Thirukkural translated into Kurukh, Gondi, Malto, and Brahui: A literary Milestone for Dravidian languages

The Hindu

4 days ago

The timeless wisdom of Thirukkural is set to break new ground. The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) has commissioned its translation into four medium and minor Dravidian languages — Kurukh, Gondi, Malto and Brahui. Dravidianism Revival Centre, a not-for-profit organisation working on promoting Thirrukural in Dravidian languages, is involved in talent identification, resource sharing and guidance.
The translation of Thirukkural marks a literary milestone in these languages, rich in oral traditions but nurturing their written forms. Former IRS officer and a native Kurukh speaker Mahesh S. Meenz is translating the Tamil treatise to Kurukh. In Gondi, Varaprasad Sidam, who has been promoting the language by putting out articles in the wikimedia incubator, is up for the task.
For Malto – spoken by less than two lakh people – Rev. George Edward is involved in the Thirukkural translation. For the language of Brahui of Balochistan, Professor Muhammad Afzal Brohi has translated it. He is Professor at the Department of Architecture, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan. He was formerly Director, UNESCO Mohenjo-daro Conservation Cell
The Dravidian family
Scientific studies, anthropologists and linguists confirm that these languages are part of the Dravidian family. Kurukh is a northern Dravidian language spoken by the Kurukh / Oraon tribe in eastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Gondi belongs to the south-central branch of the Dravidian family and is spoken by Gond communities across central India.
Malto, also part of the Northern Dravidian group, is spoken by the Malto (Paharia) tribes in the Rajmahal Hills and surrounding regions. Brahui, a linguistic outlier of the Dravidian family, is spoken in Pakistan's Balochistan province, as well as parts of Afghanistan and Iran—far from the traditional Dravidian heartland, yet situated at the very heart of the pre-Harappan Mehrgarh civilization (7000–5500 BC). According to Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola, this culture later migrated into the Indus Valley, eventually giving rise to the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization.
All these languages lack a substantial body of written literature but the oral literature is rich with songs and poetry. 'In ancient Tamil Sangam literature, the male hero (talaivan) often shares a deep emotional bond with a male confidant, referred to as pāṅkaṉ. A similar tradition exists in Kurukh culture, where a young boy, with parental consent, may form a fraternal relationship—known as iar or sangi—with another boy from another clan, said Dr J Ravikumar Stephen G, founder, Dravidianism Revival Centre.
Indian anthropologist Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi extensively studied the Malto tribe's belief systems and classified their language under the Dravidian family. In his comparative studies, Russian linguist Mikhail S Andronov placed the language among Northern Dravidian languages.
There is evidence of a shared origin between Gondi and Tamil, as well as other Dravidian languages, due to their notable grammatical and syntactic similarities. 'Gondi and Tamil share thousands of cognates (words with a common ancestor) and grammatical features, making them both members of the South and Central Dravidian branch of the Dravidian language family,' said Dr. Annie Tisha Jerald, Junior Research Fellow, International School of Dravidian Linguistics, Thiruvananthapuram.
Brahui, geographically isolated from the rest of the Dravidian family, shows strong connections to the Dravidian land. 'The 37 known Brahui tribes constituted a distinct polity, reminiscent of the 'Kurunila mannarkal' – the minor kings of ancient Tamilakam. These tribe rulers formed a confederation, just like the 'Nadu Vali', federation of Tamil Chera kings in early South Indian history,' Ravikumar Stephen said.
A literary milestone
The governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand have officially recognized Kurukh as one of the state languages. The development of exclusive scripts for Kurukh in the 1990s advanced the teaching of the language in schools and training centers across Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
Meanwhile, linguists in Telangana are advocating for the inclusion of Gondi in the Eighth Schedule. Malto lacks official recognition and a standardized script, which has hindered its development in formal education systems.
Unlike the 19th-century German missionaries, the present-day Christian missionaries from Tamil Nadu have established Hindi-medium schools, which, according to Bishop Dr. Ravikumar, has significantly contributed to the decline of the Malto language.
Many Brahui speakers are bilingual, often using Balochi or Urdu in daily life, which has led to concerns about language preservation, despite the fact that the University of Balochistan offers degree programs in Brahui from the bachelor's to the doctoral level.
At such a time, translation of classical texts like the Thirukkural serves both political and literary purposes. 'The official recognition granted by the Jharkhand government to the Tolong Siki script—developed by Dr Narayan Oraon—has elevated the status of the Kurukh language in the region. That's why the Thirukkural translation project will carve out a meaningful space for Kurukh,' said Mahesh Meenz, a former IRS officer and the translator. 'The Thirukkural's portrayal of lifestyle themes—especially those related to love and agriculture—resonates deeply with both Tamil and Kurukh-speaking communities,' Mahesh added.
Gondi, the language learned even by the IAS officers to communicate with people of Adilabad in Telangana, has ample oral literature in the form of riddles, folk songs and puzzles. 'Only two out of 100 speakers of Gondi can read and write the language, in Gunjala Script. Once translated, Thirukkural will serve as a philosophical guide to us,' said Varaprasad, who has completed seventeen chapters of Gondi translation using Telugu and Gunjala script, which is the oldest script of Gondi language. The other script, Masaram, is widely popular in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The translators share their connect with Thirukkural. 'While translating the Thirukkural, I felt as though it was written on the mountains and waters of Brahui. I could imagine Thiruvalluvar speaking with the king and the people here,' said Professor Muhammad Afzal Brohi.
Translation enriches a language and the absence of written literature often leads to the extinction of a language. 'Kambar's Ramayanam, a transcreation of the epic in Tamil, surpassed many original and translated versions and set a high standard for Tamil narrative poetry. Other works such as The Bible, the Mahabharata, and later, John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress', transcreated to Tamil in pure poetic format as 'Ratchanya Yathrigam' are some phenomenal works,' said Ravikumar.
The challenges
The translation project has encountered several challenges, most important among them being the difficulty in finding qualified translators and reviewers of the translated work. 'It took me more than three years to find translators for Malto. Through outreach via social media and word of mouth, I could achieve the feat,' said Ravikumar.
Secondly, content translation was a tough task, as with the exception of the Malto translator, all of the others did not know Tamil. 'I provided them with existing translations of the Thirukkural in various languages such as English, Hindi, Bengali and Telugu,' Ravikumar said.
As these languages are not exposed to scientific and philosophical genre, many words are just absent. Translators are coining new words with the help of century-old dictionaries created by GermanLutheran missionaries likeRev. Ferdinand Hahn.
The translation project calls for an elaborate fact checking and review procedure. 'Thirukkural itself is imbued with secular and universal values. Unfortunately, some translators tend to introduce their own religious or cultural biases. For example, in the third couplet which describes the divine as 'the one who walked on a flower'—many translators inserted the term Kamal (lotus), which subtly implies a specific religious symbolism,' Ravikumar added.
Political sensitivities can also pose challenges to translation initiatives. For instance, in the case of the Brahui translation—where the translator is a Pakistani national—clearances were required at the ministerial level. 'The Brahui translator submitted the application to the Union Minister for Education just hours before the tragic Pahalgam incident, and a response is still awaited,' said Dr Ravikumar Stephen.
Despite such complexities, the CICT seems committed to making Thirukkural accessible in every Dravidian language. Director of CICT, Professor R Chandrashekharan has already published Thirukkural translations in medium and minor South Dravidian languages such as Badaga, Kodava, Koraga, and Tulu