Tirukkuṛaḷ - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tirukkuṛaḷ sometimes spelt 'Thirukkural, is a classic of couplets or Kural

Kural

The Kural is one of the most important forms of classical Tamil poetry. It is a very short poetic form, exactly in 2 lines, the first line consisting of 4 words and the second line consisting of 3. It should also conform to the grammar for Venpa...

s (1330 rhyming Tamil couplet

Couplet

A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...

s) or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, a poet who is said to have lived anytime between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD. Although the exact period of its composition is still disputed, scholars agree that it was produced in the late Tamil Sangam period. The Thirukkural expounds on various aspects of life and is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text is known: Tamil marai (Tamil Vedas

Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....

); poyyamozhi (words that never fail); and Daiva
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...

nool (divine text). The book is considered to precede Manimekalai

Manimekalai

Manimekalai or Maṇimekalai , written by the Tamil Buddhist poet Seethalai Saathanar is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature. It is considered to be one of the five great epics of Tamil literature. Manimekalai is a poem in 30 cantos...

and Silapathikaram since they both acknowledge the Kural text.

Thirukkural (or the Kural

Kural

) is a collection of 1330 Tamil couplets organised into 133 chapters. Each chapter has a specific subject ranging from "ploughing a piece of land" to "ruling a country". According to the LIFCO Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary, the Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

word Kural literally means "short verse", and is typified by the Venpa

Venpa

Venpa is a form of classical Tamil poetry. Classical Tamil poetry has been classified based upon the rules of metric prosody. Such rules form a context-free grammar. Every Venpa consists of between two to twelve lines....

metre that consists of two lines. In the aspect of metre & brevity, and the profoundity of expression,Thirukkural comes under one of the four categories of Venpa

Venpa

s (Tamil verses) called Kural Venpa

Kural

. The 1330 couplets are arranged into 3 main sections and 133 chapters. Each chapter contains 10 couplets. A couplet consists of seven cirs, with four cirs on the first line and three on the second. A cir is a single or a combination of more than one Tamil word. For example, Thirukkural is a cir formed by combining the two words Thiru and Kural, i.e. Thiru + Kural = Thirukkural. It has been translated to various other languages.

There are claims and counter claims as to the authorship of the book and to the exact number of couplets written by Thiruvalluvar. The first instance of the author's name mentioned as Thiruvalluvar is found to be several centuries later in a song of praise called Garland of Thiruvalluvar in Thiruvalluva Malai.

Most of the Researchers and great Tamil

Tamil people

Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

Scholars like George Uglow Pope

George Uglow Pope

George Uglow Pope popularly known as Rev. G.U. Pope or G.U. Pope was a Christian missionary who spent many years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English. His popular translations include Tirukkural and Tiruvachagam. His efforts were recognized by the Royal Asiatic Society in the...

or G.U. Pope who had spent many years in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

and translated many Tamil texts into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, which includes Thirukkural.

Other names

Thirukural is praised with many names such as:

Uttravedam - the ultimate Veda or Creed
Poyyamozhi - falseless word
Vayurai vazhthu - truthful praise
Teyvanul - the divine book
Pothumarai - the common Veda or Creed
Muppal - three fold path
Tamil marai - Tamil Veda

Sections

Thirukkural is structured into 133 chapters, each containing 10 couplets, thus a total of 1330 couplets. The 133 chapters are grouped into three sections:

Aram - righteousness
Porul - wealth and
Inbam or Kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...

m - pleasure

Aram containes 380 verses, Porul with 700 and Inbam with 250. While Aram and Inbam discuss about ethical living in private life, Porul deals with public affairs.

Legend

Upon completion, Thiruvalluvar took the work (Thirukkural) to Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India) as per the prevailing practice of reading out new compositions in a public forum where critics and scholars would be present. The conceited scholars at Madurai, insisted on measuring the greatness of the work through a test where the manuscript would be placed with other works on a plank kept afloat in the tank of the Meenakshi temple and it was to be seen if the plank remained afloat. The significance of this is that the greatness of a work is realized on the basis of not the weight of its manuscript (written on Palm leaves) but the divine qualities of the work which forced the plank to stay afloat. It is said that to the amazement of the critics, the Sangam Plank shrunk itself in size to hold only the Kural manuscript and in the process throwing out the rest.

