Urdu poetry in translation

MASTER COUPLETS OF URDU POETRY: Selected and translated by K. C. Kanda; Sterling Publishers, L-10, Green Park Extension, New Delhi-110016. Rs. 350.

TRANSLATING URDU poetry into English verse is "a formidable task'' (to quote Faiz Ahmed Faiz), especially "when the languages involved are as far removed from each other in cultural background, rhythm and formal pattern{hellip} as Urdu and English.''

In spite of this challenge to his own resourcefulness, Dr. K. C. Kanda, a name not unfamiliar to readers of Urdu poetry in English, has tried his hand at translating some of the most celebrated Urdu poets, both traditional and modern, from Vali Dakani of the 17th century to Parveen Shaker of our own time.

Topic-wise, the couplets are classified into 89 heads, and the book also carries the Urdu text with parallel Roman script. If one considers the wide spectrum of emotions expressed in these couplets, one must commend the translator for his enterprise. But his endeavour is not entirely without blemish.

Despite the translator's claim to have made a skilful use of the "ornaments of rhyme or assonance'', he does not always seem to achieve the desired effect.

At places, the translation evokes the image of a modern young woman in tight jeans, seen in the loose-fitting garments of a bygone era. Also, in referring to the beloved alternately in masculine and feminine gender, he sometimes leaves the reader confused. In his effort to lend a rhymed pattern to his translation, his rendition often sounds odd, even arbitrary. Take, for instance, the following couplet:

Its starry eyes, the welkin winks,

How wondrous, ah! Thy amorous blinks. (Mir,p.6)

Frequently, the translation is too literal to convey the poet's real intent:

Hold your turban Mir, beware!

A dreadful place in Delhi, dear! (p.55).

And here is Ghalib, divested of irony, his primal mode:

Where can I go to meet my faith

When you refuse to draw your sword (p.235).

Similarly, one fails to feel the intensity of poignancy in another couplet by the same poet: The word is afloat, he comes today/ Not even a mat have I today (p.141).

Faiz Ahmed Faiz suffers no less. Expressions such as "Union night'' for "Vasl ki shab'' and "severance night'' for "hijr ki shab'' are much too far-fetched (p.203).

Despite these shortcomings, Kanda's effort is quite commendable both in his selection of the couplets, and their classification under convenient heads.Here is a book for all lovers of Urdu poetry,

ALI ASGHAR

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