Sanskrit Non-Translatables : The Importance of Sanskritizing English

by Rajiv Malhotra, Satyanarayana Dasa

Sanskrit Non-Translatables is a path-breaking and audacious attempt at Sanskritizing the English language and enriching it with powerful Sanskrit words. It continues the original and innovative idea of nontranslatability of Sanskrit, first introduced in the book, Being Different. For English readers, this should be the starting point of the movement to resist the digestion of Sanskrit into English, by introducing loanwords into their English vocabulary without translation.
The book presents a thorough mechanism of the process of digestion and examines the loss of adhikara for Sanskrit because of translating its core ideas into English. The movement launched by this book will resist this and stop the programs that seek to turn Sanskrit into a dead language by translating all its treasures to render it redundant. It discusses fifty-four non-translatables across various genres that are being commonly mistranslated. It empowers English speakers with the knowledge and arguments to introduce these Sanskrit words into their daily speech with confidence. Every lover of India’s sanskriti will benefit from the book and become a cultural ambassador propagating it through routine communications.

Genres: India, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Hinduism

288 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 2020

About the author

Rajiv Malhotra is the founder and president of Infinity Foundation. An Indian-American entrepreneur, philanthropist and community leader, he has devoted himself, for the last ten years, to clarifying the many misperceptions about Indic traditions in America and amongst Indians.

He is an active writer, columnist, and speaker on a variety of topics, including the traditions and cultures of India, the Indian Diaspora, globalization, and East-West relations. Rajiv has been appointed to the Asian-American Commission for the State of New Jersey, where he serves as the Chairman for the Education Committee, which was created to start an Asian Studies program in schools. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Red Cross and has volunteered in local hospice and AIDS counseling.

Reviews

[Santaraksita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all Indians who read English as a first language in school, and are not familiar with Indian traditions in regional languages or Sanskrit. More generally, this book is essential for anybody interested in Indian culture and philosophy. Some of the important terms that I did not understand properly before reading this book are Kama != lust, shruti != that which is heard, samadhi != trance dharana, dhyana, samadhi != meditation, agni != fire, sukshma sharira != astral body, and many other such profound concepts which lose their meaning totally when translated to English by many swamis, because the culture in which English evolved had vastly different experiences and another view of the world, meditation doesn't even figure in their culture, let alone related concepts.
Another thing to know about this book, that like all books of Shri Rajiv Malhotra, the book is quite dense with no casual sentence figuring in the book. Atleast 2 readings of this book are required to deeply appreciate the concepts mentioned in this book. I will read this book again sometime later.

[Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

From being a land of universities like Takshasila and Nalanda, which attracted scholars from across the world, why is India struggling to regain its dignity and establish its ancient language? We know what had happened to the universities, no matter what a progressive scholar wants us to think. Books don’t burn themselves, nor do build crumble overnight.

Sanskrit is much more than just a language. It is the root that holds the country deep down and keeps it alive. Kill the root, and you kill a country. Plain and simple.

Sanskrit Non-Translatables talks about how even the simplest words in Sanskrit have been given wrong and superfluous meanings, which led to the ancient scripts being reduced to nothing more than a jumble of words. A word without its original meaning has no value in a paragraph. That is what has been happening with Sanskrit.

The book explains how by learning the actual meanings of Sanskrit words and not equating them with insufficient English terms, we can save the language from being butchered and declared useless. This is an attempt to prevent the dilution of diverse identities. In a world that wants to have a diverse workforce, why is being an Indian Hindu a bad thing?

Aren’t our identities being replaced with the so-called polished and civilized versions as the West wants us to be? Why should we not resist this attack on our identity?

Sanskrit Non-Translatables explains how a Sanskrit word should be understood. It talks about Shabda- Brahman- the dhvani (sound) and artha (meaning), interconnected in a Sanskrit word.

A Sanskrit word starts with vibrations. Call it energy waves if it makes things easier to understand. The vibration is a combination of the sound and the object. It is a manifestation of the sound and its meaning.

