Article,
Translating into the Empire: The Arabic Version of Kalila wa Dimna
The Translator, (2009)
Abstract
This paper examines the translation by ‘Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (720-757 AD) of the Pahlavi version of Kalila wa Dimna in the early Abbasid period (750–1258 AD). Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ contributed to the translation movement supported by al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph. The patronage of translation allowed the caliphs to expand their support base by integrating elements from the different cultures of the empire into one Islamic whole. That was the political context of the translation. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, a recent convert of Persian descent, took part in an intellectual and literary movement which attempted to infuse Islamic culture with Persian elements. To introduce these influences in Islamic terms, the translation was decidedly ‘domesticating’. In analyzing the textual strategies that the translator employed, this paper calls for a reconsideration of the functions of domesticating translation, which in the case under study contributed to cultural diversity, contrary to arguments common in modern translation theory. It is further argued that attendant notions of ‘equivalence’ and ‘faithfulness’ are conditioned by modern constructs of authorship and the nation state that do not hold for Arabic translation during that period, nor, probably, for premodern translation in general.
