constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

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in Persian, but about the middle of the nineteenth century he adopted Urdu as the
medium of correspondence. These letters have been preserved and published in a book
called ‘Urdu-i-Mualla’.
It is remarkable that the prose of Ghalib does not owe its beauty to Western influence,
but that cannot be said of the modern writers of Urdu prose who followed him.
The informing sources for the above discussion are: Dr. Muhammad
Sadiq(1964),(1983),Ali Jawad Zaidi(1993) and Shahid(1989).
4.3 EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF URDU TRANSLATION
The evolution and development of Urdu Translation is long, complicated, and thus
difficult to trace concretely and in linearity. However, the brief discussion given below
will provide the chronological and conceptual development of Urdu Translation through
different phases of history: how it has evolved through various stages and has acquired
the current state and status.
Dr Mirza Hamid Baig’s book ‘Turjumay Ka Fun: Nazri Mubahis: 46 B.C-1986’(1987:
10-130), has been used as reference to underline the history of Urdu Translation.
Information is also collected from Dr Rahim Baksh and Abdul Hamid Azmi(1999).
The tradition of translations, from one language into another, both in the East and West,
is very old. Exactly 1434 years ago, during the Sasani reign in Iran, one part Punch
Tantar of the Sanskrit book Hato Padesh was translated by Bazarjamhar and Hakim
Barozia (55 iswi) in the Pehlivi language as Kaleeluk-o-damnak.
Even before that, the acknowledged example of the world’s most ancient literature
Samira (5,000 year B.C) can be traced. The language of this civilization was called
‘Somairi’ or ‘Somaira’. ‘Somairi’ literature was recoded in writing from two to five
thousand years before ‘Rug Weed’, two thousand years before Greek and Ibrani
literature. Thus, with the passage of time, the influence of Somairi literature on Aryan’s
‘Rugweed’, Ibrani’s ‘Ehednama Qadeem’, Ancient Greek’s Iliad and Odessey and
Hindi’s ‘Ramayan-o-Mahabaharat’ will become evident.