The Centre for Translation of Indian Literatures (CENTIL) at Jadavpur University (JU) has launched a significant collaborative initiative with the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK, under the SPARC (Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration) programme. This pioneering project is dedicated to documenting, translating, and archiving oral and written texts in four lesser-known languages of Bengal: Nepali, Bodo, Lepcha, and Kudmali.
These linguistic communities have a rich heritage of songs, folk tales, and oral narratives, much of which remains largely inaccessible to the broader public. The JU-UEA collaboration aims to bring these cultural treasures into the mainstream by translating essential literary and cultural works into English and creating a digital archive that ensures long-term preservation and accessibility.
Prof. Sayantan Dasgupta, from JU’s Department of Comparative Literature and the project’s principal investigator, emphasizes that this effort aligns closely with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which advocates for the strengthening of Indian knowledge systems and the promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity.
As part of the initiative, research teams from JU are conducting extensive fieldwork, including interviews with community leaders, traditional singers, and storytellers, and collecting rich audiovisual material that captures the essence of these communities’ oral traditions.
Additionally, the project team is preparing a book on “Academic Social Responsibility”, which will explore the role of translation in preserving marginalized languages, alongside an annotated catalog of genres from Nepali, Bodo, Lepcha, and Kudmali, complete with English translations. The team anticipates completing both the book and the catalog by December 2025.
Through this collaboration, Jadavpur University aims to enhance the visibility of Bengal’s linguistic heritage, contribute to cultural preservation, and support the integration of these languages into academic curricula, reinforcing their importance in India’s diverse cultural landscape.
