About · a Tamil language research trust, Chennai

We build the tools
Tamil did not have yet.

Karky Research Foundation was set up in 2013 to give Tamil what other languages had long taken for granted: a dictionary you can query, an analyser that knows the grammar, a rhyme engine, a transliterator, a curriculum built on evidence. We are a non-profit trust. Everything we make is free, and it stays free because people give.

Two hands cupping a small plant with brush-stroke leaves

The story

It began as work done anyway.

For years before there was a foundation, there was a habit: building Tamil computing tools because the language needed them and nobody else was going to. By 2013 the work had grown past what one person could carry, and Dr. Madhan Karky and Nandini Karky set up KaReFo to give it an institutional home.

The founding purpose was written down plainly. To spread a passion for research in language computing. To be a resource centre for training, research, documentation and consultancy in language computing and language literacy. To invent new ways of teaching a language and improve the old ones. And to fund the education of students who could not otherwise afford it.

Three things followed from that. A research programme, which produced the papers and the free Tamil Labs. A curriculum, which became Payil and now runs from LKG to Level 12. And a habit of giving the results away, which is why a school in a small town can open the same million-word dictionary as a university in a large one.

Vision

Building tomorrow's Tamil learning tools through innovative computing and research.

One sentence, unchanged since the foundation was set up. It is displayed in the office, printed in our materials, and it decides what we say yes to.

Mission

We create innovative digital tools and adaptive learning solutions that make Tamil education affordable, accessible, effective and engaging. Through language computing research, we develop modern teaching methodologies, design comprehensive curricula, and build technology platforms while preserving Tamil's rich heritage.

Fourth revision, adopted 22 November 2022. The mission is reviewed in full every three years by the founders together with the technical, language, teaching and design staff, and every version is archived with its rationale.

How it grew

The work, in the order it happened.

2013

KaReFo founded in Chennai by Dr. Madhan Karky and Nandini Karky, as a registered educational research trust. A Tamil dictionary of 30,000 words is built.

2013 to 2016

The research years. The core Tamil computing tools are built, the Chol dictionary for Amazon Kindle is completed, and research papers are published. Chol reaches 4 lakh words.

2016 to 2018

Further research published on the concepts behind Piripori and Valai. Work begins with the Government of Tamil Nadu to launch and maintain the Sorkuvai project.

2018

Karky Tamil Academy established as the delivery arm, so research could reach classrooms at scale. Chol reaches 6 lakh words.

2019

Dr. Madhan Karky receives the Chief Minister's Award for Tamil Computing, on behalf of Karky Research Foundation, for Piripori.

2019 to 2021

Payil online Tamil classes begin, and the curriculum for the short courses is developed. Chol reaches one million words, drawn from ancient Sangam literature through to modern technical vocabulary. The Word of the Day campaign begins, to spread awareness of Tamil technical words.

2022

Payil courses reach learners in more than 35 countries. Ari Talks is established to bring free expert lectures to the public, and Ari's reviewed Tamil articles begin, with an expert committee.

2022 to 2024

Funding from the Tamil Virtual Academy to develop the part-of-speech and semantic-role labelling project. Three more Payil curricula are developed, for literature, grammar and story-based learning.

2025 to 2026

Payil textbooks published for LKG to Level 5, in collaboration with Karky Tamil Academy. The KaReFo labs are in use by students across schools and colleges through Thambaa Tamil Labs. Chol reaches 1.4 million words across 37 departments.

The team

Linguists, programmers, illustrators and teachers.

In order of joining, as we have always listed them. Most of the people here work across the Karky organisations, because a Tamil word list, a textbook page and a game screen are usually the same problem seen from three sides.

