Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

Kural 978: The Tirukkural on Humility and Greatness

A verse on how humbleness leads to greatness and how largeness of heart grows from humility.

978
Smallness adores and adorns itself—greatness
Is always humble

பணியுமாம் என்றும் பெருமை சிறுமை
அணியுமாம் தன்னை வியந்து

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.

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

Eric Lane Barnes is the author of the critically acclaimed Fairy Tales, which received several awards in Chicago and New York, with a run Off Broadway and in London’s West End. His show The Stops has played in cities across the US, winning “best musical” at the National Gay and Lesbian Theater Festival in 2006. His songs and larger works have been performed by choruses and theater groups all across the US and in Canada, Australia, the UK, France and Beijing. These days Eric has found great joy in providing music and directing choruses for numerous senior communities in the Seattle area, and is co-founder and ¼ of Seattle’s Most Fabulous Vocal Quartet, Princess Guy.

Eric Lane Barnes

Learn more about Eric on his website:
https://www.ericlanebarnes.com/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

30
Those who let go embody grace—they show
Compassion to all

அந்தணர் என்போர் அறவோர்மற் றெவ்வுயிர்க்கும்
செந்தண்மை பூண்டொழுக லான்

221
Giving to those with nothing is giving—all else
Expects a return

வறியார்க்கொன் றீவதே ஈகைமற் றெல்லாம்
குறியெதிர்ப்பை நீர துடைத்து

472
For those who stand firm in knowledge and possibility
No deed is undoable

ஒல்வ தறிவ தறிந்ததன் கண்தங்கிச்
செல்வார்க்குச் செல்லாத தில்

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber: Revered local poet and translator embraces a Tamil masterpiece

The translation of “The Kural: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural” has been years in the making.

Elizabeth Shepherd wrote a wonderful article about the launching of my new translation of the classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love, THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Kural 315: What good is knowledge if one doesn’t see the suffering / Of another as one’s own
In Tamil Nadu, in south India, verses from “The Kural” are emblazoned on city buses, including this example of verse 315.

You can read the complete article here:

Revered local poet and translator embraces a Tamil masterpiece

Kural 45: The Tirukkural on Home, Love, and Virtue

A verse on what makes a home flourish.

45
If a life at home has love and virtue—that
Is its root and flower

அன்பும் அறனும் உடைத்தாயின் இல்வாழ்க்கை
பண்பும் பயனும் அது

From chapter 5, “The Home Life.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

The South Asian Times: Translating Tamil classic Thirukkural for wider dissemination of its wisdom

Suchitra Srinivas recently interviewed me for the South Asian Times on my new translation of the classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love, THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Back row, left to right: Dr. K. V. Ramaktoi and Mrs. K. R. Padmavathi
Front row, left to right: Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma and Glenn J. Pruiksma
Photo: Aileen Pruiksma
November 1999

You can read the complete article here:

https://thesouthasiantimes.info/translating-tamil-classic-thirukkural-for-wider-dissemination-of-its-wisdom/