Janaki Ballabh, veteran Indian translator and writer, dies in Beijing

Mr. Ballabh spent years working for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing, translating a range of Chinese works into Hindi.

Janaki Ballabh, a veteran Indian translator and writer who was among few Indians who lived and worked in China during some of its most turbulent moments, from the late 1950s to the years right after the Cultural Revolution, passed away in Beijing on Friday. He was 94.

Mr. Ballabh spent years working for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing, translating a range of Chinese works into Hindi. He continued translations well into his retirement and beyond turning 90, until worsening health came in the way.

His long China journey was an unlikely one. Born in 1928 in the village of Dalakot in Almora district in today’s Uttarakhand, Mr. Ballabh moved to China in 1956, after completing an MA in Hindi in Delhi University.

He moved to Beijing during what was a brief honeymoon period in India-China relations when cultural connections were being promoted by both sides. His brief, at the Foreign Languages Press, was to translate classical Chinese works into Hindi for an Indian audience. Among his translations were the famous classic Journey to the West as well as the Selected Works of Lu Xun, the leading Chinese writer.

His first stint ended abruptly as relations between the neighbours began to deteriorate and he returned to India in 1961, a year before the India-China war. Before returning to India, he was recognised with a Peace and Friendship Award by then Premier Zhou Enlai.

The freeze in relations, followed by China’s own inner turmoil during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), made a quick return to China impossible, but when the chance arose again, Mr. Ballabh took it.

He was among the first Indians to be back in a reopened China after the end of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and returned to work in the Foreign Languages Press in 1977.