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directlyfromSanskrit,suchasHindi,Punjabi,Gujarati,Marathi,Bengali,and
Nepali.Sinhalese,spokeninSriLanka,alsobelongstothisgroup.Another20
percent,mainlyinthesouth,speakDravidianlanguages,namelyTamil,Telugu,
Kannada,andMalayalam.TherestspeakAustriclanguages(mainlyscattered
tribalpeoples),TibetoBurmanlanguages(inthenortheast),andDardic
languages(inthenorthwest).Urdu,themainlanguageofPakistan,isclosely
relatedtoHindi,buthasadoptedmanyPersianandArabicwordsandusesthe
Arabicscript.Themainnonindigenouslanguage,English,isusedalongside
theirmothertonguebymosteducatedpeople.
Severalproblemsarisewhenattemptingtodealwiththeearlierhistoryof
translationinthesubcontinent.Theevidenceisextremelypatchy,partlybecause
ofapredominantlyoraltradition,partlybecauseofthedestructionof
innumerabletextsbyclimaticconditions,pestssuchaswhiteants,orhostile
humanagency.Extantcopiesoftextsareoftenseveralcenturieslaterthanthe
dateoftheircomposition.Thelongevityandcontinuityoflinguisticdevelopment
intheareameansthatindividualtextsoftenexhibitfeaturesofmorethanone
historicalperiod.Thechronologyoftextsisrarelyexactandisoftenbased
largelyoninternalevidencesuchasreferencestopreviousauthorsandworks.
Similarly,thegreatgeographicalextentofthesubcontinentoftenmakes
distinctionsbetweenlanguageanddialectratherproblematic.Theevolving
culturalhomogeneitycausesproblemsindistinguishingbetweenretellingsand
variantrenderingsofcommonsourcematerial,adaptationsofprevioustexts,
andactualtranslations.Finally,littlepreviousworkhasbeendoneinthefieldof
translationhistoryforthisregion.
Theancientperiod(c.2500–800BC)
Thefirstneedforinterlanguagecommunicationinthesubcontinentprobably
arosethroughtrade.Theoldestlinguisticevidenceistobefoundinthe
charactersinscribedonsteatitesealsfoundintheIndusvalleyinthenorthwest.
Thesearesaidtodatefrom2500to1500BC,butunfortunatelythescripthas
notyetbeendeciphered.Theremainsofaharbourhavebeenunearthedinthe
area,andIndusstyleartefactshavebeenfoundasfarawayasMesopotamia.
Forsome2,000yearsafterthis,untiltheinscriptionsoftheemperorAsokain
thethirdcenturyBC,thereisnomateriallinguisticevidenceatall.Thisis
primarilyduetotheAryans,bandsofnomadiccattleherdersfromcentralAsia
whosettledintheIndusareainthelatterpartofthe2ndmillenniumBC.They
spokeSanskrit,anIndoEuropeanlanguage,andbroughtwiththemawealthof
poetrywhichtheysubsequentlycollectedtogetherunderthenameRigvedaor
‘hymnsofwisdom’;anothergroupofAryansmovedintoPersiaataroundthe
sametimeandtheirsacredbook,theAvesta,reflectsaverysimilarcultureto
thatoftheRigveda.
TheAryansregardedthemselvesassuperiortotheindigenouspeopleandtried
topreservetheirculturalandlinguisticpurity.Oncetheyhadsettledinthe
subcontinent,theRigvedawasendowedwithextremesanctityandmystic
powerbythepriests.OnlyAryanswereallowedtolearnandusetheRigvedic
hymns.Noreferencetowritingisfoundforseveralhundredyears,sothe
linguisticandreligioustraditionwasentirelyoral,despitethecontinual
elaborationoftheoriginalRigvedicmaterial.Evenaftertheadventofwriting,
andthedevelopmentofvernacularlanguages,sosacredweretheVedictexts
consideredthatonlycommentarieswritteninSanskritarefounduntillate
medievaltimes,andcertainlynotranslationsuntilWesternscholarsgained
accesstotheminthenineteenthcentury.However,ironically,eventheRigveda
displaysevidenceofDravidianinfluenceinitsuseofretroflexsounds,andthe
Atharvaveda,theyoungestofthefourVedas,containsmagicspellsand
customsthatareclearlynonAryan.Someformofinteraction,then,musthave
takenplacebetweentheAryansandtheindigenouslinguisticcommunities,but
itsexactnatureremainsamatterofspeculation.
Thepreclassicalperiod(c.800BC–AD100)
Fromabout800BConwardstheAryansbegantospreadoutfromtheIndus
region,eastwardsintotheGangesvalleyandsouthtowardstheDeccan,andthe
PersianAchaemenidEmpiretookcontroloftheIndus.Aryansalsobegan