*TRANSLATION OF KURUNTOKAI* *- THE AKAM VINTAGE CLASSIC*
*DR. JAYANTHASRI BALAKRISHNAN, M.A., M.PHIL., PH.D ( ENGLISH), M.ED.,
M.A., PH.D (TAMIL) * Reader in English, P.S.G. College of Arts and
Science, Coimbatore -14.
Man thinks in pictures and the conversion of these visual
thoughts into speech is the most intrinsic form of translation activity.
Translation thus becomes the mother of language, verbal and non-verbal,
because expression of thought involves the unconscious and spontaneous
process of translation. This cardinal component of all types of
communication is a progressive phenomenon that defies definitions and
theories both old and new, because being a creative imitation, translation
is more creative than creativity itself.
Though the intellectual and emotional requisites do not differ
greatly from one culture to another, the way individuals perceive and
interpret the cultural contexts can differ considerably from one language
to another. Hence literary translations not only involve the transference
of meaning from one language to another, but also warrant the recreation of
cultural situations, though no two cultures interpret the same situations
in the same way. Hence translation of texts with their context can be very
challenging.
Translation of poetry is more demanding than the creation of a
poem because poetry presents images in order to communicate special
feelings, and however concrete the language may be, each image signifies
something else. As these images have universal, cultural and personal
sources, the translator of poetry cannot make any concession to his reading
audience such as transferring the foreign culture to a native equivalent.
Hence he is put in a dilemma of deciding whether the expressive or the
aesthetic function of a poem is more important. Theories propounded by both
creative writer-translators and contemporary theorists of translation
highlight the fact that the translation of poetry is not mere transference
from one language into another but from poetry into poetry.
*Akam* poems have a rich and heavy cultural backdrop, and the
poets of *akam *genre are allowed to articulate powerfully and passionately
well within the rigid framework of *akam *conventions. *Tholkappiyam *by
codifying rules for the literary produce of the *cankam (sangam) *age has
also laid down canons controlling the social behaviour of individuals. As a
result there is no definite line of demarcation that separates social
culture from literary culture. A translator of *akam *genre hence has to be
acutely conscious of the fact that words from an *akam *verse carry with
them the atmosphere and rhythm of a cultural, historical and aesthetic
tradition. He should foresee that literary creations which express
emotional thoughts and gain rich refinement in Tamil cannot be reproduced with
the same intensity in English.
It becomes imperative for the translator of *akam* literature,
here *Kuruntokai* to repeatedly remind himself that translation of a
classical poem is a complex act of sensitive, scholarly reconstruction and
interpretation of an emotional text that blends cultural, aesthetic,
historical and semantic aspects. Every translator is fundamentally an
interpreter, though the latter has to occupy the back seat in the actual
process of translation. But, the translator’s inclination to interpret
*Kuruntokai* can help him in recognising that each word in the verse
reflects or represents a concept or an emotional landscape. His approach
should hence be a sensitive, sensible, and continuous assessment of words
as isolated occurrences worth semantic, historical, psychological and
cultural boundaries and as they co-exist with other words in the complete
context of the given text.
Words by themselves are harmless and innocent until they gain
meanings through their relationships with other words, through their role
within the sentence. Hence before venturing into any interpretation of a
*Kuruntokai* text, the translator will have to anticipate the cultural,
historical and etymological factors that activate a word within the context
of the text. In a poem both the words and the silence of the spaces between
the words have meaning and the translator must be prepared to translate the
text-behind-the text also.
*Kuruntokai* poets have used words in the most intelligent and
imaginative fashion that no word is redundant or irrelevant in its frame of
reference. The correctness of the words in their context can cause
discomfort to the translator as He realises that he will have to strike a
compromise sooner or later with a set of less appropriate words to convey
an idea or emotion with the same intensity and immensity. Fallacious and
pale renderings are the result of shallow and inadequate comprehension of
the ambience with which the words operate.
*Kuruntokai* makes the most effective use of powerful imagery to
enhance the emotions exhibited in various contexts. Enriched with a variety
of similes, *Kuruntokai* commissions the imagery to capture every delicate
shade of human experience. Implicit comparisons, metaphors and similes are
the intrinsic part of the syntax order of a *Kuruntokai* verse. They are
not employed as embellishments and hence the translator should be extremely
careful while translating these poetic techniques. As the *Kuruntokai*
poems are both sign bound, any lack of logical harmony between the elements
of the sentence May come out glaringly.
* Ullurai*, simile, metaphor and other carefully conceived and
highly perfected literary techniques are employed for the specific purpose
of communicating completely and convincingly the powerful private human
experience, which are unique and universal. The translators will have to be
clear and thorough with the literary conventions that operate in the
*akam *genre,
if they wish to improve their versions qualitatively.
While translating a* Kuruntokai* verse, the translator will find
himself continuously at work in a problem-solving atmosphere because he
will have to draw information from various disciplines in order to do
justice to the specific textual situation presented in the verse. In His
process of recreating the textual situation as a totality into the cultural
context of a new language, he will have to have his contemporary ears well
tuned to the voice of the poet of antiquity.
The *Kuruntokai* poets have logic and reason behind their
careful arrangement of ideas. Their poetic thoughts are conceived in poetic
forms which make matter and manner interdependent, sometimes even
inseparable. While transferring a human experience into an art experience,
emotions become the operation force of the “being” of the poem. Hence the
sequence of thought presented in the original becomes extremely significant
in the effective communications of the emotion. Insensitive shuffling of
essential ideas, indiscriminate use of formats that hinder the spirit of
the poem through their spatial arrangements, insufficient knowledge of *akam
*conventions and inadequate insight into the psychology of the *akam*
persona, distort tremendously the quintessence of the *Kuruntokai* verse.
Transporting a *Kuruntokai* verse through the process of
translation to a foreign reading audience with minimal detriment to the
purport of the poem, is no doubt a very challenging literary mission. If
the readers are unfamiliar with the complex cultural background of the
original, then the situation warrants not only scholarship but also
sensitivity. *Kuruntokai* poems articulate human emotions though no emotion
is directly describable. Hence the translator should equip himself
adequately to translate “*rasa –kavyd*”, where the central feature of
context is an emotion. The untranslatable aspect of the *akam* poems will
prompt the translator to make compromises in the form of additions and
omissions. But no translator loyal to the art experience of the original
will resort to additions and omissions without concrete reasons because he
is expected to be sensitive to the inviolability and solemnity of literary
masterpieces
Translators of classical literature helplessly count on the
modern commentaries which are readily available, and stay dangerously loyal
to the interpretations of the commentators. Most often they tend to follow
blindly the commentators without even attempting to verify the accuracy of
their statements. The translators will have to be adequately learned in *akam
*conventions as laid down by *Tolkappiyam*, and should be familiar with the
various commentaries on this grammar treatise. Rigorous verification of the
facts and suggestions presented by the commentators is very important to
ensure correct comprehension of the text.
*Turai *and *tinai ( GRAMMATICAL PATTERNS) *sometimes vary from one
commentator to another, and hence depending on just one or two commentators
for thorough understanding of the text will prove too costly a risk from
the translators’ point of view. Most of the factors that lead to faulty
translations are easily identifiable and so avoidable, if the translator
develops an earnest interest in enriching his comprehension of the classics
through exposition to as many interpretations as possible. Ignorance of
textual variations is too weak an excuse to save the translator from the
offence of projecting *akam *verses wrongly. Failing to keep in mind the
spirit of the poem and its emotional implication will promote
misunderstanding of certain words and phrases. Sustained scholarship,
acumen, perception, powerful vocabulary, rich imagination and sensitivity
to the spirit of the original would have saved many of the English
renderings of the *Kuruntokai *versions from the negative shifts that lead
to incorrect translations. Wrongly projected renderings, spoiled verses and
bad translations are the direct produce of the callous attitude of the
translators.
