Religion Professor Steven Hopkins Wins Book Prize
Religion Professor Steven Hopkins Wins Book Prize
by Jacob Lewin '13
4/15/2010
 Steven Hopkins |
The South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies has awarded Professor of Religion Steven Hopkins the 2010 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation for his book An Ornament of Jewels: Love Poems for the Lord of Gods (Oxford University Press, 2007). An Ornament of Jewels is a collection of translations of the praise-poems of the 14th-century poet and philosopher Vendantadesika in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maharashrti.
The prize, awarded only once every two years, is named after A.K. Ramanujan, a South Indian philologist, folklorist, translator, and poet. Ramanujan "was a friend and a mentor, a deep and enduring personal influence on my academic life and scholarly direction," says Hopkins, "which makes winning this award for me all the more moving and meaningful."
Hopkins is currently working on two projects while on leave from the College, a comparative study of women's laments in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Greek literatures, and a translation of another of Vedantadesika's works. He joined Swarthmore's faculty in 1993.