1330 Thirukkurals

For complete list of Thirukkural, see 1330 Thirukkurals at Wikisource

Translations

The Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

translation of Thirukkural made by Constanzo Beschi

Constanzo Beschi

Constanzo Beschi, also known under his Tamil name of Vīramāmunivar or Constantine Joseph Beschi was an Italian Jesuit priest, Missionary in South India, and renowned poet in the Tamil language.-Early years and formation:Born in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantova, Italy, a place very close to...

in 1730 did much to make known to European intellectuals the richness and beauty of Oriental Tamil literature

Tamil literature

Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...

. One of the earliest commentaries on the Thirukkural was by Parimelazhagar

Parimelazhagar

Parimelazhagar was a Tamil poet and commentarian who was known for his commentary on the Thirukkural.- Biography :Simon Casie Chetty in his Tamil Plutarch mentions Parimelazhagar as a tamil poet who was renowned mainly because of his commentary on the Thirukkural...

, belonging to the 12th century. His commentary (Urai) give us an idea of the amount of information contained in each and every kural. A lot of software are available these days for installing Kurals in desktops. The software based Kural (poem) changes each day and you get the kural and its explanation in both English and Tamil.
An English Translation of Tirukural by GU Pope brought the Tirukkural to the western world in 1886. This work is widely revered and accepted in many parts of the world. Pope's translation can be viewed from the website http://pm.tamil.net/pub/pm0153/trkrlpop.html?q=projectmadurai/pub/pm0153/trkrlpop.html

The following is a list of translations/commentaries of the Tamil literary classic THIRUKURAL - taken out from the Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, vol. 1, Inst. of Asian Studies, Thiruvanmayur, Tamil Nadu, India.

Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

Nalini Mohan, Sanyal, thirukural, Calcutta, 1939
Sastri, E.C., thirukural, Calcutta, 1974
Nalini Mohan, Sanyal, thirukural, Calcutta, 1939
Sastri, E.C., thirukural, Calcutta, 1974
Krishnamoorthy, S. Calcutta, 2001

Burmese
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...

Myo Thant, U, thirukkural, Rangoon

Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

Cheng Xi 程曦, Gula Zhenyan 古臘箴言, Hong Kong: Xianggang daxue chubanshe 香港大學出版社, 1967.

Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

Zvelebil, Kamil V, Thirukural (selections), Prague, 1952–1954

Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

Kat, D, Thirukural (selections), Netherlands, 1964

English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

V.V.S, Kural_: Maxims of thiruvalluvar, 4th ed, Madras, 1961
Balasubramanian, K.M, Thirukural of thiruvalluvar, Madras, 1962
Chakravarthi, A, thirukural in English with commentary, Madras, 1953
Drew, H.W., The kural of thiruvalluvar with commentary of Parimelazhakar, Madras, 1840
Drew, H.W. and Lazarus, J., Thirukural (in verses), Reprint, Madras, 1956
Ellis, F.W., thirukural on virtue (in verse) with commentary, 1812, reprint Madras 1955
Gajapathy Nayagar, A, The rosary of gems of thirukkural, Madras, 1969
Kasturi Srinivasan, Thirukural: an ancient Tamil classic (in couplets), Bombay, 1969
Mathavaiyah, A, Kural in English with commentary in Tamil, Madras, 1925
Michael, S.M., The sacred aphorisms of thiruvalluvar (in verse), Nagarcoil, 1928
Muthuswamy, P, Thirukural in English, Madurai, 1965
Parameswaran Aiyar, T.V., 108 gems from the sacred Kural, Kottayam, 1928
Parameswaran Pillai, V.K., kural, Madras
Pope, G.U, A collection of the English translation of thirukural, Madras, 1959
Popely, H.A., The sacred Kural (selections in verses), Calcutta, 1951
Raja, P, thirukural (in verses), Kumbakonam, 1950
Rajagopalachari, C, kural, the great book of thiruvalluvar, Madras, 1937, 3rd ed, 1973
Ramachandra Dikshithar, V.R., thirukural in English with roman translation, Madras, 1949
Ranganatha Muthaliar, A: thirukural moolamum uraiyum with English translation, Madras, 1933
Thangaswami, T.D, thirukural (selections in verse), Madras, 1954
Thirunavukarasu, Mrs, T., Kural a selection of 366 verses (a gem for each day), Poona, 1916
Vadivel chettiar, K, kural in English with Tamil text and parimelazhakar commentary,(3parts), Madurai, 1972–1980
Vanmikinathan, G, the thirukural - a unique guide to moral, material and spiritual prosperity, trichy, 1969
Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi: Thirukural with English couplets, Madrs, 1968
Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi, thirukural couplets with clear prose rendering, Madras, 1970

Fijian
Fijian language
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 450,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language...

Berwick, S.L, Na. Thirukkurala, Fiji, 1964
Geraghty, Paul. Tirukurali, Fiji, 2008

Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

Aalto, Pentit, Kural - the ancient Tamil classic, Finland, 1972

French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

Ariel, M, kural de thiruvalluvar (traduits du tamoul), Paris, 1848
Barrigue de, Fontaineu, G, le livre de l'amour de thiruvalluva, Paris, 1889
Danielou, Alain, thiruvallouvar kural, Pondicherry, 1942
Jacolliot, Louis, kural de thiruvalluvar, selections, Paris, 1767
Lamairesse, M, thirukural in French, Pondicherry, 1867
Gros, François, Le Livre de l'Amour, Gallimard, Collection UNESCO, Paris, 1992
Sangeelee, M, Tiroukkoural, Editions de L'Ocean Indien, 1988

German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

Albrecht, Fenz and K. Lalithambal: thirukural von thiruvalluvar aus dem Tamil, Madurai, 1977
Cammera, A.F, thirukural waith German translation, Leipzig, 1803
Graul, Karl, der kural des thiruvalluvar, London, 1854
Graul, Karl, der tamu lische gnomes dichtar thiruvalluvar, Leipzig, 1865
Rickert, Friederich, thirukural, selections, Berlin, 1847
William and Norgate, Der kural des thiruvalluvar, 2nd ed, London, 1866

Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

Kalani, Kantilal L., thirukural in Gujarati, Bombay, 1971 (Gujarti - Philosopher - Writer in Gujarati Literature - [1930-1998]. Kantilal has won many prices for his books and has written more than 60 books. One of his Co-profound translation is “VISHNU SAHSTRNAM”.

Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

Sankar Raju Naidu, S, thirukural in Hindi, Madras, 1958
Seshadri, K, thirukural in Hindi, Lucknow, 1982
Govindaraj Jain, Kural in verse, first two parts, New delhi, 1942
Jain, B.D, thirukural, thirupananthal, 1961
Khenand Rakar, thirukural, parts 1 and 2, Ajmer, 1924
Rajan Pillai, thirukural, Lucknow, 1976
Venkatakrishnan, M.G, thirukural, Trichy, 1964

Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

Shuzo Matsunaga, Thirukkural, Osaka, Japan, August 1981

Kannada

Gundappa, L, thirukural (3 parts), Madras, 1960
Gundappa, L, thirukural dharma bhaga, Bangalore, 1955
Srinivas, P.S, thirukural with original couplets and translations in Kannada, Madurai, 1982
Srikanthaiah, B.M, Kural (selections in verses), bangalore, 1940

Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

Graul, Charles, Kural of thiruvalluvar, Tranquebar, 1866
Veeramamunivar, thirukural (Books I and II), London, 1930

Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

Dr.G.Soosai Ph.D,J.P.,P.P.N,P.K.T.,Thirukkural Kitab Murni Tamil Nadu.,Kuala Lumpur,1978 & 1991
Ismail, Hussein: thirukural sastera kalasik Tamil yang, Kuala Lumpur, 1967
Ramily Bin Thakir thirukural (in verses), Kuala Lumpur, 1964

