ABSTRACT

This chapter presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in this book. The book shows their familial, cultural, and even religious backgrounds, as well as their exposure to imperialism, shaped responses that were remarkably individual. Toru Dutt claimed a place as translator and gatekeeper of the Sanskrit tradition, appropriating what had been the purview of Western Orientalists and redefining its value and ongoing relevance on Indian terms. Sarojini Naidu's poetry invites her Western readers to see India as unified in feeling and in its cultural heritage, already implicitly a nation despite the Rajs determination to portray India's peoples as fragmented and incapable of self-government. The diversity of her poetic speakers, the musicality suggesting ties to an indigenous oral tradition, and her allusiveness to both Hindu and Muslim cultures collectively unified India's peoples as her literary contribution to cultural nationalism. Cross-cultural translation in the widest sense was a result of their literary efforts.