Sri Lankan diplomat translates Jairam Ramesh’s book into Sinhala
The book describes how the poem ‘The Light of Asia’, based on the life of the Buddha, inspired many personalities such as Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, BR Ambedkar and the Sri Lankan writer Anagarika Dharmapala
Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner Niluka Kadurugamuwa, who is a well-known translator of books, has translated Indian author and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s book ‘The Light of Asia: The poem that defined the Buddha’ into Sinhala.
The translated version, “Budusiritha Lowata Genagiya Maha Kavyaya: Asiyawe Alokaya”, was launched recently. This is the eighth translation by Kadurugamuwa, who is an award-winning translator.
“The Light of Asia: The poem that defined the Buddha” is a work based on extensive research and serves as a biography of the epic poem ‘The Light of Asia’ and its author, Edwin Arnold.
The book describes how the poem ‘The Light of Asia’, based on the life of the Buddha, inspired many personalities such as Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, BR Ambedkar and the Sri Lankan writer Anagarika Dharmapala.
The book also reveals how the poem was translated into more than 30 languages, including Sinhala, and inspired movements for social equality. The poem has also featured in music, dance, drama and cinema.
Ramesh is a member of the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka and was a Union minister during 2006-2014. He has authored several well-known books.
Kadurugamuwa is an officer of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service who has been serving as the deputy high commissioner in New Delhi since 2019. He won Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award for best translation of a novel into Sinhala in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
In the past, Kadurugamuwa has translated books such as Orhan Pamuk’s novel ‘The Red-Haired Woman’, Isabel Allende’s novel ‘Island Beneath The Sea’, Mario Puzo’s novel ‘Six Graves To Munich’, Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s novel In ‘Evil Hour’, and Amitav Ghosh’s ‘The Glass Palace’.
