I recently had a wonderful conversation with Jenny Bhatt of Desi Books on the inner journey of translating the classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love, THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.
Tirukkural Verses, Interviews, and Reviews
From and about The Kural: Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural.
Kural 978: The Tirukkural on Humility and Greatness
A verse on how humbleness leads to greatness and how largeness of heart grows from humility.
From chapter 98, “Greatness.”
Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston
THE KURAL Book Release: A Publication-Day Conversation with Archana Venkatesan
For the book launch of the Kural on January 11, 2022, the Elliott Bay Book Company and Tasveer hosted an online conversation between Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma and Archana Venkatesan, who wrote the marvelous introduction to the book.
You can watch a complete recording below!
My thanks to Archana Venkatesan for her wonderful and inspired questions, and to Elliott Bay and Tasveer for hosting this beautiful event.
Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural in World Literature Today
World Literature Today shared two chapters from my new translation of THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, released on Tuesday from Beacon Press: “The Glory of Rain” and “The Greatness of Letting Go.”
You can read the excerpts on their website:
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/words-thought/tiruvalluvars-tirukkural-excerpt
Dashes Where Music Flows In: A Kural Conversation with Eric Lane Barnes
Letting Go and Listening to What Comes
With writer, composer, and music director extraordinaire Eric Lane Barnes I was delighted to explore the music of compassion and the quantum physics of creativity around three verses from THE KURAL.
Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:
- How Eric chose the three verses he set to music for the InkAloud event at Town Hall Seattle: 4:45
- Melody for “Those who let go embody grace”: 8:52
- Melody for “Giving to those with nothing is giving”: 10:08
- Melody for “Those who stand firm in knowledge and possibility”: 12:10
- The art of juxtaposition: 21:45
- Dashes and the music of language: 30:55
Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:
Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston