Gains in translation

Manmatha Nath Dutt was one of India’s greatest translators, from Sanskrit to English (he also wrote other books).  He died in 1912.  Before 1914, there was no proper copyright legislation in India.  The present Copyright Act of 1957 was preceded by a Copyright Act of 1914.  Before that, the applicability of copyright legislation was tenuous, though British legislation (dating from 1911) existed. Stated simply, there was no copyright on Dutt’s works. The fact that his children lived in far-flung places (two were abroad) probably also meant no one was interested in pursuing copyright on his works.  Hence, some of his books were freely reprinted by other publishers. While I was writing his biography (Manmatha Nath Dutt, Translator Extraordinaire, Rupa, 2020), I discovered some of his books had been reprinted in first two decades of 20th century by Panini Office, Allahabad.  That’s how I came to discover a treasure-trove known as the Sacred Books of the Hindus series.  Most people know of the mammoth 50-volume Sacred Books of the East series.  From a Hinduism perspective, they covered the Vedas, Vedanta Sutras, Upanishads, Dharmashastras and parts of Satapatha Brahmana.  Because of my interest in translating Itihasa/Purana texts, I was especially interested in prior translations of the Puranas.

So I was delighted when I discovered the 32-volume Sacred Books of the Hindus series published by Panini Office.  These volumes were published in first two decades of 20th century and apart from the obvious (Bhagavat Gita, Upanishads, Dharmashastras), had translations of Garuda Purana, Matsya Purana, Shukra Niti, Shiva Samhita, Devi Bhagavatam and Adhyatma Ramayana.  These volumes have been part of my reading during the pandemic lockdown and they deserve better dissemination.

I shouldn’t give the impression that all books in the series are translations.  There were other books, too, on Hinduism.  In addition, I have been reading the Bibliotheca Indica, another series that deserves greater dissemination.  The Asiatic Society was established in 1784.  Before someone corrects me, there have been name changes.  It was originally established as the Asiatick Society, became Asiatic Society, changed to Asiatic Society of Bengal, changed again to Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal and changed back to Asiatic Society.  Name changes apart, in 1849, Asiatic Society started publishing editions/translations under the Bibliotheca Indica series. It is a fantastic series!  It probably continued till the 1950s and there must have been almost 300 titles in it.  But as I said, I am interested in Itihasa/Purana and the early volumes.

In the area of translations and editions of ancient texts, what a fantastic time it was for Bengal then and what an amazing reservoir of talent. Kaliprasanna Singha (1841–1870) translated the entire unabridged Mahabharata into Bengali. Between 1862 and 1873, the Burdwan edition of Mahabharata was brought out in Sanskrit and with a Bengali translation. Between 1869 and 1874, there was a Bengali translation of Mahabharata brought out by Pratap Chandra Roy, the publisher for the subsequent Kisari Mohan Ganguli translation in English. William Carey and Joshua Marshman published an English translation of Valmiki Ramayana between 1806 and 1810, from Serampore. More or less at the same time, Hemachandra Bhattacharya brought out a translation in Bengali. Ganga Prasad Mukhopadhyaya, Ashutosh Mukherjee’s father, did a translation of Valmiki Ramayana in Bengali, in verse form. Panchanan Tarkaratna (1866–1940), a traditional Sanskrit scholar from Bhatpara, edited many Sanskrit texts and translated them into Bengali.  Most editions of the Puranas in Bengali continue to be based on Panchanan Tarkaratna versions.  His editions included Valmiki Ramayana, Adhyatma Ramayana, Dharmashastra texts and several Puranas. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873) did his version of the Ramayana story Meghnad Badh Kavya  (The Slaying of Meghnada). In 1840, Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860) published the first unabridged English translation of any Purana, Vishnu Purana. Hara Prasad Shastri (1853–1931) was busy collecting manuscripts from Nepal and translating Buddhist Puranas.

 This was the setting for the Bibliotheca Indica series.  Which ones have I read from that long list of almost 300 titles?  The list is Agni Purana (1873–79, by Rajendralal Mitra), Brihad Dharma Purana (1888, by Hara Prasad Shastri), Brihad Naradiya Purana (1891, by Hrishikesha Shastri), Kurma Purana (1890, by Nilmani Mukhopadhyaya), Markandeya Purana (1904, by F E Pargiter), Varaha Purana (1893, by Hrishikesha Shastri) and Vayu Purana (1880–81, by Rajendralal Mitra).  

As you can see, all published more or less at the same time -- the second half of 19th century -- with the exception of Pargiter.  Pargiter is also the only one that is a translation, the others are edited versions of Sanskrit texts.  When one sees a reprint of a Sanskrit text of any Purana today, if it happens to have been included in the Bibliotheca Indica, the text is likely to be based on that series.  

Perhaps I should also mention that in those days, people were less conscious about taking credit for their work.  For example, we don’t know who did the translation of Matsya Purana. in that Sacred Books of the Hindus series.  The entire series was edited by Major D D Basu.  But the translation was by an unnamed Taluqdar of Oudh.  It happens to be the only decent translation of Matsya Purana so far.

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The writer is the translator of Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas

Pandemic Perusing is an occasional freewheeling column on books and reading by our writers and reviewers