An alphabet is called an Akshara in Sanskrit, which means imperishable. That’s how the language is, eternal and indestructible. The book explains the role of Vyakaranam (grammar), Madhyama (medium), and the importance of the Bija mantra, the source of vibrations in Sanskrit.

There is an easy-to-understand table in the book for ready reference about how-
• Kavya is not poetry
• Kama is not lust
• Naga is not naked
• Atman is not soul
• Prema is not love
• Shakti is not Energy

And many more. There is another chart at the end of the book that explains the difference between the Sanskrit word and its so-called English equivalent. There is a detailed bibliography in case one wants to look up the references.

Sanskrit Non-Translatables is much more than an attempt to decolonize the brainwashed generations. It is about teaching the citizens that they should try to look beyond the popular opinions and learn how a culture has been able to survive as many attacks. It is a nudge to understand that one has to take pride in their culture if they need to have an identity of their own.

If my review made you curious, I suggest you pick up the book. The writing is dry and sounds more like a thesis paper at times. But you will gain new insight into how civilizations have been destroyed. Remember that there are people out there who have no idea about the origins of their land because there is no one left to tell them the truth.

And if the review made you order the book without a second thought, I wish you the very best. May you learn the intricacies of this beautiful language. It is not easy. I’m a newbie too, and still am guilty of trying to find equivalents in English. I’m trying to change that and hope you will also try. We don’t have to apologize for being Hindus or for learning Sanskrit.

Remember- Sanskrit is not a dead language. It is the root of our land, and we will nourish it back to its original glory.

This review has been posted as a part of The Thousand Reviewers Club. Thank you, Indic Academy and Indic Book Club, for a copy of the book.

*******
Read the full review on my blog- Sanskrit Non-Translatables- Book Review

[Lasic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book as always.
Thank you for writing this book Rajiv ji and Satyanarayana Dasa babaji!

[Satendra Thakur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rajiv Malhotra in his book Sanskrit-Non Translatables : The importance of Sanskritizing English clearly puts up a strong case that certain words of the Sanskrit should not be translated to English because they lose their essence as the context and their inherent deep meaning which is attached with Hindu philosophy is lost after translation to English.

It's saddening to see that usage of Sanskrit, which is one of the oldest language, is declining and consequently the original study of Indian philosophy and hindu texts is also declining.
Using English words distorts the original meaning and it always comes with western background attached to it.
For example, 'svarga' is not 'heaven', 'asura' is not 'demon', 'karma-yoga' is not path of action.
The book tells the difference between a lot of words which should not be translated very clearly.

Every language adds a entirely new perspective for understanding of world, so everyone should preserve the original words of language if they have no equivalent in other languages. So, not only Sanskrit should have non-translatables but other languages should have non-translatables too. This will help in the preservation of language and unique culture.

Authors who translate the Sanskrit texts should also use Sanskrit non-translatables in their upcoming words.
Rajiv Malhotra even talked with Amish Tripathi about the same thing.

It inspired me to learn sanskrit and read the texts of Hinduism in the original version.
Hopefully, I'll make time for it asap.

Highly recommended!

[The Conch · Rating 5 out of 5]

If a culture has to be destroyed then attack has to be made on its language. Latin is declared dead and same happens to one of the most ancient language of the world, Sanskrit, however, due to resistance given by numerous Sanskrit scholars and effort of author like Shri Rajiv Malhotra and Dr. Satyanarayan Dasa Babaji, still the hope of revival of Sanskrit lingers.

The main purpose of the book is to show how simple translation and mapping of deep philosophical concept into Abhramic religion's frame can faster digestion of ancient and only living Hindu civilization.

The book is divided into topic wise section which describes the effect of loose translation and how original Sanskrit words differ for e.g.

'Atman' is not soul
Eeswar or Bhagavan is not God
'Kavya' is not poet
'Kama' is not sex
'Tantra' is not sexual orgy
'Hanuman'or 'Ganesha' is not monkey or elephant god

Each chapter consists of summary in tabular form. Readers can just refer to this for quick reference. In nutshell, this is must read book and time has come to 'Sanskritize the West'.

