Thirukkural 277 in English
Tamil original, transliteration, English translation, meaning, commentary, pronunciation, and chapter context.
Tamil original
புறங்குன்றி கண்டனைய ரேனும் அகங்குன்றி
முக்கிற் கரியார் உடைத்து.
Transliteration
Purangundri Kantanaiya Renum Akangundri
Mukkir Kariyaar Utaiththu
Modern English
“Some people look bright and respectable on the outside but carry a dark heart within, like a red berry with a black tip.”
Modern Interpretation
Some people look bright and respectable on the outside but carry a dark heart within, like a red berry with a black tip. Appearance alone is not proof of character. For example, a charming classmate may seem kind until their private actions reveal deliberate cruelty.
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Tamil pronunciation
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Modern Plain English
Some people look bright and respectable on the outside but carry a dark heart within, like a red berry with a black tip.
Poetic Couplet (Bharati)
Berry-red is his outward view, Black like its nose his inward hue
G.U. Pope Translation
Outward, they shine as 'kunri' berry's scarlet bright;Inward, like tip of 'kunri' bead, as black as night
Classical Meaning (Drew & Lazarus)
(The world) contains persons whose outside appears (as fair) as the (red) berry of the Abrus, but whose inside is as black as the nose of that berry
Tamil commentary
குன்றிமணியின் மேனியைப் போல் வெளித் தோற்றத்தில் நல்லவராயும், குன்றிமணியின் மூக்கு கறுத்து இருப்பதுபோல் மனத்தால் கரியவராகவும் வாழ்வோர் இவ்வுலகில் இருக்கவே செய்கின்றனர்.
Chapter 28
More from Imposture
கூடா ஒழுக்கம்
Elements five of feigned life Of a sly hypocrite within laugh
Kural 272Of what avail are sky-high shows When guild the conscience gnaws and knows
Kural 273Vaunting sainthood while week within Seems a grazer with tiger skin
Kural 274Sinning in saintly show is like Fowlers in ambush birds to strike
Kural 275Who false within but freedom feign Shall moan \"What have we done\" with pain
Kural 276Vilest is he who seems a saint Cheating the world without restraint
Kural 277Berry-red is his outward view, Black like its nose his inward hue
Kural 278Filthy in mind some bathe in streams Hiding sins in showy extremes
Kural 279Know men by acts and not by forms Strait arrow kills, bent lute but charms
Kural 280No balding nor tangling the hair! Abstain from condemned acts with care