Nine months of phone conversations and WhatsApp exchanges between Thane-based Marathi translator-writer Vasudha Sahasrabuddhe and Dhaka-based Hindi novelist Madhu Kankaria have ultimately paid off.  Both are happy about the Marathi novel Divya Saare Jeevghene, which stems from Kankaria’s path-breaking Hindi work Sej Par Sanskrit (2008). The original work revolves around the travails of an impoverished Jain bal sadhvi whose circumstances force her into an unfair monastic order. The translation, published by Anagha Prakashan of Thane, does justice to the narrative of bal sadhvis, who are knowingly-unknowingly trapped in an ascetic life of someone else’ choice. In fact, the Marathi novel’s title, as against the Hindi one, articulates the central theme much more sharply—the grand Divya idea turns life-threatening (Jeevghene) for a little girl, who wrongly associates safety with holy precincts. The Hindi title, however, points to a nun’s sexual exploitation in a supposedly pious environment. It equates Sanskrit with the piety of the Jain faith, which is debatable. 

“Except for the titular catch, I could read Madhuji with supreme clarity. The translation was my opportunity to understand her radical take on Jainism.  She has minced no words while portraying the duplicity of a Marwari family,  which glorifies a school girl’s deeksha [vow of celibacy and renunciation of material possessions],” 
says Sahasrabuddhe, who along with co-translator Madhavi Jog, deliberated for hours over the Marathi equivalents for faith-based terms like samayik, gochari, paryushan, chholakji etc.