Sita was ‘abducted’ by Rama, says Gujarat board textbook

Sita was "abducted" by Lord Rama says a textbook of Class XII in Gujarat. As the blooper in the English version of Sanskrit subject came to light, the Gujarat State School Textbook Board GSSTB) on Friday described it as a translation error and ordered an inquiry.

"There is (a) very hearttouching description of the message conveyed by Laxman to Ram when Sita was abducted by Rama," reads a paragraph giving some basic understanding to students about the epic 'Raghuvansham' written by celebrated Sanskrit poet Kalidasa. This error figures in the textbook meant for English medium students of Class XII. GSSTB executive president Nitin Pethani claimed that the word 'tyag' has been translated and printed as "abducted" instead of "abandoned" by those who were given the task of translation and proofreading. "It should have been printed as 'when Sita was abandoned by Lord Rama'. But due to a translation mistake it got printed as 'when Sita was abducted by Rama'. "The word abandoned was replaced with abducted. This is a translation mistake, which is not there in Gujarati textbooks," said Pethani.

"We will conduct an inquiry into the matter. If found guilty, we will blacklist the contractors who were given the task of translation as well as proof-reading. We will inform school-teachers to correct this mistake while teaching that chapter," he added. Militants carried out three grenade attacks on Friday in Srinagar, Anatanag and Pulwama, including at the residence of ruling PDP MLA Mushtaq Shah, leaving six persons injured.

Militants lobbed a grenade towards the residence of Tral MLA Mushtaq Shah in Pulwama. It exploded in the lawn and no one was injured, a police official said, adding the legislator was not in the house at the time of the incident, reports PTI.

Shah is an MLA of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has a coalition government with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ultras also attacked security forces deployed at KP Chowk in Anantnag in which six persons including four CRPF jawans and a policeman were injured, the official said.

He said Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Amlar Tral, also sustained minor injuries in the explosion.

All the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and have been discharged, the official said.

A case has been registered and an investigation is going on, he said.

Meanwhile, militants targeted security forces in Hari Singh High Street area of the summer capital here with a grenade this evening, the official said.

He said there was no loss of life or injury due to the explosion.