School of Kural: Thirukkural’s Place among World Philosophies of Wisdom

I’m delighted to be speaking on a panel about The Kural at the Singapore Writers Festival. Here is a description of this multilingual discussion:

Written by the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, and translated into more than 40 languages, the Thirukkural is a classic book of Tamil wisdom poetry. Where is the place of the Thirukkural among world philosophies of wisdom? This panel session contemplates on what if the Kural had been a major school of thought along the likes of well-renowned philosophies from different parts of the world. How would, and could it have informed and changed the course of global history? Hear from speakers Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, Dr Azhar Ibrahim, and Chow Teck Seng who share the insights they glean from the Kural on universal ethics and morality and read and discuss translations of the Kural into Chinese, Malay, and English.

This programme is made possible with the support of the U.S. Embassy Singapore and co-presented with Poetry Festival Singapore.