A familiar philosophical text, long confined to the gravitational pull of Sanskrit and its dominant translations, has now entered two linguistic worlds where it has rarely been heard in full.
The Bhagavad Gita, often invoked as a universal treatise on duty, action and ethics, has been rendered into Kurmali and Santali (Ol Chiki script), bringing its 18 chapters into the expressive registers of communities whose languages have largely remained on the periphery of classical textual traditions.
What unfolded in Kolkata was not merely a book release but the quiet reorientation of a canonical voice. Poet Abhimanyu Mahato’s dual translations were unveiled at Sujata Sadan at a programme inaugurated by West Bengal Minister of State for Education Kaushik Choudhury, drawing together scholars, writers and cultural observers around a work that sits at the intersection of philology, faith and linguistic politics.
The significance of the moment lay less in ceremony than in what it enabled: a philosophical text, repeatedly framed as universal, now becoming linguistically intimate to Kurmali and Santali speakers, and in doing so expanding the very boundaries of who gets to encounter and interpret it in their own speech forms.
The twin translations represent the culmination of years of sustained linguistic engagement and interpretive labour by Abhimanyu Mahato, a poet and writer originally from Sarberia village in Purulia, already known in Bengali literary circles and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.
According to those associated with the project, the endeavour demanded not only lexical substitution but also a sustained negotiation with philosophical density, where concepts rooted in Sanskrit metaphysics had to be carried across languages shaped primarily by oral tradition and lived ecological experience.
Mahato’s approach, as articulated during the event, prioritised conceptual fidelity over mechanical literalism. Rather than reproducing Sanskrit terms verbatim or forcing rigid equivalences, the translation seeks to recreate the argumentative and contemplative rhythm of the Gita within the syntactic and idiomatic structures of Kurmali and Santali.
This required careful calibration of key philosophical ideas such as karma, dharma and yogic action, ensuring that they remained intelligible without being stripped of their conceptual depth.
Linguists and cultural observers have noted that such a translation venture is particularly significant in the context of Kurmali and Santali, both of which have historically faced a relative scarcity of written philosophical and doctrinal literature.
While these languages possess rich oral traditions, folktales and performative cultures, their engagement with structured philosophical texts has remained limited, often mediated through dominant regional languages.
In this context, the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita into these linguistic domains is being viewed as an expansion of the intellectual horizon available to native speakers. It allows readers to encounter a foundational Indian philosophical work without translation through intermediary languages, thereby reducing epistemic distance and strengthening linguistic self-sufficiency in interpretive practices.
Scholars present at the release emphasised that the project also raises important questions within translation studies and cultural theory. It highlights the role of translation not merely as linguistic transfer but as epistemic redistribution, where knowledge systems are relocated across linguistic hierarchies.
In this sense, the Kurmali and Santali Gita is not only a textual achievement but also an intervention in the politics of knowledge access.
The event also underscored the broader cultural implications of such initiatives. Speakers noted that the availability of philosophical texts in indigenous languages could encourage younger generations to engage more deeply with their linguistic heritage, countering gradual shifts towards linguistic homogenisation.
It was suggested that such works may serve both educational and cultural functions, potentially entering curricula and academic discourse in regional universities and research institutions.
At the same time, the translation has been received as part of a larger movement towards the recognition and revitalisation of Adivasi and marginal languages in eastern India. By extending a canonical Sanskrit text into Kurmali and Santali, the project challenges long-standing assumptions about which languages are deemed suitable for philosophical articulation and scholarly discourse.
For Mahato, the project is rooted in an ethical and cultural intention: to make the philosophical core of the Gita accessible to those whose first language is not Sanskrit or Bengali but Kurmali or Santali. In doing so, he frames translation as an act of proximity, bringing ideas closer to lived linguistic realities rather than requiring readers to traverse linguistic distance.
As the volumes now enter circulation, their impact will likely unfold gradually across classrooms, reading groups and scholarly discussions. Yet even at the moment of their unveiling, they signal a shift in the literary landscape: one where classical philosophical thought is no longer anchored solely in dominant languages, but begins to find resonance in voices that have long existed at the margins of textual history.