India is a country with many languages, of which the Constitution itself recognizes 22 of them. We are fortunate enough that our regional languages are related to a rich canon of literature. In India, we are often confined to caste, state, language, and cultural boundaries. Although it is difficult to cross, attempt to cross the lines and what you find is a wealth of emotions, stories that resonate with you and characters that help you to see the world again. To achieve all of this and more, Indian literature translated offers us a wide range of stories, which have been presented by unique people and reported by authors who are known for themselves. We present a list of the top ten regional translated literatures, which will enrich your list of readings this year.
1. Bharathipura by - U. R. Ananthamurthy, Translated by Susheela Punitha from Kannada
For his outstanding work in Kannada literature, R. Ananthamurthy has been awarded the Padma Bhushan and Jnanpith Award and is one of the most famous Indian regional authors. The practice of untouchability and the caste system in India revolves around the novel Bharathipura.
2. The Walls of Delhi: Three Stories by Uday Prakash, translated from Hindi by Jason Grunebaum | Seven Stories Press
The Walls of Delhi, Uday Prakash's three-story collection, pictures the city with scenarios which if not plausible in the current of modern urban India, would become entirely unreal. Delhi is not just the capital city of India, but probably also a space where the confusion of a country with its past and future can best be performed.
3. The Fakir, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Translated from Bengali by Monabi Mitra
Sunil Gangopadhyay has received many prestigious medals including the Sahitya Akademi Award, from the Bangladeshi poet and writer. The Fakir is an adaptation of fiction that talks about the legend of the Bengali mystic, Lalan Fakir who unites with his tracks of love and humanity people from all communities.
4. Written in tears by Arupa Patangia Kalita (Assamese)
The characters are immensely real and their stories not only significant but also stirring when they explore social-political struggles in Assam and neighbouring provinces. Arupa Kalita Patangia is not only one of the leading feminist writers in Assam, but a leading Indian feminist author who was awarded the 2014 Sahitya Akademi Award.
5. Chander and Sudha by Dharamvir Bharti (Hindi)
This destructive love story by star-crossed lovers is in Allahabad in the 1940s and has become one of the Hindi novels most read ever. Penned by Padma Shree Dharamvir Bharti, a dean of Hindi literary art, Gunahon ka Devta is an intriguing picture of a young social-style love shaded by sacrifice. This new translation by Poonam Saxena shows the story with delicacy and should be in your library, whether a romantic or a stubborn cynic!
6. Chemmeen by -T. S. Pillai, Translated by Anita Nair from Malyalam
For his outstanding work in Malayalam Literature, S. Pillai was a recipient of Padma Bhushan and the Jnanpith Award. Chemmeen is a love story of the Hindu fishing community Karutthamma and the Muslim man Pareekkutty. When her community members discover that she loves a Muslim, she's married to Palani.
7. The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan, translated from Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman Grove Press, Black Cat
Writing this time in the form of a fable, Murugan asks what happens to the non-compliant in a rigid, intolerant society but he places his story in the world of goats rather than people. However, far from being strident, this is an unusually comfortable novel.
8. The Mirror of Beauty by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, translated from Urdu by the author | Penguin
A complex journey along the life of the wonderful Wazir Khanam is marked by the Mirror of Beauty. There comes to life a whole world over the more than a thousand pages of a novel that could only have been written in Urdu because one could argue that no other language can fuse philosophical thinking in the form and content of sensual opulence.
9. Godan by Premchand (Hindi)
Many of us were introduced to the short stories of Munshi Premchand in school and no matter how well they were until you read Godan, you didn't read one of India's most celebrated modern authors. In a well-woven story of a peasant family that is swaying at the hearts, she explores the traditional culture, rural poverty, exploitation, love, brotherhood, and marriage.
10. Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar (Marathi)
A stranger comes to a tizzy household with the traditional Marathi. Framed from two points of view, Sachin Kundalkar creates a strong dialogue in this novel on gender, and family dynamics, both from the author's point of view (and award-winning director and screenplay writer). The translation of Jerry Pinto, of course, beautifully captures the feelings of the author.
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