Radical translation
S. R. Rajwade's encounter with F. W. Nietzsche
pp. 195-208
in: Sharad Deshpande (ed), Philosophy in colonial India, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
This essay presents an account of the way F.W. Nietzsche's ideas were received and interpreted by Shankar Ramachandra Rajwade (1879–1952), a notable Indian philosopher based in Pune. The focus is on the latter's book which contains a Marathi translation of and commentary on The Antichrist . Rajwade's intellectual project—informed by his keen desire to bolster the traditional Hindu social order and its philosophical foundation—is presented as an example of "radical translation" in two senses: It goes to the root of Nietzsche's theoretical argument; and more importantly, it reinvents the German thinker's "aristocratic radicalism " in an indigenous context.
