This document presents a paper by Payal Bambhaniya and Pooja Bhuva that explores A.K. Ramanujan's approach to translating classical Tamil poetry into English, focusing on the cultural and linguistic challenges involved. Ramanujan emphasizes that effective translation involves capturing intertextuality and the intricate web of relationships within Tamil poetry, advocating for the translation of clusters of poems to convey deeper meaning. The paper concludes that while perfect translations may be impossible, those that convey the essence of the original work have value as creative endeavors.

1. Presented at:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi,
Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
On Translating a
Tamil Poem
- A. K. Ramanujan
Paper: Comparative Literature
& Translation Studies
Date: 12 January 2024
Presented by
Payal Bambhaniya
Pooja Bhuva

2. ● Name: Payal Bambhaniya
● SID: 4069206420220002
● Batch: 2022 - 2024
● Semester: 4
● E-Mail: payalbambhaniya92@gmail.com
● Name: Pooja Bhuva
● SID: 4049206420220005
● Batch: 2022 - 2024
● Semester: 4
● E-Mail: poojabhuva2002@gmail.com
Presenter
s

3. Abstract
● This paper explores A. K. Ramanujan's approach to translating classical Tamil poems
into English, acknowledging the challenges of bridging linguistic and structural gaps
between Tamil and English.
● Ramanujan highlights the intricacies of Tamil poetry, emphasizing the interconnected
relationships, landscapes, and cultural elements within each poem.
● He suggests that successful translation involves capturing these connections through
layers, resembling circles within circles.
● The article discusses the specific challenges faced in translating the classical Tamil poem
"Ainkurunuru 203," emphasizing the importance of understanding cultural context and
advocating for translating clusters of poems to convey intertextuality and systematic
patterns.
● Despite acknowledging the impossibility of a perfect translation, Ramanujan argues that
if a translation effectively conveys the essence of the poem across languages, it
becomes a valuable creative work.

4. Key Points
● Translation Challenges
● Translation Difficulties
● Units of Translation
● Interconnected Web of Tamil Poetry
● Tamil Poetic Tradition
● Clusters in Translation
● Mimicking Structural Figures
(Open AI)

5. Key Arguments
● How does one translate a poem from another time, another culture and another
language?
● This paper doesn't just talk about the interesting life story of this writer. It also explores
the process of translating old Tamil poems into modern English.
● In which way can we Translates the Poem?
● What are the units of Translation?
● When we translates, one is translating not only Tamil, its Phonology, grammar and
semantics, but this entire intertextual web, this intricate yet lucid second language of
landscape which holds together natural forms with cultural ones in a code, a grammar, a
rhetoric, and a poetics.
● A Tamil poem is like a part of a big, connected web that includes family, surroundings,
and a specific style. When translating, it's important to show these relationships and
connections through different layers, like circles within circles.
● What helps Translator to Translate?
● (This Article is divided into three parts.)

6. Part
1
● In the first part of the Article A. K. Ramanujan discussed translating the
classical poems of Tamil which are forgotten over time by the poets.
● He started this journey of discussion by quoting the
idea of Frost, that He identified Poetry as that which is
lost in Translation. (Robinson)
● He said that The chief difficulty of translation is its
impossibility.
● To understand it we have to first look into the sounds;
old Tamil has six nasal consonants: a labial, a dental, an
alveolar, a retroflex, a palatal and a velar.
● Further, he compares these Elements of Grammar with
English and it’s impossible to translate Phonology of
language into that of another.

