural	Madras	1969
		Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi	Thirukural Couplets with Clear Prose Rendering	Madras	1970	Complete—Prose
		T. N. S. Ragavachari	Teachings of Tiruvalluvar's Kural	Madras (Health, June 1966 – October 1971)	1971	Complete–Prose	Reprinted in 1982
		E. V. Singan	Tirukkural	Singapore (EVS Enterprises)	1975	Complete–Prose	Reprinted in 1982
		S. N. Sriramadesikan	Tirukkural	Madras (Gangai Puthaka Nilayam)	1978	Complete–Prose	Reprinted in 1991, 1994, and 2006	How can a person be held to be compassionate when he slays animals and eat their flesh, for fattening his own body?
		S. M. Diaz	Aphorisms of Valluvar: Commentary and Comparative Study	Madras: International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilizations	1982	Complete—Verse		It is inconsistent with the way of living compassion, To fatten oneself on the flesh of a fellow-creature.
		P. S. Sundaram	Tiruvalluvar: The Kural	New Delhi (Penguin Books India Limited)	1987	Complete–Verse	Reprinted in 1989, 1991, 1992, and 2000 by International Tamil Language Foundation, Illinois	How can he be kindly Who fattens himself on others' fat?
		T. S. Ramalingam Pillai			1987
		K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar	Tirukkural	Calcutta (M. P. Birla Foundation)	1988	Complete–Verse
		M. Karunanidhi/K. Chellappan	Kural—Portraits: Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi’s Kuralovium, a Translation from Tamil by K. Chellappan	Annamalai Nagar: Annamalai University	1989
		M. Swaminathan			1991
		T. R. Kallapiran			1995
		D. V. G. Ramarathinam	Tirukkural	(Thiyaga Durgam)	1995	Complete–Prose
		J. Narayanasamy	Tirukkural	Coimbatore	1998	Complete–Mixed	More in prose than in verse. Reprinted in 1999.	Hardly any mercy is left in the minds of those who build their bodies with the flesh of other beings.
		K. Kalia Perumal	Wonders of Tirukkural	Thanjavur (Jayam Publications)	1999	Complete–Verse
		C. B. Acharya			1999
		Satguru Sivaya Subramuniya Swami	Thirukural	New Delhi (Abhinav Publications)	1979	Partial—Verse	Translated only Books I and II	How can he practice true compassion Who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh?
		C. R. Sundar	Book Divine Tirukkural	Chennai (Vignesh Pathippakam)	2001	Complete–Verse
		V. Padmanabhan	Thirukkural with English Explanation	Chennai (Manimekalai Prasuram)	2003	Complete–Prose		How can you consider the person eating the flesh of other creatures to strengthen his own, as merciful?
		O. R. Krishnaswami	The Wisdom of Tirukkural—A Guide to Living	Mumbai (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan)	2004	Partial–Prose	Translated Books I and II only
		M. D. Jayabalan		Cheyyar (Mavanna Publications)	2005	Partial–Verse	Translated only 321 couplets
		David Pratap Singh	Tirukkural	Madurai (Master Pathippakam)	2006	Complete–Verse
		S. Ratnakumar	Tirukkural: A Guide to Effective Living	Singapore (Tamils Representative Council)	2006	Complete–Prose
		V. Murugan	Thirukkural in English	Chennai (Arivu Pathippagam)	2009	Complete–Verse		How will compassion hold him under its reign Who feeds on others' flesh to fatten his own?
		M. Rajaram	Thirukkural: Pearls of Inspiration	New Delhi	2009	Complete—Verse		How could one ever be compassionate If one fattens on animal meat?
		Dr. Singaravelu Sachithanantham	Thirukkural Trilingual	Malaysia (Uma Publications)	2013	Complete—Verse		How would one, who kills the body of another being, and eats the meat of that being in order to enlarge one's own body, become one, who nurtures Arul ('compassion')?
		S. P. Guruparan	Thirukkural: English Translation	Chennai (Mayilavan Padhippagam)	2014	Complete—Verse		(a) If one eats the flesh of another (creature) to fatten his body How can he be a charitable person? (b) To strengthen his body if another body is eaten by one How can he be a compassionate one?!!
		Gopalkrishna Gandhi	Tiruvalluvar—The Tirukkural: A New English Version	New Delhi (Aleph Classics)	2015	Complete—Verse		How can one not see the ugliness of eating meat? How can one made of flesh another's flesh eat?
		R. Venkatachalam	Thirukkural—Translation—Explanation: A Life Skills Coaching Approach	Gurgaon (Partridge Publishing India)	2015	Complete—Verse
		V. K. Parameswaran Pillai	Kural	Madras
8	Fijian	S. L. Berwick	Na. Thirukkurala	Fiji	1964
		Paul Geraghty	Tirukurali Na sere tabu	Fiji	2008	Complete		E rawa vakacava ni yalololoma e dua ni dau kania na lewenimanumanu me ikuri ni lewe ni yogona.
9	Finnish	Pentti Aalto	Kural—The Ancient Tamil Classic	Finland	1972
10	French	Anonymous	Kural de Thiruvalluvar, Selections	Paris	1767	Selections
		Monsieur Ariel	Kural de Thiruvalluvar (Traduits du Tamoul)	Paris	1848	Selections
		M. Lamairesse	Thirukural in French	Pondicherry	1867
		G. Barrigue de Fontaineu	Le Livre de l'amour de Thiruvalluva	Paris	1889
		Alain Daniélou	Thiruvallouvar Kural	Pondicherry	1942
		Gnanou Diagou	Thirukural in French	Pondicherry	1942	Complete—Prose		Comment celui qui mange la chair d’un autre être animé, pour engraisser la sienne, peut-il se laisser gagner par la miséricorde.
		M. Sangeelee	Tiroukkoural	(Editions de L'Ocean Indien)	1988
		François Gros	Le Livre de l'Amour	Paris (Gallimard, Collection UNESCO)	1992
		Rama Valayden		Port Louis, Mauritius	2007
11	German	August Friedrich Caemmerer	Thirukural waith German Translation	Leipzig	1803			Wie kann er zutreffendes Mitleid üben, das das Fleisch eines Tieres ißt, um sein eigenes Fleisch zu mästen?
		Friedrich Rückert	Thirukural, Selections	Berlin	1847	Selections
		Karl Graul	Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen.	London and Leipzig	1856	Complete	Published as the third volume (220 pages) of the four-volume work Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium	Wer, das eigne Fleisch zu mehren, fremdes Fleisch geniesst, — wie wird Der der Huld pflegen?
		Fenz Albrecht and K. Lalithambal	Thirukural von Thiruvalluvar aus dem Tamil	Madurai	1877			Ißt jemand Fleisch von anderen Kreaturen, um sein eigenes Fleisch zu vermehren – wie kann er Gnade erlangen?
		Albert Schweitzer
12	Greek							Πώς μπορεί κάποιος, που τρώει τη σάρκα άλλων για να φουσκώσει τη δική του σάρκα, να δείξει συμπόνοια;
13	Gujarati	Najuklal Choksi	Thirukural		1931
		Kantilal L. Kalani	Thirukural in Gujarati	Bombay	1971	Select	Translated only 852 couplets (from all chapters). Republished in 1985 by Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidhya Nagar.
		P. C. Kokila	Thirukkural in Gujarathi	Chennai (Central Institute of Classical Tamil)	2015	Complete	[23]	સ્વમાંસ પોષણ હેતુ જે અન્ય (પ્રાણી)ના માંસનું કરે ભક્ષણ દયાભાવ કેમ કરી હોય તેના (મન) માં?
