ABSTRACT
Translation in India, as can be expected in a country with multiple and sophisticated language cultures, is ubiquitous and an everyday practice. The boom in translation of Indian-language literatures into English since the mid-twentieth century has encouraged a focus on the literary translation of Indian language literatures into English. Most comparative literary study is routinely undertaken in English, in which translations into English are taken for granted as if this were a transparent, neutral part of the process that simply allows scholars direct access into a language literature they themselves cannot read first-hand. Interestingly, an area of translation history that has received relatively more scholarly attention is that of the translation of sacred texts, which can serve as a useful model for literary study. Translations of religious texts are historic, innumerable, and have been undertaken across the language spectrum, some more obviously recognizable as ‘translations’ and others that are deemed creative reuses of another’s sacred poetics.
