Ramakoti to bring English readers closer than ever to the brilliant inner and outer music of the original. This new translation by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma draws on two decades of study under the Tamil scholar Dr. But the Kural has long been underserved by translators, who tend to sacrifice its poetry for what they see as its ideas. One of the masterpieces of world literature, Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural has been known in equal measure for the beauty of its poetry and for its practical philosophy: its discussions of ethics and the life well-lived.