Penguin to publish English translation of Kamban's Ramayana

July 30, 2024 01:38

Penguin Random House India on Monday announced the publication of the first complete multi-volume English translation of Kamba Ramayanam, a Tamil version of the epic Ramayana by 12th-century poet Kamban.

The monumental project, undertaken by six scholars and translators of the Tamil language, is expected to be released between 2028-30.

Widely considered as the Tamil literary tradition's greatest poem, Kamban's Ramayana is celebrated for its innovative use of language, the psychological depth of its characters, and its profound engagement with themes of power, truth, and divinity.

The six books of Kamban's Ramayana, consisting of 42,000 lines of verse, will be divided into seven volumes along with an introductory volume -- Volume 1: Bala, Volume 2: Ayodhya, Volume 3: Aranya, Volume 4: Kiskindha, Volume 5: Sundara, and Volume 6 and 7: Yuddha Part 1 and 2.

The team of noted scholars and translators include Shiv Subramaniam from Emory University, professor David Shulman from Hebrew University, professor Whitney Cox from University of Chicago, independent scholar Jennifer Clare, professor Archana Venkatesan from UC Davis and Aniruddhan Vasudevan from Princeton University.

"The 12th-century poet, Kamban, created a Tamil Ramayana in 10,000 verses, each of them a miracle. His work encompasses and gives voice to an entire civilisation, its landscapes, its people, its primary values, profound emotions, and visions of the world."

"We are thrilled that Penguin will be publishing an English translation of the entire text in individual volumes by a close-knit team of six translator-scholars. This will be the first complete, fully annotated, literary translation of Kamban into a Western language," professors Venkatesan and Shulman, who also serve as the volume editors and the authors of the introductory volume, said in a statement. -- PTI

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