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Processes and Models of Translation:Cases from Medieval KannadaLiteratureAbstractT.S. SatyanathContrary to the iconicity associated between the original andits translations as conceived in the West, medieval Indianliterature provides examples of multiple tellings and renderings(Ramanujan 1992) of texts that are radically different fromtheir so called ‘originals’, implying an altogether different typeof interrelationship among texts. It has been further observedthat medieval Indian translations are actually tellings,renderings and cultural transactions. In order to understandthese phenomena in medieval India, we need to interrogate thenature of texts, the types of intertextual spaces, the waycommunities defined the role of such texts based on linguistic,religious, professional (caste) and other criteria, theconstruction of texts as databases of the community’sknowledge and information systems and lastly, the processes ofmutually sharing such knowledge and information systems.Taking instances from medieval Kannada literature, the paperinterrogates different modes of tellings, renderings and culturaltransactions to map out different models of translationstrategies used by communities, in order to translate andculturally transact knowledge and information. A vrat-kathāmodel of cultural transaction has been proposed as one of themodels on which medieval Indian texts are rendered from onelanguage to another. It has been suggested that categories suchas gender, caste, religion, sect and language not onlyinterconnect each other but at the same time, insulate andprotect the communities’ rights over their knowledge andTranslation Today Vol. 3 Nos. 1 & 2, 2006 © CIIL 2006