சனி, 9 டிசம்பர், 2017

இரண்டாவது அனைத்துலகத் திருக்குறள் மாநாடு


இரண்டாவது அனைத்துலகத் 
திருக்குறள் மாநாடு

                      SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
    THIRUKKURAL AS AN ETHICAL CORPUS OF UNIVERSAL APPEAL
  27 – 29 June 2018

                                                      Theme
ThirukkuRal beyond the frontiers of Tamil India

                                                     venue

Andrew Walls Centre for the Study of African and Asian Christianity
                                               Liverpool Hope University
                                                      Taggart Avenue
                                                    Liverpool L16 9JD
                                                            England


                                                    Jointly organized by
                      Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai, India
                   Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England
         International Tamil Diaspora Association (INTAD), Mauritius
            International Institute of Tamil Culture and Civilization, Illinois, USA 
                        Tamil League and  Murugan Foundation, Mauritius
                                   Christhava Tamilkoil, New York, USA.
        To our dear Learned Friends,
We have great pleasure in inviting you to the Second International Conference on Thirukkural to be held at Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England from 27th to 29th June 2018.
THE QUINTESSENTIAL TAMIL ANALECTS
Thirukkural, composed by Thiruvalluvar, some 2,000 years ago, in classical Tamil, has acquired over the ages the status of scriptural authority as a canon informing the behaviour of Tamils in their day-to- day interpersonal relations all over the world. Every Tamil can recite from memory at least few Kural-couplets appropriate to his/her situation. The Tamils do not dispute the pride of place Thiruvalluvar occupies in their heart and esteem. Despite his humble origins, Thiruvalluvar reigns supreme as the foremost poet and philosopher of the Tamils.  
Thiruvalluvar’s epigrammatic sayings relate a person’s social, political and domestic life and duties. In this regard, it ranks equal to Confucius’ Analects or Seneca’s Epistulae Morales. Thiruvalluvar drew his insights on human behavior from the prevailing contexts of his society. Today it represents the collective consciousness of the Tamil at that time and, to a great extent, to our present day. Hence, it still occupies among the didactic literature of the Tamils the most eminent place. It is rightfully hailed as a universal book of wisdom par excellence. It continues to offer ethical precepts for the development of character of all Tamils. Therefore, it transcends claims by a particular religious group (e.g., Jains, Buddhists, Saivites, Vaishnavites, Christians and the like) and promotes peaceful co-existence.


