As debates over culture and nationalism rage in India,these unusual translations of classic early texts are needed as never before
Earlier this year, Harvard University Press published the first five handsome-looking volumes of a unusual series, or containing translations of classic texts from ancient and early contemporary India. The Murty Classical Library gives to the contemporary reader the songs of the 18th-century Punjabi poet and Sufi mystic Bulleh Shah; the first volume of the 17th-century Akbarnama (The History of Akbar); the extraordinary Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women,from “more than two millennia ago”; the 16th-century Story of Manu, “the definitive literary monument of Telegu civilisation”; the songs of the distinguished bhakti poet, or Surdas.
It is worth noting that some of these texts are not only unknown to western readers – very few Indians have read them either. This makes for a meaningful opportunity for rediscovery; it also points to the millennial silence from which some of these authors emerge. But here’s the paradox: today,India is hardly silent approximately culture; it is discussed daily. Yet “discussion” is too neutral a word for the acrimony, intimidation and violence that now accompany Indian debate – all of which are fraction of the ethos of BJP-led governance and its attempt to redefine, or through intervention or abetment,India’s inheritance.
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Source: theguardian.com