Tirukkural translations into Gujarati

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As of 2015, there were at least three Gujarati translations available of the Tirukkural.

Contents

Background

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing a Gujarati translation of the Kural in 2015 PM Modi releases the Gujarati translation of Thirukkural.jpg
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing a Gujarati translation of the Kural in 2015

The Kural remained unknown to the people of Gujarat during the medieval period as none has made any reference to the work in their writings. The Kural became more known to Gujarati people during the period of the Indian Independence movement after Mahatma Gandhi frequently made reference to the work in his speeches, [1] after he was introduced to it by Leo Tolstoy. [2] [3]

The first Gujarati translation of the Kural text was made by Najuklal Choksi in 1931 and was published by Sastu Sahitya Vardhak Karyalaya under the title Updeshsaraamgrahs. [1] [4] The work was suggested by Swami Akhandanand Sarwati, the founder of Sastu Sahitya Vardhak Karyalaya. [1] The second translation appeared in 1971 by Kantilal L. Kalani, published by the University Grantha Nirman Board of Gujarat government. [1] [4] Kantilal, however, translated only 852 couplets, which included only select couplets (of four to ten) from every chapter yet covering all chapters of the Tirukkural. This was republished in 1985 by Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidhyanagar, Gujarat. [5]

In 2015, a complete translation by P. C. Kokila was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was published by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Chennai. [4] [6] [7]

Translations

TranslationChapter 26, માંસાહાર-વર્જન
Kural 254 (Couplet 26:4)Kural 258 (Couplet 26:8)
P. C. Kokila, 2015દયાભાવ છે કોઈ પણ જીવનો વધ ન કરવો;
દયાહીનતા છે જીવવધ અને માંસ ભક્ષણ અધર્મ છે.		નિર્ભ્રમ (તત્ત્વ) જ્ઞાની કરતો નથી મિક્ષણ માંસનું
(કારણ કે) તે છે જીવન-હનનથી છિન્ન થયેલ મૃત્ત શરીર.

See also

Related Research Articles

"A Letter to a Hindu" was a letter written by Leo Tolstoy to Tarak Nath Das on 14 December 1908. The letter was written in response to two letters sent by Das, seeking support from the Russian author and thinker for India's independence from colonial rule. The letter was published in the Indian newspaper Free Hindustan. The letter caused the young Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to write to Tolstoy to ask for advice and for permission to reprint the Letter in Gandhi's own South African newspaper, Indian Opinion, in 1909. Gandhi was living in South Africa at the time and just beginning his activist career. He then translated the letter himself, from the original English copy sent to India, into his native Gujarati.

<i>Kural</i> Ancient Tamil composition on personal ethics and morality

The Tirukkuṟaḷ, or shortly theKural, is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teachings on virtue (aram), wealth (porul) and love (inbam), respectively. Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, it is widely acknowledged for its universality and secular nature. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar. The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE. The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450 to 500 CE and that it was composed after the Sangam period.

The Tirukkural, shortly known as the Kural, is a classic Tamil sangam treatise on the art of living. Consisting of 133 chapters with 1330 couplets or kurals, it deals with the everyday virtues of an individual. Authored by Valluvar between the first century BCE and 5th century CE, it is considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality and is praised for its universality and non-denominational nature.

Tirukkural, also known as the Kural, an ancient Indian treatise on the ethics and morality of the commoner, is one of the most widely translated non-religious works in the world. Authored by the ancient Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar, it has been translated into at least 42 world languages, with about 57 different renderings in the English language alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tirukkural translations into English</span>

Tirukkural remains one of the most widely translated non-religious works in the world. As of 2014, there were at least 57 versions available in the English language alone. English, thus, continues to remain the language with most number of translations available of the Kural text.

<i>Tirukkuṟaḷ</i> translations into Latin

Latin is the first foreign language into which the Tirukkuṟaḷ was translated. There are three known translations of the Kural text available in Latin.

Hindi perhaps has many translations of the Tirukkural. As of 2000, there were at least 19 translations of the Kural text available in Hindi. Many of these translations are in verse form.

Kannada has at least eight translations of the Tirukkural available as of 2014. Both prose and verse translations have been made in Kannada.

