Women Translators in Gujarati and the Re-articulation of Hindu Thought in Colonial and Postcolonial India

Translation in colonial India was not a neutral linguistic activity but a deeply ideological and civilisational process. While colonial translations of Hindu texts often reframed Indian knowledge systems through Eurocentric epistemologies, regional-language translations—particularly in Gujarati—emerged as significant sites of resistance, negotiation, and reinterpretation. This paper examines the role of women translators in Gujarati in re-articulating Hindu thought during the colonial and postcolonial periods, foregrounding translation as an act of cultural mediation and intellectual agency.
Focusing on select Gujarati women translators, the study analyses how their translational choices engaged with key Hindu concepts such as dharma, social ethics, womanhood, and civilisational values. Unlike colonial translations that frequently abstracted or moralised Hindu philosophy to suit Western frameworks, these translators situated Hindu thought within lived social realities, indigenous hermeneutics, and reformist concerns. Their work demonstrates a conscious negotiation between tradition and modernity, preservation and reinterpretation.
The paper employs a translation studies approach informed by feminist translation theory and indigenous hermeneutics to explore how gendered perspectives influenced translation strategies, paratexts, and narrative framing. It argues that Gujarati women translators did not merely reproduce source texts but actively re-shaped Hindu intellectual discourse by foregrounding ethical reasoning, social reform, and cultural continuity. In doing so, they contributed to the decolonisation of knowledge by reclaiming interpretive authority from colonial frameworks and re-embedding Hindu thought within regional linguistic and cultural contexts.
By situating Gujarati women translators within the broader discourse of Hindu Studies, the paper highlights their overlooked contribution to the preservation and transmission of dharmic and civilisational knowledge. It contends that recognising these translators as intellectual agents is essential to understanding translation as a civilisational practice rather than a purely linguistic exercise. The study thus underscores the importance of regional-language translations—and women’s translational labour—in reimagining Hindu thought in modern India.

Women Translators; Gujarati Translation; Hindu Thought; Decolonising Knowledge; Civilisational Discourse

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