Pune’s octogenarian translates 1000-year-old
book by Raja Bhoja
Garima Mishra Posted online: Fri Jul 26 2013, 02:56 hrs
Pune : Two decades ago,
Pune-based Prabhakar Apte was approached by Chintamani Kand, a retired engineer
of Madhya Pradesh, for the translation of Samarangana Sutradhara, a book
written 1000 years back by Raja Bhoja, the ruler of Malwa region in the 11th
century. During the same time, he was contacted by Indira Gandhi National
Centre of Arts (IGNCA, Delhi), with the same proposal. Thus began Apte's work
on translation of the ancient book, which will be released by IGNCA in six
volumes by October. Samarangana Sutradhara, written in Sanskrit, is a discourse
in 80 chapters, on civil engineering detailing construction of buildings,
forts, temples, idols of deities and mechanical devices.
“It hasn't been an easy task. Translation and decoding of such a text is only possible when a Sanskrit-oriented technologist and technology-oriented Sanskritist come together. In my case, I had a strong background of Sanskrit and I had a kind support of my engineer friend Aravind Phadnis. With his help, I could translate difficult engineering terms,” says 80-year-old Apte, who has an educational background of MA and PhD in Sanskrit. Prior to his retirement, he was working with Archaeology Department of Deccan College and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (Tirupati). At Deccan College, he was also the editor of Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit.
During his professional stint at Tirupati, he came in contact with temple architecture discipline. “The experience came handy during translation of Samarangana Sutradhara,” says Apte, who began the translation work two decades ago and was ready with the first draft of the manuscript six years ago. He says that Raja Bhoja’s work on Samarangana Sutradhara is elaborate with all necessary text, calculations, photos and tables. “Architects and engineers can refer to the book, which has great potential of reconstruction,” he adds. Some of the elements covered in the book include master plans of all site plans, town planning, basic measurement units, colonies according to social strata, palace complex, residential houses, temples, military camps, definition of machines and more.
Giving the background of the book, Apte says that according to mythology, Vishwakarma had four sons, Jay, Vijay, Siddharth and Aparajita. When Vishwakarma asks his sons to go in four directions to colonise the earth, his son Jaya came up with several questions pertaining to geology, astrophysics, measurements, norms of town planning, residential houses, colonising, temples, military camps and so on.
“The answers of all questions were given by Raja Bhoja through his book
Samarangana Sutradhara,” explains Apte, adding that the manuscripts of
questions asked by Vijay and Siddharth are available at Pune’s Bhandarkar
Oriental Institute, but are not yet published. This was brought to Apte’s
notice by a Lithuanian scholar Valdas Jaskunas. However, the questions by
Aparajita were translated by one Bhuvana Devachary. “If we put together
questions of all four brothers and translate them, it will be a compendium of
ancient engineering science,” says Apte.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pune-s-octogenarian-translates-1000yearold-book-by-raja-bhoja/1146884/0
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pune-s-octogenarian-translates-1000yearold-book-by-raja-bhoja/1146884/0
SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2013
'Raja Bhoj' is well known to students
of Indian history, as one of the illustrious kings from the past. Raja Bhoj,
ruled the central Indian region of Mālwa from the beginning of the eleventh
century to about 1055. He was a great warrior and fought many a battles during
his illustrious career, with many great and powerful adversaries including army
of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, who had earlier invaded famous shrine at Somnath.
This king also died in the tradition of a true warrior, defending his capital,
in a battle.
Raja Bhoj was not only a good
general, with his military career seeing several major victories over rival
kings. He is remembered more for his intellect and patronage to arts and
culture. He constructed many spectacular temples, one of the most dramatic of
which is seen in the form of the great temple of Shiva termed Bhojeshvara at
Bhojpur about 30 km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh state. Another notable
construction, which is a historical civil engineering masterpiece, is the Bhoj
lake, which was built by damming and channelizing the Betwa river.
He was a philosopher and is also
supposed to have paid great attention to the education of his people. It is
said that his subjects were so learned that even humble weavers in kingdom also
composed metrical Sanskrit poetry or “Kavyaas.” He is believed to have authored
as many as 84 books. Though, we shall never know whether he actually wrote
these or just sponsored them. Many researchers however believe a strong role by
the King himself in the authorship.
One of his books, Samarangana
Sutradhara, written in Sanskrit, is a discourse in 80 chapters, on civil
engineering, detailing construction of buildings, forts, temples, idols of
deities and mechanical devices. It is also rather famous as it devotes one full
chapter on building of flying machines. Being the only ancient Indian source
known about building airplanes, Raja Bhoj's work has attracted much attention.
But the book does not explain process of building airplanes completely and says
that it has been done purposely, for sake of secrecy.
However real greatness of this book
lies in the other chapters which deal with many varied subjects such as
geology, astrophysics, measurements, norms of town planning, residential
houses, colonising, temples, military camps and so on. This book has been
studied, and analysed by many scholars from India and abroad. However a full
and true translation, which would give full justice to the vastness of the
subject, was missing. An octogenarian from Pune city in India has recently
completed this stupendous task after working on it for nearly two decades. The
translated book would be published by Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts
(IGNCA, Delhi), in six volumes by October 2013.
Mr Prabhakar Apte, the octogenarian,
who has tranlated this book, has an educational background of MA and PhD in
Sanskrit. Prior to his retirement, he was working with Archaeology Department
of Deccan College and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (Tirupati). At Deccan
College, he was also the editor of Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit. During
his professional stint at Tirupati, he came in contact with temple architecture
discipline. Mr. Apte says: "The experience came handy during translation
of Samarangana Sutradhara." He also feels that he was in a better position
to translate the book because he had support from his engineer friend Aravind
Phadnis. He adds "It hasn't been an easy task. Translation and decoding of
such a text is only possible when a Sanskrit-oriented technologist and technology-oriented
Sanskritist come together. ”
This book like all books written in
those times, begins with a story somehow linking the author to Gods. Story line
here, begins with mythological architect of the Gods, Vishwakarma, asking his
four sons, Jay, Vijay, Siddharth and Aparajita, to go in four directions to
colonise the earth. His sons come up with several questions. The book gives us
the answers given by Vishwakarma to these questions, in words of Raja Bhoj.
Some of the elements covered in the
book include master plans of all site plans, town planning, basic measurement
units, colonies according to social strata, palace complex, residential houses,
temples, military camps, definition of machines and more.
Mr Prabhakar Apte deserves all praise
for his painstaking work of two decades and his research. His translation
should prove to be a great asset for scholars and researchers in future.
27 July 2013
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