The late Tamil poet ‘Paavendhar’ Bharathidasan penned Thamizhukkum Amudhendru Per. Thanks to the Tamil Nadu government, the literary ‘amudhu’ of Bharathidasan with mature ideas soaked in the richness of Tamil language, could now be translated and served to the Arabic world living far away from the Tamil speaking society.
Associate Professor A. Jahir Husain, Head, Department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu in the University of Madras, has translated 50 poems of Bharathidasan into arabic. The book, made possible by a grant of the State government, was released recently. The grandson of late Bharathidasan and president of Bharathidasan Trust, Ko. Bharathi, has organised an event to release the book in Puducherry on April 29.
“I have selected poems that I thought would be suitable for the Arabic-speaking countries. I have chosen poems on themes such as nature, education, women rights, freedom, among others,” says Mr. Husain. He has earlier translated the Thirukkural, select poems of late poet Subramania Bharati and Avvaiyar’s Athichudi into Arabic too.
The poems he selected for translating into Arabic include Ulaga Otrumai (Unity of the World), Koodi Thozhil Seiga (Band Together in Work), Sudhanthiram (Freedom), Thozhilaalar Vinnappam, Puthaga Saalai (Library), Pathirikkai (Journal), Anbu (Love), Padi, Padi, Padi (Study! Study! Study!), Penn Kuzhanthai Thalaattu (Lullaby for a Female Child), Aann Kuzhanthai Thalaattu (Lullaby for a Male Child), among others.
Mr. Husain has been taking the translation project as a tool to strengthen the relationship between Tamil Nadu and Arab countries. He recalls that the translation of noted Tamil works into Arabic commenced about 15 years ago. Following an announcement in the Governor’s Address to the Assembly that the Thirukkural would be translated into Arabic, he was provided with a grant for the task. The work was supervised by the International Institute of Tamil Studies and was released in 2013.
Out of his personal interest, Mr. Husain presented 40 couplets from the Thirukkural in an international conference of Arabic poets in Saudi Arabia in 2015. “The couplets were received with great enthusiasm,” he recalls. In 2021, along with music director Taj Noor, the couplets in Arabic set to music was released in an audio format. Mr. Husain had also translated Avvaiyar’s Athichudi in 2015.
Mr. Husain has earlier translated the 25 poems of late Tamil poet Subramania Bharati into Arabic that were on the themes of education, women freedom, children, nature and patriotism. He chose Allah, Sudhanthira Payir, Thudikkindra Nenjam, Acham Illai, among others from the poems of the late poet Bharati. “I chose from the Srini Viswanathan Thoguppu,” recalls Mr. Husain.
