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The Bhagavad-gita: Innovations and challenges in its translation

Wahlstrom Lecture
Professor Graham M. Schweig
Tuesday, 30 May 2006 - 11:00am

Many translators of the Bhagavad Gita resort to an informationally accurate prose translation that sometimes loses the poetic power and expression of the original verse. Others resort to constricted verse translation droping important and nuanced meanings of the text. Schweig is developing a way to translate Sanskrit philosophical verse that is both loyal to the meaning of the text while conveying something of the poetic power of the text in what he calls ‚Äúdedicated free verse translation,‚Äù without falling prey to the weakness of either approach. Schweig will present some of the discoveries on which he is writing for his forthcoming introduction and translation of the Bhagavad Gita for Harper Collins / Harper San Francisco.