कन्तमहोदयस्य प्रथमविचारस्यानुवादे प्रस्तावना --२

(यथा पूर्वमेव, तथेहापि मुख्यतयाङ्ग्लभाषानुवादतः सुदीप्तमुन्सीत्यनेन सुरगिराऽनूदितः।

मतिमान्द्येन यद्यत्र मे भ्रमो भासते कोऽपि ।
संशोध्यतां विपश्चिद्भिरनन्तगुणसम्पन्नैः ॥

इत्यस्ति प्रार्थनाऽनुवादकस्य ।

मया तु कन्तमहोदयलिखितं जर्मानभाषात्मकं मूलग्रन्थमवलम्ब्य संशोधितम् ।
पूर्वव्यवहृतस्याङ्ग्लभाषानुवादस्य दोषबाहुल्यादिदानीं तत्परित्यज्य Paul Guyer-महोदयानूदितसंस्करणस्यानुसरणामत्र क्रियते ।)

व्यर्थं ह्युदासीनतापोषणमेवं जिज्ञासाः प्रति, यासां विषये पुरुषाः स्वत एवोदासीना भवितुं नार्हन्ति । अपि च स्वदार्शनिकवाग्व्यवहारं लोकप्रियशैल्या परिवर्त्य  एते स्वघोषिता उदासीनतावादिन, यावदेव मन्यन्ते ते, तावदेव तदवज्ञाताधितात्त्विकोद्घोषेषु पुनरेवानिवार्यरूपेण निपतन्ति ।   तथापि येषां वैज्ञानिकश्रेष्ठानां ज्ञानफलानि (तत्प्राप्तिसम्भवे सति) वयमवज्ञातुं न शक्नुमस्तेषां मध्ये एवोभूतेयमुदासीनता । तेन सास्माकं सम्यङ्मननयोग्या । न खल्वेषाऽस्मत्कालीयमननशैथिल्यादुद्भूता किन्त्वाभासज्ञानेनानिवारणयोग्यैतत्कालीयप्रौढविचारणशक्तिजा । एतदुदासीनताद्वारेण विचारणशक्तिः स्वीयकार्याणां श्रमसाध्यं स्वज्ञानरूपं कार्यं पुनरेव साधयितुं  तथा स्वीयनित्यन्यायानुसारेण, न तु बलतः, सकलनिर्मूलकाभ्युपगमभाननिराकरणाय स्वीयन्याय्यप्रार्थनासंरक्षणाय व्यवहारासनं स्थापयितुञ्च विनियुक्ता भवति ।

(प्रथमसंस्करणस्य मुखबन्धे,  Paul Guyer-महोदयस्यानुवादे १०० पृष्टे एतदांग्लानुवादात्मकमूलं वर्तते)

एतद्ग्रन्थानुवादीयपूर्वभाग इह विद्यते ।

Translation of Sanskrit philosophical texts: What is at stake?

What are the requisites of a translation in/from Sanskrit of a philosophical text?

1. 1. Knowing the text and its context. This is the paramount requisite. No one will be able to translate a text she does not fully grasp.
   2. Knowing the context in the target language. One cannot expect to be able to translate the English "rule" as nyāya without taking into account its inner-Sanskrit hues of meaning. Vice versa, one cannot translate Sanskrit philosophical terms without taking into account the complex meaning of the terms they choose to translate them in English (or French or German) philosophy.

This being said, many methodological questions are yet to be faced, e.g.,

• A. Suppose your source text is obscure. Should you reproduce its obscurity?
• B. Suppose your source text, though philosophical, uses also a lively metaphorical language. Should you reproduce its style?

These problems are much less urgent in the case of translations within the same cultural area, i.e., from French into English or vice versa. Thanks to many centuries of mutual influences, English and French writers share a common reservoir of metaphors and poetical devices, understandable to both readers. Furthermore, readers share a common background of references and will easily understand short hints, so that it is rarely the case that a text will be really obscure and that this marginal obscurity can be reproduced without emparing the global understanding.

