Overview

Traversing the Silk Road in the fourth century CE, Kumarajiva, the son of a Kashmiri Buddhist teacher and a Chinese Princess, radically transformed the history of Buddhism and East Asian culture by translating Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit and Pali into Chinese. His odyssey along the Silk Road in times of territorial wars and dynastic changes was in search of knowledge of the Self and the Buddha’s moral teachings about the wisdom of following the ‘middle path’ to nirvana, the final liberation from the cycles of rebirth. In Kumarajiva, Kunwar Narain imagines the life of the enlightened Buddhist scholar and monk about whom very little is known. Narain’s elegant and richly composed long narrative poem is a meditation on the mysteries of life and universal truths that hold meaning for all times. Alok Bhalla’s lyrical translation of Kumarajiva retains the layers and textures of Narain’s work, weaving into it a philosophical profoundness that honours not just Narain but also the scholar-monk.

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Kunwar Narain (1927-2017) was one of India’s foremost thinkers and literary figures. His seven decades of work include poetry, stories, critical essays, translations of world poetry, writings on cinema and the arts. His honours include the Sahitya Akademi Award, Senior Fellowship of India’s Academy of Letters, Padma Bhushan and the Jnanpith. He was also the recipient of the Warsaw University Medal and Italy’s PremioFeronia which is awarded to a distinguished world author. Alok Bhalla is a widely published critic, translator and poet. He has taught in various universities in the US and India, and held fellowships from academic institutes in France, Italy, England, Germany, Canada, and Israel. In 2023, he received the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature Award. His publications include The Gita and The Mahabharata: Paintings from Late 17th Century Mewar by Allah Baksh (5 volumes), Stories about the Partition of India (4 volumes) and Partition Dialogues. He has translated Dharamvir Bharati’s, Andha Yug, Nirmal Verma’s, Dark Dispatches, Intizar Husain’s, A Chronicle of the Peacocks etc. In addition to writing extensively on Gothic and Latin American literature, Bhalla has also served as co-editor of Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing. His poems and critical essays have been published in various journals and anthologies.

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