Tamil Nadu governor calls English scholar’s Thirukkural translation ‘de-spiritualised version’

Calling ‘Thirukkural’ an epic that held the wisdom of “eternal spirituality”, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, on Thursday, accused Tamil scholar G U Pope of presenting a “de-spiritualised version” of the book while translating it into English.

Ravi accused Pope of translating with the colonial objective to “trivialise” the spiritual wisdom of India.

Ravi made the comments while unveiling a statue of saint-poet Thiruvalluvar, the author of Thirukkural, at the Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA) Senior Secondary School in Delhi. Ravi accused the British of attempting to destroy India’s great spirituality by distorting the history, culture and to colonise the people’s mind.

Thiruvalluvar, which has remedy for modern day problems of the world, is one of the brightest suns in the galaxy of ancient sages, the Governor said. According to him, Aadhi Bhagavan quoted in the first “Kural” (verse/poetic form) is found in all the Indian languages and this concept is part of Rig Veda.

“It is at the core of Indian spirituality. It is far from ‘Primal Deity’ as translated by colonial apologists. Missionaries like G U Pope who first translated ‘Thirukkural’ in English presented a de-spiritualised version of it. The translation was done with the colonial objective to trivialise the spiritual wisdom of India,” he said.

He also spoke about Tamil language and its literature which have given profound and timeless works such as ‘Tholkappiam’, ‘Silapathikaram’, ‘Manimegalai’, and many others.

“Tamil Siddar Tirumoolar’s ‘Thirumanthiram’ aged of about 3000 years before the Common Era tells all about spirituality and yoga,” the Governor said and urged everyone to shun the “colonial interpretation” of these books and experience their true essence.

‘Thirukkural’, penned by Thiruvalluvar, offers remedy or a piece of advice for every issue that the modern world encounters. Several politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, quote from this fine piece of Tamil literature often, he said