By contrast, in the case of very different cultural areas, i.e., while translating Sanskrit into English or German into Sanskrit (my last endeavours), the residual obscurity might be massive. And this obscurity might have not meant to be such by the author, who relied on the background he shared with his readers. Thus, the translator needs to solve the problem and to convey the text the author wanted to convey. A common example: Suppose the author refers to a well-known verse of the Gītā by just quoting its beginning. His target reader would have automatically supplemented the rest. But this is not the case for contemporary readers, who need the additional help of the whole verse being reproduced in the translation (either in the main text or in a footnote).

The problem is even more complicated in the case of style. I am personally convinced that dead metaphors (e.g., when we speak of a computer's mouse, we are not thinking of the animal the word originally denotes) should not be translated. As for live metaphors, I would try to translate them only if they are relevant (e.g., when they convey a shade of meaning which might have been meant by the author). An English author speaking about loving surrender to God, e.g., might choose to use the metaphor of falling in love on purpose. And a translator might consider reproducing it (kāmabhāvaṃ nipatati?).

What do you think? How do you translate?

You can read a text of mine about the importance of point no. 2 on my Academia page, here. 
Samira Nekooeeyan recently dedicated an interesting talk to the translation of metaphors in poetical texts. Her practical example was the translation of Shakespear into Persian, but she dealt in general with the problem of what to do with metaphors (one of the viable options being "ignore them"). You can read the abstract of the talk if you download the program of the conference, here.
I decided to write this post after an intriguing discussion (on "flos"/puṣpa) with Sudipta Munsi while we were translating Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. You can read the first step of this enterprise here.

5-months Fellowships on Sanskrit and Pāli (for PhDs and MAs)

Are you working or willing to work on ascetics and kings in Vedic, Pāli Buddhism and Jaina sources? Or on anthropological and/or artistic sources on the same topic?

Then, consider advertising for the following fellowships.

Some practical information:
—Your constant presence is not required.
—The fellowship will enable you to work in a great environment (I have already praised Tiziana Pontillo, the project's coordinator, here and the other post doc are interesting and charming people).
—You are not expected to know Italian. The working language will be English and you are expected to are fluent in it. (If you need assistence with the Italian application, scroll down for Dr. Tiziana Pontillo's email address).
—You need: A) Degree in Humanities with a Thesis on some Indological Subject; B) at least 1 paper on Sanskrit (or Pāli or related) Literature.

For further detail on the project, see this post.


Lastly the planned two five-month Research Fellowships on the so-called "Vrātya project" have just been officially announced on the Website of the University of Cagliari.

The deadline for submitting candidatures is December, the 10th, 2012.

For the relevant pieces of information, please refer to

1) http://www.unica.it/UserFiles/File/Utenti/scocumel/fonti-buddhiste-bando.pdf
TRACES OF A HETERODOX CONCEPTION OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN INDIA: VEDIC SOURCES: EPIC AND PURANIC SOURCES
S.S.D. L-OR/18 INDOLOGIA E TIBETOLOGIA - SETTORE CONCORSUALE: 10/N3 - CULTURE DELL?ASIA CENTRALE E ORIENTALE

2) http://www.unica.it/UserFiles/File/Utenti/scocumel/india-bando.pdf
TRACES OF A HETERODOX CONCEPTION OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN INDIA: ICONOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTS: BUDDHIST SOURCES
S.S.D. L-OR/18 INDOLOGIA E TIBETOLOGIA - SETTORE CONCORSUALE: 10/N3 - CULTURE DELL?ASIA CENTRALE E ORIENTALE


Since unfortunately no English Version is included in the quoted Documents, here you find at least the respective research targets:

This project mainly aims at singling out the possible traces of a "total social fact of an agonistic type" (Mauss 1923-24) both in literary and iconographic sources and in social patterns and ritual practices of the contemporary India, which are assumed to date back to the age preceding the well-known classic hierarchic system.

1) The grantee should aim at extending a preliminary collection of Epic and Purāṇic occurrences which is available into the context of this same project, testifying the existence of this system. Special attention should be paid to the conversion ceremonies at which Vaiṣṇava sources seem to hint at, by assuming that they can descend from ritual practices which preceded the so-called "Brahmanic reform" as a more recent rearrangement.

2) The grantee should aim at extending a preliminary collection of Pāli occurrences which is available into the context of this same project, testifying the existence of this system. Special attention should be paid to such formulas as "to become Brahman", "to become god among gods" and "to have brought the Brahmacārya path to an end" which are included into the pāli Canon.