Dr. Madhan Karky

Founder and head of research

Nandini Karky

Co-founder and head of finance

ChezhianSystem architect

RajapandianUI and UX coordinator

Manju BashiniLinguist

KanniyammalLinguist

Dr. SwathiLinguist

ShruthiOffice coordination

KeerthigaBEATS coordinator

AnandhiWriter

LizzyCurriculum coordinator

A watercolour portrait of Shanmuganathan

ShanmuganathanSenior data programmer

A watercolour portrait of Sai Rajeshwari

Sai RajeshwariWriter and teacher

VenkateswaranWriter and teacher

RamakrishnanHR and knowledge bank manager

SumathiPayil course coordinator

SethupathiAudio and print coordinator

Kiran RanjithUI elements and layouts

Rahul RameshAnimator and layout designer

Pravin SelvamSenior video editor

ManojkumarCourse video editor

Madhan KumarAnimator and layout artist

Sri JayaramIllustrator and layout artist

NatarajanLayout and illustration artist

YogeshwaranIllustrator and designer

Dharun KumarLayout and illustration artist

Vishnu GiriWriter

Naveen KumarWriter

SurendarWriter

Preshi JerardContent creator and designer

DeepakAnalyst and outreach coordinator

AlexNLP and data analytics

SudharshanProgrammer

SandhiyaProgrammer

Those who built it with us

Colleagues, consultants and volunteer programmers who are no longer on the team. The dictionary, the tools and the books carry their work, so they stay on this page.

MuralidharanDesign coordination

Dr. KeerthanaTeacher

KiranyaPodcaster and teacher

JananiTeacher

ImayavarambanWriter

SindhujaIllustrator

DivyaData entry assistant

A watercolour portrait of Sibi Chakravarthy

Sibi ChakravarthyProgrammer

A watercolour portrait of Dr. Subalalitha

Dr. SubalalithaResearch consultant

SuriyahResearch consultant

NeelakandanProgrammer · 2021–2022

AnithaProgrammer · 2014–2022

AarthyProgrammer · 2014–2020

AkhileshProgrammer · 2015–2016

KarthikeyanProgrammer · 2009–2010

Our past interns — Janarthanan, Akash, Dhanush and Karim — worked on school lab sessions, the games portal and the Ai5 card games.

Ari's twelve-member review committee, who read every Tamil article before it is published, are listed on the Ari page.

Recognition

Awards the work has drawn.

Chief Minister's Award for Tamil ComputingGovernment of Tamil Nadu, 2019Dr. Madhan Karky, for Piripori

Best Paper AwardINFITT International Conference, Malaysia, 2013Lyric Visualization

Best Paper AwardAISGSC, Coimbatore, 2019Piripori – Morphological Analyser for Tamil

Best Paper AwardSixth International Conference on e-Learning, 2020Virtual Aided Teacher–Learner Relationship

Accredited by AIAASC and NCPSAInstitutional accreditationKarky Research Foundation

Transparency

Every number, in one place.

We ask people for money, so we publish what lets them check us. Donations to KaReFo are exempt under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, and the trust is registered to receive both corporate CSR contributions and foreign donations under FCRA.

Legal name: Karky Research FoundationA public charitable trust registered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Trust registration: 303/2013Reg No 41 (2013) Book 4
PAN: AACTK1527E
12AB registration: AACTK1527E25CH01Order dated 29 December 2025, valid AY 2027-28 to 2036-37
80G registration: AACTK1527E25CH02Order dated 29 December 2025, valid AY 2027-28 to 2031-32. Donors receive a receipt for tax exemption.
FCRA registration: 075901457Educational category, renewed 7 June 2023. Foreign contributions are received only in the designated SBI account.
CSR registration: CSR00044377For corporate social responsibility contributions
GSTN: 33AACTK1527E1Z4
NGO Darpan UID: TN/2017/0177972
Registered office: New 22, 4th Cross Street, Trustpuram, Kodambakkam, Chennai 600024
Functioning office: New 23, 10th Cross Street, Indira Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600020

Why this is free

Nobody pays to use any of it.

The dictionary, the analysers, the games, the apps: free, with no advertising and nothing sold on. That is a choice, and it has a cost, paid by people who decide that a language should not be behind a paywall. If you would like to be one of them, a year of server bills, a curriculum, or a free literacy course for someone who never had one are all things you can put your name to.

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We build the toolsTamil did not have yet.