[Dilip · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a classic case of "what you have been taught is wrong" but with proof and context. when someone argued with me that Hindu gods are not real gods i pushed back all the way.but reading content like this and similar i now realize that i was wrong! God in the Abrahamic sense is a messenger with a single life...bhagawan is much more than that...whether it is avatars or the various feats achieved tor divine manifestations , they are not in the same family as Abrahamic gods....this books continues a similar school of thought and is a a good colonial decleanser...many samskrit terms are mis translated and used against sanatanis day in and out..this is a good starting point for retooling oneself!

[Piyush Dubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes a clear statement as to why not translate certain words which have deeper meaning associated with them.Otherwise it leads to distorted understanding and generally used by those who are adharmik.

[Düsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much needed book.

[Harsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The oldest language of the world is Sanskrit. Even most of the European languages are said to be inspired by sanskrit. This is the extent of Sanskrit, which current modern Indian youths are unable to understand and are just embracing the western lifestyle in totality considering the authentic Indian lifestyle a very low and cheap one. 

The main thing is that they have never even experienced the authentic Indian culture, and the language the true meaning of it. This is basically due to the losing essence of Sanskrit language and it's words because of translation. As translation in it's perfect sence is something which transfers not just the same meaning of the words but also the emotions which are attached to those words. True translation in some other language should create the same effect in the reader which the author wanted in the original writing. 

This is where the main problem arises which the authors in this book "Sanskrit non translatables" have dealt with. It is an amazing book which tells us the importance of translation and how wrongly most of the words of Sanskrit are being translated to English thereby losing their true essence. Few examples of such words can be Shakti is not energy, agni is not fire, Puja is not ritual, chakra is not energy center, etc. All of these are elaborately explained in this book as why this translation of such common words is faulty. It tells us about Shabda- Brahman- the dhvani (sound) and artha (meaning). It also tells us about the interlinking of Sanskrit with the physical energy waves or the vibrations when we speak. It bifurcates the vibration into potential sound object pair as a manifested object and the sound meaning that it has. 

This book tries to tell us the importance and the true essence of Sanskrit language and how it has to be converted to other languages. This language is not dying as is a perception among many because an alphabet which is the most basic building block of a language known as Akshara, which means indestructible. The importance of Vyakaranam (grammar, because how a language is to be spoken and how it is to be read formally is defined through grammatical rules only), Madhyama (the medium through which it is told), and Bija mantra (the source of vibrations in sanskrit) is explained thereby increasing our knowledge of this wonderful and godly language. 

This language is the origin of all languages. It cannot be destroyed by any human intervention, and us as influenced by Western universalism cannot forget our roots. This language is a bit tough for people who are starting from zero, but not a Heartbreaker for the curious ones. Try reading it for once, you'll love the language it's basics and intricacies and you'll get a in-depth knowledge of our past and how our languages are evolved without which even a single day is quite tough for most people to go through. 


This review has been posted as a part of The Thousand Reviewers Club. Thank you Indic Academy and Indic Book Club for giving me the opportunity to read this masterpiece of a book on such an important and mind-boggling topic which is a must in current circumstances. 

[P V · Rating 4 out of 5]

