Санскритская философская терминология (karma, sūkṣma, sthūla) в переводе на арабский язык (анализ «Китаб батанджала ал-хинди» ал-Бируни)

Abstract

The article raises an important but unpopular question of the possibility of translat­ing Sanskrit philosophical terms and concepts into the Arabic language. In modern (and not only) Indological studies, the specifics of translating Sanskrit philosophical vocabulary into the language of the author of the study are somehow affected. A meaningful translation of philosophical texts from Sanskrit into Arabic is rather a rare phenomenon. In the medieval Arabic literature, two such translations made by al-Bīrūnī are known: a paraphrase of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali and the transla­tion of the Sāṅkhya-kārikā, which is possibly not extant. We will consider a number of the most important philosophical terms in Sanskrit (generally significant for all areas of Indian philosophy) and their Arabic equivalents proposed by al-Bīrūnī. Among such terms, the most significant is the term karma (karman), known to the general public in its vulgar meaning as a kind of return of negativity to the one who was its source. Less well-known are such important pair-functioning ontological concepts as a subtle one (sūkṣma) and gross one (sthūla). The analysis of the Arabic equivalents of the corresponding Sanskrit words proposed by al-Bīrūnī demonstrates the limits of the possibilities of the Arabic philosophical language (we mean the translation precisely, not calcification, transliteration or transcription).