by Meenan Vishnu
The Thirukkural (Tamil: திருக்குறள், "sacred couplets") is one of the oldest and most revered texts in the Tamil literary tradition. Composed by the poet Tiruvalluvar, likely between the 1st century BCE and the 5th century CE, it consists of 1,330 couplets organized into 133 chapters of ten couplets each. The text covers three major domains of human life — virtue (aram), wealth (porul), and love (inbam) — and has been translated into over 70 languages. It holds a singular position in Tamil cultural life comparable to the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit or the Dao De Jing in Chinese.
This translation was posted to soc.religion.eastern on 14 June 1991 by Meenan Vishnu, a scholar at the University of Waterloo. Working in the style of Winthrop Sargeant's word-by-word translation of the Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu provides full Tamil grammatical glosses for each couplet before giving the English rendering — a method that makes the translation transparent and verifiable, and gives the reader direct access to the language's structure and beauty.
The seven couplets span the themes that run through the Kural's Book of Virtue and Book of Wealth: non-violence, composure in hardship, the relationship between effort and fate, the power of knowledge rightly held, and the primacy of mental strength. Kural 595 — the seventh couplet — is explicitly identified by Vishnu. The others are given in the order posted without chapter attribution.
On Non-Violence
kollaan pulaalai maRuththaanaik kaikoopi
ellaa uYirum thozum
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| kol + aa + aan | kill + not + [third person singular male] |
| pulaal + ai | flesh + [object suffix] |
| maRu + th + aan + ai | refuse + [particle] + [third person singular male] + [object suffix] |
| kai + koopi | hand + raised together |
| ella | all |
| uYir + um | lives + verily |
| thozum | salute (third person plural future; infinitive thozu) |
Verily all lives will salute with raised hands the one who is both a non-killer and a non-flesh-eater.
On Equanimity
idukkaN varunkaal nakuka athanai
aduththoorvathu ahthoppathu il
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| idukkaN | mishap, misfortune |
| va + um + kaal | come + [future] + [in the event of] |
| nakuka | laugh (imperative) |
| athu + an + ai | that + [possessive] + [object suffix] |
| aduththu | next, following, consequent |
| oorvathu | that which creeps (infinitive oor, to creep) |
| ahthu + oppathu | that + compare |
| il | not |
Laugh when mishap comes.
That which follows does not compare to this.
(There is no better way to overcome it.)
On Effort and Fate
theYvaththaan aahaathu eninum muYaRcithan
meivaruththak kooli tharum
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| theYvam + aal | god, fate + by |
| aahaathu + en + um | accomplishment impossible + though + even |
| muYaRci + than | effort + own |
| mei | body |
| varuththa | cause pain (incomplete verb) |
| kooli | payment, result, reward |
| tharum | give (third person singular future; infinitive thaa) |
Even though, according to fate, accomplishment is impossible —
as hard effort pains one's body, favourable results will be produced.
(Fate = accumulated effects of past actions.)
On Effort and Poverty
muYaRci thiruvinai aakkum muYaRRinmai
inmai puhuththi vidum
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| muYaRci | effort |
| thiru + vinai | wealth + work |
| aakkum | make, produce (third person singular future; infinitive aakku) |
| muYaRci + inmai | effort + void |
| inmai | void |
| puhuththi | put, insert, introduce (incomplete verb) |
| vidum | leave (third person singular future; infinitive vidu) |
Effort produces wealth.
Indeed, lack of effort introduces poverty.
On Decisive Action
eNNith thuNika karumam thuNinthapin
eNNuvam enpathu izukku
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| eNNi | think, evaluate (incomplete verb; infinitive eN) |
| thuNika | dare, start, take decisive action (imperative; infinitive thuNi) |
| karumam | work, job, project, action |
| thuNintha + pin | having dared, having started + after |
| eNNuvam | think (first person plural future; infinitive eN) |
| enpathu | thus (?) |
| izukku | bad, fatal, low, disgraceful |
Think fully before making a decisive action.
To think of means and ways during the course of action can be fatal.
On Learning
kaRka kacadaRak kaRpavai kaRRapin
niRka athaRkuth thaka
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| kaRka | learn (imperative; infinitive kal) |
| kacadaRa | kacadu (flaw, dirt, impurity, illogicity) + aRa (removed, cut; infinitive aRu) |
| kaRpavai | those which are worth learning |
| kaRRa + pin | having learned + after |
| niRka | stand by, abide, uphold |
| athu + an + ku | that + [possessive] + [to suffix] |
| thaka | accordingly, in accordance with |
LEARN flawlessly those which are worth learning.
Having learned, ABIDE by it.
On Mental Strength (Kural 595)
veLLath thanaiYa malarneeddam maanthartham
uLLath thanaiYathu uYarvu
| Tamil | Analysis |
|---|---|
| veLLam | water, flood, pond |
| thanaiYa | accordingly, determined by |
| malar + needdam | (lotus) flower + elongation, height |
| maanthar + tham | human, people, person + own |
| uLLam | mind |
| thanaiYa + athu | accordingly + that |
| uYarvu | height, merit, exaltation |
The height of the lotus plant is determined by the depth of the water.
So is one's merit determined by one's mental strength.
Colophon
Translated from Tamil by Meenan Vishnu ([email protected]), University of Waterloo. Posted to soc.religion.eastern on 14 June 1991. The translator followed the word-for-word glossing method of Winthrop Sargeant's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Kural 595 is identified explicitly; other couplet numbers are not given in the original post. Original Message-ID: [email protected].
Preserved from the UTZOO Usenet mirror (shiftleft.com) for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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