In the history of world literature, Thirukkural, the magnum opus in Tamil, is one work of art that refuses to be tied down to any particular race, religion, land or culture. In an expansive body of 1330 verses that it contains, there is not even a single reference, direct or indirect, to the Tamil language or the Tamil people or the Tamil country that for sure nurtured its author's genius and that provided the milieu for such a work to be composed. It soars above diversities of nation, language, religion, race and culture and speaks for the entirety of humankind. Thirukkural is indeed the miracle of a literary composition where every god, every human trait, every virtue, every emotion, every deed, every relationship is universalized root and branch. Thirukkural by intent steers clear of identification with any particular doctrine, ideology or philosophy.
In essence, Thirukkural is much more than a humanistic document in a metrical garb. It is a masterpiece of world literature in which the poet, through his vast learning, the wisdom of the world and catholicity of temper, has identified things that are abiding and constant in the affairs of humanity and transmuted them into absorbing poetry as not many have accomplished in the history of world literature.
The present volume is a commendable translation of the elaborated book into Khmer by Thang Rou.
THANG Rou (b. 1990) is one of the sons of a farmer's family, born and raised in a big family of seven brothers and a sister. He started his childhood education in 1998 which was the last year of the civil war in Cambodia. After completing eleven years of education, he moved to the city (Siemreap) in late 2009 to pursue his higher education. In 2011, he enrolled in his undergraduate program and successfully accredited his bachelor's in English education in 2016 from the Cambodian Mekong University.
He is currently working as a freelance Khmer English translator, interpreter, and tourist guide in the Siemreap region.
Tirukkural is perhaps one composition in the entire world that is a perfect exemplification of what can unreservedly be described as a work of world literature. It is sui generis too, for while most classics, Western and Eastern, confine themselves to chosen spheres of life and direct their appeal to particular sections of humanity, here is Vaļļuvar soaring sky- high to be a citizen of the world twenty centuries ago: "The learned person can make every country and every town his/her own." (397) For him, as for no other cross-cultural contemporary of his, "All folks stand alike by birth." (972) Again, Tirukkural stands out unique in its universality of appeal and perspective. While most other books of the world have had their universality in parts, large and small, the Tamil classic's universality is total and absolute, an incomparable honour to the genius of the classical Tamil mind. Being so, Tirukkura/ truly symbolizes the very concept of world literature. Yet another unique dimension of this magnum opus in Tamil is that it is a unifier par excellence in the pan-Indian milieu. It doggedly refuses to be tied down to any particular race, religion, land or culture. Here is one couplet that proclaims the humanist foundations of the kural: To share one's meal and nurture the myriad life on earth / Stands foremost among virtues seen in the collected lore of the wise. (332) Tirukkural is indeed the miracle of a literary composition where every god, every human trait, every virtue, every emotion, every deed, every relationship is universalized root and branch.
In the history of world literature, Tirukkural, the magnum opus in Tamil, is one work of art that refuses to be tied down to any particular race, religion, land or culture. In an expansive body of 1330 verses that it contains, there is not even a single reference, direct or indirect, to the Tamil language or the Tamil people or the Tamil country that for sure sustained and nurtured its author's genius and that provided the milieu for such a work to be composed. It soars above diversities of nation, language, religion, race and culture and speaks for the entirety of humankind. Tirukkural is indeed the miracle of a literary composition where every god, every human trait, every virtue, every emotion, every deed, every relationship is universalized root and branch.
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