Published Paper Details:

Translations have been a crucial exercise since their inception and have acted as a powerful tool in enriching, propagating, and preserving the literary canon on the global platform. In Jainism, translations have not only been a linguistic practice but has been a living practice that has continuously revived, revitalized and reshaped the canonical structure. This paper briefly places translations in the Indian context and discusses its need, history and evolution in the multilingual Indian landscape. This paper critically traces the Jaina tradition of multilingualism, translations, and adaptations and sheds light on various stages of the evolution of translations throughout the process of its canon-building, including the oral literature phase, transition to the written form, Sa?sk?taization, vernacularization, and modernization of literary texts. It situates translations as a reviving force in the larger corpora of literature and analyses it role as a performative and communal act essential and relevant for the survival of ancient texts. The paper substantiates the point of view that translations invigorate doctrinal, literary and philosophical landscape and upgrade the source texts to suit the needs of the contemporary readers- hence, acting as a dynamic, revitalizing practice.