Sahib Ram's adaptation of the the Ahlaq-i Muhsini. A case study of Indo-Persian cultural transferin 19th century India (II).

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The Indo-Persian cultural area, which flourished during the Moguls and remained intact well into the colonial age, was characterized by an overlapping of various cultures while expressing itself in art, architecture, religion, and literature, but importantly in the multiliguality of its protagonists. Recently, within translations studies, research on processes of exchange or transfer has intensified and gone beyond the mere study of the details of translations. Central to this were translations or adaptations of classical Sanskrit texts into Persian. For that reason the discovery of a translation produced in 19. century Kashmir, in which one important specimen of a Persian mirror for princes was turned into Sanskrit, is exciting. Sahib Ram (died 1872), a Sanskrit scholar and secretary (munsi) at the court of Ranbir Singh (1830-1885), produced an adaptation of Husain Vaiz Kasifis Ahlaq-i Muhsini (15th century). Kasifi was one of the most popular and well-known authors of the Persian literary canon in India and Middle Asia and figures prominently on the reading lists of British colonial officers.In the extensive Sanskrit translation with its more than 7000 verses Sahib Ram uses a variety of literary techniques of adaptation, which makes his text and auto-commentary a mine of information on translational technique. But the text also yield unique materials for studying the acculturation of Islam in 19th century Sanskritic culture. For the first time we find attempts to integrate Islam and its revelation into a Hindu system. It is the aim of the project to edit selected chapters of the Vīraratnaśekharaśikhā with its commentary, translate them and present several comparative analyses.