Anuvāda Saurabham, a workshop on the theme ‘Translation in various Indian Languages’ was organised by the School of Linguistic and Literary Studies (LLS), Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth (CVV) in association with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (BBS), from 22 to 24 December 2022. BBS is a high-powered committee for the promotion of Indian Languages, constituted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
The objective of the workshop was to orient the participants towards the immense scope and significance of translation into Bhāratīya bhāṣas. When teaching-learning resources are made available in different languages, teaching and learning become even more effective. Learning through one’s own language firms up the process of understanding and assimilation. The workshop enabled participants to ascertain the current scenario in the field of translation, assess the associated challenges and limitations, appreciate related subtleties and nuances as well as notice interesting aspects in the domain.
The inaugural session began with a prayer by Samskriti Shastri (second year, BA Sanskrit). Dr. Sunitha Grandhee (Dean-Academics, CVV) delivered the welcome address and introduced the speaker. The Guest speaker Dr. Baldevanand Sagar (Gen. Sec. of Bharatiya Sanskrita Patrakaar Sangh, who has been broadcasting and translating Mann ki bāt in Sanskrit since May 2017) spoke on the contours of translation in Sanskrit. He highlighted the nuances of translation that focus on the essence of the original piece of writing namely, śabānuvāda and bhāvānuvāda.
This was followed by an icebreaker session conducted by Ms. Gayathri S. (Programme Officer, CVP and IKS Implementation Cell, CVV). Through various group activities, she made the participants get a feel of the beauty of listening to different languages and attempting to learn them.
The first technical session was by Dr. Thiagarajan (Former professor and head of PG and Research, Department of Sanskrit, Presidency College, Chennai) on the ‘Methods of Translation’. He underlined the significance of the competency level of the translators and the nuances of borrowing words in certain situations depending on the vocabulary of the target language. The second technical session was by Dr. L. Sampath Kumar (Assistant Professor & Head, School of LLS, CVV), on ‘Humour in Translation’. He narrated a few incidents to illustrate how humour is evoked when translations are not given due attention and how such mistakes could even be disastrous, at times.
The second day began with a session by Dr. M. Sudarshan Chiplunkar (Programme Director–MA Sanskrit and Assistant Professor, School of LLS, CVV) on ‘Challenges and Limitations in Translation with Emphasis on Kannada’. He stressed the importance of understanding the source work in its holistic sense and giving due consideration to the technical and cultural aspects. This was followed by a session on ‘Prospects and Pitfalls of Malayalam & Sanskrit Translations’ by Dr. Anil Narayanan (Programme Director (BA Sanskrit) and Assistant Professor, School of LLS, CVV). He deliberated upon the importance of aucityam (context) while translating. He also spoke on the notable technical challenges that are faced while translating in Sanskrit and Malayalam.
The next technical session was by Dr. Pavankumar Satuluri (Assistant Professor, School of LLS, CVV) on ‘Translating Technical Literature with Special Reference to Telugu’. He expounded on the definition of the term ‘translation’ with respect to expressing emotions or concepts from the source to the target language. He gave an activity on translating a portion of Telugu work (written in Sanskrit) into Sanskrit, to aid better understanding.
The concluding session of the day was by Prof. Gauri Mahulikar (Academic Director, Chinmaya International Foundation) on ‘Translation–Applied Perspective in Sanskrit, English and Hindi.’ She demonstrated with valid examples the need to follow the grammar of both languages, with a clear understanding of the cultural contexts as well. She gave exercises so that the participants would appreciate the related concepts and backdrop of translations.
The last day began with a group activity session on ‘Learning to Translate through Fun Activities’ anchored by Dr. L. Sampath Kumar. This was followed by a session by Dr. Ramulu (Former Professor at Osmania University, Hyderabad), on ‘Translation with Special Focus on Mahabharata in Telugu’. He talked about Mahabharata translated by Nalliah, Thikkana, and Yarrapragada in Telugu. The final technical session of this workshop was by Dr. S. Venugopalan (Professor of Sanskrit who has published various research papers and articles) on ‘Pañcatantra and Tamil Translation’. He elucidated on the background of Pañcatantra, giving a glimpse of the wonderful blend of administration and governance.
The Guest speaker for the valedictory session was Dr . T. V. Vasudeva (Deputy Director, The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai), who spoke on ‘My Experiences with Translations’. He spoke on the translation and trans composition of Sangam literature.
The workshop was organised by Dr. L. Sampath Kumar (Assistant Professor & Head, School of Linguistics and Literary Studies, CVV) who was the Local Coordinator, Dr. Anusha S. (Research Associate, CVV) who was the Joint Coordinator and Vaishnavi Valaboju (second year MA Sanskrit) who was the Student Coordinator.
MC
Day 1: Kavita Verma (fifth year, IM Advaita Vedanta).
Day 2: Alok Kumar (second year, BA Sanskrit) and Anjali Dwivedi (fifth year, IM Advaita Vedanta)
Day 3: Rupal Shukla (fifth year, IM Advaita Vedanta )