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Focus on books:
Poetry from Orissa for the Sinhala reader
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
Suddhavasa, a collection of poetry (Garbha Gruha) Haraprasad Das
Translated by Sunethra Kankanamge Godage, 2008
This collection of poems by a poet from Orissa, a province in India
from which it is translated into English and then from that source to
Sinhala poetic form by the university lecturer, a Sanskrit Sinhala
scholar, Sunethra Kankanamge, whose maiden effort is seen in fruition
with the translation of this collection of poems and her inclination to
the oriental forms of poetic expressions as found seemingly in the
original collection.
I am not too sure how the English translation is formulated or
presented. But I am positive that on reading the translation I find that
the original poet is more of a mystic and a spiritualist like Gibran or
Rumi than a realist or a post modernist in his attitude to the art of
his creative communication.
He is more of a thinker of social events rather than a commentator or
a protestor. This creative process, I presume, is not an undermining of
his creative talent, but a tradition in which he bases his expression.
Kankanamge states in her introduction, which is by all means one of
the most useful guides to the text, that the original poet Haraprasad
Das is one of the well known poets not only in the region of Orissa, but
also in the whole of India. He is shown as the recipient of many a
literary award over the years making use of the traditional folk idiom
and the more classical use of language as his poetic diction.
This trend it is stated is being adhered closely by the translator as
well. Some of the poems as shown in translation are more closer to
poetic reminiscences. There is the presentation of the innerness of
one's life against the turbulences as seen in the external materialistic
plane of existence.
For example the poem titled surangana kathava (42) is a poem that is
shown as the use of the traditional knowledge in one's life which is
being constantly challenged by external forces such as the romance and
the fantasy. But strangely enough, the fairy tale remains forever as a
living entity that cannot be wiped off easily.
But the disturbances make the fairy tale changed from time to time
adding more dimensions to it. I am wondering as to why more and more
sanskritized forms of the diction is used in the translation when the
expression could be enhanced with simplified use of language. Perhaps
this is an issue that has to be taken as a tonal expression from the
original which I had no access to.
The terms such as Parityagashili Pema,(p19) Papishta Apeksha(23),
Indriyange Viyogaya(25), Daaiyinika Pramodayen(30) Svetavarna
Bittiya(31) and Pavranikatvaye Deviyan(39) are some examples.
This is really a matter for the translators of poetry from one
language to another should discuss seriously. Sanskritizing the diction
may be an advantage from some points of view, but at the same time there
is something that is lost as well, for the mixture may not communicate
the beauty of expression in the translated language.
The title poem Suddhavasaya(79) is one of the most sensitive
experience presented in the collection. It is an attempt to express the
legacy that is lost in one's life which is treasured as pristine glory
in the mind of a person who so likes to hark back to the past which is
considered as an abode of sanctity.
The poem Sangrama Atara [23] revolves round the life of people torn
between two worlds, the world of their liking and preference and the
world the people made for the sake of destruction with bombshells and
other disasters.
The poem kathavak kiyamin(69) underlines the urge to go back to the
distant past where the narrator believes is the place that one can have
faith where the nature was nearer and dearer to the mankind as compared
to the hinted present lifestyles which had closed the door to that great
entrance.
Ideologically a similar poem is Sellam Geya(63) where the narrator
yearns for the past which is nothing but the lost childhood full of
playthings and playmates which will never come back once again in the
same manner.
Most of these poems could be understood as sensitive insights to
several social issues personified and lay buried or shrouded in mystery
and mysticism. This is perhaps not the fault of the translator.
The Sinhala translation, which is more prosaic than lyrical could be
read silently and more meditatively. In this collection there are thirty
poems in all, and this is supposed to be the sixth poetry collection of
the Orissa poet Haraprasad Das.
For the student of cross cultural literary and communication studies,
the translator has added a brief introduction to the use of the
language, the geography and culture, and the literary activities over
the years pertaining to Orissa province.
This introduction too traces the early settlements and their settlers
who utilized various forms of traditional expressions that fostered the
growth of the contemporary literary and cultural forms as seen today.
This information is useful from several points of view, at a time
when the local literary activities are geared to a more global vista
than it used to be.
There is a firm belief amongst the translators that poetry is
untranslatable, however much you try. I am not too sure whether this
verdict is justifiable.
If so it is necessary to collate the two sources in order to
ascertain the validity of the original and the resultant translation. I
can only feel the pulse of the original and the necessity for the
present translation. But I dare not pass a judgment without more
scrutiny.
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