Literary translation invariably demands the dual skills of a creative artist and a craftsperson. Literary translation is a fusion of the craft of translation with creative artistry, or the creative crafting of words in the target language, so that the purpose and aesthetic style of the source text are recreated and transferred with felicity into the target text.

In his general editor’s preface to the Oxford Tagore Translations: Selected Writings on Literature and Language, Sukanta Chaudhuri observed that there could not be any “uniform strategy for translation”. Chaudhuri elaborated, “Literary translation proceeds by a series of particular, contingent judgements, virtually a species of inspired adhocism. For a start, it soon becomes imperative to break the translator’s shibboleth that the same word in the original must always be rendered by the same word in the translation.” These observations can be read as validating freedom for the translator from charges of infidelity and cannibalism, but the intention of the observations of Chaudhuri is not to set free the translator from criticism about misrepresentation and incomprehension, which sadly can very well tarnish a translated text.

Significantly, Girish Karnard stated with perception that “all Indian languages share some structural patterns and cultural concepts. I feel that translating from one regional language to another is easier than translating into English. The basic problem for the translator lies in his search for appropriate cultural equivalents… A word is capable of reviving cultural memory, which might be difficult to carry into another linguistic set up. Dialects too, are quite impossible to be rendered intact through translation”.

Literary critic and translator Tania Chakravertty’s selection of these two Bengali literary texts that were awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize does gesture towards the recent surge in translating canonical vernacular literature into English. This is undoubtedly a praise-worthy cultural bridge-building project, as a classic text written in the Bengali language is being transported to the Anglosphere through the medium of English translation.

Of the two translated books, Buddhadev Bose’s play Tapaswi O Tarangini, based on Puranic texts, was first serially published in the prestigious Bengali journal Desh in 1966. Transcreation and its problems ensued as Buddhadev Bose was criticised by scholars of Indology for having taken liberties with the chronological timeline of various Puranic protagonists. Bose’s response to such sticklers for historical accuracy is indeed worth citing here, as he was underpinning the fact that recreating ancient texts was not about mindless fidelity; the past needed to be remodelled to assert its relevance in modern times. This argument was not unlike TS Eliot’s views that tradition needs to be activated in contemporary times through a process of fine braiding that could only be achieved by talented litterateurs. So when Tapaswi O Taranginee was published in book form in 1966, Bose wrote in the preface, “I have taken an ancient tale and laid it my own way; I have added the mentality and the pain and dilemma of modern human beings. Needless to say, in texts like these, one cannot blindly follow the ancient tales; it is erroneous to point at exceptions as errors. Though they belonged to the ancient world, the Rishyasringa and Tarangini of my imagination are our contemporaries in terms of their psychic state; if this is accepted, then there is a mention of characters of the Dvapur Yug; by characters belonging to the Treta Yug, it will not lead to a profanation of the Mahabharata; in other words, it will not lead to any serious lapse.”

It is in this mood that one needs to read Buddhadev Bose’s classic poetic drama The Hermit and Taranginee, rendered into English in a breezy, eminently readable style that makes this profound and philosophical play remarkably reader-friendly. In fact, this is indeed the benefit perception factor of Tania Chakraverrty’s translation.

The free-flowing English translation is remarkable. The reader remains absorbed in the reading, not pondering over what may be lost in translation. Buddhadev Bose was not just a towering intellectual but a creative artist and translator as well. Chakravertty is able to unobtrusively ease into Bose’s deeply philosophic and ironic observations in the translated version. The secular mind of the author resonates through the pages, transcending the borders of orthodoxy and ritualistic practices.

Interestingly, in a sequence in the play, the messengers lament the lack of rain and the miseries of the poor people as their crops perish in the parched land. A messenger exclaims, “Oh dear, So much of worshipping is being done in front of sacred fires, day and night; could not the smoke conglomerate and create a piece of cloud?”

The original Bengali version, Tapaswini O Tarangini, was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize in 1967. This is probably the first English translation of this complex, nuanced, and often intriguing play that challenges stereotypes of the prevalent Bengali plays of the times, both in terms of content and structure, dialogue, and conception of the characters. Bose’s play is a poetic drama and a play of ideas that breaks free from canonical sources and reinvents the well-known characters and their roles that seem to subvert normative practices. As Taranginee declines Chandraketu’s offer of marriage, she says, “I will not become your wife. I will not be any man’s wife. Don’t you know that by nature I am an unbound woman and I walk according to my own will?”

This is perhaps where Bose takes a different path, despite a few thematic resemblances to Tagore’s poems Patita and Avishar and, tangentially, the dance drama Shapmochan. This mode of reinvention is akin to what T. S. Eliot tried to explain in his timeless essay Tradition and the Individual Talent. Bose’s play is timeless too. In the appendix, Bose’s advice to the producers, followed by the glossary and notes provided by the translator, add to the value of Chakravertty’s English translation of Buddhadev Bose’s inimitable play.

The much-acclaimed writer Ramapada Chowdhury’s novel Bari Badle Jay won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988. Tania Chakravertty has translated into English Chowdhury’s novel Bari Badle Jay, and the English title, Dwellings Change, is remarkably befitting in its innuendo. The English translation captures the staccato, clipped Bangla narrative style of Chowdhury, whose writing primarily focused on the urban Bengali middle class’ angst, frustration, hopes and experiences. In fact, Ramapada Chowdhury caused quite a flutter in the eighties among young readers and the Bengali intelligentsia as his content and use of language ushered in significant freshness as he balanced the pertinent and the contemporary with the perceptions and insights of yesteryears.

Moreover, Ramapada Chowdhury reset the standards of narration in his representation of the Bengali urban milieu. He used conversational dialogue and colloquialisms, which were apparently simple yet could be loaded with introspective gravity. This self-analytical mode of representation of the minds of the pivotal characters, Dhruva and Preeti, the married couple in search of secure housing that would become a home, is powerfully narrated in this slim novel of 126 pages. The glossary and notes from the translator provide the necessary appendix to the translated text, as the source language and target language represent entirely different cultures and ethnicities.

Tania Chakravertty’s English translations of Buddhadev Bose’s poetic play Tapaswini O Tarangini and Ramapada Chowdhury’s novel Bari Badle Jay will immensely benefit students, faculty members and researchers of comparative literature studies, world literature studies, cultural studies and translation studies.

The reviewer is former dean, faculty of arts, University of Calcutta

Spotlight

The Hermit and Taranginee

By Buddhadev Bose

English Translations by Tania Chakravertty

Delhi, Sahitya Akademi, 2022

Spotlight

Dwellings Change

By Ramapada Chowdhury

English Translations by Tania Chakravertty

Delhi, Sahitya Akademi, 2023