THE IDEAL MAN: CĀṈṞŌṈ, JÜNZI, L’ETRE SUPERIEUR
Scholars have compared the nature and teachings of Thirukkural with the biblical book on Proverbs, the ethical corpus of Greek traditions, the rich Confucian gnomic heritage and the holy texts of Buddhism and Jainism. The Thirukkural is almost in its entirety secular in nature, and it is not otherwise biased. It is noteworthy that this monumental legacy of humankind does not name any god or goddess. Nevertheless, its author Thiruvalluvar was religious in his own way. He weaves his entire text around Cāṉṟōṉ, a conceptual realisation of an ideal superman, who embodies five noble qualities such as love, truth, compassion, good judgment and the upholding of character devoid of blame. The god or goddess in the Thirukkural is the paragon of Virtue or Righteousness, popularly designated by the Tamil term Aram.  Aram is the presiding deity in this great work and Cāṉṟōṉ the sought-after être, the Jünzi of the classical Chinese Canon of Change. As such, Thirukkural enjoys the reputation of being the only book on moral precepts expressed in felicitous words. When quoted in Tamil, its euphonic cadences and alliterative mnemonics stand out. Its tenets transcend ethnic, linguistic, religious, and national boundaries, and radiate a global appeal.
STURCTURE AND LITERARY CONVENTION
This enduring Tamil classical writing comprises 1330 couplets that are divided into 133 themes, each of which contains ten couplets and shows at least ten ways of elaborating the same theme. This work treats three major topics: the Aratthuppal (On Virtue, 380 couplets), Porutpal (On Wealth Management in a Princely State, 700 couplets), and Kamatthuppal (On Pre-and-Post Marital Carnal Love, 250 couplets). Each couplet is composed in strict agreement with the classical Tamil prosodical meter known as kuratpa.
Thirukkural deals with the typical internal and external (akam and puram) aspects and modes of life in Tamil classical poetry, conventions especially en vigueur during the early Sangam Period. The first section on aram concerns itself with the lives and duties of the householder and the ascetic. Its second section treats responsibilities of human beings in their societal life, particularly in a princely kingdom. This realm belongs to the puram category. Its third section engages with kamam and presents the emotional and/or sexual relationship between a man and a woman during their premarital and wedded phases. This section is an example for the akam type.
                                   INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES
GLOBAL APPEAL
The universal appeal of the Thirukkural has attracted Asian scholars and numerous European missionaries to our shores, and they have translated it into almost all the major languages of the world. While the German Lutheran missionary Ziegenbalg introduced this great classic to his patrons in Germany in 1708, the Italian Jesuit missionary Beschi has translated it into Latin in 1730.   Scholars of international repute, including the Nobel laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and great leaders like Mahatma  Gandhi   have   showered  praise on this unique masterpiece. Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote: “ There hardly exists in the literature of the world a collection of maxims in which we find so much of lofty wisdom”.
Mahatma Gandhi described it as “a text book of indispensable authority on moral life…/… the maxims of Valluvar have touched my soul. There is none who has given such a treasure of wisdom like him”. Gandhiji, it might be worthwhile recalling, came to know about Thirukkural from Leo Tolstoy, who had said that the concept of “non-violence” was taken by him from a German version of the Kural. Monsieur Ariel calls it “ a masterpiece of Tamil literature, one of the highest and purest of expressions of human thought”. Subramaniya Bharathi, the gifted Tamil poet of Indian Independence struggle repute, considered the Kural as the foremost gift of the Tamil population to humanity at large.
OBJECTIVES of the CONFERENCE
With a view to studying the Thirukkural from an unbiased international perspective and to promoting rigorous academic research on this sacred opus majeur, we have decided to organize this Second International Conference on Thirukkural with the participation of scholars from all over the world. The first international conference held in Nagarkovil in 2017, and the present international conference to be held in Liverpool in 2018 will form a prelude to the global conference which we are planning to organize in Paris in 2020 with the collaboration of the UNESCO.
                        

Tentative areas of academic deliberation
 The 50 general topics broached here, tentatively, are brought under the following six broader headings or areas of studies. They form general topics for all the intenational Thirukkural conferences planned by the organizers.

 I.  Thirukkural and the early corpus of Ethical Literature.
1.    Evolution of Didactic Literature with focus on Thirukkural.
2.    Thirukkural and Early Hebraic Literature.
3.    Thirukkural and Early Chinese Literature.
4.    Thirukkural and Hesiod’s Works and times.
5.    Is Thiruvalluvar comparable to Plato and  Aristotle ?
6.    Thirukkural and Stoic philosophy.
7.    Thirukkural and early ethical works in Sanskrit.
8.    Thirukkural and Buddhist ethics.
9.    Thirukkural and Jain ethics.
10.  Thirukkural and the ethics of Ajivakam philosophy.
11.  Thirukkural and Christian ethics.
12.  Thirukkural and the ethics of Islam.
13.  Thirukkural and the ethics of the Sangam society.
14.  Thirukkural in the light of other ethical works in Tamil literature.
15.  Thiruvalluvar and Vemana (Telugu) – a Comparative study.
16.  Thiruvalluvar and the ethical corpus of Kannada Literature.
17.  Thirukkural as the scripture of the Tamils.
18.  Love as the cardinal principle of the universe from the
       point of  view of Thirukkural.

  II  Thirukkural in Translation
    1.   Thirukkural and the European missionaries.
2.    Thirukkural in European Languages
3.    Thirukkural in Asian (non-Indian) Languages
4.    Thirukkural in  Indian Languages.
5.    The problems in translating Thirukkural into other languages.
III  Thirukkural and other Disciplines
1.    Thirukkural and Commerce
2.    Thirukkural and Politics
3.    Thirukkural and Education
4.    Thirukkural and moral values
5.    Thirukkural and Medicine.
6.    Thirukkural and Leadership qualities.

