Project at a Glance
- This is a new international project taken up By Bhaktivedanta Research Centre.
- ‘Svalikhita Jivani’ deals with life and preaching as enshirined in the biography of Shrila Bhakti Vinod Thakur ( Kedarnath Datta).
- The project is being supervised by:
- Dr. Santanu Dey (Editor), Associate Professor, Department of History, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira (affiliated to Calcutta University), Belur Math
- Dr. Abhishek Ghosh (Editor) Assistant Professor, Religious Studies and Liberal Studies, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA
- Shrimanti Ghoshal has been recruited in the position of Senior Research Fellow, BRC to carry out the project
- Officially the project has started from 19th November 2019
Requirements out of the project
- Prepare and publish an English translation of the 203 page Svalikhita Jivani or autobiography of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur.
- Prepare a list of historically contextual words, personalities, and places from the autobiography that requires to be annotated along with appropriate citations.
- Prepare a chronological timeline of events connected to Bhakti Vinod Thakur’s life and activities.
- Provide an archival and contemporary visual documentation of Thakur’s life.
- Prepare a post script about Srila Bhaktivinod’s life after the SJ came to an end in 1896.
- Provide a bibliography of texts and articles written by Bhakti Vinod Thakur as well as preparing a database of scholarly writings on Bhakti Vinod Thaku
Progress Made till 11th January
- The recruitment of the Senior Research Fellow for the project was made after two rounds of intensive interview by a panel consisting of Prof. Santanu Dey, Prof. Abhishek Ghosh, Prof. Abhishek Bose, Shri Sumanta Rudra and Shri Balarama Lila Das. Shrimanti Ghosal was selected by the panel and she joined the institute on 19th November 2019.
- Translation of the text has been started from 19th November 2019.
- The preliminary first draft of 90 pages has already been translated.
- Approximately 356 annotations have already been marked.
- Information for the annotations are being collected and citations are also being given accordingly.
- The researcher has already collected information for 20 annotations
- Prof Santanu Dey who comes to BRC twice a week is helping the Research fellow regarding translation. He has provided her pdf books which will be applicable in this entire work.
- The rough draft of the translations are getting checked by the professors on a regular basis. About 56 pages of the work is getting corrected.
- Prof Abhisekh Ghosh has almost finished his introductory chapter.
- He is also working on another chapter that he has to contribute in the book. He meets every week with the Fellow online, for this work.
- Prof. Santanu Dey has almost completed his introductory chapter which he shall be contributing in the book.
- Both professors along with the research fellow are having online meetings for identifying the words from the text that needs annotation.
- Visit of Research Fellow to Ramakrishna Mission library and National library to procure more books that are required for the project.
Meetings held on 23.11.19 & 30.11.19
- During these meetings the basic structure concerning the format of the translated book has been discussed.
- It was decided that a deed shall be kept in a form of evidence to avoid any further anomaly and misunderstanding regarding all aspects related to the publication.
- The cover page of the proposed book shall have a picture of Srila Bhaktivinod along with the title of the book. In the page next to the cover page the names of the editors shall be given.
- Paper Contributions are to be sought from the following scholars for the proposed publication (Steven Rosen, Varuni Bhatia, Shukavak Dasa, Jason Fuller, Lucian Wong, Ferdinando Sardella and Amiya Sen)
- Preliminary consultation with Mandala Books as the prospective publisher of the forthcoming book has been initiated by Shri Sumanta Rudra.
- It was proposed that contact with Niranjan Vinod RoyThakur needs to be made for collection of materials
Pictures of translations
