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Focus on books
Sasadavata in English: Challenges of the translator
by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra
From time to time the Godage International Publishers
[Sri Lanka] bring out in translation some of the classical Sinhala works
with the view to introduce them to the world at large via the English
language.
Though this ideology is quite commendable, I sincerely
feel that it is an arduous task to fulfil within the available resources
currently accessible in the academic circles of our country.
The latest to come out is the English translation of the
twelfth century classical Sinhala poetical work titled Sasadavata by the
renowned translator Kusum Disanayaka.
The work is celebrated among the Sinhala scholars of
classical works based on the Jataka legend of the same title Sasa Jataka
where the Bodhisattva was born as a hare and sacrificed his body as a
meal to the Sakra, the god of gods.
God Sakra tests the virtues rooted in the life of the
pious Bodhisattva hare and in the end draws the picture of the creature
on the moon in order to show the world the example of the great
selflessness.
The story in the Jataka has gone into many a folk
creation, and this particular work is based on the tradition of the
classical Sanskrit mahakavyas, where the poet not only makes use of the
central theme of the Jataka but also many an extra ornate factors such
as the descriptions of cities, kings, oceans, mountains, seasons, parks,
sports, missions, wars, and heroes and their actions.
Most of these factors are dealt at length in the apt
forward written by Prof. K. N. O. Dharmadasa. He outlines how and when
the poetical work Sasadavata came to be written and the reasons behind
the venture.
Eye-opener
As an eye-opener to the English reader he gives the
types of poetical works available in the past with reference to the
genre called gee kavya, where two other poetical works are cited. They
are the celebrated mahakavyas called Muvadevdavata [based on Makhadeva
Jatakaya] and Kavsilumina [based on the Kusa Jatakaya].
These three poetical works were discussed by scholars as
three main Sinhala classical works that had given way to the creation of
many other works minor and major. However, Guttilya or Guttila kavya
outshines all the rest in the structure as well as the sensitive and
meaningful human expressions.
Though attempts have been made over the years by various
English and Sinhala scholars to bring out translations I frankly feel
that the impact was not strongly felt through the transmission of the
human contents and the sensitivity from one language to another.
At this juncture I am reminded of what my own supervisor
of the university of London, Prof. Christopher Reynolds once pointed out
as a passing remark "Is it possible to translate the flavour of the two
lines in Guttilaya composed as: siyapin sirinsaru detislakunen visituru?
Despite the fact that we fail to find the suitable
diction in the translation process one has to start from somewhere at
least by a simplified manner and allow the prodigy to gauge the
difficulties, for words, idiomatic expressions, phrases both folk and
classical contexts, terms and allusions all go into the making of the
poetic diction of a language in which it is originally created.
Main problem
I observe that the translator Kusum Disanayaka's main
problem is envisaged as the deliberate use of the original words and
terms and trying as much as possible to find an equivalent or fix the
English term and phrase into the ancient classical diction. As such she
has the added problem of retaining a series of footnotes in order to
explain the allusions.
The reader observes this in almost all the pages of the
main text. The terms such as Varuna [god of the west, also the ocean,
Neptune p.48], Vaishravana [Kuvera, one of four guardian gods, p48]
Kalpa [an aeon p49], Kinnaras [mythical birds with the upper part like
that of humans p.59] Sansara [the cycle of birth p.62] Poyaday [full
moon day which is the day for religious observances p65] are a few
examples quoted off hand. Perhaps I am not too sure whether this method
is agreeable with an average English poetry reader of the modern day.
This may look all right when it comes to a scholarly
method of linguistics but not too sound if I am not mistaken as regards
in a creative work. I wish that somebody else, who is well aware of this
factor may enlighten us.
The intention of the translator Disanayaka is seen as
clearly motivated by the love of the original work, but the task lies in
the actual semantics of rendering into another language, at this point
from the classical Sinhala into the modern English.
Controversy
On translating poems from the Sanskrit [Penguin classics
1969] John Brough in his preface says:
"We need not spend much time on the old controversy of
prose against verse. Obviously, good prose is better than bad poetry,
and even a plain prose rendering is probably preferable to a vapid
version in verse.
In the latter case, the reader judges the lack of merit
in the English verse, and instinctively concludes that the original must
be of the same standard of mediocrity. But in the case of a prose
translation, the basis of judgement is different ,since there only the
sense - content of the original, and not a poetic form, is presented as
evidence."
In some instances the translator Disanayaka uses a
prosaic version and in some other instances she makes an attempt to
versify into English retaining the traditional metrical patterns adhered
to by translators of poetry at all times.
The translation is unabridged and contains a very highly
useful introduction with a prose version of the Jataka legend as
translated by the scholar E. B. Cowell. I am sure the most interested
clients of this text will be the cross cultural creative communication
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