Guwahati: Tamil Sangam literature ‘Kuruntokai’ has been translated for the first time in Assamese by prominent poet and Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar recipient Bijoy Sankar Barman. Barman had succeesfully brought out the individualistic and collective conscience and life of a culture akin to the Assamese entity, eminent scholar Pradip Acharya said after releasing the bok here yesterday.
Expressing the view that translation is a difficult and painstaking venture, Acharya said the work as a pioneering venture prepared by a poet. The book was an outcome of Barman’s 10-year struggle to translate the pre-third century the Tamil classic comprising 60 poems along with detailed notes on tradition, themes and poets, he said. The book also has four articles by eminent Tamil scholar-translators Sahitya Akademi Award winner Prof M L Thangappa, Dr Nirmal Selvamony, Dr S A Vengada Soupraya Nayagar and Dr B Ravikumar.
Bijoy Sankar Barman said ‘Kuruntokai’ was an effort to build a bridge between the two cultures – Assamese and Tamil. Being one of the eight Tamil classics and one of the oldest and profound pieces of work in world literature, he said the Tamil classic was considered as an important piece of literature.
Barman is the recipient of the prestigious Munin Barkataki Award in 2007 for his debut collection of poems ‘Deo’ and has been recognised by Indian Express newspaper as one of the ten ‘Best Young Writers’ in 2012. (PTI)
