Translator's Ramble!!

ramble noun
: a long walk for pleasure
: a long speech or piece of writing that goes from one subject to another without any clear purpose or direction

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ramble)

 

Tidbits from the Translator's notes - Will be updated as and when I add to the ramble!

Last Updated: 15 May 2018 

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 Dedication

     To my maternal grandpa - an admirer of the Kagga, who in the face of severe health crisis gave up smoking, but refused to give up reading till the moment he was dead. He had been deriving life lessons and enjoying the poetic ecstasy of the Kaggas for over six decades. (I remember grandma scheming to sell away his books so that he could pay more attention to her!!) He gave me his copy of Mankutimmana Kagga when I was in High School and told me I could take his copy of the sequel, Maralumuniyana Kagga, after his death. He expired when I was in college. At his funeral, as happens at most funerals in Indian villages when a man of reasonable social standing expires, the gathered crowd was debating among itself to whom the man had left his most prized possessions and assets. Though I failed to realize it back then, over the years I have figured out that it was to me that he left his most prized possessions - his copies of the Kaggas and the beauty of life that accompanies those works, the richest legacy I have ever inherited!!

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Aims of poetry translation

"Poetry translation may be defined as relaying poetry into another language. Poetry's features can be sound-based, syntactic or structural or pragmatic in nature. Apart from transforming text, poetry translation also involves cognition, discourse, and action by and between human and textual actors in a physical and social setting. 

A poetry translation project usually aims to publicize a poet or poets.

..... Poetry translators are concerned to interpret a source poem's layers of meaning, to relay this interpretation reliably, and/or to ‘create a poem in the target language which is readable and enjoyable as an independent, literary text."

- Francis R. Jones, The Translation of Poetry, Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies, 2011 

Evaluation -

1. Basic aim - To publicize the Kagga - On track!

2. Transforming text from Kannada to English  - On track!

3. Interpret source poem's layers of meaning - I doubt.

4. Create a poem in English which is readable and enjoyable as an independent, literary text - No! When read independently, the translations seem poor. Lot to improve.

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Turpitude in Translation

"..... grades of evil can be discerned in the queer world of verbal transmigration. ........the worst, degree of turpitude is reached when a masterpiece is planished and patted into such a shape, vilely beautified in such a fashion as to conform to the notions and prejudices of a given public. This is a crime, to be punished by the stocks as plagiarists were in the shoebuckle days."

- Vladimir Nabokov, "The Art of Translation", 1941

      Now that I don't intend to commit the crime of conforming to the notions and prejudices of a given public, I need to get certain facts right. In my understanding, the Kagga is not a religious work. It does quote from the Hindu scriptures, ancient Roman and Greek works to mainly serve the purpose of illustration. I feel certain translations of Indian works into English tend to bring in more of divinity and religion and few other works bring in too much rationality than was intended in the original. To keep the right balance is to walk on the razor's edge. Though I intend to walk on it, my human frailties and atheistic beliefs may end up perturbing the balance. If such turpitude is found in the work, I wish to be pardoned and corrected rather than punished as plagiarists were in the shoebuckle days!

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Barricading Brahma

    In many instances, the word 'Brahma' and its variants are encountered in the Kagga. Many interpretations seem to interpret it as God. In translation, God seems to narrow down the very large domain that the word Brahma actually conveys. Like how 'brahmaananda' is supreme bliss, 'brahmajnaana' is supreme infinite knowledge, is not 'Brahma' a reference to the supreme consciousness of the entire humanity at large? Does the usage of the word 'God' in English too convey this sense of supreme consciousness? Maybe that is subjective, in the sense that it depends on each individual's belief system and interpretation of God. So I prefer to keep Brahma as it is rather than barricading the concept by the use of a subjective word until I find or I am suggested a better objective translation of it. Got a better word? I am interested:)

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Deciphering Dharma

"One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself. This, in brief, is the law of Dharma" 

- Mahabharata XVIII.113.8

     'Dharma' is a word whose scope extends far and large. And I prefer to retain the word 'dharma' in translation too. In the context of Kagga, it is used to mean more than one of the following at the same time in various places -

1. Way of life (Vedic conception; Buddhist conception of Dhamma) - Right action, Right Conduct, Virtue

2. Justice, Moral law

3. Duty, Obligation

4. Nature, Character, Distinctive quality

5. Religion, Philosophy

6. Compassion, Benevolence

7. Philanthropy, Munificence, Charity

        Use of religion, philosophy or justice as a translation would water down the mammoth scope of the word. And the subtlety of Dharma is best voiced in the Mahabharatha when Bhishma confesses his inability to decide on the question of the status of Draupadi after Pandavas loose the game of dice, calling dharma an extremely subtle thing.

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Versions of translations

       Re-reading some of the verses and the translations, at times, makes me give a second shot at translation or a third shot or maybe shots ad infinitum! The beauty of the verses of Kagga is in the enormity of life lessons captured in them and efforts at capturing that beauty in translation will always be bounded, giving the translator justification for his infinite shots. Since this is intended to be a work in progress open to revisions and edits, I hope multiple versions of translations can also be accommodated in the same spirit. 

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Trouble with phrases of native flavor 

Coming soon!!

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