Thirukkural: The Ancient Tamil Text PM Modi Presented to Vladimir Putin

Key facts

• Thirukkural, also known as Kural, is a classical Tamil text written in Old Tamil and traditionally attributed to the poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar.
• The work consists of 1,330 couplets called kurals, arranged into 133 chapters with 10 couplets in each chapter.
• The 133 chapters are divided into three sections: Aram (virtue), Porul (worldly affairs, the largest section), and Inbam (love and relationships).
• The text is estimated to be around 2,000 to 2,500 years old, with scholarly dating ranging from about 300 BCE to the fifth century CE.
• During their meeting in New Delhi ahead of the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Russian President Vladimir Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, the 2026 edition translated by Naira Mkrtchyan.
• The gifted edition contains the Tamil original, its transliteration, and a Russian translation of the verses.
• The Central Institute of Classical Tamil describes the Thirukkural as a work covering different aspects of human life that remains relevant across generations, avoiding limitations of time, language, race, caste and creed.