On the Question of the Translation of Some Philosophical Terms in the Article of G. Oberhammer “The Forgotten Secret of Human Love”
The article deals with the problem of translation of some Sanskrit, English and German philosophical terms found in the article of Austrian indologist G. Oberhammer “The Forgotten Secret of Human Love. An Attempt of an Approach”, which is devoted to the phenomenon of human love in India of the ancient and medieval period in such texts as Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana, Sātvatasaṃhitā, Nyāyabhāṣya of Pakṣilasvāmin, Śaraṇāgatigadya of Rāmānuja, etc. (translation of the article is attached below). At the beginning of the article, brief information on Oberhammer and the study of his creative heritage in Russia is provided. In particular, such Sanskrit terms as “śṛṅgāra” (erotic mood), “kāma” (sexual desire), the English term “rest”, the German “Rest” are considered. The author poses the following questions: is it possible to translate the word “kāma” as “love”, “śṛṅgāra” (erotische Stimmungen) – as erotic mood, whether to translate the English “rest” as “peace”, or as “remainder”: and replies that, basing on contextual use, for “kāma” it is better to use the translation “desire” (“sexual desire”) or leave the Sanskrit term as it is, as Oberhammer does for the most part, “erotic mood”, to be more precise, means “erotic feeling”, not “mood” and the English “rest” clearly means “the remainder”, more specifically – the abandonment of oneself to God. The author concludes that for the correct translation of English terms in articles devoted to Indological problems, it is necessary to refer directly to Sanskrit terms, in the case of translated articles, we must also check the text against the original language, and for translation of Sanskrit terms we should use specialized dictionaries, referring to cases of contextual use of that terms.
