How Nirala Became Nirala

The literary scene in India is witnessing an unexpected surge in translations lately. One cannot help but speculate the reasons behind this unprecedented boom in translations. A few justifications are in order: [That] the difference between the ‘vernacular’ writers and Indians writing in English has not been so much of sensibility or quality as of linguistic affiliation and often social class (Trivedi); translation helps in the unification of India; the occasional celebration of an Indian book at the global platforms such as the Booker creates a fanatic interest, pushing thereby a string of new translations. Having admitted to the relative merit of the above points, this author too has noticed a peculiar trend, often working as a catalyst for new translations. That a significant number of new translations are undertaken to set right a ‘historical wrong’ done to the writer by his episteme is one of the invisible undercurrents in Indian translation practice. There could be, in fact, multitudes of such historical wrongs. To name a few: unfair treatment by the critics; absence from the canon;