Translating the Sacred in the Age of Design: New Typographic Experiments

Abstract

The debate of Orientalism notwithstanding, there is resurgence in the translation of sacred Indian texts, of late. If the arrival of new media writing, digital printing, computer graphics and multiplying e-resources has enabled the modern-day translator to maneuver the textual space in unprecedented ways, the change in cultural practices has encouraged him to experiment afresh with the so-called originary sacred. The eclipse of ideology and a conspicuous disneyfication of life, cumulatively speaking, produce an altogether exciting culture of design for the translators to re-script the sacred literature. The new age poet-translator, taking advantage of the bold manifestations of the three-dimensional culture, tries to maximize the textual space of the translated text. In an attempt to explore the unheard and unseen nuances of the so-called original texts, he exploits the space of the text, casting away its granted linearity, sequential progression and flat spatial arrangement. Each translated text, as it appears on the printed page, begins to acquire its own animate design, spatial spread and visual geometry.

Keywords:

• Design
• typographic
• translation
• sacred
• visual

Notes

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Nair’s (2015) is also a work of sustained typographic experimentation, but due to constrains of space it does not figure among the primary texts in this paper.

2 The original invocatory verse (in roman transcript) reads:

  pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamādāya pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate

  pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāśiṣyate

  oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

It is translated thus: ‘The invisible (Brahman) is the Full; the visible (the world) too is the Full. From the Full (Brahman), the Full (the visible) universe has come. The Full (Brahman) remains the same, even after the Full (the visible universe) has come out of the Full (Brahman).’ Source: https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/isha-upanishad/d/doc122459.html.

3 In his poster Milton Glaser creates a logo for the New York City to promote its tourism. The logo consists of the capital letter I, followed by a red heart symbol, and below these two letters are used two more letters in bold N and Y. The font used for the three letters is quite close to a rounded slab serif font called American Typewriter designed by Joel Kaden and Tony Stan in 1974.

4 Hausmann (1922), translated from Russian (Baden, Switzerland: Verlag Lais Muller, 1994), quoted in Lista (2005, 84).

5 Ramaswamy explains the concept of bridal mysticism within bhakti tradition thus:

It is interesting to note that while the ‘bride of the Lord concept’ came naturally to women saints, it was not uncommon among the male bhakti saints to see the jïvatman (individual soul) and para-mãtman (supreme soul) relationship as a husband and wife relationship. Tirumañgai Alwãr, a male saint, preferred to adopt femininity and looked upon Krsna as his bridegroom….” – “Rebels – Conformists? Women Saints in Medieval South India. (1992, 140–41)

6 Anandavardhana, in his Dhavanyloka proposes three levels of meaning, viz., abhidha, laksana, and vyanjana.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Akshaya Kumar

Akshaya Kumar is an author of two books – Poetry, Politics and Culture (Routledge, 2009), and A.K. Ramanujan: In Profile and Fragment (Rawat, 2004). He has also co-edited a volume entitled Cultural Studies in India (Routledge, 2016). His areas of academic interest include Comparative Indian Literature, Translation Studies and Cultural Studies.