VI   Thirukkural and Historical Studies
 1.    Influence of Thirukkural on Medieval Tamil Literature.   
2.    Influence of Thirukkural on Modern Tamil Literature.
3.    Influence of Thirukkural on World Literature.
4.    Thirukkural and Albert Schweitzer.
5.    Thirukkural and Mahatma Gandhi.
6.    Thirukkural and Indian Social Reformers.
7.    Thirukkural and Social Justice.
8.    Thirukkural from the perspective of the poets of Thiruvalluvamalai.
9.    Thirukkural and its commentators.
10.  The Birth place of Thiruvalluvar.
11.  The Age of Thiruvalluvar.

V   Thirukkural and Modern Society   
1.    The Ideal Life envisaged in Thirukkural.
2.    Thirukkural and its relevance to modern society.
3.    The World vision or cosmovision of Thiruvalluvar.
4.    The possible impact of Thirukkural in coming ages.
5.    The ideal man Cāṉṟōṉ as visualized in Thirukkural- A
       comparative perspective

VI   Literary Merit
1.   The Literary value of Thirukkural.
2.   Thirukkural and its poetic style.
3.   The prosody of the couplets of Thirukkural.
4.   Thirukkural and God.
5.   Thirukkural and the corpus of poetry on sexual love.
The thrust area of the Second International Conference
The main focus of the Second International Conference is on the efforts of scholars of non-Tamil origin living in various countries as well as the migrated Tamils to the Tamil Diaspora countries,  for the promotion of Thirukkural studies as well as the promotion of Thirukkual knowledge. We will have many papers about the contributions of missionaries and civil servants of various countries as well as the  Tamil Diaspora who are taking good efforts to promote Thirukkural studies in their countries of domicile. We will have papers which make systematic  country wise survey of all these efforts and review studies on them. A very tentative list of the areas is given below:
1.       Thirukkural Translation and studies by the European Missionaries and civil servants
2.       Thirukkural Translation and studies in other states of India- A survey.
3.       Thirukkural Translation and studies by East Asian scholars
4.       Thirukkural Translation and studies by South Asian scholars
5.       Thirukkural Translation and studies by South East Asian scholars
6.       Thirukkural Translation and studies in the Gulf countries
7.       Thirukkural Translation and studies in North America
8.       Thirukkural Translation and studies in the African countries
9.       Thirukkural Translation and studies in other countries
10.     A review on the contributions of European scholars to Thirukkural Studies
11.     A review on the contributions of Asian scholars to Thirukkural Studies
12.     A review on the contributions of the scholars of the Americas to   Thirukkural Studies
13.    A review on the contributions of the scholars of the African countries  to Thirukkural Studies

Participation in the Conference
We request you to kindly participate in this momentous event either as paper presenters or observers. Paper presenters need not confine their studies only to the general topics listed above. They can also present papers on any other topic related to Thirukkural with a focus on the thrust area of the present conference namely Thirukkural beyond the frontiers of Tamil India.
Paper presenters are expected to submit the abstract of their papers before the middle of January, 2018. Their full paper should reach the organizers before the end of February 2018. The size of the research paper shall be from 10-15 pages depending upon the availability of data and  their interpretation. Papers should be sent by both hard and soft copies. The form for registration is enclosed herewith for your early action.
We look forward to your active co-operation for the successful hosting of this significant Conference.

A Note on Tamil Language
Tamil is not just the principal language spoken in Tamilnadu, nor is it a language confined within the Indian sub-continent; it can lay claim to the fact of being an international language enjoying official status in three different countries, namely: (the Tamilnadu of) India, Singapore and Sri Lanka. It is spoken by more than 25 million Tamil diaspora of Indian and Sri Lankan origin residing in more than 65 different countries all over the world, in addition to being the mother-tongue of a vast population of around 80 million people living both in Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka.
About the Venue of the Conference                                                                                              
Liverpool Hope University is a Christian foundation dedicated to train women and men to jointly build a civil society. Its foundations go back to 1844. Its academic and research endeavour to instill the values of beauty, goodness, justice and search for truth. Faculties of Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Education comprise this University. The university is interested in the total welfare and development of individual students. The Andrew Walls Centre for the Study of African and Asian Christianity is one of its main research Centres. It promotes critical analysis of Christianity along with its reception and accommodation in Africa and Asia. It trains doctoral researchers and offers excellent resource materials for researchers who seek to study the socio-cultural and religious settings in Africa and Asia. It creates forum for concerned academics and researchers who wish to engage in mutual dialogue on any theme that will work towards a better future for all.







