Sufism as medium and method of translation Mughal translations of Hindu texts Reconsidered
During the height of the Mughal Empire in pre-colonial South Asia (16th–17th century CE), Muslim nobles facilitated the translation of numerous Hindu Sanskrit texts into the Persian language. While this “translation movement” (Ernst, 2003: 173) had long been attributed to the reputedly liberal, tole...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
[2014]
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In: |
Studies in religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 43, Issue: 3, Pages: 390-410 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
India
/ Mogulreich
/ Sanskrit language
/ Abhinanda, Laghuyogavāsiṣṭha
/ Translation
/ Persian language
/ Sufism
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IxTheo Classification: | BJ Islam BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBM Asia |
Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | During the height of the Mughal Empire in pre-colonial South Asia (16th–17th century CE), Muslim nobles facilitated the translation of numerous Hindu Sanskrit texts into the Persian language. While this “translation movement” (Ernst, 2003: 173) had long been attributed to the reputedly liberal, tolerant, and enlightened personal inclinations of the Mughal emperors, scholars in recent decades have begun to re-evaluate the phenomenon, arguing instead that practical socio-political considerations and quotidian cultural processes best explain the nature of the translation movement. What such analyses lack, however, is a sustained consideration of how the Islamic – and, in particular, Sufi – worldview(s) of the nobles in question shaped the inner workings of, and motivations behind, the movement. In this essay, I take up one such translation from the Mughal period – Mir Findiriski's Muntakhab-i Jug Basisht, a translation of the Sanskrit Laghu-Yoga-Vasistha – examining not only its content in relation to the Sanskrit original, but also the manner in which Sufi thought and metaphysics informed the very process of translation itself. |
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ISSN: | 0008-4298 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0008429814538228 |