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Good English translations of the Adi Granth?
- Thread starter stillwood
- Start date
Treks
Well-Known Member
You're right, don't bother with the Trumpp version.
"Adi Granth" and "Sri Guru Granth Sahib" are synonymous. Sometimes "Adi Granth" is used to refer to the Granth Sahib before Guru Gobind Singh added his father's bani (his father was the 9th Guru, Tegh Bahadur).
Stillwood ji, to be honest, all the the English translations are mediocre. None can capture the true content of the bani, due to the structure of the English language, and the fact that the Granth Sahib is composed entirely of poetry. Subtlety and flexibility are lost in translation.
However, a good starting point is www.srigranth.org. When you're viewing pages of the Granth Sahib, in the top right corner of the screen you can toggle between the two most common translations: Dr Sant Singh Khalsa, and Bhai Manmohan Singh, and can click on some of the original words to get the dictionary definition of them.
Dr Khalsa's translation is more modern English, poetic and easy to read, but he has put a lot of his own interpretation into the translation; Bhai Manmohan's is more classical English (thy and thou) and not very poetic, but is a closer word-for-word translation.
I tend to read Dr Khalsa's translation and switch to Bhai Manmohan if I want to delve further into the shabad, or something doesn't seem right in Dr Khalsa's interpretation.
Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh in her book The Name of my Beloved translated a number of bania and avoided use of personal pronouns in English, as they are markedly lacking in the original. This is refreshing to read.
This is a most excellent resource demonstrating the difference between English translation and the original language, by Rani Kaur. The translation is thoughtful, but is also provides the translation of each individual word, which is the key. You can see clearly the shortcomings of English in this case, and will get a much better idea of the gist of Gurbani.
Download the eReader version for free here: Sikh Prayer Jap Ji Sahib by Rani Deol (eBook) - Lulu or the PDF here: http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/attac...3162-jap-ji-sahib-jap_ji_sahib_lulu_final.pdf
I hope this helps you somewhat.
"Adi Granth" and "Sri Guru Granth Sahib" are synonymous. Sometimes "Adi Granth" is used to refer to the Granth Sahib before Guru Gobind Singh added his father's bani (his father was the 9th Guru, Tegh Bahadur).
Stillwood ji, to be honest, all the the English translations are mediocre. None can capture the true content of the bani, due to the structure of the English language, and the fact that the Granth Sahib is composed entirely of poetry. Subtlety and flexibility are lost in translation.
However, a good starting point is www.srigranth.org. When you're viewing pages of the Granth Sahib, in the top right corner of the screen you can toggle between the two most common translations: Dr Sant Singh Khalsa, and Bhai Manmohan Singh, and can click on some of the original words to get the dictionary definition of them.
Dr Khalsa's translation is more modern English, poetic and easy to read, but he has put a lot of his own interpretation into the translation; Bhai Manmohan's is more classical English (thy and thou) and not very poetic, but is a closer word-for-word translation.
I tend to read Dr Khalsa's translation and switch to Bhai Manmohan if I want to delve further into the shabad, or something doesn't seem right in Dr Khalsa's interpretation.
Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh in her book The Name of my Beloved translated a number of bania and avoided use of personal pronouns in English, as they are markedly lacking in the original. This is refreshing to read.
This is a most excellent resource demonstrating the difference between English translation and the original language, by Rani Kaur. The translation is thoughtful, but is also provides the translation of each individual word, which is the key. You can see clearly the shortcomings of English in this case, and will get a much better idea of the gist of Gurbani.
Download the eReader version for free here: Sikh Prayer Jap Ji Sahib by Rani Deol (eBook) - Lulu or the PDF here: http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/attac...3162-jap-ji-sahib-jap_ji_sahib_lulu_final.pdfI hope this helps you somewhat.
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