Translation of a chapter on India, or “the Land of the Great Moghul,” from an 18th-century Dutch-language compendium of the countries of the world. Drawing extensively on an English model published in the 1740s, the author aims to give a concise account of “everything useful, necessary and worth knowing” about all countries of the world. In this section, he shares with his readers what he considers worth knowing about the Indian Subcontinent and its people.
The translation consists of parts of a travelogue by the Serbian doctor and academic Milan Jovanović Morski, which discusses the similarities he sees between Brahmanical and Christian practices. After getting his degree in medicine in Leipzig in 1867, Morski travelled for some time as a cruise-ship doctor for the Austrian company “Lloyd” and wrote accounts of his visits to India, China, and other Asian countries.
This is a Slovene diplomat-researcher’s account of the first impressions of India upon landing in Bombay in the 1930s. These chapters form part of the first secular, book-length, personal account of the subcontinent to be published by a Slovenian. Teeming with ‘facts’ and impressions related in rich, poetic language, the following excerpts reveal a mind at work that strives to make sense of things against all odds. The voice tends towards all-knowingness and the tone is a mixture of surprise, indignation, derision and, occasionally, admiration and joy.
Long Nose’s Prologue serves as an introduction to the comedy ‘Uncle Maroje’ (Dundo Maroje) by the Dalmatian playwright Marin Držić (Marino Darsa), which was first put on stage at Dubrovnik in 1551. In the prologue India is imagined as a land of magic, that can only be reached through magic. At the same time it is depicted as an earthly paradise, a country of everlasting spring, in which no one ever suffers any hardship, and in which like in so many protosocialist utopias of its time, the words ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ are unknown. Everything is shared with everyone, and all people are equal. This perfect harmony of life is, however, thrown off balance by greedy magicians coming from outside and by the country’s women, who ask the former to bring to life the effigies they brought along. Thus carnivalesque chaos and fun, the essence of comedy, take hold of the earthly paradise.
Translation of an excerpt from the Turkish-Cypriot sociologist and historian Niyazi Berkes’s “Letters from Asia,” which recounts his experiences in Delhi on the way to Aligarh Muslim University, where he was heading as a visiting professor.
The World in Small, or the Swift Traveller: The Land of the Great Moghul (De waereld in ’t klein, of de spoedige reiziger) Translation of a chapter on India, or “the Land of the Great Moghul,” from an 18th-century Dutch-language compendium of the countries of the world. Drawing extensively on an English model published in the 1740s, the author aims to give a concise account of “everything useful, necessary and worth knowing” about all countries of the world. In this section, he shares with his readers what he considers worth knowing about the Indian Subcontinent and its people.
Тамо амо по Истоку (Here and There Across the East) The translation consists of parts of a travelogue by the Serbian doctor and academic Milan Jovanović Morski, which discusses the similarities he sees between Brahmanical and Christian practices. After getting his degree in medicine in Leipzig in 1867, Morski travelled for some time as a cruise-ship doctor for the Austrian company “Lloyd” and wrote accounts of his visits to India, China, and other Asian countries.
Fleeting Images from India This is a Slovene diplomat-researcher’s account of the first impressions of India upon landing in Bombay in the 1930s. These chapters form part of the first secular, book-length, personal account of the subcontinent to be published by a Slovenian. Teeming with ‘facts’ and impressions related in rich, poetic language, the following excerpts reveal a mind at work that strives to make sense of things against all odds. The voice tends towards all-knowingness and the tone is a mixture of surprise, indignation, derision and, occasionally, admiration and joy.
The Prologue of Long Nose the necromancer to the comedy ‘Dundo Maroje’ Long Nose’s Prologue serves as an introduction to the comedy ‘Uncle Maroje’ (Dundo Maroje) by the Dalmatian playwright Marin Držić (Marino Darsa), which was first put on stage at Dubrovnik in 1551. In the prologue India is imagined as a land of magic, that can only be reached through magic. At the same time it is depicted as an earthly paradise, a country of everlasting spring, in which no one ever suffers any hardship, and in which like in so many protosocialist utopias of its time, the words ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ are unknown. Everything is shared with everyone, and all people are equal. This perfect harmony of life is, however, thrown off balance by greedy magicians coming from outside and by the country’s women, who ask the former to bring to life the effigies they brought along. Thus carnivalesque chaos and fun, the essence of comedy, take hold of the earthly paradise.
A Turkish Professor at Delhi Customs Translation of an excerpt from the Turkish-Cypriot sociologist and historian Niyazi Berkes’s “Letters from Asia,” which recounts his experiences in Delhi on the way to Aligarh Muslim University, where he was heading as a visiting professor.
Delhi: The Last Capital of the Turkish Rulers Translation of a major Turkish journalist and politician’s report of his sojourn in Delhi.