As of 2020, there were at least four translations of the Tirukkural available in Arabic. The Kural text is the first, and so far the only, Tamil work to be translated directly into Arabic. It is also the first Tamil work to be released in the Arabian soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tirukkural translations into German</span>

Among the European languages, German has the third highest number of translations of the Tirukkural, after English and French. As of 2015, there were at least eight translations of the Kural text available in German.

Malayalam has seen the most number of Tirukkural translations than that of any other language in India. As of 2007, there are at least 21 translations of the Kural text available in Malayalam. Malayalam also has the distinction of producing the first ever translation of the Kural text among the languages in India and the world at large. The Annual Report of the Cochin Archeological Department for the year 1933–34 reported an unpublished manuscript of a Malayalam translation of the Tirukkural made in 1595.

Telugu is one of the Indian languages that has had the earliest Tirukkural translations in modern times. As of 2000, there were at least 14 translations of the Kural text available in Telugu.

By 2017, there were at least six translations of the Tirukkural in Odia, all published after the 1970s.

As of 2015, Urdu has at least two translations available of the Tirukkural.

As of 2015, Konkani has two translations available of the Tirukkural.

The Ten Medieval Commentators were a canonical group of Tamil scholars whose commentaries on the ancient Indian didactic work of the Kural are esteemed by later scholars as worthy of critical analysis. These scholars lived in the Medieval era between the 10th and 13th centuries CE. Among these medieval commentaries, the commentaries of Manakkudavar, Kaalingar, and Parimelalhagar are considered pioneer by modern scholars.

E. S. Ariel, also referred to as Monsieur Ariel by his contemporaries, was a 19th-century French translator known for his French translation of the ancient Indian philosophical text of the Tirukkural. He translated select couplets of the Tirukkural into French in 1848 and published it in Paris under the title Kural de Thiruvalluvar . Although the first French translation of the Kural text was made by an unknown author in 1767, which Ariel had mentioned in his work, it was Ariel's translation that brought the ancient work to the French world.

The Book ofAṟam, in full Aṟattuppāl, also known as the Book of Virtue, the First Book or Book One in translated versions, is the first of the three books or parts of the Kural literature, a didactic work authored by the ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar. Written in High Tamil distich form, it has 38 chapters each containing 10 kurals or couplets, making a total of 380 couplets, all dealing with the fundamental virtues of an individual. Aṟam, the Tamil term that loosely corresponds to the English term 'virtue', correlates with the first of the four ancient Indian values of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. The Book of Aṟam exclusively deals with virtues independent of the surroundings, including the vital principles of non-violence, moral vegetarianism, veracity, and righteousness.

Kantilal L. Kalani (1930–1998) was an Indian philosopher and writer in Gujarati literature. He is best known for translating the Tirukkural into Gujarati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. C. Kokila</span>

P. C. Kokila is an Indian professor of Hindi, who is best known for translating the Tirukkural into Gujarati.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sanjeevi (Ed.), N. (1973). First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers (2 ed.). Chennai: University of Madras. p. 13.
  2. ↑ Tolstoy, Leo (14 December 1908). "A Letter to A Hindu: The Subjection of India-Its Cause and Cure". The Literature Network. Retrieved 12 February 2012. THE HINDU KURAL
  3. ↑ Rajaram, M. (2009). Thirukkural: Pearls of Inspiration. New Delhi: Rupa Publications. pp. xviii–xxi. ISBN   978-81-291-1467-9.
  4. 1 2 3 Polilan; K. Gunathogai; Lena Kumar; Tagadur Sampath; Mutthamizh; G. Picchai Vallinayagam; D. Anbunidhi; K. V. Neduncheraladhan, eds. (2019). Tiruvalluvar 2050 (in Tamil) (1 ed.). Chennai: Periyar Enthusiasts Group. p. 682.
  5. ↑ Ashraf, N. V. K. (June 2005). "Thirukkural in Gujarati". OOCities. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "PM releases Gujarati translation of Thirukkural, on 'Thiruvalluvar Day'". Business Standard. Delhi. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Krishnamachari, Suganthy (20 November 2014). "Under the spell of the Kural". The Hindu. Chennai: Kasturi & Sons. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

Published Translations

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