Thirukkural in Telugu (తెలుగు)

     With the first translation in 1887, Telugu is said to have the unique distinction of being the first Indian language to have a translation of the Kural. However, an unpublished manuscript of a Malayalam translation done in 1595 A.D. is reported in the Annual Report of the Cochin Archeological Department for the year 1933-34.

     Telugu has seen a series of translations since the beginning of the 19^th century. The Kural was first translated into Telugu in 1877 as “Trivarga Dipika” and shortly later in 1892 as “Trivargamu”. At least 14 translations are known to me, the last one appearing in 2000. There must have been one or two more translations after this, but information is not available to me. The translation presented here is that of Gurucharan published in 1986. This translation is in verse. I am looking forward to someone who can help me in typing this in Telugu Unicode.

Click here for the first seven chapters in Telugu

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An introduction to the translations of Tirukkural (in English)

An introduction to the Kural and its author (in English)