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<div class='ite_mg_banner ads__container'><div class='it_mg_bnrBox'><div class='ite_bnr_cont'><div class='ite_cont_dtl'> <h4>Get <span class='bold_text'>37%</span> off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine</h4><a href='https://subscriptions.intoday.in/indiatoday?utm_source=top-web-banner ' class='ite_subscribe_btn origin_conscent_url' target='_blank'>SUBSCRIBE</a></div></div></div></div>

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<i><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><amp-img  src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/media2/indiatoday/images/stories/1981August/the%20ramayana%20(3)_111413121440.jpg" alt = "" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div>Lal:</div>Purshottam Lal, 51, a lecturer in English Literature at Calcutta University, has had a long association with the Anglo-Indian literary movement in this country. Lal has undertaken the monumental task of translating the Hindu epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata - "to enable those young Indians an entry into the mythological world of their own culture who have not been able to do so because of their alienation from the Indian languages." Lal spoke to</i>India Today's Sumanta Sen<i> on the relevance of his work to contemporary youth. Excerpts:</i><br><br><b>Q. <i>Why are you interested in the epics?</i><br>A.</b>It is because when your mythology dies, you die. It is our mythology that provides us with the much needed roots. Mahabharata and Ramayana will continue to live as long as Indian culture is alive. Once the culture dies they also will suffer the fates of the Iliad and the Odyssey which are of no relevance to present day Greece.<br><br><b>Q. <i>How has the Mahabharata done in the West?</i><br>A.</b>Not much, I think... I do not have the sales figures. Any appreciation in the West is bound to be lopsided, for the simple reason that we alone are the best equipped to enter into our own milieu. You cannot interpret a living mythological culture to one who does not belong to it. My efforts are principally directed at Indians and Indians alone.<br><br><b>Q. <i>What problems did you face while translating?</i><br>A.</b>There are words like "Bhakti" and "Sraddha" and "Tapasya" with associations which can never be really translated into another language. So I have used these Sanskrit words which also feature in Webster's and which the foreign reader can look up for a close enough meaning.<br><br>I assume that one has done his homework before approaching either the Mahabharata and Ramayana and I can't help if he has not done so. My ideal reader is a person well versed in English, interested in entering the Indian mythological culture and who is also aware of the complexities of the twentieth century.<br><br>Also he must preferably be below 40 as people above that start suffering from fixed notions. And when I am saying this I always have an Indian of the present generation in mind- the West can eavesdrop if it wants to.<br><br><b>Q.<i> What else do you plan to write about in future?</i><br>A.</b>Right now I am busy translating the Mahabharata<i>sloka</i>-by-<i>sloka</i>. It will take another 10 years.<br><br><b>Q.<i> What was your primary approach to the Ramayana?</i><br>A.</b>I try to see it as an epic of compassion, of "karuna". The passages which highlight this are in my translation.<br><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Nov 14, 2013 11:09 IST</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

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<i><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/media2/indiatoday/images/stories/1981August/the%20ramayana%20(3)_111413121440.jpg" loading="lazy" /></div>Lal:</div>Purshottam Lal, 51, a lecturer in English Literature at Calcutta University, has had a long association with the Anglo-Indian literary movement in this country. Lal has undertaken the monumental task of translating the Hindu epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata - "to enable those young Indians an entry into the mythological world of their own culture who have not been able to do so because of their alienation from the Indian languages." Lal spoke to</i>India Today's Sumanta Sen<i> on the relevance of his work to contemporary youth. Excerpts:</i><br><br><b>Q. <i>Why are you interested in the epics?</i><br>A.</b>It is because when your mythology dies, you die. It is our mythology that provides us with the much needed roots. Mahabharata and Ramayana will continue to live as long as Indian culture is alive. Once the culture dies they also will suffer the fates of the Iliad and the Odyssey which are of no relevance to present day Greece.<br><br><b>Q. <i>How has the Mahabharata done in the West?</i><br>A.</b>Not much, I think... I do not have the sales figures. Any appreciation in the West is bound to be lopsided, for the simple reason that we alone are the best equipped to enter into our own milieu. You cannot interpret a living mythological culture to one who does not belong to it. My efforts are principally directed at Indians and Indians alone.<br><br><b>Q. <i>What problems did you face while translating?</i><br>A.</b>There are words like "Bhakti" and "Sraddha" and "Tapasya" with associations which can never be really translated into another language. So I have used these Sanskrit words which also feature in Webster's and which the foreign reader can look up for a close enough meaning.<br><br>I assume that one has done his homework before approaching either the Mahabharata and Ramayana and I can't help if he has not done so. My ideal reader is a person well versed in English, interested in entering the Indian mythological culture and who is also aware of the complexities of the twentieth century.<br><br>Also he must preferably be below 40 as people above that start suffering from fixed notions. And when I am saying this I always have an Indian of the present generation in mind- the West can eavesdrop if it wants to.<br><br><b>Q.<i> What else do you plan to write about in future?</i><br>A.</b>Right now I am busy translating the Mahabharata<i>sloka</i>-by-<i>sloka</i>. It will take another 10 years.<br><br><b>Q.<i> What was your primary approach to the Ramayana?</i><br>A.</b>I try to see it as an epic of compassion, of "karuna". The passages which highlight this are in my translation.<br><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Nov 14, 2013 11:09 IST</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

Purshottam Lal, a lecturer in English Literature at Calcutta University, has had a long association with the Anglo-Indian literary movement in this country. Lal spoke to India Today's Sumanta Sen on the relevance of his work to contemporary youth.

India Today

Purshottam Lal: Vital roots - India Today

Mahabharata and Ramayana will continue to live as long as Indian culture is alive: Purshottam Lal

Purshottam Lal: Vital roots

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Mahabharata and Ramayana will continue to live as long as Indian culture is alive: Purshottam Lal

Purshottam Lal, a lecturer in English Literature at Calcutta University, has had a long association with the Anglo-Indian literary movement in this country. Lal spoke to India Today's Sumanta Sen on the relevance of his work to contemporary youth.

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