14	Hindi	Khenand Rakar	Thirukural, Parts 1 and 2	Ajmer	1924
		Khan Chand Rahit			1926
		Govindaraj Shastri Jain	Kural in Verse, First two parts	New Delhi	1942
		S. Sankar Raju Naidu	Tamil Ved	Madras (University of Madras Press)	1958
		B. D. Jain	Thirukural	Thirupananthal	1961
		M. G. Venkatakrishnan	Thirukural	Trichy	1964	Complete	Revised and enlarged edition published November 1998 by Sakthi Finance Ltd., Madras	माँस-वृद्धि अपनी समझ, जो खाता पर माँस। कैसे दयार्द्रता-सुगुण, रहता उसके पास॥
			Uttar Ved		1967
		Rajan Pillai	Thirukural	Lucknow	1976
		K. Seshadri	Thirukural in Hindi	Lucknow	1982
			Satsai		1982	Selections	Translated 700 couplets
					1989
15	Italian							Come può esercitarsi nella pietà allineare che mangia la carne di un animale per ingrassare la sua propria carne?
16	Japanese	Shuzo Matsunaga	Thirukkural	Osaka	1981 (August)		[24]	彼はいかに彼自身の肉を太らせるために動物の肉を食べる本当の同情を練習してもいいか。
		Takanobu Takahashi	Thirukkural: Sacred Verses of Ancient Tamil	Tokyo (Heibonsha)	1999
17	Kannada	B. M. Srikanthaiah	Kural (Selections in verses)	Bangalore	1940	Selections—Verse
		L. Gundappa	Thirukural Dharma Bhaga (Chapter on Virtue)	Bangalore	1955	Partial	Published a complete translation in 1960 under the title Thirukural (3 parts).
		L. Gundappa	Thirukural (3 parts)	Madras	1960	Complete
		P. S. Srinivas	Thirukural with Original Couplets and Translations in Kannada	Madurai	1982	Complete—Prose		ತನ್ನ ಮೈ ಮಾಂಸವನ್ನು ಬೆಳಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಇತರ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳ ಮೈಮಾಂಸವನ್ನು ತಿನ್ನುವವನು ಹೇಗೆ ತಾನೆ ಕರುಣೆಯಿಂದ ಬಾಳಬಲ್ಲನು?
		K. Jayaraman	Thirukural with Original Couplets and Translations in Kannada	Mysore	2001
		S. Srinivasan	Tirukkural in Kannada	Chennai	2014	Complete—Verse	[25]	ತನ್ನೊಡಲ ಬೆಳೆಸಲು ಉಣಲು ಬೇರೆ ಬಾಡನು ತನ್ನೊಳು ಕರುಣೆ ಬರುವದೆಂತು?
18	Konkani	Narayana Purushothama Mallaya	Thirukkural in Konkani	Kochi (Konkani Bhasha Prachar Sabha)	2002	Complete—Verse	Began translating in 1987. Translation released on 23 June 2002.[26][27]	अन्नदान करचाक तागेले मांस, कोण माम्स भक्षण कर्ता,। कसले करुणायुक्त औदार्य, तसले मनुष्य अनुमान कर्ता?॥
19	Korean							그는 어떻게 그 자신의 살을 살찌기 위하여 동물의 살을 먹는 진실한 연민을 실행해서 좋은가?
			Thirukkural	Chennai	2017	Complete—Prose	Published by the International Institute of Tamil Studies	동물의 고기를 먹어 스스로 살찌우는 사람은 타인에게 결코 친절할 수 없다.
20	Latin	Constanzo Beschi	Thirukural (Books I and II)	London	1730	Partial—Prose		Qui ut sua caro pinguoscat, alienas carnes comedit quinam eum viveutibus lenitatem et clementiam exercere dicetur?
		Karl Graul	Kural of Tiruvalluver. High-Tamil Text with Translation into Common Tamil and Latin, Notes and Glossary	Tranquebar	1865		Published as the fourth volume (348 pages) of the four-volume work Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium	Qui ut suam earnem augeat, alienas carnes comedit, quomodo is benevolentia utetur?