AmaraSimha’s Namalinganushasanam, popularly known as Amarakosha has been translated as ‘a Sanskrit thesaurus’ by the authors in this book. If you can accept this translation, this book is not for you. Because this book contests a bunch of similar translations, most of them are situational and subject-specific, with a separate chapter for each subject.
The authors could convince me on how ahimsa is not non-violence with their explanation. A few years ago, we saw in the news that certain countries are propagating the Bhagawad Gita as a supporter of non-violence and trying to ban it. But the content in this book well explained how non-violence is needed as punitive action in support of dharma. I found the reference to Manusmriti very apt in showing that violence is not just of physical form, but it can be in verbal and mental forms also.
Similarly, in chapter 11 of the book, the authors took to convince the reader that ‘Rasa is not Mellow or Taste’. I feel they succeeded in explaining the term Rasa well in just two pages.
But the authors conveniently chose only limited scope for the terms they want to cover in this book and did not give enough thought to them. The word rasa can mean different things based on the subject we are dealing with it – Natyasastra, Ayurveda, Alchemy, etc. If we take the word rasa from Ayurveda and try to explain it using Natyasastra terms, then the explanation will be wrong.
This 250-page book did not fascinate me as much as these author’s words in his preface fascinated me “Just as western terminology has entered the Indian psyche; Indian terminology should also enter not only Western but also the modern Indian’s mind. This will be a great step towards reclaiming our Sanskriti.”
Overall, this book gives a good number of examples on how to avoid निहितार्थ दोष as explained by Mammata in Kavyaprakasha (7-145). When a word has more than one meaning, only the contextual primary meaning should be taken but not any other meaning. By using more examples and references from Nyaya and Mimamsa shastras, this book can be turned into a great work.

[mahesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rajiv Malhotra is one of the Jnani I pay deference for his sharp intellect to decipher and slay the wicked intention of western universalism and breaking Indian forces. I have adequate education in Vedas, shastras, Upanishad, and Puranas, understanding a book was not a difficult task. Nevertheless, even I had the erroneous idea about Sanskrit words and their meaning since most of the knowledge gained by books reproduced in English. The explanation offered by the writer by supplying the tangible difference between English and Sanskrit is honorable work.

After finished reading every book by Raji Malhotra, you end up in despondency because you discern how you are tricked by the faulty history. Colonizer history taught in school to undermine everything divine about Hinduism and exaggerating minute impediments. Most of the Indians are trained to feel inferior about their culture in front of western culture. The inferior gaze needs to shift towards understanding the multifariousness and profoundness of our Sanatan Dharma. It can happen only when we are educated with a proper channel with facts that is free of the decay of truth. Books by Rajiv Ji need to be added to our curriculum if we want our youth to grow without inferior complexity.

Rajiv Ji inspired me to learn Sanskrit(Recently started) and embrace the Sanskriti of the immemorial divine land ruled by Great Lord Rama and divine being Krishna. We should get back what is ours, not to feel superior over others, it is just to make our stand against predatory western universalism. if we allow our difference to be merged in western universalism in the name of myopic oneness, we will be orphaned in our homeland with nothing to feel connected. Sanskrit and dharma will never die as long as the cosmos exist but it is our primary duty to keep the purity of it. Maybe we should stand our ground in our Vedic way and proud of our roots, So that western society stop looking at us as primitive.

This book could be a gateway to understand the fundamental difference between the Richness of Sanskrit and the limitation of English. Yet I highly advise you to read "Being different" before you read this book. Because there are many topics covered in detail in "Being different" than here. Sanskrit non-translatable is a comprehensive manual to understand the richness of Sanskrit. However compared to previous books of Rajiv Ji, this one is not up to the mark. Perhaps I have this outlook Because of the expectation set by his earlier books.

I have given only 4 stars because of biased aversion towards a western perception of Dharma. Even Indians should share the portion of the blame in his book, Not just westerners. The majority of the Indians have a limited understanding of Santan Dharma than the westerners I have met.

Overall it is a good book, It has clarified some of my doubts.

[Saravana Sastha Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in a while we come across a book with content that makes us wonder how we never knew all this for so long. As someone who has been primarily reading books in English to better understand India's history and heritage, this book is a huge eye opener. Some of what we know, understand, speak and think about concepts like dharma, karma, yoga, prana etc are concepts solidified in our minds based on what we heard and read from western or even Indian translation in English. But what if much was lost in that translation? What if the author had missed the cultural context ? Did what we knew so far was a parochial interpretation based on biases?

This book does a fantastic job of convincing the reader to relook at what we knew or whatever thought we knew. First of all this book shatters the pride of the reader who so far predominantly depends on English book sources. Second, it convinces the reader to make the effort to appreciate and understand the depth of the words and context driven meaning of Sanskrit words. Finally, it opens up the reader to a whole new dimension of the immense, timeless and perfect world of Sanskrit. That's where the book stops. From then on its your own journey. I have most certainly taken my own baby steps in that journey.