Tiziana Pontillo, who is the principal investigator in this project will help candidates who are not at easy with Italian in filling the relevant Italian forms with pleasure.

For further notes on the Vrātya project, check this post and this post.

कन्तमहोदयस्य प्रथमविचारस्यानुवादे प्रस्तावना

(एष मुख्यतयाङ्ग्लभाषानुवादतः सुदीप्तमुन्सीत्यनेन सुरगिराऽनूदितः।

मतिमान्द्येन यद्यत्र मे भ्रमो भासते कोऽपि ।
संशोध्यतां विपश्चिद्भिरनन्तगुणसम्पन्नैः ॥

इत्यस्ति प्रार्थनाऽनुवादकस्य ।

मया तु कन्तमहोदयलिखितं जर्मानभाषात्मकं मूलग्रन्थमवलम्ब्य संशोधितम् ।)


स्वीयप्रत्ययव्यापारीयांशैकस्मिन् स्थितायां मानवविचारणशक्तौ स्वभावप्रयुक्तप्रश्नानामनिवार्यरूपेणोत्तरप्रदानाय नियुक्तायामपि सत्यामेतेषां खलु प्रश्नानामुत्तरप्रदानविषये साऽसमर्था भवति तेषां सकलविचारणशक्त्यतिक्रमणत्वात् ।  
स्वीयदोषाभावेऽपि सा एवं विपदि निपतिता। अनुभवविषयेऽनिवार्यैस्तथा चानुभवेन निश्चयीकृतैः न्यायैः सहोपक्रान्तेयं भवति । स्वभावप्रयुक्तनियमानवलम्ब्यैतैः न्यायैः सह सा क्रमेणोच्चैः गहनाञ्चावस्थानधिगच्छति ।  किन्तु शीघ्रमेव साऽऽविष्करोति यदेवं प्रकारेण तस्याः परिश्रमः कदापि समाप्तिं न प्राप्स्यति नवानां प्रश्नानामानन्त्यात् । एवञ्च साधारणमानवविचारणशक्त्या स्वीकृतानां न्यायानां, अनुभवकोट्यतिक्रम्यमानानामपि, शरणं ग्रहणाय सा प्रणोदिता भवति । अतो विभ्रान्तिविरोधयोः निपतन्ती सा ततः प्रसुप्तान् तथा चादृश्यान् दोषानूहते, किन्तु तान् स्वप्रयुक्तन्यायैरनुभवेन परीक्षणायोग्यैः नाविष्कर्तुं क्षमा । एवमशेषद्वन्द्वास्पदमिदमधितत्त्वनामधेयम्* । 

(*अधितत्त्वमित्यत्यन्तपरोक्षज्ञानम्)
उपर्युक्ताङ्ग्लभाषानुवादोऽत्र विद्यते। जर्मानभाषात्मकं मूलन्त्वत्रैव च ।

Kant's first critique in Sanskrit 3: नियमसापेक्षता

कन्तमहोदयो नवदर्शनं सथापयितुम नेच्‍छति स्म । गणितस्य फलानि सिद्धानीति कन्तमहोदयस्य सुस्थम् । अतः तस्य कृते प्रधानप्रश्नः न किमेतानि फलानि सिद्धानि, किन्तु केन प्रकारेण एतानि फलानि सिद्धानीति ।
परन्तु पुरुषज्ञानानां फलानि पुनः पुन असिद्धानीति दृश्यते । यथा −अात्मास्तीति केचित्, अात्मा नास्तीत्यन्ये । अथवा ईश्वरो जगच्चाभिन्न इति केचित् । तौ भिन्नावित्यन्ये ।
अत एव बुद्धिप्रयोगस्य नियम अापेक्षते । बुद्धिप्रयोग एतस्मिन् विषये युक्तः तस्मिंश्च नेति तेन नियमेन स्पष्टीभविष्यतीति कन्तः ।
तदनुसरेण केवलं गणितादिविषये विचारानि कार्यानि, तदन्यविषयेषु तु न, इत्यनेके "अनलीटिक् फिलसफेर्स्:" । परन्त्वेतन्न कन्तस्य प्रयोजनम् । पुरुषाः पुनः पुनः किमीश्वरो ऽस्तीत्यदयः प्रश्नाः पृच्छन्ति, प्रक्ष्यन्ति च । स्वरूपत एव तेषां जिज्ञासा एतेषु विषयेषु नित्या ।

