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Sunil Raghunath Sawant is Reader in English at Kisan Veer Mahavidyalaya, Wai, Satara District, Maharashtra. His publications include 'A Mirror to A Poet's Mind', 'Gieve Patel Answers a Questionnaire' His postal address is "Akanksha", Plot No. 15, Survey No. 9A/2 Sidhanathwadi, Wai- 412 803, Satara District, Maharashtra.

Abstract

This paper proposes to study the dynamics of the possibility of bridging intercultural space betwen Marathi and English in order to identify its problematics which hampers the reception of Modern Marathi literature in English translation. It also seeks to examine whether there is a difference between the problematics of rendering Marathi litearature into English as opposed to into nonindian languages. The inclusion of the footnotes in the translated fiction, the near non-existent audience for English theatre in India, the dearth of British or American translators have adversely affected the process of exporting Marathi literature into other English-knowing countries. Some of the problems of Chitre's anthology of translated Modern Marathi poetry pointed out by Bhalchandra Nemade are: mistakes of English grammar, spelling errors, clumsy notes on contributors, repetition of the name of the translator page after page, unattractive cover, inadequate equivalents, hackneyed phrases, irrelevant but attractive expressions, paraphrases, wordiness, improper rhythm, loose and dazzling words, etc. Vilas Sarang draws our attention to the bothersome tendency among Marathi bilingual translators to substitute vivid images or metaphors with abstract, generalized ideas. A dearth of properly trained translators, a dearth of good reviewing, a dearth of critical discussion in English, a dearth of funds for commissioning translators, a dearth of readership of our translations abroad, are some of the extratextual problems that prevent the smooth spread of Modern Marathi literature elsewhere.

I

The colonial encounter brought in an era of translations in the Marathi literary culture. Initially, Christian missionaries such as William Carey and others, British officials such as George Jervis, Thomas Candy, and Marathi pundits such as Sadashiv Kashinath Chhatre, Hari Keshavji Pathare, Balshashtri Jambhekar, and a host of others produced a great deal of translation of English non-literary texts in Marathi. Soon the natives began to import European literary forms such as the novel, Shakespearean and other forms of drama, the personal essay, the short story, the autobiography, the sonnet and other forms of the lyric through translations and imitations. Although the majority of European and American readers were initially interested only in the import of classical Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic literature, there also emerged a tradition of translating literary works from modern Indian languages into English.

It was Justine E. Abbot, an American missionary, who did the pioneering work of translating poetry of almost all Marathi saints into English. He published in all eleven books in the series entitled The Poet-Saints of Maharashtra. They are as follows: Bhanudas (1926), Eknath (1927), Bhikshugeet Athva Anutaptakadarya (1927), Dasopant Digambar (1927), Bahinabai (1929), Stotramala (1929), Tukaram (1930), Ramdas (1932), Stories of Indian Saints, Vol I (1933), Stories of Indian Saints, Vol. II (1934), and Nectar from Indian Saints (1935). Justine Abbot became almost an insider to Marathi culture and tried to absorb the best in the medieval 'saint poetry' tradition of Maharashtra. (Sawant, 2002: 31-32) Abbot's lifelong translation work of Marathi saint-poets thus marked a significant shift in the cultural and literary contact between the West and Maharashtra. The tradition of translating from Marathi into English continued when some of our own bilingual authors began to render Modern Marathi literature in English. This paper proposes to study the dynamics of this interlingual and intercultural possibility in order to probe the problematics of this transfer. It also seeks to examine whether the problematics of rendering Marathi into other nonindian languages is the same as that of the Marathi-English cross-over.

To begin with, a large number of Marathi works of fiction has been translated into English. Ian Raeside, Lecturer in Marathi at the University of London, has translated a collection of modern Marathi short stories written by Gangadhar Gadgil, Arvind Gokhale, P. B. Bhave, Vyankatech Madgulkar, D. B. Mokashi, D. M. Mirasdar, Malatibai Bedekar and others as The Rough and the Smooth. He has also translated Garambicha Bapu by S. N. Pendse as the Wild Bapu of Garambi. Shuba Slee's translation Seven Sixes are Forty-three of Kiran Nagarkar's novel Saat Sakkam Trechalis enjoyed the rare fortune of getting published in Australia by University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Queensland in 1980. Jim Marselos, History Department, University of Sydney, has written a very insightful foreword to this Australian edition on the place and significance of this novel in the history of the Marathi novel. Kumud Mehta has translated P. S. Rege's Avalokita. Vilas Sarang's short stories, published in American, Canadian and English as well as Indian journals, have been published under the title The Fair Tree of Void. Such English language periodicals as Bombay Literary Review, The New Quest, Indian Literature, The Little Magazine from New Delhi and a host of others have rendered Marathi fiction, especially short stories, into English. Recently, Sudhakar Marathe has translated Bhalchandra Nemade's epoch-making novel Kosla as Cacoon for MacMillan India Limited. Showing his awareness of the formidable challenges in translating this novel, Marathe asserts: "The following translation must be read for what it is. And it cannot be read without either some knowledge or some sense of the novel." (Marathe in Nemade, 1997: xv) Marathe has supplied chapter-wise footnotes at the end of the book to explain certain Maharashtrian dishes such as 'bhakri', 'bhajis', 'amti', 'shrikhand', 'shira', 'bhel', 'batatawada', 'basundi', 'laddu', 'shev-chivda', 'khichdi', etc.; relations such as 'Maushi', 'Aaee', 'Dada', 'bhai', etc.; musical instruments such as 'tabla', 'sanai'; religious practices and figures such as 'namaskars', 'shloka', 'samadhi', 'varkaris', 'kirtanas', 'aarti', 'bhagat', 'shraddha', 'shaligram', etc.; articles such as 'pat', 'lungi', 'rangoli', 'gulal', 'kumkum', etc.; festivals such as 'pola', 'yatra'; institutions such as 'math', 'balutedars', 'tamasha', etc. Such inclusion of the footnotes of course could bother the reader as he is forced to go to the end of the book each time to know something more about the Marathi word made part of the actual text.

For a long time, Marathi drama had not been sufficiently represented in English translation. Shanta Shahane and Kumud Mehta translated Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder into English in 1973. Published in 1989, Three Modern Indian Plays included only one of Vijay Tendulkar's Silence, The Court is in Session translated by Priya Adarkar. This situation of poor representation of Marathi drama in English translation underwent a change during the next decade. Oxford University Press has published Five Plays of Tendulkar translated by Priya Adarkar in 1992. Today, much of recent Marathi drama written by G. P. Deshpande, Satish Alekar, Shanta Ghokale, and Mahesh Elkunchwar has been substantially translated into English. What is irritating is the fact, aptly observed G. N. Devy sums up the problematics here: "the audience for English theatre in India is non-existent, though the readership for printed English is very large." (Devy, 1993: 127) Interestingly, some plays like Ghasiram Kotwal were taken to be performed abroad. The doors for the export of Marathi fiction and drama through the medium of motion pictures seem to have been opened by the news of the Oscar nomination for the national award-winning Marathi movie Shwas (Breath).

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