Comparative Literature is not one but two, for it takes into its orbit two literatures for a study. The formal study of Comparative Literature as a subject goes back to the 19^th century when there was a demand to go beyond narrow nationalism. There are three distinct approaches to the Comparative Literature—French, German and American. Similarly translation takes place not only between two languages—Source Language (SL) and Target Language (TL), but also between two literatures—Source Literature (SL) and Target Literature (TL). It is both an act of reading and writing. A translator reads a particular literature and writes it in another language which becomes the target literature. It is here that a translator becomes a comparatist and translation becomes a tool of Comparative Literature.

It is easy to say what Comparative Literature is not, than to say what it is. At the outset, I would try to explain what Comparative Literature is and does and then juxtapose it with Translation Studies in the global context. Comparative Literature is not one, but two, for it takes into its orbit two literatures for a study. The formal study of Comparative Literature as a subject goes back to the 19^th century when there was a demand to go beyond narrow nationalism. On November 14, 1857 in his Inaugural Lecture "On the Modern Element in Literature" at Oxford, Matthew Arnold said:

Everywhere there is connection, everywhere there is illustration. No single event, no single literature is adequately comprehended except in relation to other events, to other literatures (qtd. in Bassnett, 1998, p. 1).

While reading literature we move beyond the frontiers in trying to locate the source of certain symbols, images, stories, myths that occur in a text. In other words, we find allusions to other texts, while reading a particular text. This gives rise to intertextuality, which in turn provides a basis for comparative study of images, symbols, myths and stories between two texts. The term `Comparative Literature' owes its origin to Course de literature compare (1816), a series of French anthologies designed for the teaching of literature. In Theory of Literature Wellek and Warren (1973) noted:

English Studies Journal, Comparative Literature, Translation Studies, Source Language, SL, Target Language, TL, Source Literature, SL, Target Literature, TL, Translation, Greek and Latin literature, European Literatures, Russian Literature.