Introduction

Translation Studies as a discipline and the theories associated with it have a distinct western bias. Since they have a dominating influence on our knowledge systems, it is not surprising that the concepts of translation that exist in India today coincide with those of the west. But there have been scholars who thought about the process of translation in India and the possible impact of ancient Sanskrit aesthetic theories on it. The notion today about translation, in the west as well as the rest of the world, is that it is a transfer of meaning from one language to another, and for a translation to be good, the meaning of the original has to be retained, more or less intact.This notion of equivalence and the strategies involved in the method of translation have worried translators and translation theorists in the west down the centuries. We cannot say the same about the concepts of translation in India.

The very word ‘translate' comes from the Latin ‘translatio' where ‘trans' means across and ‘latus' means carrying; this implies the carrying across of meaning from one language to the other. The various Indian language words for translation do not convey this meaning. Anuvad (speak after), bhashantar (linguistic transference), tarzuma (reproduction), or roopantar (change of form) – these are a few Indian language terms for translation. As these terms show, none of them imply the concept of carrying across of meaning from one language to the other. On the other hand, all of them point to the idea of transcreation rather than docile transference of meaning from one linguistic system to the other. So this implies that our basic concept of translation was different; if so, how should we approach the field today? Do our ancient theories of aesthetics have anything to say on the subject?