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30 Translating Medieval OrissaBecause of the measure of freedom granted, and theinfluence of enlightenment, the chieftains of southern Orissa underQutbsahi during 17 th century, pursued a policy of patronizing thewritten discourse both in Sanskrit and in Oriya. This culturalpractice continued in south Orissa even when it came under theNizams of Hyderabad in the third decade of the 18 th century andunder the British colonial administration in the seventh decade of thesame century. The cultural autonomy prevalent in this area was soresilient that it remained unaffected until the last decade of the 19 thcentury despite various changes in the political domain andadministrative set-up. This relative autonomy and a stable steadycultural atmosphere proved extremely fertile for translation activity.Translation of almost three-fourth of the texts mentioned earlier hadbeen undertaken in this area during the three hundred years.In order to have an idea of the strategies andmethods of translation obtaining in medieval times adetailed analysis of the major translated texts iscalled for.Methods of TranslationTranslational practice in Oriya did not have anyauthoritative methodological guidelines to fall back upon. Theaestheticians of Sanskrit, the dominant language, were for the mostpart silent about the nature and mode of this genre. In an earlieressay (Dash & Pattanik 2002), we have hinted how Anandabardhanacame close to the concept of translation/influence as we understandit today, in his explication of the idea of “sambada” or dialogue. Theidea of dialogue implies a democratic exchange, within a particularlanguage or between two languages, in a spirit of epistemiccooperation. However, the earliest works of translation in Oriyadone by Sarala Das were born out of a contest between twoantagonistic social forces trying to control the epistemological field.