21	Malay	Ramily Bin Thakir	Thirukural (in verses)	Kuala Lumpur	1964
		Hussein Ismail	Thirukural Sastera Kalasik Tamil Yang	Kuala Lumpur	1967
		G. Soosai	Thirukkural dalam bahasa Melayu (Thirukkural Kitab Murni Tamil Nadu)	Kuala Lumpur	1978		Reprinted in 1991	Insan maging menikmati kekejaman Tanpa belasan mengemukakan badan.
		Dr. Singaravelu Sachithanantham	Thirukkural Tribahasa	Malaysia (Uma Publications)	2013	Complete—Verse		Bagaimanakah orang, yang membunuh tubuh makhluk lain, dan makan daging makhluk itu untuk membesarkan badannya sendiri, akan menjadi orang, yang memelihara arul (belas kasihan)?
22	Malayalam	Azhakathu Kurup	Thirukural in Verses	Trivandrum	1875	Verse
		A. Govinda Pillai	Thirukural	Trivandrum	1899		Translation currently unavailable
		P. Damodaran Pillai	Thirukural Manikal	Trivandrum	1951
		Sasthamangalam Ramakrishna Pillai	Ramakrishna Tirukkural		1957		Translation completed 1933 with comprehensive commentary and notes, but published September 1957 with abridged commentary
		Parmeshram				Partial	Translated only Books I and II
		Vennikkulam Gopala Kurup	Thirukural	Kottayam (Writers Co-operative Society)	1957	Partial—Verse	Reprinted in 1960 with translations for Books I and II in verse
		K. Chellan Nadar	Thirukural Tharmanaskantam	Parassala	1962
		Tiruvallam G. Bhaskaran Nair	Bhasha Tirukkural (Dharmakandam)	Trivandrum (Arul Nilayam)	1962	Partial
		G. Balakrishnan Nair	Kural with Commentary, Part I	Trivandrum	1963	Partial
		V. V. Abdulla Sahib	Thirukkural	Erode (Gupta Press)	2002			തൻ ദേഹം നിലനിർത്താനായ് മറുദേഹം ഭുജിപ്പവൻ ജീവകാരുണ്യമുള്ളോനെന്നുരചെയ്യുവതെങ്ങനെ?
		K. G. Chandrasekaran Nair	Thirukkural (sampoornabhashyam)	Thiruvananthapuram (All Kerala Tamizh Federation)	2002	Prose	Published by D. C. Books, Kottayam in 2003
		Shailaja Ravindran	Thirukkural	Kottayam (D. C. Books)	2007
		S. Ramesan Nair	Thirukkural Malayalam Vivarthanam	Trivandrum (Trust Publications)			Translated into old Malayalam
		M. R. R. Variar	Thirukkural	Kozhikode (Poorna Publications)
23	Manipuri	Soibam Rebika Devi	Tirukkural in Manipuri	Chennai (Central Institute of Classical Tamil)	2014	Complete—Prose	[28]	মশাবূ থাক্ননবা অতোপ্ত্রা জীবগী শদোঙ চাবা মীওই অদুগী মথম্মোইদা করন্না মীনুংশি ফাওগদৌরিবানা?
24	Marathi	Sane Guruji	Kavi Tiruvalluvar Kural	Pune (Continental Publishers)	1930	Complete–Prose	First published 1930. Officially published 1948. Third edition in 1960 and fourth edition in 1975.[29][30]	स्वतःची चरबी वाढावी म्हणून दुसन्या प्राण्यांचे जो मांस खातो; त्याला दया कशी बरे कधी वाटेल?
