Dear Prof Nataliya Yanchevskaya,

A propos your recent mail on texts on translation in Sanskrit, here is some information that may be relevant.

The term ‘anuvāda’ currently used in the Indian languages for translation, had a wider remit in  śāstra jargon, and was use for scholarly paraphrase or citation, and the denotation of translation for  ‘anuvāda’ is a semantic extension of this idea of paraphrase. Prof Radhavallabh Tripathi [currently at the Bhandarkar Institute, Pune]has recently written a treatise on the expanded notion of ‘anuvāda’ covering paraphrase, citation as well as translation. His book is in the sutra-bhāśya style, with an auto-commentary, as well as auxiliary ‘parikara-śloka-s’. I had occasion to see a partial draft of the book. You may contact Prof Tripathi if his book is of interest. Drop me a personal mail if you need his contact details.

I noticed that other members of the list had pointed out a few papers that reflect upon translation from Sanskrit. I add some more to that list.

Damrosch, D., 2008. What could a message mean to a cloud? Kalidasa travels West. Translation Studies, 1(1), pp.41-54.

Gopinathan, G., 2000. Ancient Indian theories of translation. Beyond the Western tradition, pp.165-173.

Nelson, B., 2011. Beyond free and literal: Translating a Buddhist text (Bodhicaryavatarapanjika) from Sanskrit. Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, The, 43, p.83.

O'Flaherty, W.D., 1971. A New Approach to Sanskrit Translation. Mahfil, 7(3/4), pp.129-141.

Ramanujan, A.K., 1991. Three hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translation. Many Ramayanas: The diversity of a narrative tradition in South Asia, pp.22-49.

Best,

Naresh Keerthi

Hebrew University, Jerusalem