Every language encodes within it a unique culture and a world view. This site being an English site, our questions and answers are in English. But certain words lose meaning when translated to English.

For example,

  • Sin is not bad karma or paap
  • Atman is not soul
  • Jati-varna system is not caste system

By using these English words we distorting the actual meaning of these words and the philosophy behind them. Where possible I feel we should use the actual sanskrit word instead of using it's English (mis)translation.

Refer this document for many Sanskrit non-translatables


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  • 1
    'Brahma' or 'Brahman'another example I think... – user11 Jul 27 '14 at 16:20
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    a probable solution is to mention the word in both Sanskrit (original) and for the general public English. That way at least the learned can discern the intention of author. – Vineet Menon Aug 6 '14 at 15:25
  • The same is with Mythology tag. We can have some better tag instead of it. – user4780 Apr 8 '16 at 10:51
  • @Sandeep, Mythology is better kept as Itihasa or Purana. – Bharat Apr 8 '16 at 17:40
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    dharma is also an example. – Sarvabhouma Jan 25 '17 at 11:04

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