		Narayana Govindarao Peshwe and Ganpath Govindarao Peshwe	(Thirukkural)	Belgaum (Dhananjay Press)	1930	Partial–Prose	Translated only the first 89 chapters. First appeared in Lokamitra journal.[31]
25	Norwegian	Kevin Raja Kowsihaa Gowsegan Gowrithasan Krogh	Thiruvalluvar sin Thirukkural på Norsk	Oslo	2017	Complete—Verse
26	Odia	Chittaranjan Das	Kural (Oriya)	Bhubaneswar (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan)	1978
		Kishrod Dash Ch	Thirukuralu—In Oriya Language	Sambalpur	1985	Verse
		Nityanada Acharya	Tirukkural: Book of Sacred Couplets	Balangir (Agragami Karyalaya)	1992	Partial	Books I and II only
		G. N. Das	Vidyapuri	Cuttack (Bidyapuri)	1994	Complete—Verse
		Biswanath Misra	Tirukkural	Bhubaneswar	1996
27	Punjabi	Ram Murti Sharma	Thirukural Dhamma Granth of the Tamils	Chandigarh	1983
		Tarlochan Singh Bedi	Tirukkural in Punjabi	Chennai (Central Institute of Classical Tamil)	2012	Complete—Verse		ਆਪਣਾ ਮਾਸ ਵਧਾਉਣ ਲਈ ਦੂਸਰੇ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਦਾ ਮਾਸ ਖਾਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਦਇਆ ਭਾਵਨਾ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋ ਸਕਦੀ ਹੈ
28	Polish	Umadevi, Wandy Dynowskiej	Tiruwalluwar: Tiru-Kural	Madras (Biblioteka Polsko-Indyjska)	1958	Partial	141 pages
		Bohdan Gębarski	Tiruwalluwar "Tirukkural" ("Kural"). Święta księga południowych Indii	Wrocław, Poland (Ossolineum)(Europa Publisher)	1977	Complete—Verse	152 pages; published again in 1998.	Pożeraczem żywego nie może być człowiek, Co wyznaje zasady pokoju.
29	Portuguese							Como pode praticar o compassion verdadeiro que come a carne de um animal para fatten sua própria carne?
30	Rajasthani	Kamala Gurg	Thirukural Needhi Sastra	Jaipur	1982
31	Russian	J. J. Glazov and A. Krishnamurthi	Thirukural, a Book on Virtue, Politics and Love	Moscow	1963
		A. Ibragimov	Thirukural in Couplets with Illustrations	Moscow	1974
		V. Furniki	Thirukkural	Moscow	1990			Разве может испытывать чувства сострадания человек, который поедает плоть других живых существ для увеличения своей плоти?
32	Sanskrit	S. N. Sriramadesikan	Thirukural in Sanskrit Slokas	Madras	1961, 1968			पोषणार्थे स्वदेहस्य कृत्वा य: प्राणिहिंसनम्। तन्मांसभक्षणपर: स दयावान् कथं भवेत्॥
33	Santali	Ref. Fr. V. Richard	Torjakmayic Thirukkural—Nerunji Ilakkiya Iyakkam			Partial (Book I)
34	Saurashtra	S. S. Ram	Saurastra Thirukural Payiram—Pitika Pragaranam	Madurai	1980	Complete—Verse	Published posthumously	அபுல்தனு ஹொட்^3வன்அப்லான் ஆஸிது^3ஸ்தன் கா^2த்தெனு கோனக ஸவ்கன் த^3யொ?
35	Sinhalese	Govokgada Misihamy	Thiruvalluvar's Kural	Colombo (Anula Publishers)	1961	Complete		තම සිරුර වඩනුව – අන්සතූ සිරුරු කන්නා කරුණාව සිත තූළ – ඇති කරන්නේ කවර අයුරුද?
		Charles De Silva	Sirigiya (Thirukural in Sinhalese)	Colombo	1964
36	Spanish							Cómo puede él practicar la compasión verdadera que come la carne de un animal para cebar su propia carne?
37	Swedish	Yngve Frykholm	Tirukkural sydindisk levnadsvisdom, statskunskap och kärlekskonst sammanfattad i 1330 epigram av tamilskalden Tiruvalluvar	Uddevalla	1971	Complete—Prose		Hur skall den kunna behärskas av godhet som äter andra varelsers kött för att hans eget kött må stärkas?
