The Kurals are the wisdom literature of the Tamils, at the southern cape of India; the Kural of Tiruvalluvar (the modern transliteration) is the most famous of them. Its 1330 distichs are divided into discussions of virtue, wealth (especially the wealth of kings), and love, both divine and marital love. Karl or Charles Graul, a Lutheran missionary among the Tamils, here provides a paraphrase in modern Tamil and an extraordinarily literal translation into Latin - chosen because Latin is free to reflect Tamil word order. English notes and preface by Graul; lightly edited and prepared for publication by Wilhelm Germann, the last of Graul's Tamil students, after his death. Detailed grammatical and critical notes, and glossary. Graul wrote with the hope that missionaries might speak with educated Tamils in "that ideal element in which they breathe and live"; this translation will also serve students of Eastern philosophy and Tamil literature.