DW BUREAU / Shimla

Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Thursday underscored the importance of a unified script in promoting linguistic understanding, saying that if all Indian languages were written in the Devanagari script, mutual comprehension would become significantly easier. Inaugurating a two-day national seminar on the theme 'Problems of Translation between Indian Languages: A Case Study of the Translation of Tulsidasa's Ramcharitmanas in South Indian Languages' at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, he highlighted the rich multilingual fabric of India.

He said the preservation and transmission of India's spiritual heritage to future generations is primarily possible through translation. Despite the linguistic diversity, the spirit of unity in diversity defines the strength of our country, he said, according to a statement issued here.

The governor described the seminar's theme as not just a linguistic concern but a symbol of India's cultural cohesion and national consciousness.

He said that translation serves as a vital bridge for communication among the hundreds of languages and dialects spoken in India. Referring to Goswami Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, Shukla called it a seminal text that forms the bedrock of North Indian cultural identity. He lauded the work as a creative retelling of both Valmiki's Ramayana and Adhyatma Ramayana, and described it as a global epic, transcending religious and cultural boundaries.

"It is heartening to see even the fiercest critics from other religions stand in awe of Tulsidas's poetic genius," he remarked.

The governor said that although the southern languages of India such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have their own Ramayana traditions, the Ramcharitmanas has left a lasting impact in the region.

He also appreciated the seminar's focus on a comparative and critical analysis of the translations of this epic in South Indian languages. He said that translating a work like Ramcharitmanas, rich in sound and emotion, is not merely a linguistic exercise but a cultural rebirth. Highlighting a key challenge in the translation process, Shukla pointed out the difficulty in translating from the Awadhi language, the original language of Ramcharitmanas, which differs significantly from standard Hindi.

(editor@dailyworld.in)