Translation in a Multilingual Context: The Mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil Languages in Medieval South Indian Śrīvaiṣṇava Religious Tradition

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, I investigate South Asian multilinguality by focusing on the medieval South Indian Śrīvaiṣṇava religious tradition (originated in the tenth century CE), which employ Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maṇipravāḷa, a hybrid language comprising both Sanskrit and Tamil, in their composition. Through the lens of translation and hybridity, I propose to complicate the recent scholarship on the Sanskrit and vernacular languages (e.g., Pollock and interlocutors) and also respond to the scholarly call for research that addresses the distinctive history of South Asian multilinguality. In particular, it explores the use of multiple linguistic media by one of the most significant Śrīvaiṣṇava theologians, Vedāntadeśika (c. 1268–1369 CE), in his Rahasyatrayasāra. The Rahasyatrayasāra which deals with soteriological and ritual aspects of the Śrīvaiṣṇavas was composed in Maṇipravāḷa and furnished with Sanskrit and Tamil opening and concluding verses. Through the investigation of the Maṇipravāḷa content in relation to the verses in the Rahasyatrayasāra, I argue that Maṇipravāḷa can be considered translation as it brings the Sanskrit and Tamil streams of the tradition together into a single context that can accommodate both. For a multilingual community like the Śrīvaiṣṇavas, Maṇipravāḷa, which represents translation into a hybrid, makes possible the collective religious identity.