38	Telugu	Venkatrama Srividyanandaswami	Trivarga Dipika		1877
		Sakkam Narasimhalu Naidu	Trivargamu		1892
		Venkatram	Nīti Mañcari
		Lakshminarayana Sastri	Kural	Chittoor	1906
		P. Sriramulu Reddi	Trivargamu		1948
		Jagannatha Sastri, Mudiganthi	Thiruvalluva Sookthalu	West Godavari	1952
		Challa Radhakrishna Sarma	Tamila Vedamu		1954
		Jalayya	Nitisudha		1955
		Sonti Sripati Sastry	Sri Padula		1966
		Gurucharan	Tirukkural		1986	Verse		బలియ గోరి తాను బలిజేయు జీవుల నట్టి కెట్టు లమరు తరుణ
		Jayaprakash	Tirukkural in Telugu	Chennai (Central Institute of Classical Tamil)	2014			తన శరీరంలోని కండలు పెంచుకోవడం కోసం వేరొక ప్రాణి శరీరాన్ని ఆహారంగా స్వీకరించేవారు ఏ విధంగా దయా స్వభావులవుతారు?
39	Urdu	Hasarat Surawathi	Kural in Urdu	New Delhi (Sahitya Academy)	1966	Prose
		Muhamad Yusuf Kohan	Kural in Urdu and Arabic	Madras	1976
		Mukhtar Badri	Lafz lafz gohar	Chennai (Nazir Book Depot)	2001	Verse

See also

• Tirukkural translations into English
• List of Tirukkural translations by language
• List of translators

Notes

1. Mukherjee, Sujit (1999). A Dictionary of Indian Literature: One: Beginnings–1850. 1 (1 ed.). Hyderabad: Orient Longman. pp. 392–393. ISBN 81-250-1453-5.
2. George, K. M. (1973). Tirukkural and Malayalam. In: First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers (N. Sanjeevi, ed.) (2nd ed.). University of Madras. pp. 44–49.
3. Mohan Lal (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 978-81-260-1221-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The smile of Murugan on Tamil literature of South India. BRILL. p. 156. ISBN 978-90-04-03591-1.
5. Amaladass, Anand (2007). "Values in Leadership in the Tamil Tradition of Tirukkural Vs. Present-day Leadership Theories" (PDF). International Management Review. 3 (1): 9–16. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
6. Ramasamy, V. (2001). On Translating Tirukkural (First ed.). Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies. pp. 28–47.
7. Ebeling, Sascha (2010). Colonizing the Realm of Words: The Transformation of Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India. Albany, New York: SUNY Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4384-3199-4.
8. Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 257
9. A stone inscription found on the walls of a well at the Periya palayathamman temple at Royapettai indicates Ellis' regard for Thiruvalluvar. It is one of the 27 wells dug on the orders of Ellis in 1818, when Madras suffered a severe drinking water shortage. In the long inscription Ellis praises Thiruvalluvar and uses a couplet from Thirukkural to explain his actions during the drought. When he was in charge of the Madras treasury and mint, he also issued a gold coin bearing Thiruvalluvar's image. The Tamil inscription on his grave makes note of his commentary of Thirukkural.Mahadevan, Iravatham. "The Golden coin depicting Thiruvalluvar −2". Varalaaru.com (in Tamil). Retrieved 25 June 2010.
10. The original inscription in Tamil written in the Asiriyapa meter and first person perspective: (The Kural he quotes is in Italics)
    சயங்கொண்ட தொண்டிய சாணுறு நாடெனும் | ஆழியில் இழைத்த வழகுறு மாமணி | குணகடன் முதலாக குட கடலளவு | நெடுநிலம் தாழ நிமிர்ந்திடு சென்னப் | பட்டணத்து எல்லீசன் என்பவன் யானே | பண்டாரகாரிய பாரம் சுமக்கையில் | புலவர்கள் பெருமான் மயிலையம் பதியான் | தெய்வப் புலமைத் திருவள்ளுவனார் | திருக்குறள் தன்னில் திருவுளம் பற்றிய் | இருபுனலும் வாய்த்த மலையும் வருபுனலும் | வல்லரணும் நாட்டிற் குறுப்பு | என்பதின் பொருளை என்னுள் ஆய்ந்து | ஸ்வஸ்திஸ்ரீ சாலிவாகன சகாப்த வரு | ..றாச் செல்லா நின்ற | இங்கிலிசு வரு 1818ம் ஆண்டில் | பிரபவாதி வருக்கு மேற் செல்லா நின்ற | பஹுதான்ய வரு த்தில் வார திதி | நக்ஷத்திர யோக கரணம் பார்த்து | சுப திநத்தி லிதனோ டிருபத்தேழு | துரவு கண்டு புண்ணியாஹவாசநம் | பண்ணுவித்தேன்.
