Translation of Indian Literature

   

     India is a country that is repository of multiple linguistic forces. Along with its rich cultural history, India boasts of an equally vibrant literary history. Production of every genre, be it the epic form or the tragedy, poetry or the novel, India’s literary heritage is astounding by its sheer volume.

    Given this background, it is only natural and expected that translation works in close contact with Indian texts. Translation of Indian Literature has taken the form of adapting, accommodating and reinterpreting the original.

   Translation of Indian Literature is not only limited to a direct translation of works from one language to another. In the Indian context, this process is marked by a flux of movement, with multiple language sources, cultural nuances and regional minutiae coming together to form the translation. There would hardly be an Indian who speaks only one language. Similarly, it would be impossible to negate the abundance of translations of epics and sacred texts like the Mahabharata, Ramayana and so on. Translation, thus, became not only a process to amass readership but a means of education and awareness. Regional or folk renditions of well-known texts gave translation a performative aspect with their organic spontaneity.

The attitude to translation is very different in India as compared to the West. While in the latter, translation is a means of glossing over regional/linguist differences, to present a unified whole, in India it is a creative impulse, that catalyses the heterogeneity and effervescence of India. In recent past, translation within Indian languages has gained momentum. With the upsurge of inter-linguistic translation, the potential of Indian Literature to develop as a holistic resource of literary traditions is becoming a possibility. The more we look inwards into our own literature, the more we realize that our texts have used all the modern generic and stylistic traditions.

 

                                                                                                

With the growing enthusiasm of initiatives of institutes like the Sahitya Akademi, through translations, we are discovering even tribal and folk literature.

The only thing lacking is the availability of bilingual scholars who are able to take upon themselves the task of translation. What is required is not only linguistic competence, but also the necessary sensitivity and the cultural sensibility to be able to translate these texts in their full value.

                                           

One way to circumvent this problematic is through translation into English. English enable further divergent translations into various regional languages. Bilingual scholars with the expected competence in two regional languages are fewer than bilingual scholars who support English as one part of the pair. It is in this way that they are able to translate texts for easy consumption by the masses.

India approaches translation with the desire to recreate a new version of the past. Translation agencies in India are busy in providing quality translation services in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and in other parts. Translation does not necessarily entail authenticity in terms of vocabulary, but is a product of style and adaptability. With a rich tradition of adoptions, India’s translation history far precedes all its Western models. India has, and continues to, look at translation as a means of approaching a fuller version of the now, the present, through a prism-ic view of the past, that is received by us through translation.

By: TransLang Ways,  We provide translation services in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai India and worldwide.