Malayalam

Azhakathu Kurup, thirukural in verses, Trivandrum, 1875
Balakrishna Nair, G, Kural waith commentary, Part I, Trivandrum, 1963
Chellan Nadar, K, thirukural tharmanaskantam, Parassala, 1962
Damodaran Pillai,P, thirukural manikal, Trivandrum, 1951
Gopalakurup, Vennikulam, thirukural (first 2 parts in verse), Kottayam, 1960
Govinda Pillai, A, thirukural, Trivandrum
Thirukkural Malayalam Vivarthanam Published by DC Books Kottayam Written By S. Ramesan Nair

Oriya
Oriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

Kishrod, Dash Ch, thirukuralu-in oriya language, Sampalbur, 1985

Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

Ram Murti Sharma, thirukural dhamma granth of the tamils, Chandigarh, 1983

Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

Umadevi, Wandy Dynowskiev, thiruvalluvar kural, Madras, 1958

Rajasthani
Rajasthani language
Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...

Kamala Gurg, thirukural needhi sastra, Jaipur, 1982

Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

Glazov, J.J and Krishnamurthi, A, thirukural, a book on virtu, politics and love, Moscow, 1963
Ibragimov, A., Thirukural in couplets with illustrations, Moscow, 1974

Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

Srirama Desikan, S.N, thirukural in Sanskrit slokas, Madras, 1961, 1968

Saurashtra
Saurashtra
Saurashtra is a region of western India, located on the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat state. It is a peninsula also called Kathiawar after the Kathi Darbar who ruled part of the region once. The Peninsula is shared with the Kachchh region which occupies the north, Saurashtra or Sorath forming the...

Ram, S.S, Saurastra thirukural payiram - pitika pragaranam, Madurai, 1980

Sinhala

De Silva, Charles, Sirigiya (thirukural in sinhalese), Colombo, 1964
Sissigamy Govokgada, M, thirukural, Colombo, 1961

Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

Frykholm Ingya, thirukural, Uddavalla, 1971

Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

Jagannatha Sastri, Mudiganthi, thiruvalluva sookthulu, West Godavari, 1952
Lakshminarayana Sastri, Kural, chittoor, 1906

Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

Kohan, Muhamad Yusuf, Kural in Urdu and Arabic, Madras, 1976
Surawathi Hasarat, Kural in Urdu, New Delhi, 1966

FAMOUS QUOTES OF KURAL (English Translation)

• Something may not be achievable even by God or through God's help. But the effort exerted to attain that non-achievable will yield its deserving result!
"Deivathal aagatheninum muyarchi than
meivarutha kooli tharum"

• Though the world goes round with many activities, it is dependent on agriculture. Hence, though laborious, farming is the foremost activity.

• As water changes its nature, from the nature of the soil in which it flows, so will the character of men resemble that of their associates.

• Friendship is not just a smile on the face; It is what is felt deep within a smiling heart.

• The stalks of water-flowers are proportionate to the depth of water; so is men's greatness proportionate to their minds (Knowledge).

• Avoid an act which you may repent later; If done by mistake, better not to repeat it.

• Whatever is thought to be done will be achieved as planned, if the planners possess firmness in execution.

• Excessive or deficient food or activity causes disorders in mobility, breathing and digestion.

• Agriculturists are the linchpin of the mankind since they support all others who cannot till the soil.

• The learned teacher makes you enjoy learning; On leaving, makes you to keep thinking of his teaching.

• Think and then undertake the work; to think after commencement will bring disgrace.

• Determined efforts result in prosperity; Idleness will bring nothing.

• Defer not virtue to another day; receive her now; and at the dying hour she will be your undying friend.

• Water will flow from a water well in proportion to the depth to which it is dug, and knowledge will flow from a man in proportion to his learning.

• That which God gives, nobody can ban. That which God bans, nobody can give.

External links

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