11. Blackburn, Stuart (2006). Print, folklore, and nationalism in colonial South India. Orient Blackswan. pp. 92–95. ISBN 978-81-7824-149-4.
12. Zvelebil, Kamil (1992). Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature. Brill. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2.
13. Pope, GU (1886). Thirukkural English Translation and Commentary (PDF). W.H. Allen, & Co. p. 160.
14. "Thirukkural translations in different languages of the world".
15. "Thirukkural translations in different languages of the world". Retrieved 13 August 2016.
16. Zvelebil, Kamil (1973). The Smile of Murugan of Tamil Literature of South India. P. 169. ISBN 9004035915. Retrieved 11 December 2010. ... It is almost impossible to truly appreciate the maxims of the Kural through a translation. Tirukkural must be read and re-read in Tamil.
17. The Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature. 1. Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai: Institute of Asian Studies.
18. Zvelebil, K. V. (1975). Tamil Literature. Leiden/Cologne: E. J. Brill. ISBN 9004041907.
19. Ashraf, N. V. K. ""تِروكـُّـرل" و "تِرووَلـّـووَر"". GeoCities. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
20. "تروكرل المثنوي المقدس". الفارابي. دار الفارابي. 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
21. Rajaram, R. (19 June 2014). "Chinese translation of Tirukkural, Bharathi's poems ready". The Hindu. Chennai.
22. Kovaimani and Nagarajan, 2013, p. 518.
23. Press Information Bureau (16 January 2015). "PM releases Gujarati translation of Thirukkural, on 'Thiruvalluvar Day'". New Delhi: Government of India, Prime Minister's Office. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
24. Kannadasan, Akila (24 June 2012). "Friendship that has withstood time". The Hindu. Coimbatore: Kasturi & Sons. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
25. Srinivasan, S. (2014). Tirukkural in Kannada (in Tamil and Kannada). 1 (1 ed.). Chennai: Central Institute of Classical Tamil. pp. i–xxiv, 410 pages. ISBN 978-93-81744-05-5.
26. "'Thirukkural' in Konkani". The Hindu. 24 June 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
27. The Times of India. 15 June 2002 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/Thirukkural-translated-into-Konkani/articleshow/13002899.cms. Retrieved 24 February 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
28. "திருக்குறளை மணிப்பூர் மொழியில் மொழி பெயர்த்து வெளியிட்ட மணிப்பூர் மங்கை ரேபிகா தேவி". Valai Tamil.com (in Tamil). ValaiTamil.com. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
29. Kovaimani and Nagarajan, 2013, pp. 518–520.
30. Sanjeevi, 1973, pp. 50–55.
31. Kovaimani and Nagarajan, 2013, p. 520.

References

• Sanjeevi, N (1973). Marathi Translation of Tirukkural. In: First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers (2nd ed.). Chennai: University of Madras. pp. 50–55.
• M. G. Kovaimani and P. V. Nagarajan (2013). திருக்குறள் ஆய்வுமாலை [Tirukkural Research Papers] (in Tamil) (1 ed.). Tanjavur: Tamil University. ISBN 978-81-7090-435-9.

External links

• Tirukkural in Tamil and English—Valaitamil.com
• G. U. Pope's English Translation of the Tirukkural
• https://www.facebook.com/Tirukkural.in.6.languages/