The book starts with driving home the context about why this book was conceived and created. If you had been reading Rajiv Malhotra, then most of it is repeated or extracted from his other works. Then the book takes you through a crash course on the timeless wonder of Sanskrit language structure. That's when the premise of the book is made - English must start using Sanskrit words as it is as they are non-translatable. Then the book takes you through several chapters on the philosophical pillars and the typical Sanskrit words associated with them and explains how their translated equivalents do no justice to the the depth and beauty of the original meaning (s) and how it gets diluted by translation. By the time you reach here....your own journey on sanskrit must have started in your mind. Yes that's how convincing the authors are.

I also want to point out that in many places the Sanskrit words are not elaborated to explain their meaning neither in the main content nor in the notes. But that is just far and few. The notes are scholarly and gives recommendations and citations of various other books that would be a treasure for someone like me 'in the journey'.

This is a timely contribution by the authors and I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said they did a fantastic civilization duty in bringing out this book.

[Note: If you think you have a very good reading speed, this book will be a challenge. It takes time and re-reading to digest what's there in the book]

[Ajay Thakur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an enlightening read this was. Do read it.

[Rahul Kaushik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book i was looking for a long time now. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages & i always wanted to learn more about it. its vastness & vocabulary is amazing.

[Sanat Pai Raikar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough and comprehensive. A good reference for Sanskrit words and how they get misinterpreted + how they should ideally be used.

[Awadhesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of many crucial words of Sanskrit and their meanings in detail.

[Jain Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

One may argue well that, at the center of the idea of Bharat lies Dharma. The fortunes of Dharma & the Indian cultural prosperity are tied together. Sanskrit is the language in which the entire collective Dharmic knowledge corpus has been composed. The decline in the currency of Sanskrit is systematic, conspired, and has caused degeneration of the collective civilizational mindset, its confidence, and its well-being.  With the Gurukul Parampara having become a relic of the past, Sanskrit has become effectively side-lined.Most Indians know about Sanskrit as an ancient Indian language, they have heard about but never directly read, thanks to it not being prioritized in the curriculum.

Over the centuries, English has replaced Sanskrit as a language that any Indian aspires to excel in. As a direct consequence, western manners, customs, and values are also thought of to be the ideals to cultivate in an individual. This English supremacy comes with an implication that increasingly,discussion on Dharma & culture would start happening in English rather than Sanskrit (or its derivative languages). This has consequences, which Rajiv Malhotra & Satyanarayana Sasa Babaji detail in the book.

The foreword to the book starts with a discussion on the Sanskrit word “Anuvada” and demonstrating with a Sanskrit phrase how there is a gradual complete deterioration in the meaning conveyed when the phrase is restated in Sanskrit, Hindi, and English. The central idea of the book becomes clear to a reader.

The book is divided into two sections. The first one makes a case for Sanskrit by discussing the perils of replacing Sanskrit with English. An important idea in the section is that of the cultural digestion that happens when a native language is replaced with a foreign one. Accompanied with an apt example of Greece, which is now considered a part of the cultural West, was once a distinct civilization with its own identity, prior to being digested by the global West identity.  Protection from cultural plagiarism, loss of richness in meaning, etc. are some other themes discussed in the section.

To counter the aforesaid challenges, the authors argue that all Dharmic concepts should be expressed by their native Sanskrit words when discussing in English (or any other language); and that the practice should be normalized. The objective is to “enrich the language which has historically been of assimilative nature“ while avoiding any distortion or loss of meaning. 

The second section of the book individually analyses 54 Sanskrit-English word pairs which appear interchangeable on their face value, discusses their perceived individual meanings and displays the amount difference in meaning of both the terms. In effect, at display, is the amount of loss of richness in meaning, distortion caused to the original concept, when convenient but mis-fit English words are adopted in conversations. Several Dharmic concepts such as the integral unity of cosmos, seeking experiential path to the truth, non-materialistic objectives of science, etc. get covered in detail in the section while discussing the individual words pairs. 

