Abstract
This paper is a philological and textological complement to a new translation, produced in Cardiff, of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa, the final part of the Mahābhārata. The paper is a project report, providing a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the translation project. It discusses the specific 118-chapter published text that was chosen for translation, and the reasons for that choice; it discusses the emendations that were made to that text, and the reasons for making them; it discusses the method, process, and conventions of the translation, with particular reference to the intended audience, the accompanying apparatus, the format of the translation, its literary and linguistic register, and the treatment of specific words; and it discusses a selection of problematic passages in relation to previous translations. The paper’s discussion of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa is wide-ranging, rigorous, unprecedentedly in-depth, and makes significant original contributions in the fields of Sanskrit philology, translation studies, and world literature. The appendix to the paper is a searchable electronic version of the Sanskrit Harivaṃśa text that was translated.
Highlights
The introduction is as short as possible
Sukthankar’s criticisms of Sastri’s edition of the Mahābhārata’s southern recension (Sukthankar 1933: lxxxiv–lxxxvi, cv–cvi), which privileged the readings of one particular manuscript, show that that would not have been the case here
Vaidya says of M1, ‘incomplete’, and of M3, ‘incomplete’ (Vaidya 1969: xii)
Summary
Introduction – Footnotes – List of Untranslated Words – Family Trees – Index of Names. Summary overviews of the project, or discussions of specific aspects, were presented to the new Cardiff University Vice-Chancellor during his visit to the School of History, Archaeology and Religion on 8 May 2014; at a Cardiff University Open Day on 28 January 2015; at a ‘Public University’ event at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, on 6 August 2015; at a University of Bristol Department of Religion and Theology Seminar on 6 December 2016; at a Cardiff University Department of Religious and Theological Studies Research Day on 12 July 2017; and at the Eighth Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas on 14 September 2017. The transmission of text seems to be quite a problem for phenomenology, for, in dealing with it you cannot separate the material (or quasi-material) means, methods, and conditions of the transmission of text from the intentionality of its fixation as an object of consciousness, the transmission of which can be seen as another side of its very being
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
