Soibam Rebika Devi (born 1976) is an Indian

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

who is best known for translating the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

into Meitei.

Biography

Soibam Rebika Devi was born in 1976 in

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

. She studied

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, obtaining her bachelor's degree in 1998 and master's degree in 2002 from the

Manipur University Manipur University () is a central university located in Imphal, Manipur, India. It was established on 5 June 1980, under the ''Manipur University Act, 1980'' (Manipur Act 8 of 1980), as a teaching cum-affiliating university with territoria ...

. In 2004–2005, she pursued a ten-month diploma course in

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

at the Southern Regional Language Centre of the

Central Institute of Indian Languages The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) is an Indian research and teaching institute based in Mysuru, part of the Language Bureau of the Ministry of Education. It was founded on 17 July 1969. Centres The Central Institute of Indian L ...

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

. She received her master of arts in linguistics in 2007 and master of arts in translation studies in 2010 from the

Annamalai University The Annamalai University (AU) is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. ...

. She received her doctorate in linguistics from the

Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, that was established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence sta ...

. She began her career as a high school teacher in Manipur. She is currently working as a resource person in the National Translation Mission, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Manasagangotri,

. She served as a resource person in the preparation of "A Semantically Classified Vocabulary: Tamil–English–Manipuri" and "Editing the manuscripts of Multimedia Materials prepared in twenty Indian languages," and has presented eight research articles. She has conducted a survey on Knowledge Text Scenario in Manipur, participating in workshops organized by National Translation Mission for the translation of Knowledge Texts into Meitei. In 2012, she completed the first ever translation of the

Kural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

into Meitei, which she made in prose form and was published by the

Central Institute of Classical Tamil The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) is a body established by the Government of India with a view to promoting the cause of Tamil language, Classical Tamil. It is located in Chennai. History The CICT was formerly known as the Centre ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. She took more than a year-and-a-half's time to complete the translation. It is considered the first ever translation of a Tamil work into the Meitei language. The translation was published by the

(CICT),

in 2012. The translation was part of CICT's project of translating the Kural into multiple languages including

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, Nepali,

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

and other Indian languages. The translation was officially released in

in March 2014 by the governor of

. In November 2014, the CICT planned to recite the Meitei translation along with translations in 9 other languages to commemorate the launch of the institution's Telugu and Kannada translations of the Kural text.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebika Devi, Soibam Tamil–Meitei translators Translators of the Tirukkural into Meitei 1976 births Living people Tirukkural translators 21st-century Indian translators Manipur University alumni People from Imphal

Biography

See also

References