Methodology in Translating Pre-Modern Texts

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Strictly speaking, pre-modern should mean chronology which is contiguous with the European Renaissance; because Renaissance contains seeds of modernity in full measure. But the writers representing Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalm, Hindi and Urdu languages deal with the works upto nineteenth century and call them pre-modern texts. Since the advent of the colonial times are considered to be modern, by and large, this extension of the period is accepted as normal.

That seems to be the spirit with which translations are undertaken in each and every language. Ultimately, translation is a daring act. "Fortune favours the brave" is a dictum which applies to the business of translation as much as to any field of human transaction. The scholars of exceptional talent and experience have contributed their papers enriching the contents of this book thereby making it very enduring.

Dr. C. NAGANNA taught English for nearly two decades at the famous Maharaja's College, Mysore, before assuming Professorship of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies in the University of Mysore. As an author he has published several works in both English and Kannada which deal with history, Literary criticism and culture. Dr. Naganna is a Member of Kannada Advisory Committee of Bharatiya Jnanapith, Saraswathi Samman, Sahitya Akademi and Karnataka Sahitya Academy. He has been honoured with many prestigious awards for his literary contributions.

Strictly speaking, pre-modern should mean chronology which is contiguous with the European Renaissance; because Renaissance contains seeds of modernity in full measure. But the writers representing Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalm, Hindi and Urdu languages deal with the works upto nineteenth century and call them pre-modern texts. Since the advent of the colonial times are considered to be modern, by and large, this extension of the period is accepted as normal.

The following are the papers presented in a two-day Seminar on "Methodology in Translating Pre-Modern Texts" held by Sahitya Akademi's Centre for Translation in association with Kamala Nehru Memorial National College for Women at Shivamogga, Karnataka on 23rd and 24th October 2009. Dr. T.R.S. Sharma, the veteran scholar and translator has made a "phenomenological inquiry" into the process of translating pre-modern texts in Kannada. Analysing the difficulty involved in translating philosophical texts, he says, "In philosophical texts words are concept metaphors, they enjoy multiple referents. Or they might be terms with antithetical meanings". He is of the opinion that if one is not aware of the historical evolution of the concept in its philosophical tradition and culture one fails to do justice to his task as a translator. Quoting George Steiner's concept of polysemy, Dr.Sharma explains with illustrations how concepts like "Bayalu" and "Maya" have multiple meanings and the philosophical grasp is what is required in the context. He is interested in maximizing the problematic of translation to achieve which the source language and the target language must be alien and not cognate. Dr. Sharma agrees with Walter Benjamin when he (Benjamin) says, "The more ambiguous, indeterminate, even mystifying the text, the greater is its translatability". Dr. Sharma does not agree with Robert Frost when he says, "Poetry is what is lost in translation". In fact, he asserts that, poetry can be translated; what is lost is resonance, the essential intertextuality. Dr. Sharma goes a step further and declares that 'the simulacrum is the real, the 'afterlife' of the source. His invocation of Derrida places the business of translation in the right perspective: "The paradigm of the situation.......in which translation is both necessary and impossible."

Dr. M.A. Lalitha Kumari's essay "The Mythopoetics of Translation in Malayalam Literature: A Bricolage" deals with the earliest texts like Kautilya's Arthasastra (latter half of the 12th century) which are part of landmarks of Malayalam prose. Malayalam is enriched because of its contact with Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Syriac, Portuguese, Dutch, French and English. Vengyal Kunjirama Nayanar (1861-1901), Ambadi Narayana Poduwal (1871- 1936), Moorkoth Kumaran (1874-1941), C.V. Raman Pillai and E.V. Krishna Pillai (1894-1938) had models as British and American authors. Dr. Lalitha Kumari talks of Niranam Kavikal, namely Rama Panikkar, Madhava Panikkar and Shankara Panikkar who dealt with Ramayana, Bhagavatham, Bharatam and Sivaratri Mahatmyam. Then the translation by Christian missionaries is invaluable. The Bible translation in 1811, 1829 and 1841 yielded New Testament and Old Testament to the language. Archdeacon Koshy gives Pilgrim's Progress into Malayalam in 1847. Shakespeare's plays were translated between 1864 and 1894. Likewise, the earliest translation of fiction in Malayalam is from English and Bengali.