केवलम् निमितमर्यादान्तरे बुद्धिप्रयोगेन प्रमितिरुत्थापतीति संग्रहः ।

कन्तमहोदयस्य प्रथमविचारविषये कृपया एतद् एतच्च पठतु

How to translate śāstric Sanskrit in 8 steps UPDATED

How do you start translating a Sanskrit passage? What do you do if you cannot make sense of it? The following are my usual steps:

1. 1. Identify the structure of the sentence (verb--»agent--»cause, usually in the form "A is B because of C"). A 10-lines long sentence might be scary and its translation will be time-consuming if you just start translating the first word and then the second and so on. By contrast, holding immediately grasp of the whole structure makes it handable. 
2. 1a. In this regard Sudipta Munsi (see comments below) highlight the importance of remembering that Sanskrit is a SOV language (subject-object-verb, unlike English, whose structure is SVO). This means that the verb comes at the end and the object, most likely, immediately after it. Thus: start from the end!
3. 2. Check words you might not know. I recommend using Āpte's dictionary or —if you know enough German— the Petersburger Wörterbuch (PW). Monier Williams' one (MW) can be used, but while being aware of the fact that it is often a translation of the PW. Āpte has the advantage of being more aware of indigeneous lexicographies. As for on-line dictionaries: beware the ones which only give you a summary of the MW, without any information about sources, because you might end up trying to adapt a Vedic meaning into a much later śāstra. 
4. (2a. I am assuming you know Sanskrit grammar, but there might be some difficult forms you would have forgotten. Thus, check a good grammar for them.)
5. 3. Know the context. If you cannot make sense of the passage, chances are there that you would understand it, if only you knew the context better. In most cases, my equation about originality applies: one only learns a little bit of fresh information (say 5%) in every cognitive act. Thus: you only understand a passage if you already know most of what it means. In other words: don't start diving into Madhusūdana Sarasvatī's Advaitasiddhi unless you know already something about Advaita Vedānta (and Nāvya Nyāya).
6. 4. Read more similar passages, by the same author, within the same school or in coeval schools. It is very likely, that similar passages will throw light on yours. If you collect Sanskrit works, you will more probably be able to search through them efficiently. (I do not do it in such a broad way, but just because I have not enough searchable texts.) 
7. 4a. Read more Sanskrit. Vidya (see comments below) suggests that checking similar structures in another text might be helpful. This is not the same as my no. 4, because formally similar passages can be found also in texts whose content has nothing to do with the one you are reading.
8. 5. Connected with the above: read further. If you do not understand the passage, but feel you know enough about the school or the context, just keep on reading. Chances are there that once you have read 10 pages more, that initial trouble you encountered will be solved.
9. 6. Read with someone. Discussing problems is in itself a suitable way to solve most of them. In this sense, it is worth reading also with junior colleagues or students. Which, by the way, is also a way to help them, thus a perfect case of win-win.
10. 7. Ask for help. You surely have senior colleagues or teachers who can help you. Or, you can use mailing lists such as Indology.info, or ask a question on Academia.edu. Or ask scholars you have never met per email. Or ask me (if I do not know the answer, I will tell you whom you might ask to).
11. 8. In case you have not done it after no. 2 and/or after nos. 5--7: Look at the manuscript(s). As aptly suggested by Jason (see comments below) it is more than possible that what does not make sense to you is the result of a misprint or of a misinterpretation by the editor. It is not sure that the same does not apply to the manuscripts you will read, though.

Am I missing some further important point? What works for you? And: do these steps apply to other languages?

For some basic Sanskrit syntax see this post.

What is originality?

Now I will play my tune, one which I did not hear as a child. Or maybe I heard it and forgot.
(John Abercrombie, jazz musician)

Western scholars run the risk to be misled by the rhetorics of originality when they judge about Indian philosophy and the contribution of each thinker.

We like what is new and "original", but only insofar as we can relate to it because it is also familiar (I guess: 95 percent familiar and 5 percent new). An "invention" is first of all a "discovery" (in-venio) and what is "original" is "originary". Indian thinkers just had a different narrative about it.

On originality see also this post.