Non-translatability (अननुवाद्यता)

Non-translatability of Samskrit words

Non-translatability (Samskrit : अननुवाद्यता) of Samskrit words is an aspect which is emphasized while compiling articles on Dharmawiki. Many translations took place during the colonial era. They have been passed on to us, the present day generation. Conceptual words coined and used in Sanatana Dharma texts have embedded esoteric meaning. They are used in specific context, entwined and integrated in the daily lives of people following Sanatana Dharma. As such the translated words do not convey the comprehensive meaning of the original samskrit word. Hence Dharmawiki is committed to follow the concepts and words "as is" from the primary sources (Vedas and other texts). It is to be clearly noted that the translation of a word when used is to give a general understanding of the word in modern parlance and is not an endorsement to use a translated word in place of the original term. Hence "Atman" may be loosely translated as "Soul", but not an accepted term in its place.

Shabdas (Words) are not simply sounds. They are concepts. They are visions. Unless there is an identical vision in some other language, translation becomes a burden. Whitehead, eminent Harvard Mathematician and Philosopher said "All lexicographers are murderers".

So samskrit words cannot be translated. No doubt, when an Upanishadic text is taught to a student, the text itself does not mean anything. The preceptor has to drive it into the core of the disciple. He does it through Anuvada (अनुवादः), the original is a concept, not merely translated; but interpreted, annotated, and expanded with many anecdotes until the disciple "digests" the concept and the exact nuances of the word. Thus, Anuvada is perpetual and eternal.

Any translation be it English or Persian (say of Dara Shikho) or the many native Bharatiya languages today tend to project a wrong orientation of the original concepts, not deliberately, but primarily because each language has its set of nuances. Although it is said that many Bharatiya languages arose from Samskrit, certain set of words and thus concepts digressed from what was presented and intended in the mulam (primary source).

Shabda and Shabdartha

A shabda (interpreted as a word as well as sound) has a mukhya pravrutti (the main purport). According to the Vaiyyakaranas (grammarians) it is the original intended meaning. The English word 'iridescence' means a lustrous rainbowlike play of color caused by differential refraction of light waves (as from an oil slick, soap bubble, or fish scales) that tends to change as the angle of view changes. Similarly, the sun in the sky has an aura of light around him. One cannot divest him from that aura.

When a word is used in Samskrit, it has its own sphere of meaning (context in which it is used), a light of meaning (the associated informative aspects) and that meaning is to be grasped. Words like dharma and moksha have a wide sphere of application and throw light on different aspects associated with a particular context. The word Moksha occurs once in the Shvetashvatara upanishad.

तं ह देवमात्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं मुमुक्षुर्वै शरणमहं प्रपद्ये ॥ १८ ॥ (Shve. Upan. 6.18)

Mumukshutva is that desire to be free from miseries, from bondage, from poverty of thought and expression. But the real greater concept of moksha refers to amrutattva  praptih (again loosely translated as immortality). It's primary meaning refers to freeing Self from cyclic karma and to know its eternal characteristic.

Thus we see in one example how Moksha, cannot be translated as liberation, freedom from bondage, emancipation (of the Soul), Salvation etc. None of these words can equate to or describe the concept of "Amrtattva Prapti".

Brahman is one significant concept which has been misunderstood by modern Indic interpreters who have translated IT as God. Definition of God as per English dictionary is a moral authority, a supreme being, as an image, murti or vigraha, animal or other object worshipped as divine, or symbolizing God. Conversely upanishadic definition of Brahman is a supreme existence or absolute reality. The concept of "Lord" indoctrinated into the Bharatiya system of thought processes are based on the abrahmic concept of God which is finite whereas the Brahmatattva of the deities is Infiniteness, hence God or Lord cannot be equal to Brahman. (Citation : Little Yogi in the modern city by Govinda Das)