The
Study of Stolen
Love. Iṟaiyaṉār Kaḷaviyal. [rev. ed].
With Commentary by
Nakkīraṉār. Translated from Tamil by David C. Buck and
K. Paramasivam, RSAS no 9, Institut Français de Pondichéry,
2017, xxxv, 347 p.
Language:
English. 1000 Rs (43 €)*. ISBN: 978-81-8470-216-3.
The Study of Stolen Love, with Nakkīrar’s commentary, is the
earliest Tamil prose work still in existence, and its
influence remains clear and strong today. The work
consists of three strands: A series of ancient Tamil
sutras, Nakkīrar’s explication of those sutras, and
the elegantly beautiful ancient court poems he has
chosen to illustrate his points. In so doing he
lays out the prescribed conventions that govern the
composition and appreciation of akam, or
“interior” poems—often called ‘love’ poems—and their
literary contexts, as well as the critical apparatus
that has structured commentaries by classical Tamil
scholars down through the centuries, including the
current era. This translation was done collaboratively
by David C. Buck and the late K. Paramasivam, and
originally published in 1997. The revised edition
revisits notes from the first edition, and includes a
new Introduction that brings the work up to date and
places the Tamil original more firmly in its
historical context.
Keywords:
Iṟaiyaṉār,
Akapporuḷ, stolen love, Nakkīrar, Kaḷaviyal, sangam
About
the translators
David C. Buck has been translating Tamil works into
English since 1965. His publications include a number
of collaborations with the late Dr. K. Paramasivam,
including this translation of Iṟaiyaṉār Akapporuḷ
with Nakkīrar’s commentary, as well as a
significant amount of Sangam poetry. He has also
published a translation, with comments, of Tirukkuṟṟāla-k-
Kuṟavañci and a translation with notes of the Song
of Pāmpāṭṭi-c-Cittar. More recently he has
published a number of translations from contemporary
Tamil literature, most notably Tamil Dalit
Literature: My Own Experience in collaboration
with Kannan M. of the French Institute of Pondicherry.
David C. Buck is an Associate Professor Emeritus at
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in
Kentucky, USA.
K. Paramasivam, Ph.D. (Chicago), authored numerous
books and articles on Tamil language and linguistics
in both Tamil and English, as well as translating over
20 English classics into Tamil, but the real strength
of his legacy lies in the minds and hearts of his
many, many grateful students. He taught Tamil at
various colleges in Tamil Nadu, most recently and for
the longest period of time at the American College in
Madurai, until he became the head of the Tamil
language program of the American Institute of Indian
Studies in Madurai. He passed away in 1992.
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E-mail: library@ifpindia.org
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