A sage, a boatwoman and a river
Subrata Kumar Das appreciates a novelist and his translator
The English translation of the Bangla novel Vyasa by the powerful writer Shahzad Firdous (b. 1950) from West Bengal is no doubt a praiseworthy achievement in the translation arena of Bangladesh. The novel has been much appraised by now, and the time to appreciate the translation of this book by eminent Professor Kabir Chowdhury (b.1923) has come. Creating newer literature by remaking mythological stories is nothing new in Bangla. Since the mid-nineteenth century hundreds of plays, novels, and poems have emerged which have taken their main stories from the myths. The big names in Bangla literature, like Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-1873) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), are the mostly mentioned literary figures in this regard. Buddhadeb Bose (1908-1974) and Samaresh Bosu (1924-1988) of the later half of the twentieth century are creators who successfully followed the paths of their predecessors. Shahzad Firdous is another meritorious devotee to work on mythological treasures. What a surprise to know that this great novel is the debut attempt of the author! The novel was first published in a journal in 1993 and later on took a book form, in 1995. And immediately the novel drew a good readership and brought much commendation for its writer. To all Firdous readers, though the number is very few in Bangladesh, the story behind the writing of Vyasa is well known. That much-known story has also been included in the 'Author's Preliminary Words' of the book. It notes that once, much before the mid eighties of the last century, Firdous came by a proposal to write a film script for the celebrity Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar. For this unprecedented work Firdous selected the story of Vyasadeva or Vedavyasa or Krishnadwaipayana. The principal reason was his preoccupation with the Mahabharata. For the last twenty five years, after reading the Mahabharata, Firdous was planning to do something with this mythological sage. Though, sorrowfully, his script was not accepted by the film businessman, the script got the approval as a masterpiece by the literary non-business commoners. It is true that Firdous' Vyasa is about Krishnadwaipayan Vedavyasa, the Hindu sage who had a great number of scriptures to his credit. The foremost job that Vyasa completed was the division of the Vedas for which he was crowned with the title Vedavyasa. Moreover, he authored the monumental Mahabharata as well as most of the Puranas. The epic Mahabharata has depicted the life sketch of Krishnadwaipayana too, though not clearly and chronologically but rather in fragments. And what Firdous has done is a clear and chronological outline of the life of Vyasadeva. What does the Mahabharata say about the life of Vyasa? He was the son of Satyabati, begot by the sage Parashara. Satyabati, when a maiden, would row her boat across the river. One day Parashara happened to be her passenger and incidentally the knowledgeable person felt affinity with the black boatwoman. He soon gave way to desire and after their sexual union the sage gave her the boon that the child to be born out of the union would be the wisest man under the sun. This man was to be Krishnadwaipayana. Firdous delineates the bringing up of this black boy and his growing up in youth. We find that at some time Parashara leaves Satyabati and takes away Krishna to a faraway ashram to provide him with proper teaching. But he does not become a commoner; he raises questions and thus turns disobedient to his father too. And thus Firdous makes the sage an ordinary man for which the novelist deserves much appraisal. Firdous' Vyasa runs through the maze of the Bharata family where Krishna's mother had been married to Shantanu. Crossing all these, the story moves through historic events, such as the Kurukshetra War and even after that Vyasa is alive to console Gandharai, the mother bereft of all her one hundred sons. And what a miracle that in between all these stories come the final chapters of the Mahabharata where we get Vaishampayana narrating the historical story to Janamejoya, the great grandson of Arjuna. As an ordinary human, Firdous' Vyasa throws questions at his father Parashara; he brings up the question of the right of the Sudras. Vyasa asserts: 'All men are equal.' Very forcefully he announces: 'The learning of the wise is for the wise, the learning of the illiterate is for the illiterate. The illiterate will never know the learning of the wise. Similarly, the wise, too, will never know of the learning of the illiterate' (p 17). To his father's face Vyasa declares: 'If the entire world abandons me I shall bow my head before the Sudra, I shall bow my head before the particles of dust, I shall bow my head before the worm in the mud for the sake of knowing life' (p 20). And thus he denounces the entire establishment, all the truths established in society and so becomes the wisest. Let us not forget that it is Vyasa who puts questions to Parashara about the legality of the relations that Parashara had with the fish-smelling Satyabati. Vyasa bursts forth with the eternal truth: "No wealth in the universe belongs to any one individual. Everybody has equal right to all things" (p 44). Firdous makes a modern man out of the mythological sage character. Let us take a look at Kabir Chowdhury's translations from Bangla to English. Along with a huge number of translated poetic volumes, he has translated fiction like Laughter of a Slave (1970), Portrait Number 23 (1975), Rifles, Bread and Women (1976), A Slave Laughs: Sultan (1993) and other works. Perhaps Vyasa is the most readable translation work by Prof Chowdhury? He has done this job in very lucid English, an absolute necessity in modern translation. The simple sentences have added a new dimension to the whole text. The wisdom of the translator in avoiding Victorian vocabulary, as is seen in most of the translations of Bangladesh, will surely serve as an example for translators in future. Shahzad Firdous cannot be identified with popular trends in Bangla literature. He has been coming up with experimental fictions that have won the hearts of readers interested in serious works. Altamas (1995), Plague (1996), Mohabhar (1996), Palot Mudra (1996), Ohinokul (1998), Shailoker Banijyo Bistar (1999), Kanangon (2000), Mrityur Jonmo O Mrityu (2000), Laden Waf (2000), Atmabhanjaner Khela (2002) and Shyam Jomoj (2002) are the novels that his mighty pen has produced to date. Moreover, another volume of three novels called Dwipode Swapode, Baroi September, and Somoyshima Dosh Second came out in a single cover in 2003. The noted critic Parthapratim Bandapadhyay wrote a critique on Firdous' novels a decade back. Along with all those, a little magazine named O-e-Ojogor dedicated a special issue to him in 1999. Omni Books, Dhaka, has done an excellent job by publishing this English version. And yet there are some faults in the book, which we expect will be corrected in the next edition.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments