Pierre-Eugène Lamairesse (14 July 1817 – 17 April 1898) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

civil and mining engineer. A former student of the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, he was in charge of dams and other irrigation projects in Pondicherry and

Karaikal Karaikal ( /kʌdɛkʌl/, french: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. Karaikal was sold to the French by the Rajah of Thanjavur and became a French Colony in 1739. The French held control, with occasi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

between 1860 and 1866. He is best known for his translation of the Tirukkural and other ancient Indian works into

Early life

Lamairesse was born on 14 July 1817 in Châlons-en-Champagne,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was the youngest son of Jean-Baptiste-Cyprien Lamairesse, a farmer and member of the Agricultural Society of Châlons. He graduated from the

Career

During his stay in

, Lamairesse supervised many irrigation projects in Pondicherry and

between 1860 and 1866. With the help of the government in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, he transported a large collection of statues from several abandoned temples of the Tamil land, which were presented at the World Fairs of 1867 and 1878 and later offered to the Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology at Châlons-en-Champagne.

Literary works

A polyglot, he translated many South Indian works including the Tirukkural. His Kural translation was published in 1867. He also wrote on various subjects such as Japanese civilization, the

Koran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

, the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

, and the hydrology of

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and India. Towards the end of his career, he moved to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. His other translations include the ''Kamasutra'' (1891) and ''Prem Sagar'' (1893). He died on 17 April 1898 in Marengo (present-day

Hadjout Hadjout formerly Marengo during French colonization is a town and commune in Tipaza Province in northern Algeria, approximately 78km to the west of the capital Algiers. History In 1848, the village was named Marengo. In 1958, the commune beca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamairesse, Pierre-Eugène Tamil–French translators Translators of the Tirukkural into French 1817 births 1898 deaths Tirukkural translators 19th-century French translators

Early life

Career

Literary works

See also

References