ABSTRACT
The chapter traces the various aspects involved in the process of Bible translation. The chapter, in two parts, asserts that translation – when it is good – excels itself and attains the level of creation. As for India, a global vision was born with the coming of Islam and Christianity. As no one single global language is available, translations were necessitated. In today’s literary perception when even ‘to read’ is equivalent ‘to write’ translation ascends to the primary level assuming the onus of making sense of our existence. Translators have to remain invisible and the translation has to be neutral. It has a design on the reader.
Totally non-vegetarian religions entering our partially vegetarian practices, the empire was forced to surrender to the colony in the non-violent struggle for independence. Bible translation acted as the masque of conquest – the unigod theology encountering the polygod local theology – even the bachelor god confronting married gods and goddesses with extended families. But the divine was the sufficient common denominator.
Terms in the vernaculars proved inadequate, necessitating Samskritized words and transliterated proper nouns. Monocultural originals passed through intercultural linguistic transformation into a multicultural battlefield. Triune God of Christianity misperceived the Thrimurthy concept; its iconoclasm diluted by the native iconism. Bible translation became the masque of conquest.
