Englishing the Gīta Govinda: Some Issues in Contemporary Translation Practice: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Gīta Govinda translations come with many aims. Some, like the standard translation of Barbara Stoler Miller,1 are primarily works of scholarship. Some are more expository, bringing important features of the original to life. Desiraju Hanumanta Rao’s,2 which explores the richness of conception, is of this type, as is Lee Siegel’s3 which conveys the structure of the Sanskrit verse through extended alliteration and rhyme. Some, in the fashion of Monika Varma’s4 rendering, try to elucidate the religious meaning behind the mundane
words. Finally, in a very incomplete list, there are translations of more modest intention