Tirukkural translations into German

Among the European languages, German has the third highest number of translations of the Tirukkural, after English and French. As of 2015, there were at least eight translations of the Kural text available in German.

History
The first translations of the Kural text into German were made by August Friedrich Caemmerer in 1803 and by Friedrich Rückert in 1847. However, these remained incomplete. Caemmerer translated only the first two books, viz. the Book of Virtue and the Book of Wealth. The first well-known complete German translation was made by Karl Graul in 1856. It is said that when a Kural couplet was explained in English to Graul, he was so much taken up with it and started learning the Tamil language in order to study the Kural in the original. 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)." 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." The nineteenth century witnessed one more translation by Albrecht Frenz and K. Lalithambal in 1877 (titled Thirukural von Thiruvalluvar aus dem Tamil).

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. 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. Referring to the Kural literature as 'the Hindu Kural' in his correspondence, Tolstoy cited six couplets from the chapter on non-violence. Taking Tolstoy's advice, Gandhi then took to studying the Kural while in prison, which later culminated in Gandhi's various non-violent movements to liberate the nation.

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. (Digitalisat)