page_title: Tirukkuṛaḷ
section_title: Publication
hierarchical_section_title: Tirukkuṛaḷ / Publication
caption_attribution_description: English: First page of Thirukkural published in Tamil in 1812. This is the first known edition of Thirukkural
context_page_description: The Tirukkural, or shortly the Kural, is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets of seven words each, or Kurals. The text is divided into three books, each with aphoristic teachings on virtue, wealth and love. Considered one of the greatest works on ethics and morality, it is known for its universality and secular nature. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar. The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE. The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450 to 500 CE and that it was composed after the Sangam period.
  The Kural is traditionally praised with epithets and alternate titles such as "the Tamil Veda" and "the divine book." It emphasizes non-violence and moral vegetarianism as virtues for an individual.
context_section_description: The Thirukkural remained largely unknown outside India for over a millennium. In addition to palm-leaf manuscripts, it had been passed on as word of mouth from parents to their children and from preceptors to their students for generations within the Tamil-speaking regions of South India. According to Sanjeevi, the first translation of the work appeared in Malayalam (Kerala) in 1595. The first paper print of Tirukkural is traceable to 1812, credited to the efforts of Ñānapirakācar who used wooden blocks embossed from palm-leaf scripts to produce copies of the Kurral along with those of Nalatiyar. It was only in 1835 that Indians were permitted to establish printing press. The Kural was the first book to be published in Tamil, followed by the Naladiyar. Subsequent editions of the work appeared in 1831, 1833, 1838, 1840, and 1842. The work has been continuously in print ever since. By 1925, the Kural literature has already appeared in more than 65 editions and by the turn of the 21st century, it has crossed 500 editions.
  The first critical edition of the Tirukkaral based on manuscripts discovered in Hindu monasteries and private collections was published in 1861 by Arumuka Navalar – the Jaffna born Tamil scholar and Shaivism activist. Navalar, states Zvelebil, was "probably the greatest and most influential among the forerunners" in studying numerous versions and bringing out an edited split-sandhi version for the scholarship of the Kurral and many other historic Tamil texts in the 19th-century.
  Parimelalhagar's commentary on the Thirukkural was published for the first time in 1840 and became the most widely published commentary ever since. In 1850, the Kural was published with commentaries by Vedagiri Mudaliar, who published a revised version later in 1853. In 1917, Manakkudavar's commentary for the first book of the Kural text was published by V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. Manakkudavar commentary for the entire Kural text was first published in 1925 by K. Ponnusami Nadar. As of 2013, Perimelalhagar's commentary appeared in more than 200 editions by as many as 30 publishers.
  Since the 1970s, the Kural text has been transliterated into ancient Tamil scripts such as the Tamil-Brahmi script, Pallava script, Vatteluttu script and others by Gift Siromoney of the International Institute of Tamil Studies (IITS, Madras Christian College).
caption: First known edition of the Kural, published in Tamil, in 1812.
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