RESONATING SENSATIONS AND IMAGINATION: UNVEILING THE SOUL OF TARAR’S BAHAO IN SAFEER AWAN’S SORROWS OF SARASVATI THROUGH THE LENS OF DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE

Abstract

The translation of literary works often encounters the challenge of sustaining the emotional depth as well as cultural nuances inherent in the original text else than transmitting the linguistic subject matter. This study aims to evaluate Awan’s Sorrows of Sarasvati: The Lost River, an English translation of Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s Urdu novel, Bahao, with respect to dynamic equivalence as a translation strategy while addressing these challenges, ensuring that the emotional tone and sensual imaginations of the source text are effectively mirrored in the target text as well. Purposive sampling was employed for data selection where introductory chapter of both the versions of novel had been extracted. By performing a qualitative textual analysis, the study considered imaginative and emotional dimensions maintained or modified by the protocols of dynamic equivalence. Results demonstrated that Awan’s deliberate translation choices reflect a balance between faithfulness to the source material and responsiveness to the target audience’s cultural and linguistic context through careful manipulation of phrasing, imagery, and emotional tone, concluding that, in Safeer Awan’s Sorrows of Sarasvati: The Lost River, dynamic equivalence might act as a guiding framework, enabling a translation that both preserves and adapts the emotional impact, vivid imagery, and metaphorical richness of Tarar’s Bahao. The research holds major implications for translation theory and practice by showing how dynamic equivalence preserves the emotional impact as well as imagery of literary works. This approach challenges traditional views favoring literal accuracy, eventually calling for a reassessment of translation quality criteria to equally value emotional engagement and linguistic precision.