Herbert Arthur Popley (born c. 1879) was a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

of London Mission,

Erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the E ...

, known for his literary work as a translator of the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven ...

and his skill in rendering

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

Christian music in the Carnatic style. He was secretary of the All-India Y.M.C.A. At the time of his death, he was president of the local Y.M.C.A. and a director of the Coonoor Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd. He died in

Coonoor Coonoor, natively spelt as Kunnur (), is a Taluk and a municipality of the Nilgiris district in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 45,494. Demographics According to 2011 census, Coonoor had a population ...

on 9 May 1960 at the age of 81.

Tirukkural translation

At the suggestion of the then general editor of the Heritage of India Series,

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, J. N. Farquhar, Popley started translating selections of the Tirukkural into English and published the work in 1931 with the Y. M. C. A. Publishing House. Translated in verse, the work was titled ''The Sacred Kural or The Tamil Veda of Tiruvalluvar''. The work contained translations of 346 couplets of the Kural text, including 194 from Book I (virtue), 135 from

Book II A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arra ...

(wealth), and 17 from

Book III Kevin Danell Mann (born January 10, 1970), better known by his stage name Brotha Lynch Hung, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Sacramento, California who has been described as "the creator of horrorcore rap." He is also ...

(love). In 1958, the second edition with revised translations was published, which contained translations of 511 couplets, including 299 from Book I, 190 from Book II, and 22 from Book III. The work includes a detailed introduction and explanatory notes quoting translators such as W. H. Drew,

G. U. Pope George Uglow Pope (24 April 1820 – 11 February 1908), or G. U. Pope, was an Anglicanism, Anglican Christianity, Christian missionary and Tamil language, Tamil scholar who spent 40 years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil language, Tamil ...

V. V. S. Aiyar Varahaneri Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar (2 April 1881 – 3 June 1925), also known as V. V. S. Aiyar, was an Indian revolutionary from Tamil Nadu who fought against British colonial rule in India. His contemporaries include Subramanya Bhar ...

, and

A. Chakravarti A. Chakravarti (17 May 1880 – 12 February 1960), who served the Indian Educational Service (IES), was a professor of philosophy at the Presidency College in Chennai, India. He is known for translating the Tirukkural into English. Biograph ...

, in addition to a bibliography citing various European language translations of the Kural text. His other publication includes ''The Music of India'', published in the Heritage of India Series, Calcutta.

Tirukkural translation

See also

References

Further reading