Fairy who created a magical bridge
 I
really believe that literary translation is eminently worthy of
celebration. Without it we would be imprisoned in a monocultural world,
knowing neither our own ancient heritage, nor the heritage, ancient or
modern, of other cultures, near or far.
Without translation we cannot understand the cultures of either our
nearby neighbours or of our far-flung neighbours thousands of miles
away. This idea brought into my mind, as I proceeded through a
translation done by late Chintha Lakshmie Sinharachchi. Before her
untimely death due a cancer, she was able to present us a series of
great Bengali prose. She translated them directly from Bengali, the
language spoken in Indian state of West Bengal. West Bengal's capital
Calcutta (now they use its original name Kolkotta) was the centre of the
British rule in India.
I am a huge fan of Bengali literature. This happened mainly by
reading Chintha's Sinhala translations of great Bengali novels, Such as
Gora (Rabindranath Tagore) Srikant (Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay) and
Aranyak (Vibhuti Bhusan Bandhopadhyay). Later, when I had an opportunity
to travel through India, I was delighted to see and feel the authentic
Bengali life. Calcutta University is the largest university in India. It
is a colonial gift I would rather say, because it has enormously
contributed to the education of the people of West Bengal. Although
Bengali is one of the hundreds of languages spoken in India, it is heard
in each and every place in India. That is because, Indian national
anthem is written in Bengali by our region's ever produced Nobel
laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore is the most eminent figure in
Bengali literature. He gets the 'near god' recognition in Bengal.
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Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay |
Tagore enriched Bengali literature like never before and gave it
classical dimensions in terms of matter and content. His writings
optimised the Bengali culture, lifestyle and psyche in at inimitable
style. Tagore is hailed as the first composer of short stories in
Bengali. As a writer of short stories Tagore can more conveniently be
ranked with masters like Tolstoy, Maupassant or Chekov.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is another great Bengali writer. He gave
the rural Bengal a character in itself, a character of simplicity yet
strength. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, had a varied career. He started
of being an Assistant Settlement officer. Subsequently, he worked in
Calcutta High Court as a Translator and thereafter, as a Clerk in the
Accounts Department in Burma Railway. If you read his novel Srikant, you
will find how his real life experiences have contributed in his literary
work. Sarat Chandra was essentially a feminist who, by means of his
stories and novels portrayed the hopes and aspirations, follies and
weaknesses, dreams and desire of the women of his time, whose lives were
totally at the mercy of the men in that time. Up to my knowledge,
Chintha translated Chattopadhyay's Bindur Chele (Binduge Daruwa) and
Srikant I and II(Srikantha) in to Sinhala. His stories such as Devdas
and Parineeta have been adapted into very successful Hindi movies.
Vibhuti Bhusan Bandhopadhyay was an author par excellence. He was an
ardent lover and worshipper of nature, like Wordsworth the British poet.
The salient feature of his writings is the inscrutable relationship
between man and nature, based on which he wrote the timeless novel
Aranyak. Bibhuti Bhushan's Pather Panchali and its sequel Aparajito,
have been adapted in to movies under same names by well known Bengali
cinematographer Satyajit Ray. They have been considered as masterpieces
of their genre. Bibhuti Bhushan charmed millions of readers with his
lucid, pictorial and elaborate writing style. He wrote about nature, Man
and everything with which an ordinary man can identify himself. The
Sinhala readership was lucky to have a translator like Chintha who
translated Vibhuti Bhusan Bandhopadhyay's great novels Aranyak, Pather
Panchali and Aparajito direct from Bengali. Chintha once mentioned in
the preface of one of her translations that even she had to consult
Bengali experts in Sri Lanka to clarify certain names of flowers and
trees mentioned in the original work. I think this might have happened
when she was translating Aranyak (Aranakata Pembenda) because it
contains long descriptions on forest and its rich vegetation.
Here let me touch an important point. Bengali is not an easy language
to learn in Sri Lankan linguistic environment. Chintha strongly believed
that she had a past life experience in Bengal. She has mentioned that
she never felt tired when she was translating all those books.
Translators handle the language which is riddled with ambiguities, with
gaps, lapses, slides, conscious and unconscious omissions, sudden
changes in accent and emphasis, and so on. A sound knowledge in the
particular language would not merely sufficient to make translation a
success. A true passion towards the particular society and culture will
do a great favour in the work of translation. Chintha who possessed both
knowledge and passion made a great translator herself. During her very
short life span as a translator she was able to open a new window for
Sinhala readership to look over Bengali literature. |
