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{{Translation sidebar}}Among the European languages, [[German language|German]] has the third highest number of translations of the [[Tirukkural]], after [[English language|English]] and [[French language|French]]. As of 2015, there were at least eight translations of the Kural text available in German.
[[File:Karl Graul (IZ 43-1864 S 424 E G).jpg|right|upright=0.60|thumb|[[Karl Graul]]]]

==History==
[[File:Friedrich Rückert.jpg|thumb|upright=0.60|right|[[Friedrich Rückert]]]]
The first translations of the Kural text into German were made by [[August Friedrich Caemmerer]] in 1803 and by [[Friedrich Rückert]] in 1847.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sanjeevi
| first = N.
| title = ''Bibliography on Tirukkural''. ''In'' First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers
| publisher = University of Madras
| date = 1973
| location = Chennai
| pages = 146–147
}}</ref><ref name="Polilan2019">{{cite book |editor1= Polilan|editor2=K. Gunathogai|editor3=Lena Kumar|editor4=Tagadur Sampath|editor5=Mutthamizh|editor6=G. Picchai Vallinayagam|editor7=D. Anbunidhi|editor8=K. V. Neduncheraladhan|title=Tiruvalluvar 2050 |url= |year=2019 |edition=1|publisher=Periyar Enthusiasts Group |location=Chennai|access-date= |language=Tamil|isbn= |page=685}}</ref> However, these remained incomplete. Caemmerer translated only the first two books, viz. the [[Aram (Kural book)|Book of Virtue]] and the [[Porul (Kural book)|Book of Wealth]].<ref>{{cite book
| last = Ebeling
| first = Sascha
| title = Colonizing the Realm of Words: The Transformation of Tamil Literature in Nineteenth-Century South India
| publisher = SUNY Press
| date = 2010
| location = Albany, New York
| pages = 24
| language = en
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_O1X_y_X-98C&dq=August+Friedrich+Caemmerer&pg=PA24
| isbn = 978-1-4384-3199-4
}}</ref> The first well-known complete German translation was made by [[Karl Graul]] in 1856.<ref name="Polilan2019"/> It is said that when a Kural couplet was explained in English to Graul,{{refn|group=n|According to S. Maharajan, it was couplet 1091 from the Third Book of the Kural that was explained to Graul:<br>"Two are the looks<br>the in-drinking eyes of this maid have—<br>the one that makes you ill<br>and the other that cures you."<ref name="Maharajan2017"/>{{Rp|p=19}}}} he was so much taken up with it and started learning the Tamil language in order to study the Kural in the original.<ref name="Maharajan2017">{{cite book |author=S. Maharajan|title=Tiruvalluvar|url= |series=Makers of Indian Literature| year=2017|edition=2nd|publisher= Sahitya Akademi |location=New Delhi|language= |isbn= 978-8126053216|ref={{sfnRef|Maharajan, 2017}} }}</ref>{{Rp|p=19}} Graul published his translation in 220 pages under the title ''Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen'' as the third volume of the four-volume work ''Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium.'' Graul's translation is considered a scholarly one by various scholars including [[Kamil Zvelebil]], who in 1962 praised the translation thus: "As far as I know, the two best translations of Tirukkural had been till this day, Graul’s old German version … and V. V. S. Iyer’s (translation in English)."<ref>{{cite book
| last =Zvelebil
| first = K.
| title = Forward. Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar. Translated by K. M. Balasubramaniam
| publisher = Manali Lakshmana Mudaliar Specific Endowments
| date = 1962
| location = Madras
| pages = 327
}}</ref> Speaking about the Kural in his introduction, Graul said, "No translation can convey any idea of its charming effect. It is truly an apple of gold in a network of silver."<ref name="Maharajan2017"/>{{Rp|p=19}}<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sanjeevi
| first = N.
| title = Tributes to Tirukkural. A compilation
| publisher = University of Madras
| series = First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers
| date = 1973
| pages = 124
}}</ref> The nineteenth century witnessed one more translation by Albrecht Frenz and K. Lalithambal in 1877 (titled ''Thirukural von Thiruvalluvar aus dem Tamil'').<ref name="GeoCities_German">{{cite web
| url = http://www.geocities.ws/nvkashraf/kur-trans/Ger-Int.htm
| title = Tirukkural
| last = Ashraf
| first = N. V. K.
| orig-year = October 2005| date = March 2007
| website = GeoCities
| access-date = 16 April 2017
}}</ref> It was published in [[Madurai]].<ref name="ValaiTamilPub">{{cite book|last1=Parthasarathy|first1=Sa.|last2=Ashraf|first2=N.V.K.|last3=Rajendiran|first3=C.|last4=Thangavelu|first4=Elangovan|last5=Duraisamy|first5=Senthilselvan|last6=Selvan|first6=Ajey Kumar|title=Thirukkural Translations in World Languages|year=2023|url=https://www.eStore.ValaiTamil.com |publisher=ValaiTamil Publications|location= Chennai}}</ref>{{Rp|p=76}}

