Hyderabad: The Bhagavad Gita has been translated several times with different interpretations over the years in various languages across the world. A session by poet and translator Mani Rao at the HLF on Sunday dealt with how to filter out the “lens” through which each translator had approached the book.
“When we read a translation, we automatically receive the interpretation.” Mr Rao went through examples of a range of translations including titles, book covers, philosophy in the introduction and a textual analysis of select verses, to reveal each individual translator’s interpretation.
“Gita- As It Is does not mean that it is Gita as it is; it means that the translator thinks that the other Gita translations are distorted. Look into all those details to understand what kind of translation it is. An easy way to understand is to read the introduction to the book.
