After Tirukkural, Japanese-American writer to translate Avvaiyar’s works to English

Faced with immediate difficulties in acclimating, Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma recalled an extraordinary teacher — K V Ramakoti — came to his rescue, teaching him spoken Tamil.
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
Updated on
2 min read

CHENNAI: For Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, the Japanese American who translated the Tirukkural to English, the journey to discovering Tamil and its literary treasures began when his dream of travelling to Mexico and learning Spanish under a fellowship, failed to materialise.

“I was devastated. It was a plan I had envisioned so deeply,” he said. His life took a turn when another opportunity came knocking — to teach spoken English and learn Tamil in Tamil Nadu during the late 90s — bringing him to Madurai.

Faced with immediate difficulties in acclimating, he recalled an extraordinary teacher — K V Ramakoti — came to his rescue, teaching him spoken Tamil. Ramakoti and his friends helped with his stay in a village near Madurai. “That decision turned out to be among the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life,” Pruiksma said.

He spent over a year in Valayapatti learning the culture, before returning to the US. “I learned to cook simple meals like sambar and rasam, and slowly became a part of the community. In hindsight, I realise that sometimes good things happen when we don’t get what we want, because we end up with something better,” he added.

In 2003, Pruiksma received a Fulbright scholarship that allowed him to come to Tamil Nadu again. While he had read the Tirukkural before, it was during this period that he delved deep into the seminal Tamil text on life and ethics. “I read the entire Tirukkural and several commentaries on it, including those by Parimelazhagar and Manakkudavar, and memorised 600 of my favourite verses. My teacher planted the idea of a literary translation of Tirukkural in my mind, although it took me 12 years to realise what he had suggested and take up the challenge.”

Pruiksma finally started work on translating the Tirukkural in 2016, working with Ramakoti in 2017 to refine it further. “I aimed not only to convey the ideas but also the poetic genius of the work including its rhythm, rhymes and silences.

A translation should capture the richness of the original, making it as compelling in another language as it is in Tamil,” he said, adding that this is what sets his translation apart from other versions of the most-translated Tamil literary work. While his English translation of Tirukkural is set to be translated in 10 other languages like Maori, Albanian, Scottish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Latvian, he started out by translating the works of Sangam poet Avvaiyar. Pruiksma translated 60 of his favourite poems and published it as a book named Give, Eat and Live: Poems of Avvaiyar.

Pruiksma is next working on a project to translate the entirety of Avvaiyar’s work during the Sangam period, including Moothurai, Aathichudi, Kondrai Vendhan and Nalvazhi. “Avvaiyar’s voice, especially as a female poet teaching language and life, is significant. I hope to bring out her voice in my translation,” he said.

He added that in order to take Tamil to the world, it is essential to support translators, who often face challenges of invisibility, low pay and limited recognition. Governmental and policy-level initiatives can encourage quality translations, making Tamil literature accessible globally.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com