A Historical Perspective of Ganot's Book in Maharashtra

Translation plays an important role in the transmission and diffusion of knowledge from one geographical location to another. India has a long and rich tradition in this process. From the time of astronomer king Jai Singh and later with the colonial British rulers, science education evolved and transformed with this translation process of foreign texts into vernaculars. The translation of Adolphe Ganot's physics books may be viewed from this perspective. Ganot's physics books, particularly his 'Traité' and 'Cours' were popular throughout the world in the nineteenth century. India was no exception. In English, these were known as books on natural philosophy. The only Indian language in which his book 'Cours' was translated was Marathi. The present note gives a brief overview of the translated version of Ganot's 'Cours' in Marathi.