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Download Complete Volume - National Translation Mission

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28 Translating Medieval Orissatexts like Sashi Sena by Pratap Ray, Sudhasara Gita byChandramani Das, Bharata Savitri and Kapata Pasa by BhimaDhibara and Saraswata Gita by Ratanakara Meher. AdhyatmaRamayana is the only translated text of the region during this precolonialera. Its translator Gopala Telenga was the court poet of AjitSingh, the king of Samabalpur in the 18 th century. That only onetranslated text was produced under the patronage of the court duringall these years is proof of the apathy of the ruling establishmentstowards Oriya literature in general and translational practice inparticular. So while discussing the development of translationalactivity in medieval Orissa, the western region can be convenientlyput aside.The importance of eastern/coastal Orissa in terms of thedevelopment of translation is not merely because of Sarala Das, butalso because of the tradition of translation activity that followed him.The Pancha Sakhas belonged to this area and their sphere ofoperation was within the districts of Puri and Cuttack, which wereclose to the religious and administrative centers of power. Severaltranslations of Gitagobinda were also undertaken in this region.With the possible exception of Jagannath Das’s Srimad Bhagabataall these translation followed the model set up by Balaram Das withminor variations here and there. <strong>Translation</strong>al activity was initiatedby three texts of Balaram Das viz. Jagamohan Ramayana,Bhagabad Gita, and Uddhab Gita. Bamana Purana, another textascribed to Balaram demonstrates translational strategies and otherinternal evidence, which are more common to an 18 th century text.For example, an identity centered on Lord Jagannath, which wascommon to Balaram’s text, is absent here. Moreover, the vocabularyseems to be a part of the 17 th century practice influenced by Arabicand Persian languages. Thus, we encounter two models oftranslation in the 16 th century coastal Orissa with their variants, oneset up by Balaram and the other by Jagannath Das. Towards the 17 thcentury, after this area came under direct Mughal rule, translation

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