The nearest airport is Manceser International Airport (airport code: MAN). Trains, buses, and taxies are available from this airport to Liverpool City Centre. For travel directions from Liverpool City Centre to Hope Campus, please see the above mentioned map.
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                                     International Advisory Committee
Prof. R. E. Asher                                               Scotland
Dr. T. Alexis Devaraj Marc                             France
Dr. Sunder Devaprasad                                  United States of America
Dr. Francis S. Muthu                                       United States of America
Dr. N.Ganesan                                                 United States of America
Mr. Albert Fernando                                      United States of America
Dr. Siva Pillai                                                   London                
Mr. Ken Kangeyan                                         London
Tan Sri Kumaran                                            Malaysia
Datuk Dr. Dennison Jayasooriya                 Malaysia
Mr. C.M Elanttamil Maruthi                        Malaysia
Dr. S.S. Sarma                                                 Singapore
Dr. Seethalakshmi                                         Singapore
Dr. Subramaniyan Natesan                         Singapore
Dr. Gregory James                                         Hongkong
Ven. Dr. Young Ho Lee                                 South Korea
Mr. Yang, GiMoon.                                       South Korea
Dr. Masakazu Kono                                      Japan
Ms. Asami Isamu                                          Japan
Dr. Cyril Veliath                                            Japan
Mr. Thajudeen                                             Qatar
Mr. T. Thangamani                                     Oman  
Dr. Nares Surasith                                       Thailand
Mr. Solai Thiagarajan                                 Myanmar
Dr. A. Sanmugadas                                      Srilanka
Dr. Nilamegame                                           Reunion
Dr. Chanemougame Selvam                      Reunion
Dr. Chandrika Subramaniyan                    Australia
Ms. Vijalakshmi Masilamani                     Saudi Arabia
Dr. Gunasekharan Dharmaraja                 South Africa
Dr. Ulrike Niklas                                           Germany
Ms. Diana Motyovszki                                Hungary
Dr. Kumar Punithavel                                 Canada
Dr. Nagarasa Iyer Subramaniam              Canada
Prof. Brenda E. Beck                                   Canada
Prof. Alexander Dubianski                        Russia
Mr. Slawomir   Bubicz                                Poland
Mr. Kalayarasan                                          Netherlands
Mr. Kandasamy Parthipan                        Switzerland
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                    INTERNATIONAL   CO-ORDINATORS

Prof. Armoogum Parsuramen                                      Dr. Daniel Jeyaraj                                                                Dr. John Samuel
President                                                                               Professor of World Christianity                                   Founder-Director,
International Tamil Diaspora                                      Liverpool Hope University                                              Institute of Asian Studies                                                                              Association (INTAD)                                                         Liverpool                                                                                Chennai
Mauritius                                                                               England                                                                                    India                                                                                                                                       

                                       
                       
                        Members of the Organizing Committee
Dr. Francis  S. Muthu  *  Dr.  Sunder Devaprasad  *  Dr. Marudanayagam  *  Dr. Muhilai Rajapandian
Dr. V. Murugan  * Dr. A. Chandra Babu * Dr. Gnanachandra Johnson * Dr. Y. Dennyson
Mrs. Indra Samuel * Dr. Siva Pillai * Mr. Ken Kangeyan *  Mr. Ponambalum
Mr. Samy * Mr. Sriskantha Rajah * Dr. Rajeswari * Mr. K. Aryaratnam

                                                Conference  Secretariat
     Institute of Asian Studies                                            Andrew Walls Centre for the Study of
     Chemmencherry                                                            African and Asian Christianity                                    
     Sholinganallur P O                                                         Liverpool Hope University
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     INDIA                                                                                Liverpool  L 16 9 ID, ENGLAND
     Telephone: 044 24501851, 044 24500831
      Mobile: 9840526834
      e mail: 
info@instituteofasianstudies.com
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