An Enigmatic Work

The first time I heard about Professor Lipner’s intentions of re- translating the Anandamath was at a symposium organized by The Book Review Literary Trust, New Delhi, sometime in March-April 2003. Both Professor Lipner and this reviewer had spoken on that occasion, albeit for different lengths of time and with unequal authority. Now whereas Lipner appears to have no memories of that occasion (he does not mention it in his Preface), some of us present at the time still vividly recall the eagerness and enthusiasm with which he approached the project. As I recall, this was a time when Gautam Chakravarti had just begun his translation of the Kapalakundala1 , another well known novel of Bankim, and the post-tea conversation, predictably enough, produced some animated discussion on the challenges before a translator and what a translation might potentially do to a text.