Our Work
Following various journeys of translation, the Centre hopes to intervene in the sphere of knowledge-making. Our projects aim to diffuse the binary formulations of one source and one target, literary and popular texts, and oral and written traditions. We will move from exploring the dynamism of the Tamil compositions of a medieval saint-poet in modern Punjabi to imagining popular Bollywood melodies in Haryanvi and Kannada to translating Periyar’s forceful notes on self-respect across geographies.
Translating Bhakti
Through this project, we aim to take the compelling words of various Bhakti saint-poets into as many languages of India as possible. Translating Kabir’s selected śabdas (poems) is the first in the series of such initiatives. It is our current project-in-progress. As our translator-collaborators playfully engage with the śabdas and strive to keep their genius alive across languages, we imagine the many shapes Kabir’s “upside-down” language can take in India’s multiple tongues.
Stay tuned for some exciting updates!
Ek Gaana, Kayi Zabaan
Songs circulate freely, disembodied from fixed geographies or linguistic contexts. We explore the joy of listening to the “same” songs in different Indian languages. We are currently ‘singing’ Pyaar Hua Iqraar Hua in ten languages. We hope to travel across different parts of the country—giving new tongues to old melodies.
Women Translating Women
This project aims to share stories by women written across languages in India. We are commissioning a total of twelve books for translation over two 12-month-long cycles. Supported by the Susham Bedi Memorial Fund, the selected works will be translated by women translators, exploring the multiple spaces inhabited by women in diverse contexts.
Read more about the project here!
Listen to the Inaugural Talk by Urvashi Butalia here and The First Susham Bedi Memorial Lecture by Prof. Gabriela Nik. Ilieva here.