Guwahati: When the nation is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, good news has come to the devotees of the Maharshi in the form of the Sahitya Akademy Award. The “Bharatiya Sanskritir Bhitti” an Assamese translation of ‘The Renaissance in India and Other Essays on Indian Culture’ by Author, Translator Diganta Biswa Sarma has been selected for the prestigious “Sahitya Akademy Translation Prize 2020’. A profound devotee of Sri Aurobindo, translator Diganta Biswa Sarma translated the Assamese book from the English version of ‘The foundation of Indian Culture’ by Maharshi Aurobindo, which was originally published by Sri Aurobindo Library, New York in 1953.
Later four chapters of the Indian Renaissance were added to the book in 1971-72 and it was renamed as ‘The Renaissance in India and Other Essays on Indian Culture. Author Diganta Biswa Sarma translated 5 books during 2013 and 2017 written by Sri Aurobindo. The book “Bharatiya Sanskritir Bhitti” was published in 15th August 2017.
Talking about the recognition of his book by the highest literary body in the country Sarma Said,” my life has been deeply influenced by three greatest personalities of India, Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Swami Vivekanand and Sri Aurobindo. I left my government job a decade ago and found a new path in Indian spirituality. I have been translating the great works of Sri Aurobindo to Assamese from 2013 for the readers of Assamese literature. I think people of every nook and corner of our nation should know the thoughts of the Maharshi, where were a treasure for our future generation to build a ‘Shrestha Bharat’.”
Diganta Biswa Sarma is a well known translator and intellectual also said that the award in coincides with the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo and 75th Independence years of India. It is indeed a happy moment and blessing by Sri Aurobindo and dedicates the award to the Maa Bharati. It should be mentioned that ‘The Foundation of Indian Culture” is a collection of 32 essays by Sri Aurobindo published in the monthly journal Arya between 1918 and 1921. This includes The Renaissance in India, Indian Culture and External Influence, Is India Civilized, A Defence of Indian Culture, Religion and Spirituality etc.