7. Part
….1
● Tamil syntax is mostly left branching and English is Rightward, Tamil sentence
is a mirror image of the English one.
○ The man who came from Michigan (English)
○ Michigan-from come-[past tense]-who man (Tamil)
● Translators try to keep the beauty of poetry when changing it into another language.
They use different tricks to make sure it still sounds rich and nice in English, even when
the original poem has fancy and well-structured sentences.
● Tamil Classical Poem divided into two terms: Interior (Akam) and Exterior (Puram)
● The classical Tamil poetic tradition maps its five (hills, seashore, agricultural areas,
wastelands and pastoral fields) iconic regional landscapes - named for native plants -
into a rich symbolic taxonomy structuring poetry genres representing specific moods,
times, seasons, loves and wars.
● Thus, a language within a language becomes the second language of Tamil Poetry.
● He ended the first part by quoting Wilhelm Humboldt that ‘an infinite use of finite
means’.

8. Part
2
● A closer look at the original of Kapilar's poem, ‘Ainkurunuru 203’ ( What She Said ) .
○ Annay-Mother-Friend
○ Waterholes-Animals Drinking Place
● He still could not bring the word ‘sweeter’ (iniya) into the middle of the poem as the originals
does.
● The poem is a Kurinci Piece , about the lovers' first union, set in the landscape.
● The poem speaks of the innocent young woman's discovery of sex, in the hills, with her man.
● Mood and Purpose of Poem:
○ Great Wonder-Life's Goodness
○ Sadness-Persuade the Lover to marry her
● Ten poems in the anthology, Ainkurunuru, are part of a hundred of the theme of kurinci by a
single great poet, Kapilar.
● All the poems of a landscape share the same set of images and themes, but use them to make
truly individual designs and meanings.
● Any single poem is part of a set , a family of sets, a landscape, a genre . Translator has to
translate each poem in ways that suggest these interests, dialogues, and networks.

10. Part 3
Universals
Interiorised
Context
Systematicity
Structural
Mimicry
What help Translator
to translate?
● Universals of structure in both
signifier and signified are crucial
for understanding how languages
work and what they mean in
different cultures.
● As Voltaire said of God, we would
have to invent them if such
universals did not exist.
● Classical Tamil poems
encapsulate the culture that
produced them.
● To fully understand these
poems requires studying the
intertextual web of
commentaries and grammars
that contextualize and interpret
them over time.
● Classical Tamil poetry forms highly
systematic bodies of work where
poetic elements interconnect
within a master code.
● Rather than translating individual
poems alone, it is best to translate
clusters that shed light on each
other, so the intertextuality allows
the translator to represent the
conceptual world these works
create.
● The most important task of the
translator is to mimic the unique
structural figures of individual
poems to convey relationships
rather than isolated items.
● Though a translation may not
perfectly represent the original, if
it succeeds in carrying the essence
of the poem across languages, it
has value as a separate creative
work.

11. Conclusion
● In conclusion, translating classical Tamil poems into modern English, as discussed by A. K.
Ramanujan, is a challenging process that extends beyond language.
● It involves capturing the intricate web of cultural and natural elements through phonology,
grammar, and semantics.
● Ramanujan underscores the complexity of Tamil poetry, where each poem is a part of a
connected web, suggesting that translation should reveal these relationships in layers,
resembling circles within circles.
● Acknowledging linguistic challenges, such as sounds and syntax, Ramanujan emphasizes
the impossibility of a perfect translation.
● Ramanujan recommends translating clusters of poems to capture the systematic and
intertextual nature of classical Tamil poetry.
● In the end, he said that While recognizing that a translation may not perfectly replicate the
original, it asserts that if it successfully conveys the poem's essence across languages, it
holds value as a distinct creative work.

12. References
● Open AI. "Chat GPT-3.5"
● Ramanujan, A. K. “On Translating a Tamil Poem”. The Collected Essays of A.
K. Ramanujan, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2013, pp. 219-231.
● Ramanujan, A. K. Poems of Love and War. Columbia University Press, 1985.
● Ramanujan, A. K. The Interior Landscape. Indiana University Press, 1967.
● Robinson, Peter. "What Is Lost?" Poetry and Translation: The Art of the
Impossible. Liverpool University Press, 2010. 23-47.

13. THANK YOU!
Do you have any Questions?