A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

proved to be a political suicide for him.
The 14th Nov., 1908 issue of Hindi Kesri
enclosed a comment :
“By seeking pardon, Sapreji has ruined
his political and public life’’.
After his release, Sapreji lived in mental
agony- tortured with a sense of shame,
guilt, remorse and self abasement. Living
in seclusion, for a year, in Ramdasi Monastry
in Hanuman Garh. He earned his bread
by begging. During this period, he studied
and translated Samarth Ramdas, famous
book “Dasbodh”. He tried to propagate
the spirit of Renaissance but changed his
modus-operandi. Renaissance is a process
of re-awakening, a growth of wisdom and
knowledge in every field. Another very
important aspect of Renaissance was
delving deep into ancient classical literature
and art and interpreting it in modern
context, thus throwing a new light on
it. It was through his translations that
Madhav Rao Sapre tried to throw a new
light on the ancient texts. With this
objective, he translated ‘Dasbodh’ in 1910.
Its first edition was published in 1912.
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade in his article
on ‘Ramdas’ has given a detailed and vivid
description of ‘Dasbodh’. Sapreji’s article
on ‘Dasbodh’ is greatly influenced by the
latter. Another important translation done
by Madhav Rao Sapre was of ‘Gita Rahasya’
by Tilak in 1950. Although, this book has
been translated into many languages, the
first translation was in Hindi. More than
twenty five editions of this book have
been published. It had a tremendous impact
on Hindi literature.
The third important translation done
by Sapreji is ‘Mahabharata Mimansa’ which
is a translation of Chintamani Vinayak
Vaidya’s ‘Mahabharata ke Upsanghar’.
Similar to other translations, here too
Sapreji has given a detailed account of
the author, period of composition, poetic
style, narrative technique etc. A deep study
of this translation reveals Sapreji’s depth
of knowledge in Sanskrit. Another
outstanding feature of Renaissance was
the growth in the spirit of nationalism.
In India, this was expressed in various
ways, in different fields of learnings. Its
greatest impact was seen in rise against
Colonialism. After a long wait India was
seen rising from its torpor. The tendency
to self-introspect was an outgrowth of this
phenomenon. Its aim too, is to strengthen
and sharpen the anti-colonial movement.
It has already been stated earlier that
the Renaissance ushered in ‘ a brave new
world’. Every branch of knowledge was
explored. Acquaintance with classical
literature increased. The immense vitality
of the age, left nothing untouched— science,
social science, art, adventure, world
strirring events engrossed the mind of
the newly-awakened people. New values
were established, new perspectives
developed. It reached the shores of Bengal.
Here, its effect was more pervasive than
in the Hindi speaking belt—touching every
14 :: January-March 2012