Tamil Nadu Timeline

LiteratureEast India Company rule

Tirukkural appears in print for the first time

· Chennai

Tirukkural appears in print for the first time
பேரா. சுந்தரசண்முகனார், CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

The first known printed edition of the Tirukkural was produced in 1812, together with the Naladiyar.

The Tirukkural, the classical Tamil work on ethics, had survived for centuries in palm-leaf manuscripts. Its first known printed edition appeared in 1812, credited to the efforts of Gnanaprakasar, and was produced together with the Naladiyar. The Kural is described as the first book of Tamil literature to be published in print. In the same year Francis Whyte Ellis published English translations of a selection of its couplets. Printing helped spread the text to a much wider readership in the 19th century.

Related events

  1. 1816

    1. 1816ChennaiLanguage

      Ellis publishes the Dravidian Proof

      Francis Whyte Ellis argued that the South Indian languages form a family separate from Sanskrit.

  2. 1817

    1. 1817ChennaiCulture

      Madras Literary Society founded

      In 1817 a learned society and library, the Madras Literary Society, was established in Madras.

  3. 1868

    1. 1868ChennaiLiterature

      Damodaram Pillai prints Tolkappiyam with Senavaraiyar's commentary

      C. W. Damodaram Pillai published the Sollathikaram of the Tolkappiyam with the medieval commentary of Senavaraiyar, an early printed edition of the grammar.

  4. 1885

    1. 1885ChennaiLiterature

      C. W. Damodaram Pillai publishes Tolkappiyam commentary

      C. W. Damodaram Pillai published the Porulatikaram of the Tolkappiyam with Nachinarkiniyar's commentary, part of his revival of ancient Tamil texts.

  5. 1886

    1. 1886ChennaiLiterature

      G. U. Pope publishes his English Tirukkural

      Missionary scholar G. U. Pope published 'The Sacred Kurral', an English translation of the Tirukkural with grammar, notes and lexicon.

  6. 1949

    1. 1949ChennaiLiterature

      Subramania Bharati's works nationalised

      The Madras government nationalised the writings of poet Subramania Bharati, the first such step for any poet in India.

Open in the timeline explorer