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Showing posts from March, 2009

Hind Swaraj Centenary Event at Sarnath: 2nd and 11th April, 2009

Here are excerpts from the invitation mail by the organizers... Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath   and Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad As part of the Centenary celebrations the Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi and the Gujarat Vidyapeeth have planned a ten day camp (Shivir) at Sarnath during 2 nd and 11 th April, 2009 . Gandhiji had firmly held his conviction on the world view he had presented in the Hind Swaraj and also on the foundations he specified for the social reconstruction. Unfortunately, during his times and also soon after Independence, the leaders hardly paid any attention to work for the Hind Swaraj. Interestingly, after hundred years the situation world over is such that the fundamentals of Gandhian thought are being referred to and revisited. The threats from the nature and the threats from fellow men are intensifying and a search for sustainable solution has begun. The broad objective of the proposed shibir is to discuss, share a

Hind Swaraj in Gujarati

Reading Hind Swaraj in original Gujarati is IMPORTANT for anyone who wants to understand this work in its completeness. Many  parts that are not clear in the English version is due to poor translation and further edition. In comparison the Gujarati edition reads almost poetic in places and extremely strong in its presentation. The local idioms and phrases deployed are also important as they represent a certain world view. Their English equivalent is no match whatsoever. Gandhi must have had a tough time doing the first translation himself.  Another problem seems to be that other Indian (and perhaps foreign) languages would have used the English rather than the Gujarati as the base (at least that seems to be the case in Tamil edition), if this is the case, then there are quite a few issues that need to be looked into.