It is felt by some that the book goes beyond quoting and explaining the English word; it stresses a bit too much upon the follies of Western world. However,one feels that the case for Sanskrit cannot be made without telling its journey, its suppression and while at it, the suppressors. Overall impression of the books is that the reason to universalize the usage of Sanskrit words, online or offline, has been convincingly established in this engaging read. 

[Narendranath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: Timely and timeless

The central argument of the book is: "Word, as understood in the Western tradition... is associated with meaning arbitrarily and is man-made, transitory and destructible. Shabda, on the other hand, has an eternal, indestructible and innate relationship with its meaning. Patanjali defines Shabda as that, which when revealed, brings about meaning."¹

To illustrate this, the book lists fifty four examples. It becomes clear that English is deficient in conveying the very precise but subtle nuances of Sanskrit. Thus, the tagline and purpose of the book: 'the importance of Sanskritizing English' become appreciable.

Sanskrit is truly unique, having been created through sanskara or 'refinement'; there's no unintentional natural evolution. So, a word will and must mean exactly the same whether in antiquity or in perpetuity.

To appreciate this, let's take the word 'awesome'. In the sixteenth century, it had a positive connotation meaning profoundly reverential. Within a century, it evolved to have a negative connotation meaning 'inspiring awe or dread'. The present positive meaning of 'impressive, very good' was first recorded in late twentieth century and came into popular usage only much later.²

In Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver comes across immortals called Struldbrugg living in the nation of Luggnagg. Gulliver is first envious of the possibility that Struldbrugg could attain unparalleled knowledge due to their lifespan. Later, however, he finds out that the immortals are utter misfits in the society. As language and knowledge are ever evolving, Struldbrugg's language becomes undecipherable and their knowledge obsolete.³ In this context, Sanskrit words and their meanings being immutable is truly stunning. If only the Struldbrugg had Sanskrit!

As English becomes ubiquitous, incorrect translations are quietly seeping in. Shabda, in the Indian tradition, is central to man's existence, including his ability to think.⁴ Words clearly have the power to influence our thinking. Nowhere is it more apparent than in ahimsa, which has profoundly influenced the character of the entire country. It's such a pity that the prevalent meaning is actually a mistranslation.

Ahimsa is not the straightforward antonym of himsa. It would be expected that Himsa/violence with a negative prefix 'a' becomes ahimsa/non-violence. In the traditional context, however, it means minimal violence. Also, total elimination of himsa is unnatural and impossible.⁵

It's also sad to see some glorious words being turned into pejoratives. Bhakti is reserved solely towards Bhagvan.⁶ Bhakt today, however, is used with derision on social media.

This book is timely, as more and more people are seeking to explore our Sanskriti. There's no Sanskriti without Sanskrit. My sincere thanks to Shri Rajiv Malhotra and Shri Satyanarayana Das Babaji for writing this highly technical book in an easily accessible manner. This book has surely made me eager to learn Sanskrit first hand to understand our Sanskriti directly, and not just as a tourist, relying on translations. 

References
1 p.84,85 Sanskrit Non-Translatables
2 https://www.etymonline.com/word/awesome
3 Part 3, Gulliver's Travels
4 p 84 Sanskrit Non-Translatables
5 p122 Sanskrit Non-Translatables
6 p140 Sanskrit Non-Translatables

