Gita's Urdu translator
Dr.
Hasanuddin Ahmed. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy
Dr. Ahmed wrote ‘Naghma-e-Uluhiat' soon after joining the Nizam's
service as assistant director of the Ecclesiastical Department. This, of course,
invited the wrath of his uncle, Ghazi Yar Jung, a High Court judge, and a
conservative Muslim. He wanted his nephew to use his talent to write about
Islam.
He has a passion for comparative study of religions. Though he did
not know Sanskrit, he overcame the problem with the help of lexicon and works of
Edwin Arnold and Annie Besant. His perfect translation of the 701 slokas in 18
chapters have come in with high appreciation. Several editions of his book have
come out over the years and in 1975, former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi,
released one of them.
Today there are more translations of Bhagwad Gita in Urdu than in
any other language. And surprisingly half of them have been written by Muslims
alone. “The teachings of Gita are nearer to Sufism. It is essential that one
understands the religion of others,” says Dr. Ahmed.
Even at the age of 90, he keeps himself busy writing books and
doing his bit to improve the educational standards in government schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment