Page:The Kural or The Maxims Of Tiruvalluvar.pdf/18

 jointly brought out by Drew and the great Râmânuja Kavirâyar is an excellent one, but it goes only up to 63 chapters out of a total of 133 and is now out of print. The only complete English edition that is possibly available now is Dr Pope's and it is 30 years old. He has given the Tamil text with his English translation of each verse under the text, has added a large number of valuable notes, and has prepared a combined lexicon and concordance which is very useful to the Tamil student. And what is more, he has printed in his notes the translations so far as they were available of Beschi and Ellis, and earned the thanks of all lovers of Tiruvalluvar.

After seeing the English, French, and Latin translations above mentioned except those of Robinson and Lazarus and Graul and that of the Bibliothèque Nationale, my long cherished desire to make an independent translation of the great master into English only grew the stronger, and the result is the book which I am able to place before the public to-day.

After a great deal of thought on the subject I have come to the conclusion that the Autho- Rh