[Prisha Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanskrit Non-Translatables' is a dauntless defender on a widespread issue on how the mistranslation of words from a certain language to another leads to numerous difficulties while trying to retain and express the original meaning. Not only highlighting the plight of our fading sanskriti, but also calling for the realization and embracement of our distinct and rich traditions and preventing its 'cultural genocide', Rajiv Malhotra and Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji have wonderfully expressed their profound concern with lucid explanations and brief detailing. Being the roots of many global dialects, we must garner pride for this beautiful language and safeguard its delicate terminology that has been handed down for generations by our ancient rishi-s and grammarians. The utterance of Sanskrit isn't just a mere uttering of words, but it is the unity of sound, meaning and object. The authors have successfully examined various mistranslated words from Sanskrit, ranging from areas such as Vedic Psychology and Shastra to the Cosmic Tattva-s and Kavya. They undermine the necessity of using the original words from a certain language while making references or borrowing notions to another context. Furthermore, they make a bold call for the need of Sanskritizing the English language by introducing untranslated Sanskrit words to convey the original and complete meaning and idea. Dwelling into the selected words in this book, the authors have challenged the misinterpretations head-on and provided substantial information supporting their rightful claims. Separating the Hindu ideology from other Abrahamic religions, words such as svarga are not to be loosely translated to 'heaven', for according to Hinduism, it is "a sublte realm beyond the perceptible physical world where a jiva in a sublte svargiya body temporarily resides to enjoy the fruits of its good deeds" ,as stated in the book. Now to compare it with its English counterpart, one can clearly see the stark difference in the meanings of the two words. The same relates for other words like shakti which is not energy, atma which is not soul, agni which is not fire and ananda which is not bliss. This has helped in breaking major frequent misapprehensions and providing richer knowledge on Sanskrit, which is most probably the lifeline of our civilization. Overall, I found this a wonderful book which provides a greater understanding of Sanskrit, broadening the mind with its rich and intricate meanings, and is indeed a must read.

I would like to thank Indic Academy and Indic Book Club for sending me this book as a part of the Thousand Reviewers Club.

[Divya Mahajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many times a phrase is heard “What’s the use of this language in today’s modern world, It’s a dead language” This applies not only to 1 language but so many languages across the world. But how does a language die. It is when its inheritors stop taking pride in their spoken word or rather mother tongue and try to mix it with another one that they mistakenly deem more important in today’s times. This is what the book is about . “How Sankrit loosing its unique standing due to assimilation and ”

“The global kurukshetra today poses a clear and present danger of Vedic civilizations being taken apart, some elements of it destroyed and others digested into Western Universalism. The term cultural genocide is appropriate for this condition.”

A well researched and well written book that puts across the message without preaching or lecturing. An interesting and engrossing essay on how we have lost the uniqueness and richness of our language due to loose translations or rather mistranslations. This is emphasised and rather explained by giving many examples . A detailed explanation and the origin of the words is also described in a way that binds the reader to the book.

“Sanskriti is commonly and loosely translated as culture. Culture is defined as the quality in a person or society that concerns excellence in arts, letters , manners and scholarly pursuits. Sanskriti, on the other hand , is not just confiled to the material world and includes the pursuit of a higher purpose. Samskara and Sanskriti are cognate words; sanskriti is a means to create samskara-s that transform a person into a valuable member of society.”
Another example Guru loosely translated to teacher where as Teacher just Teaches and a Guru is a mentor , a guide and much more. There is no equivalent translatable word.
The only low point in this book is sometimes it became too much descriptive and essayish but the tables at the end of each chapter and the Index are a great help for the reader after finishing reading and wants to refer again. A very nice and informative read.

[Gagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the perspective of inter-civilizational discourse, what needs to be understood is why the English language by itself is unable to represent meanings of terms from Sanskrit knowledge systems. A higher dimensional signal, when accessed in a lower dimensional medium will lead to loss of clarity. For example, a video made with the best technology today, when viewed on a 1970s monochrome television with mono audio, cannot hope to do justice to the original content.

Chapters 1 and 2 cover the rationale and need for Sanskrit Non-Translatables and ingeminate key ideas on the subject from Being Different . The discussion on the origins and unique nature of Sanskrit lays the foundation. The Non-Translatables will play a critical role in the kurukshetra as carriers of deeper ideas and embedded cultural assets, and in the encounters between dharma and adharma.

