Gítagóvinda - Píseň o lásce Kršnově – Džajadéva (2022)

Gítagóvinda by the poet Jayadeva (12th century) is one of the most significant examples of classical Sanskrit kāvya poetry. This lyrical-epic poem in twelve short songs depicts the love affair between the god Krishna and the shepherdess Radha, making it a unique work in the genre of erotic-mystical poetry. Due to its high artistic value, as well as its significance for the bhakti religious movement, it has become one of the most important texts for the development of the Krishna cult in medieval India. This publication presents for the first time a printed version of the manuscript translation of this unique literary monument by Czech Indologist Josef Zubatý (1885–1931) and poet and Iranist Jaromír Borecký (1869–1951), striving to preserve both the formal and content aspects of the poem, making it unique among translations into world languages. The extensive introductory study in the first part provides not only information about Jayadeva's work and its reception in India and the West but also an introduction to the principles of classical kāvya poetry. The second part of the study is dedicated to analyzing the collaboration of Czech translators and evaluating the results of their work, which is also important from the perspective of the history of general trends in Czech artistic translation. The text of the edition itself is supplemented with numerous comments, a list of metrical schemes, and...