Translation has played a crucial role in shaping civilizations by facilitating cultural exchange, preserving knowledge, and promoting intellectual development. The history of translation in the Western world and the Indian subcontinent reflects distinct traditions influenced by religious, political, literary, and social contexts. A critical examination of these traditions reveals both similarities and differences in the evolution of translation practices and theories. In the Western tradition, the history of translation can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome. The Greeks translated scientific and philosophical works from neighboring civilizations, but translation gained greater prominence during the Roman Empire. Roman scholars such as Cicero and Horace advocated translating according to the sense rather than the literal words of the source text. Cicero argued that a translator should reproduce the meaning and rhetorical effect rather than perform a word-for-word rendering. This distinction between literal and free translation became one of the foundational debates in Western translation theory. The spread of Christianity significantly influenced translation in the West. One of the most important milestones was Saint Jerome’s translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate, during the fourth century CE. Jerome emphasized translating the sense of the text while preserving doctrinal accuracy. His work became a model for biblical translation and influenced European translation practices for centuries. During the Middle Ages, monasteries served as centers for translating religious, philosophical, and scientific texts from Greek and Arabic into Latin, ensuring the preservation of classical knowledge. The Renaissance marked another turning point. Increased interest in classical literature encouraged scholars to translate Greek and Roman texts into European vernacular languages. Translation became an instrument of education, cultural