Chapters 3 through 11 discuss several specific non-translatable terms that are being carelessly translated. For each term discussed, careful and deep thought has gone into explaining why the common translations are inadequate and how they create distortions and confusion. The goal is to lay a strong foundation for readers to start using these Sanskrit words when speaking or writing in English. The aim is to instill confidence that the non-translatable words can be used effectively in everyday engagement in English, enriching the language with new ideas and experiences from the Bharatiya Sanskriti.

A large section of Westerners and Anglicized Indians assume that the dharmic wisdom embodied in the Sanskrit language can be translated into other languages and imported into other religious and/or scientific paradigms without loss of meaning. For example, ॐ matched with Amen, Shanti as Peace, Ishvara as God.

This book plays a major role in decolonizing the Hindu mind. It is a movement rather than just a book.

[DS Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atma is not Soul; Dasa is not Slave; Agni is not Fire; Shakti is not Energy; Ahimsa is not Non Violence...For an laymen reader of Indian texts these are the common understanding of the words in English translations. Ancient Sanskrit words have a profound meaning with an open architecture. From Gandhara (Kandahar, Afghanistan) to Purushpur (Peshawar, Pakistan) to Annam (South Vietnam) until the 13th CE Sanskrit has been the common thread. The English translations in it's civilizing mission derived equivalent English words and lost their meanings. Sanskrit words derived from the rishis primordial experiences "pulsing" constitute the basis of the texts (which only followed much later) . Their experiential meaning known through yogic practice and the very nature of sound make them "non-translatable". Sanskrit is the language of Yoga as Sri Aurobindo put it.
To readers of English translation of Sankskrit text it's almost waking up from sleep to notice the misinterpretation and understanding that went with the readings.
This book comes as a reminder and awareness to correct that discourse for the generations, before it's completely overtaken and excreted.

[Rajesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book with the intention of understanding the meaning of Sanskrit words discussed within. So I wasn’t expecting much discussion on issues around socio political / current affairs as seen in the first couple of chapters. But I believe the authors found those discussions necessary to provide context and reasoning behind the need for this book. Having said, I enjoyed learning Sanskrit words and the depth behind them. Also, as a Tamil speaker, I kept seeing many similarities between Tamil and Sanskrit words which I found very interesting.

On reasons given by the authors behind why a word shouldn’t be translated, I find some explanations very convincing, and some reasoning not as much. But overall the idea is an interesting one, and the book greatly provides an opportunity to understand proper and profound meaning behind Sanskrit words, and at some level an understanding of Hinduism’s spiritual ideas as well

[Mayur Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a book! This is by far the best book I've read this year. How easy it is to translate Sanskrit into English without even understanding the real meaning and a great part is lost while translation and especially when Sanskrit does not share the same history and culture with the language for ex English. You'll learn 54 Sanskrit words whose meaning has been completely distorted while translating them into English. It's high time for the Sanskritization of English.

[Devender Bejju · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is important to understand to promote original Sanskrit words which has Vedic background vs English words which has Biblical background.
Its very important to read this book to learn importance of knowing why we should avoid using English relevant words that are loosely translated by western authors for convenience only (not necessary with malintent). Its important to Sanskritize English to retain org. meaning.

[Harikrishna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explains the importance of NON-TRANSLATABLES from Sanskrit to English there are so many misunderstandings in using the Sanskrit language terms directly into English without understanding its true meaning in its own Sanskrit terms. This book explains what are those SANSKRIT NON-TRANSLATABLES it is important to sanskritizing English in today's world but it is also important to understand the true meaning of the words in Sanskrit.

[Alok · Rating 5 out of 5]

The experiential and living nature of Sanskrit and indian Sanskriti gets reflected through this work.
What a great read for common readers who would take English translations for dharmic words like "sewa" as service for granted. This book sheds light on the richness on Santani Dharma with understandable, enjoyable and gripping lines.

[GT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important book, non-translatable exist in all languages. Sanskrit is no different. Atma is not soul, dharma is not duty or religion. Excellent book with lots of details on why these terms are non-translatable and original Sanskrit term is required.

[Prasad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read to understand Sanatana Dharma

[Siddhartha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, simple and accessible reference for Sanskrit words that have no equivalents in English.