India, England, France: A (Post-)Colonial Translational Triangle- Harish Trivedi

Harish Trivedi — India, England, France: A (Post-)Colonial Translational Triangle

I. Résumé

• The essay opens with a synoptic statement of its central argument.

• It proposes a triangular model of translation relationships between:

  • India — as the receiving literary system,
  • England — as the colonial centre of linguistic and cultural power, and
  • France — as a non-colonial but prestigious alternative European culture.

• Traditionally, translation in colonial India was dominated by English, the language of the colonizers and modern education.

• Occasionally, however, Indian writers and translators turned to French literature as a deliberate act of resistance to the dominance of English.

• This choice, Trivedi argues, is not merely literary but ideological and political.

II. Abstract

• The essay is divided into two main parts:

  Part One – surveys the historical flow of translations from English and French into Indian languages. Part Two – gives a detailed case study of Premchand’s Hindi translation of Anatole France’s Thaïs(Ahankara).

• Overall aim: to show how translation from French represented a symbolic cultural assertion in colonial India — a way of claiming space beyond English dominance.

III. Part One — The Translational Triangle: Historical Background

1. English Dominance

• English entered India through the colonial education system (Macaulay’s Minute, 1835).
• By the late 19th century, most Western literature known in India came via English.
• Indian languages saw numerous translations of English writers (Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens etc.).
• English acquired prestige as the language of power, modernity, science, administration, and literature.
• This cultural hegemony of English created a dependency on it as the sole gateway to Western culture.

2. French as an Alternative

• In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, French works began to be translated into Indian languages—though often through English mediations, not directly from French.
• French authors gained visibility in India mainly after winning Nobel Prizes or getting discussed in English journals (e.g. Maeterlinck, Anatole France).
• French literature carried connotations of refinement, aestheticism, and emotional depth, often seen as less rigid than English Victorian morality.
• Some Indian translators praised French literature in their prefaces, comparing it favourably against English (e.g. Dumas vs Scott).

3. Ideological Charge of French Choice

• Choosing French was symbolic: it challenged English cultural supremacy while avoiding full rejection of European modernity.

• It opened a space for multiple Western influences, breaking English’s monopoly.

• This set up a triangular relationship: India–England–France, with complex power dynamics:

  • English — colonial and hegemonic
  • French — culturally prestigious but non-colonial
  • Indian languages — negotiating between them, seeking cultural autonomy

IV. Part Two — Case Study: Premchand’s Ahankara (1923)

1. Background

• Premchand (1880–1936): leading Hindi-Urdu novelist, nationalist, reformist writer.
• In 1923, he translated Anatole France’s novel Thaïs into Hindi as Ahankara.
• He did not know French — he used an English version as his source, showing how even “French” texts often came via English.

2. Transformative Adaptation

• Ahankara is not a literal translation; it is a cultural re-creation (transcreation).

Key changes:

• Names were Indianized:

  • Paphnuce → Papnashi (“destroyer of sins”)
  • Stylopolis → Papmochan (place that frees from sin)

• Language became Sanskritised Hindi, elevating its spiritual tone.

• He inserted Indian religious-philosophical vocabulary: maya, yogi, tapasya, bhakti, padmasana.

• He toned down the sensual/erotic elements of the French original and highlighted spiritual redemption.

• He added explanatory notes and cultural parallels, linking the narrative to Indian traditions (saints, rishis, renunciation).

3. Ideological Effects

• Premchand presented Thaïs as a tale of ego vs. renunciation, aligning it with Indian moral-spiritual ideals.
• This made the foreign text “domesticated” into Indian culture, asserting the spiritual superiority of Indian civilization.
• By choosing a non-English Western author and reshaping him through Indian cultural codes, Premchand resisted the cultural hegemony of English.

4. Wider Impact

• Ahankara inspired other Indian works, e.g. Bhagvati Charan Verma’s Chitralekha.
• It shows how translation can create new literary models and influence original Indian writing.

V. Post-Independence Continuities

• After 1947, Indian literature saw increased translations from French and other European languages (e.g. existentialist writers).
• Hindi journals published stories influenced by French modernism (e.g. Rajendra Yadav’s Ajnabi (1961), echoing Camus’s The Stranger).
• French continued as a prestigious counterweight to English in Indian literary imagination.

VI. Tensions and Complexities

• Although framed as resistance, French texts often came through English, so English remained an intermediary.
• Premchand wanted fidelity but also altered content, showing the tension between fidelity and cultural adaptation.
• He removed some exoticising racial descriptions but retained or introduced other orientalist tropes.
• His emphasis on Indian spirituality risks essentialising India as purely spiritual, which can also be seen as limiting.
• This shows that translation is never neutral: it always negotiates power and identity.

VII. Conclusion

• The India–England–France triangle illustrates how translation operates as a site of cultural power, conflict, and negotiation.
• By translating French works, Indian writers broke the cultural monopoly of English, expanded their literary horizons, and asserted their agency.
• Yet this move also remained entangled with English mediation and local ideological needs.
• Ultimately, the essay reveals how translation can serve as both resistance and assimilation, shaping modern Indian literature in complex ways.