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BOOK 1
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ADI PARVA
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Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text
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by
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Kisari Mohan Ganguli
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[1883-1896]
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Scanned at sacred-texts.com, 2003. Proofed at Distributed Proofing,
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Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Additional proofing and formatting at
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sacred-texts.com, by J. B. Hare.
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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
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The object of a translator should ever be to hold the mirror upto his
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author. That being so, his chief duty is to represent so far as
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practicable the manner in which his author's ideas have been expressed,
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retaining if possible at the sacrifice of idiom and taste all the
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peculiarities of his author's imagery and of language as well. In regard
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to translations from the Sanskrit, nothing is easier than to dish up
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Hindu ideas, so as to make them agreeable to English taste. But the
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endeavour of the present translator has been to give in the following
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pages as literal a rendering as possible of the great work of Vyasa. To
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the purely English reader there is much in the following pages that will
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strike as ridiculous. Those unacquainted with any language but their own
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are generally very exclusive in matters of taste. Having no knowledge of
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models other than what they meet with in their own tongue, the standard
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they have formed of purity and taste in composition must necessarily be a
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narrow one. The translator, however, would ill-discharge his duty, if for
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the sake of avoiding ridicule, he sacrificed fidelity to the original. He
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must represent his author as he is, not as he should be to please the
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narrow taste of those entirely unacquainted with him. Mr. Pickford, in
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the preface to his English translation of the Mahavira Charita, ably
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defends a close adherence to the original even at the sacrifice of idiom
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and taste against the claims of what has been called 'Free Translation,'
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which means dressing the author in an outlandish garb to please those to
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whom he is introduced.
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In the preface to his classical translation of Bhartrihari's Niti Satakam
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and Vairagya Satakam, Mr. C.H. Tawney says, "I am sensible that in the
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present attempt I have retained much local colouring. For instance, the
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ideas of worshipping the feet of a god of great men, though it frequently
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occurs in Indian literature, will undoubtedly move the laughter of
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Englishmen unacquainted with Sanskrit, especially if they happen to
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belong to that class of readers who revel their attention on the
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accidental and remain blind to the essential. But a certain measure of
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fidelity to the original even at the risk of making oneself ridiculous,
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is better than the studied dishonesty which characterises so many
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translations of oriental poets."
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We fully subscribe to the above although, it must be observed, the
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censure conveyed to the class of translators last indicated is rather
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undeserved, there being nothing like a 'studied dishonesty' in their
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efforts which proceed only from a mistaken view of their duties and as
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such betray only an error of the head but not of the heart. More than
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twelve years ago when Babu Pratapa Chandra Roy, with Babu Durga Charan
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Banerjee, went to my retreat at Seebpore, for engaging me to translate
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the Mahabharata into English, I was amazed with the grandeur of the
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scheme. My first question to him was,--whence was the money to come,
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supposing my competence for the task. Pratapa then unfolded to me the
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details of his plan, the hopes he could legitimately cherish of
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assistance from different quarters. He was full of enthusiasm. He showed
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me Dr. Rost's letter, which, he said, had suggested to him the
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undertaking. I had known Babu Durga Charan for many years and I had the
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highest opinion of his scholarship and practical good sense. When he
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warmly took Pratapa's side for convincing me of the practicability of the
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scheme, I listened to him patiently. The two were for completing all
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arrangements with me the very day. To this I did not agree. I took a
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week's time to consider. I consulted some of my literary friends,
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foremost among whom was the late lamented Dr. Sambhu C. Mookherjee. The
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latter, I found, had been waited upon by Pratapa. Dr. Mookherjee spoke to
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me of Pratapa as a man of indomitable energy and perseverance. The result
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of my conference with Dr. Mookherjee was that I wrote to Pratapa asking
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him to see me again. In this second interview estimates were drawn up,
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and everything was arranged as far as my portion of the work was
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concerned. My friend left with me a specimen of translation which he had
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received from Professor Max Muller. This I began to study, carefully
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comparing it sentence by sentence with the original. About its literal
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character there could be no doubt, but it had no flow and, therefore,
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could not be perused with pleasure by the general reader. The translation
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had been executed thirty years ago by a young German friend of the great
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Pundit. I had to touch up every sentence. This I did without at all
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impairing faithfulness to the original. My first 'copy' was set up in
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type and a dozen sheets were struck off. These were submitted to the
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judgment of a number of eminent writers, European and native. All of
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them, I was glad to see, approved of the specimen, and then the task of
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translating the Mahabharata into English seriously began.
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Before, however, the first fasciculus could be issued, the question as to
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whether the authorship of the translation should be publicly owned,
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arose. Babu Pratapa Chandra Roy was against anonymity. I was for it. The
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reasons I adduced were chiefly founded upon the impossibility of one
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person translating the whole of the gigantic work. Notwithstanding my
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resolve to discharge to the fullest extent the duty that I took up, I
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