Translation: Enabling Indian Literature’s Global Outreach

By

Randeep Wadehra

Literature is a meaningful reflection on a people’s cultural state of affairs. Since it holds up a mirror to the society, its role becomes multi-dimensional. First and foremost, it plays the role of a chronicler of the contemporary times, even if such chronicles have been embellished with imagination and there is an element of fictionalization. Our ancient literature – both written and oral – like Vedas, Puranas, the two Epics (in their various versions), Shrutis, Smritis, etc could be cited as the most cogent examples. Let us not forget that historical records – as we understand them today – were seldom maintained by our ancestors. Yet, it speaks volumes for their civilizational vibrancy that a whole range of literary genres was produced in the form of allegories, stories, poetry and plays etc. While reconstructing ancient India’s history these proved to be invaluable resources for researchers and scholars. Moreover, literature plays on the society’s collective psyche – nudging it to introspect over various ills that might have crept in over a period of time. In this regard Urdu protest poetry could be cited as an excellent example; for example Sahir Ludhianvi’s poems like Jinhey naaz hai Hind per vo kahaan hain... Then, Ismat Chughtai, Sadat Hassan Manto, Munshi Premchand and countless other Urdu/Hindi writers provided social critique through their works even as they molded popular attitudes in the country.

However, over the last few decades, literature is no more region-specific in its reach and treatment. Globalization has facilitated easy access to works of thinkers and writers from other parts of the world. True, Russian writers have had a great influence on our Leftist political movement even as the general trend towards humanism and egalitarianism was strengthened socially. But, at the same time, the western, especially American and British, literature – both serious and popular varieties – has been making its presence felt for a long time now. It is not just the comics but a whole range of serious and quasi serious works that have entered our reading rooms thanks to technology as well as the growing number of foreign publishers in India. Names like Noam Chomsky, Wendy Doniger, Eric Hobsbawm, Ayn Rand, Dan Brown, Robert Penn Warren, Ernest Hemingway etc have become quite familiar to Indian readers even as the presence of old favorites like Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky, William Shakespeare et al abides, courtesy various plays, adaptations, translations etc.

The famous Hindi litterateur, Kamleshwar, had translated the German dramatist, director and poet Bertolt Brecht’s Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis (The Caucasian Chalk Circle) into Hindi. In fact, Russian literature came to us through English translations, as did some of the French, Latin American and East European works. This brings us to the importance of translation as a means of promoting local literature at the global level. It is often said that had not Tagore’s Gitanjali been translated into English there was every chance that Gurudev may not have won the Nobel Prize. Therefore, there is a need for translating Indian works into English in order to reach out to global readership. However, it is true that a significant corpus of our Sanskrit literature – especially the Vedas, Puranas, and the two Epics – have been translated into all major languages of the world. Although the trend is still tepid but there have been distinct efforts in publishing English translations of Indian works. In 2005, the Sahitya Akademi had published Shiv Batalvi’s iconic Loona which was translated into English by BM Bhatta. Similarly, in January 2012, Harper Collins had published the English translation of Nanak Singh’s novel Adh Khidya Phul.

Among other prominent works translated into English are:

1. Thakazi Sivasankara Pillai’s Chemmeen (Malayalam), translated by Anita Nair and published by Harper Collins;

2. Upendranath Ashk’s Sorrow of the Snows translated by Jai Ratan and published by Harper Collins;

3. Ilanko Atikal’s 5^th century Cilappatikaram (Tamil), translated by R. Parthasarathy and published by Penguin;

4. Shrilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari (Hindi) translated by Gillian Wright and published by Penguin; and

5. Rahi Masoom Raza’s Aadha Gaon (Urdu) translated by Gillian Wright and published by Penguin.

The list is by no means complete. However, given the vastness of our rich literary traditions, it would need a more concerted effort on a greater scale to translate Indian language works into English and other world languages so that the world may have a better idea of the Indian civilization’s cultural, especially literary, quotient. Towards this end, the state as well as central governments can set up a system that encourages quality translations. The investment in this field is bound to pay rich dividends in the form of greater visibility to the entire spectrum of India’s literary heritage, even as the country’s image gets embellished further as a land where the ancient and the modern amalgamate in order to mould a better world.