Joanna Jurewicz

Report from the Battlefield: How to Translate Battle Descriptions in the Mahābhārata

This article discusses the problem of scene construal in translation, based on a selected description of the battle scene in the Mahābhārata. It is an old Indian epic (c. 400 BCE–400 CE), the greatest epic of mankind (c. 100,000 stanzas), composed in Sanskrit, most likely orally, and certainly distributed in this way. Its main theme is the war between related families. In Indology, descriptions of battles have been treated as conventional because of their orality, however, a closer analysis shows their well- thought-out structure.

The article discusses examples of zooming-in/out strategy (Langacker 2005) as one of the methods of active scene building. I show how the authors of the Mahābhārata construed doubly dynamic scenes in which both the content of the description (i.e. the fight) and the description itself is dynamic, reflecting the narrator’s movement. I also discuss the difficulties it presents to the Polish translator and consider the extent to which Polish inflection allows for a similar construal, thus meeting the translation requirements proposed by Tabakowska (1993). My hypothesis is that in many cases such doubly dynamic scenes can be successfully reflected in Polish, as opposed to an English translation (Cherniak 2008–9), thus preserving the extraordinary value of the original.

Philosophy, ritual and performativity in ancient Indian thought on the example of the Chandogia Upanishad 6.2.4

The paper discusses cosmogony presented by Uddālaka Āruṇi attested in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.1-6), according to which world forms arise by giving them a name. I argue that the experience that motivates the thinking of Uddālaka is ritual, the essence of which is to give people and objects a name, thanks to which their status dramatically changes for the duration of the ritual. An analysis of a selected passage of the king’s coronation described in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (5.3.4) reveals the fundamental importance of the verses uttered during preparation of the water for the consecration. The reconstruction of an experience that influences philosophical thought makes it possible to see its coherence and depth, and the fact that this experience is a ritual, a common experience of humanity, enables it to be better understood by those who grew up in other philosophical traditions as well.