Introduction

The act of translation becomes even more of a socio-cultural issue in India where there is a multiplicity of languages. This is because all the languages are not equal in terms of its power, range of influence and usage. We have ancient languages like Tamil and tribal languages that do not even have a script, existing side by side. India is a country that does not speak one common language. Its established official language is not understood in various parts of the country, and ironically it is a foreign language like English that usually acts as the link language. English is not considered to be a foreign language, but another Indian language by most of the Indians today. This complicated linguistic scenario is a good case study for the cultural aspects of translation. Why is it that most of the translation activity in regional Indian literatures takes place into English? If English is the receptor language, then does it indicate the interest that the English-speaking people have in Indian languages and literatures? Can we take the recent spurt in translations as reflective of a vibrant growth of Indian language literatures? Questions of this sort abound, but answers are difficult to come by. Before we attempt to answer them we have to understand the cultural complexities of the Indian language situation.