Thirukkural Typing
திருக்குறள் தட்டச்சுப் பயிற்சி
Type the Thirukkural one kural at a time, with the meaning underneath. Race the clock, work through an adhikaram, or type today’s kural.
Thiruvalluvar, public domain. Translation: G. U. Pope (1886).
What is the work of virtue? 'Not to kill'; For 'killing' leads to every work of ill
Result
0 net words per minute
- Accuracy
- Correct words
- Wrong words
- Gross speed
- Keystrokes
- Time
How these numbers are counted
- Net speed
- Words typed exactly right, divided by the minutes taken. The big number.
- Gross speed
- Every finished word, right or wrong, divided by the minutes taken.
- Accuracy
- Correct words divided by finished words. One wrong letter makes the word wrong.
- Word
- Anything between two spaces, as written in the text, punctuation included. Not 5 characters, as English tests count.
- Keystrokes
- Every key you pressed, Backspace included, and the same scaled to an hour.
Your recent runs
The text is set out as each kural is written: four words, then three. Words go green when right and are struck through when wrong. For the classic speed test, go to the Tamil typing test
The text
What the Thirukkural Is
The Thirukkural (திருக்குறள்) is a classical Tamil work by Thiruvalluvar: 1,330 couplets, called kurals, on how to live well. They are grouped into 133 adhikarams (chapters) of exactly ten kurals each, and the adhikarams into three books.
Every kural has the same shape: seven words, four on the first line and three on the second. That fixed size makes a kural a fair unit for a race. Each one is short enough to read in a glance, and long enough to test your hardest letters: ஃ, doubled consonants and long compound words.
For example, kural 391, from the adhikaram on learning:
கற்க கசடறக் கற்பவை கற்றபின்
நிற்க அதற்குத் தக.So learn that you may full and faultless learning gain, Then in obedience meet to lessons learnt remain
| Book | Theme | Adhikarams | Kurals |
|---|---|---|---|
| அறத்துப்பால் | Virtue | 38 | 380 |
| பொருட்பால் | Wealth | 70 | 700 |
| காமத்துப்பால் | Love | 25 | 250 |
Counted from the text this page uses. The Tamil follows the edition of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil.
How it works
Three Ways to Type the Kural
Race
Random kurals for 1, 2 or 5 minutes. The score is how many you finish, and how many of those have no mistake. Only kurals your layout can type are drawn.
By Adhikaram
All ten kurals of one chapter, untimed, in order. New text moves to the next adhikaram, so you can work through the whole book.
Kural of the Day
One kural, the same for everyone today. A two-minute habit that keeps your fingers warm.
Your Numbers
Net and gross words per minute, accuracy and the letters you miss, counted as on the typing test. Results stay in this browser.
Getting Better at Classical Tamil Typing
Kurals are compact, so a missing pulli or the wrong vowel sign changes the word. Go for accuracy first: a clean race of five kurals is worth more than eight with mistakes. After each run, the result lists the letters you miss and type slowest, with a button to drill them.
If you are preparing for the Government Technical Examination in typewriting, use this page for accuracy and the Tamil typewriting exam page for timed mock papers in the exam format. New to a layout? Start with the practice lessons, which begin on the home row.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these official pages on . Products change often; if something here is out of date, tell us.
- Central Institute of Classical Tamil: Thirukkural Payilvom (Tamil text of every kural) kts.cict.in
- Project Madurai Etext 1: Thirukkural (Tamil) projectmadurai.org
- Project Madurai Etext 153: Thirukkural with G. U. Pope’s English translation (1886) projectmadurai.org
- TNDTE: Guidelines for setting typewriting question papers dte.tn.gov.in
Questions People Ask
How does the Thirukkural typing race score?
You type as many kurals as you can before the clock runs out. A kural counts when you have typed all seven of its words; it counts as clean when none of them has a wrong letter. Your net words per minute, accuracy and mistakes are measured exactly as on the Tamil typing test. Your best clean count for each layout and time is saved in this browser.
Which keyboard layouts can I use?
All of the ones on our typing test: Phonetic (type in English letters), Tamil99, Typewriter, Bamini, InScript, or your own Tamil keyboard on a phone or computer. On a phone, the Tamil99, Typewriter, Bamini and InScript keys appear on screen under the text.
Why do some classical words not come out in Phonetic mode?
Phonetic mode guesses the Tamil spelling from English letters, and it is built for modern words. A few classical spellings in the Thirukkural are not among its guesses, so that word shows as a mistake. If that happens often, use Tamil99 or your own Tamil keyboard, which type every letter exactly.
Whose English translation is shown?
G. U. Pope’s verse translation, published in 1886, which is in the public domain. It is a 19th-century rhyming translation, so some words are old-fashioned. It is shown to help you follow the meaning; you type only the Tamil. Use the translation for context rather than as a key-by-key guide to the Tamil.
How is the kural of the day chosen?
From the date. Everyone who opens the page on the same day gets the same kural, and the order walks through all 1,330 before any kural repeats. New text gives you another kural at random. You can repeat it without a timer before moving on to a longer chapter.
Is this good practice for the typewriting exam?
It is good accuracy practice, because every kural is short and every letter matters. The TNDTE guidelines for setting exam papers ask examiners to avoid classical literature, so the real speed paper will be plain modern prose. For that, use the mock papers on our typewriting exam page.
Can I practise one adhikaram without racing a timer?
Yes. Set the mode to By adhikaram and choose a chapter from the selector. Its ten kurals appear in order without a time limit. New text advances to the next chapter. This lets you focus on the printed word breaks and difficult letter combinations before returning to a timed race.
Why does a kural have different spaces from the version I memorised?
The trainer follows the word breaks in its displayed source text, which may differ from a classroom edition or a prose explanation. Type the target as shown rather than silently joining or splitting its words. Use the source links below to compare editions; changing the spacing would also change how this trainer matches the seven words.
Does the English translation explain each Tamil word?
No. The English panel provides a verse translation for the current couplet, not a word-by-word gloss or a grammar lesson. Read it for context, then return to the Tamil target for typing. For unfamiliar classical vocabulary, consult a commentary separately rather than treating the position of an English word as a direct Tamil equivalent.
Can I send a child directly to the chapter we are studying?
Yes. Choose By adhikaram, select the chapter, and copy the page address after the selection updates. The address records the chapter mode and chapter number. Opening that link gives a focused practice task; it does not transfer the sender’s saved scores or create a shared classroom progress record.