An Overview of Translations in Gujarat: The World to Gujarat and Gujarat to the World

Abstract

The process of translation is as old as the language itself. In the west, the earliest reference to the transitional activities goes back to as early as the third millennium BC. However, never before it was given its due credit and credential as it has been attributed around the world in the last and the first decades of 20^th and 21^st century respectively. India has not been an exception in this trend. Being a multilingual country, the process of translation has always been an inevitable part of the Indian societies. During the British rule, the translation was undertaken for fulfilling many imperial objectives. Needless to say that the translation was used to expose and counter those objectives as well. In the post-independence era, translation has been pursued for various objectives in all the walks of life throughout India. Gujarat, however, was pioneer in the endeavours of translation much before the independence, remained apathetic in the post-independence era. The present paper aims at exploring the trends of translation both from Gujarati into English and English into Gujarati, in general and literary translation in particular.