Bridging past with present: Etching lost narratives of Indian history with translation of archives

The world of translation in the literature of the Indian landscape – which boasts of a multitude oflanguages – found itself in the spotlight when writer Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell bagged the International Booker Prize for “Tomb of Sand” in 2022.

This kind of global recognition of Indian literature also brought in front of the world the increasing importance of translations in the field of literature. But what remained shrouded is how a bunch of translators have been silently working on translating historical archives to bring to light the lost narratives of the past era.

To understand history, the reader needs to be able to get access to various perspectives. Various languages in India ensure access to a diversity of opinions and help in understanding intellectual traditions in non-English languages.

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The one who is bearing the flag of translating historical texts from various Indian languages to English isthe New India Foundation (NIF). The organisation has been offering fellowships for translating non-fictional texts in different Indian languages to English. The fellowships offer to cover various topics around post-independence India with an aim to expand the cultural reach of the workswhich have remained confined to one language.

Into the world of translators

A significant amount of historical work has remained confined to one language and has remained unheard of by the rest of the world because of the language barrier. The widespread use of English has emerged as a link to connect the two worlds with translations of the lost texts, whichcan now be shared with others after remainingin obscurity.

Speaking about how English should be seen as a linking and not a dominating language, Bengali translator and professor Iphshita Chanda, while speaking to WION, said, “English should be thought of as a link language but not as a master language donating its wealth and power to its vernacular illegitimate relatives. Speakers of different languages need to assert their power and the rethink forced supremacy of English as a saviour rather than as an instrument. Unless the mindset and vocabulary about multilingual change from the colonial to the plural, these shadows remain.”

In its translation fellowships, NIF focused on work from 1850 onwards when the political scenario of India changed drastically and the struggle for independence gained a different momentum.

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Emphasising the importance of making accessible all political discourses which were part of the independence movement, Chanda said, “I think all discourses regarding the independence of thought and social and political democracy from as many Indian languages as practicable, should be made accessible in the original and in translation, across Indian languages and in English.”

Preserving the soul

Translating an original text written by someone in a particular time period can pose some serious challenges, like adapting to the lens of the writer, keeping its soul intact and not letting the translator's vision overshadow the writer's originality.

“It is now common knowledge that translation involves much more than transferring meaning from one language to another. The translator’s task is to convey, as sensitively as possible, cultural specificities and nuances. Translation affirms the possibility of communication between two cultures. At the same time, one must acknowledge the distinctiveness of the source and target cultures. Therefore, the translator has to deftly negotiate between these two cultures,” said Jatin Nayak, Odia translator and professor, while speaking to WION.

But what makes NIF stand out is its efforts to bring out the lost archives of the independence movement post-1850 and the partitionto provide a different lens for the Indian diaspora to understand its past struggles.

Explaining NIF's crucial contribution in the field of translation to WION, Manish Sabharwal, Managing Trustee of the NIF, said, “The Bangla Translation Fellowship awarded in Round 1 focused on the diaries of Nirmal Kumar Bose from 1946 and 1947, at which time he was witness to key events of Independence around Bengal and the Partition there. This is just one example – it is true that the landscape of Indian Publishing changed dramatically from 1850 onwards, especially as print culture developed in Indian languages. Excavating these narratives will help us understand the progress of Indian history from a different lens, and it is to this end that the NIF Translation Fellowships are aiming to make a difference.”