Dr K.S.Antonysamy
Review on Thirukural Translation-
Dr K.S.Antonysamy,
Head, Department of English, Loyola College, Chennai
Sujatha, the great luminary of 20th Century Tamil Literature stated that there is a yawning gulf between the classics in Tamil and their cognition among the contemporary Tamil youth. In order to make them understand, he made an attempt to paraphrase Aathichoodi and Thirukural into layman’s language. Similarly, Dr Louie, the translator of 4 + 3 word couplet Thirukural has not only abided by the forms of a couplet but also transformed into a lucid, terse and laconic content well suited to both the cognoscenti and mediocre readers with his multifaceted forte and profound erudition. A sample study of his efforts would throw light on his anchorage and supremacy over both the source language and target language:
“Kingdom perishes if eight
Virtues are unheeded” (Chapter 55, Couplet 8 on Upright Governance)
The youth of the generation would easily gat at the content of this kural as if it has been done in communicative translation I appreciate Dr. Loiue for the immense efforts he has put in to make this intellectual sage with a great amount of passion