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...

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Auteur principal: Nair, Shankar (Auteur)
Type de support: Numérique/imprimé Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Sage [2014]
Dans: Studies in religion
Année: 2014, Volume: 43, Numéro: 3, Pages: 390-410
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Inde / Mogulreich / Sanskrit / Abhinanda, Laghuyogavāsiṣṭha / Traduction / Persan / Soufisme
RelBib Classification:BJ Islam
BK Hindouisme
KAG Réforme; humanisme; Renaissance
KAH Époque moderne
KBM Asie
Accès en ligne: Volltext (doi)
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Résumé: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.
ISSN:0008-4298
Contient:Enthalten in: Studies in religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0008429814538228