Though slightly akimbo of your question (since it is genre specific), the Upaniṣads first made it into Latin through Anquetil-Duperron’s retranslation (1801-02; also into French but unpublished) of a Persian translation. The Aitareya Up. into English was Colebrooke in 1805. Anquetil-Duperron often enough gets credited with “the first religious text translated into a Western language” but clearly that isn’t the case. I was always taught Wilkins was the very first, but never investigated that myself.

 

Cheers,

 

s

 

 

-- 

STEVEN E. LINDQUIST, PH.D.
ALTSHULER DISTINGUISHED TEACHING PROFESSOR

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, RELIGIOUS STUDIES

DIRECTOR, ASIAN STUDIES

____________________

 

Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, SMU
PO Box 750202 | Dallas | TX | 75275-0202
Email: slindqui@smu.edu
Web: http://people.smu.edu/slindqui

 

 

 

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Nemec, John William (jwn3y) via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at 8:51 AM
To: Indology <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] earliest translations of Sanskrit or other Indian-language works?

[EXTERNAL SENDER]

Dear Indology Colleagues,

 

Speaking with a colleague, recently, who is not subscribed to this list, a question arose as to the first works translated from an Indian language into a Western one (including Dutch, Portuguese, Latin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, etc.).  

 

I am of course aware that Charles Wilkins rendered the Bhagavadgītā into English at a relatively early date, I believe in 1785.  I found reference to 1789 for William Jones's translation of the Abhijñānaśākuntala.  Before these there was a rendering (into Dutch and not first into Latin, though there was a dispute evidently over this fact) of Bhartṛhari's poems by Abraham Roger/Abraham Rogerius, posthumously in 1651.  

 

Could anyone provide more and/or better information about the history of the translation of Sanskrit texts and works of other Indian source languages into Western/European languages?

 

Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

John

 

 

______________________________

John Nemec, Ph.D. (he, him, his)

Professor of Indian Religions and South Asian Studies

Editor, Religion in Translation Series (Oxford University Press)

323 Gibson Hall / 1540 Jefferson Park Avenue

Department of Religious Studies

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA 22904

434-924-6716

nemec@virginia.edu