Translation is an act of freedom from linguistic and cultural hegemony. In the post-colonial time, the projection of cultural voice in translation does not aim to subjugate it or to distinguish and empower others to dominate. A translator has to translate a text in historical and cultural contexts, and as such, a translated text prepares the ground for comparative cultural criticism. In the complete translation of Tukadoji’s Gramgeeta, published in 1955, comprising eight Quintates, forty-one Cantos, 4674 ovi/couplets and 9348 verse lines, the efforts are directed to maintain the form of the couplet and the liberty is availed in translating the text to render elasticity to the original form, keeping pace with the contours of the content. The cognisance of semiotic, semantic and aesthetic facets are taken in to provide new original in Target Language Text (TLT).
Ratnakar D. Bhelkar, poet, short story writer, prose lyricist, critic, editor and translator, is a bilingual who writes in Marathi and English and translates from both languages. Born on October 21, 1960, in Kalmeshwar of Nagpur District in Maharashtra, he was awarded Madhaorao Chandorkar Gold Medal for M.A. (English) in 1985. He is a former Professor and Head of the Department of English, Dhanwate National College, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur and Visiting Faculty, Department of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Thought of the same University. He was awarded Ph.D. for his research on Fantasy and Reality in Science Fiction in 1998, and is also the recipient of D.Litt. in English in 2020, in Translation Studies, for submitting the treatise on Gramgeeta. He has authored several books like Science Fiction: Fantasy and Reality (2009), Indian Literature: Translated Texts, Indianness and Beyond (2019), Gramgeeta (Translation, 2023), published by Atlantic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd. and Dissonance and Resonance (2014) by Authors Press. In addition, he has also edited Swan and Pearls, a university textbook. He has visited Thailand, Cambodia, the USA and Britain in his academic and creative odyssey.