==Comparison of translations==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!style="text-align:center; width:25%;" rowspan="2"|Translation
!colspan="2"|Kapitel 26, Vermeide das Essen von Fleisch
|-
!''Kural'' 254 (Couplet 26:4)
!''Kural'' 258 (Couplet 26:8)
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|''Karl Graul, 1856''||Was ist Huld und ihr Gegentheil? Tödten und Nichttödten. Unrecht ist’s auch jenes Fleisch zu essen. ||Die Weisen, die der Leidenschaft den Rücken kehrten, essen nicht den Leib, der dem Leben den Rücken kehrte.
|-
| style="text-align:center;"|''Albrecht Frenz and K. Lalithambal, 1877''||Fragt man, was Gnade ist: Nicht töten – Fleisch essen ist ebensowenig Gnade wie Töten. ||Leute ohne Verblendung essen kernen Körper ohne Leben.
|}

==Impact==
Russian pacifist [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s concept of [[non-violence]] or [[ahimsa]] is said to have bolstered when he read one of the German translations of the Kural.<ref name="PearlsOfInsp_Rajaram">{{cite book| last = Rajaram| first = M.| title = Thirukkural: Pearls of Inspiration| publisher = Rupa Publications| date = 2009| location = New Delhi | isbn = 978-81-291-1467-9| pages = xviii–xxi}}</ref><ref name="Walsh2018">{{cite book| last = Walsh| first = William| title = Secular Virtue: for surviving, thriving, and fulfillment | publisher = Will Walsh| date = 2018| location = | isbn = 978-06-920-5418-5| pages = }}</ref> Tolstoy later instilled the concept in [[Mahatma Gandhi]] through his "''[[A Letter to a Hindu]]''" when young Gandhi corresponded with him seeking his advice on the struggle for [[Indian independence movement|Indian Independence]].<ref name="Walsh2018"/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/| title = A Letter to A Hindu: The Subjection of India-Its Cause and Cure| last = Tolstoy| first = Leo| date = 14 December 1908| publisher = The Literature Network| access-date = 12 February 2012| quote = The Hindu Kural}}</ref><ref name=gandhi>{{Citation| last = Parel| first = Anthony J.| author-link = Anthony Parel| contribution = Gandhi and Tolstoy|editor=M.P. Mathai |editor2=M.S. John |editor3=Siby K. Joseph| title = Meditations on Gandhi: a Ravindra Varma festschrift| pages = 96–112| publisher = Concept| place = New Delhi | year = 2002| contribution-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kcpDOVk5Gp8C&pg=PA96 |access-date=8 September 2012}}</ref> Referring to the Kural literature as 'the Hindu Kural' in his correspondence, Tolstoy cited six couplets from the chapter on non-violence.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/ | title = A Letter to A Hindu: The Subjection of India-Its Cause and Cure | last = Tolstoy | first = Leo | date = 14 December 1908 | website = The Literature Network | access-date = 12 February 2012 | quote = THE HINDU KURAL}}</ref> Taking Tolstoy's advice, Gandhi then took to studying the Kural while in prison,{{sfn|Lal|1992|pp=4333–4334}} which later culminated in Gandhi's various non-violent movements to liberate the nation.<ref name="PearlsOfInsp_Rajaram"/>{{Rp|pp=xviii–xxi}}

==See also==
* [[Tirukkural translations]]
* [[List of Tirukkural translations by language]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |first=Mohan |last=Lal |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA4341 |access-date=7 March 2018|year=1992 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-260-1221-3}}

{{Portal box|Tamils|India|Germany|Literature|Poetry}}

==Published translations==
* Karl Graul (Trans.). (1856). ''Der Kural des Tiruvalluver. Ein gnomisches Gedicht über die drei Strebeziele des Menschen.'' (''Bibliotheca Tamulica sive Opera Praecipia Tamuliensium'', Volume 3). Leipzig: Dörffling & Franke; London: Williams & Norgate. 220 pages. ([http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251487-8 Digitalisat])

{{Tirukkural|state=collapsed}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

[[Category:Tirukkural translations by language|German]]
[[Category:Translations into German]]

Tirukkural translations into German - Revision history

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