⭐ Featured Contribution
English Translation · Star Contribution
"Choosing the Best Among English Translations"
by N.V.K. Ashraf · Published 2006, revised 2024
The English translation shown on every kural page of this site was not written by a single person —
it is the result of an extraordinary scholarly endeavour by N.V.K. Ashraf, who spent years
comparing more than 25 different English translations of Tirukkural to hand-pick
the finest rendering of each of the 1,330 couplets.
Ashraf's criteria: faithfulness to the original Tamil, brevity, clarity, and preservation of
Valluvar's characteristic wordplay. Where no existing translation was satisfactory, he wrote his own.
Where two translations each captured one half of a couplet brilliantly, he combined them.
Every couplet credits the original translator by their initials.
25+ translations compared
1,330 couplets curated
18 years of refinement
2024 last revised
📐 Ashraf's Method — How the "Best" Was Chosen
Starting with P.S. Sundaram (Penguin, 1990) as the benchmark — widely considered the closest to Valluvar's spirit — Ashraf challenged every couplet against 16+ other translators. His selection criteria:
- Brevity and terseness (matching Valluvar's compressed style)
- Faithfulness — every word in the original should appear in translation
- Preservation of wordplay, repetition and pun where possible
- Clarity for a modern English reader
Result: 33% from Sundaram, ~15% Ashraf's own translations, the rest drawn from 15+ other scholars — each couplet credited with the original author's initials.
📖 Read the Full Methodology Article
📚 Browse All 1,330 Translations
✍️ Translators Credited in the English Translations
Each English translation on this site credits its original translator by initials. Here is the full key — these are the scholars whose life's work appears on these pages.
PS
P.S. Sundaram
Penguin Books, 1990
The benchmark translation — considered closest to Valluvar's spirit, brevity and wordplay. Forms ~33% of the curated selection.
~33% of selections
NV
N.V.K. Ashraf (Curator)
2006–2024
Where no existing translation was satisfactory, Ashraf composed his own. Also edited and combined translations throughout.
~15% original + edits
SS
Satguru Subramuniyaswami
Himalayan Academy, 2000
Weaver's Wisdom. A spiritually attuned translation widely praised for its reverence.
SB
Shuddhananda Bharatiar
SISSWP Society, 1968
Best of the rhyming verse translators — 30 of the 43 verse selections in the final compilation came from him.
CR
C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji)
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1965
Kural: The Great Book of Tiru-Valluvar. Influenced Sundaram; a beloved prose translation by India's first Governor-General.
GU
Rev. G.U. Pope
W.H. Allen & Co., 1886
The Sacred Kural. A landmark Victorian-era scholarly translation. Verbose but historically significant.
VS
V.V.S. Aiyar
Amudha Nilayam, 1915
Kural: Maxims of Tiruvalluvar. Biblical prose style, public domain.
DZ
S.M. Diaz
Ramanandha Adigalar Foundation, 2000
A comprehensive modern translation that drew on multiple predecessors.
DL
W.H. Drew & J. Lazarus
Teachers Publishing House, 1956
Tirukkuṟaḷ. A collaborative scholarly translation reprinted multiple times.
KV
K. Krishnaswamy & Vijaya Ramkumar
Vidyavriksha (online)
An internet-era translation that made Kural accessible to a new generation.
KK
K. Kannan
Pappa Publications, 2003
Tirukkural expressed in English. Known for capturing Valluvar's terseness.
JN
J. Narayanaswamy
Published by author, 1999
Thiruk Kural. A personal labour of love by an independent scholar.
Other translators credited: EL (F.W. Ellis, 1812), MS (M.S. Poornalingam Pillai), KS (Kasthuri Sreenivasan), GV (G. Vanmikanathan), SI (K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar), NC (Norman Cutler), SM (S. Maharajan), KN (K.N. Subramanyam), TK (T.K. Chidambaranatha Mudaliar), VC (V.C. Kulandai Swamy), SD (S.D. Rajendran), VR (V. Ramasamy), SG (G. Siromoney et al.)
📜 Tamil Commentators
The three Tamil commentaries shown on each kural page are by these respected modern scholars.
🏛️
மு. வரதராசனார் (Mu. Varadarasanar)
A classical Tamil scholar whose commentary is considered among the most authoritative modern interpretations. His rigorous philological approach grounds the meaning of each kural in its original linguistic and cultural context.
✝️
சாலமன் பாப்பையா (Solomon Pappaiah)
A beloved Tamil scholar and pastor who brought Tirukkural to popular audiences through television and public discourse. His commentary is celebrated for its accessibility and contemporary relevance.
🏛️
கலைஞர் மு. கருணாநிதி (Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi)
Five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and a towering figure in Tamil literature and politics. His Tirukkural commentary reflects a modern, rationalist and humanist perspective, beloved by millions.
🗄️ Data Sources
📦
Tirukkuṟaḷ JSON Dataset
The kural text, transliterations and Tamil commentaries are sourced from an open community dataset. The data includes all 1,330 kurals with Tamil text, transliteration, and three scholar commentaries.
→ View on GitHub
🌐
Navigation Translations (14 Languages)
UI navigation, chapter names and section titles are translated into 14 languages: Tamil, English, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Japanese.
💻 About This Site
🧑💻
Built by Gowdhaman Karthikeyan
This site was built as a free, ad-free resource to make Tirukkural accessible to a global audience. It is not affiliated with any organisation or institution. All content belongs to its respective authors and is presented here for educational and cultural purposes.
🤖
AI Assistance by Claude (Anthropic)
The scraping, data processing, multilingual translation keys, and front-end development for this site were built with the assistance of Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, which helped turn ideas into working code.
→ claude.ai
Found an error? Know a better translation?
This is a living project. If you spot a mistake in a translation, know a better rendering of a kural, or want to contribute a new language — we'd love to hear from you.
🐛 Report on GitHub
📖 Read Ashraf's Methodology