Translation of an *akam *classic is no easy task, and staying
ever alive to the ardour of the passion audible in the voice of the speaker
is of utmost importance.
Each *Kuruntokai* poem is filled with fervour felt by individuals who lived
two thousand years ago but their voices of love and lament, adulation and
agony, concern and caprice, passion and perfidy still find echoes in the
hearts of hundreds of readers. In spite of all the challenges an *akam *classic
like *Kuruntokai* is worth the pains of “translation” in the real sense and
spirit of the word, offering brilliant scope for avid translators of the
future because it is the most commendable and virtuous way of acknowledging
the rich literary plethora of a rare race.
KR: *யாயும்* *ஞாயும்* *யார்* *ஆகியரோ**?*
*எந்தையும்* *நுந்தையும்* *எம்* *முறைக்* *கேளிர்**?*
*யானும்* *நீயும்* *எவ்* *வழி* *அறிதும்**?*
*செம்* *புலப்* *பெயல்* *நீர்* *போல*
*அன்புடை* *நெஞ்சம்* *தாம்* *கலந்தனவே**.** ( one of kurunthogai verse)*
This is probably the most popular and most translated Sangam poem ever.
Beauty of the poem lies in its simplicity and its unmatchable simile. They
are from different clans / towns. Somehow, they have met each other and
fallen in love. He is leaving now after making love. She is afraid that he
might not come back again. He drives away her fear with this poem.
“Our mothers aren’t related. Neither is my father related to your father.
You and I didn’t know each other before meeting. Yet, we have met each
other and fallen in love. Our hearts have now mingled together like rain
water in red earth.” He says that despite not being related in anyway, we
were destined to meet and fall in love. So there won’t be any separation
between us.
The simile rain water on red earth makes this poem stand out. The rain
water mixes with red earth and attains its color and characteristic. It
cannot be separated back to rain water again. So have our hearts mingled
together. Rain water and red earth aren’t related to each other. But their
coming together makes the land fertile. Red earth is dry and waiting for
the monsoon. Once the rain water falls on earth they become one and bring
prosperity to the land.
யாய் – my mother ஞாய் – your mother எந்தை – my father நுந்தை – your
father கேளிர் – relative செம்புலம் – red earth பெயல் நீர் – rain fall.
What is my mother to yours? How is my father related to yours? Although
you and I knew not each other in any way just as red earth and pouring
rain: the love-filled hearts merged.
- Kurunthokai 40, Red earth and pouring rain, Kurinji Thinai – What the
hero said to the heroine, about their love.
மெல்ல மெல்ல நம் காதல் மாரி பெய்யலீல் நீர் உவமையிடவதி்ல் என் தந்தை மற்றும்
உங்கள் தந்தை, எப்படி அவர்கள் தொடர்புள்ளனர் என்றும் நானும் நீயும் எப்படி
ஒருவருக்கொருவர் அறிந்திருக்கிறோம் என்றும் புரிய செய்தது.
Below is similar or contrasted love?
மடவமன்ற, தடவு நிலைக் கொன்றை-
கல் பிறங்கு அத்தம் சென்றோர் கூறிய
பருவம் வாராஅளவை, நெரிதரக்
கொம்பு சேர் கொடி இணர் ஊழ்த்த,
வம்ப மாரியைக் கார் என மதித்தே. Kurunthokai (here also rain on flowers)
Flowers and showers form the core of this verse! The opening phrase ‘மடவமன்ற,
தடவு நிலைக் கொன்றை’ brings before our eyes, ‘a golden shower tree, with a
wide trunk’ and declares the tree to be ‘ignorant’! Before we get to
understand what that curious adjective means, we glimpse at the hero of the
verse in ‘கல் பிறங்கு அத்தம் சென்றோர்’ or ‘the one who parted away to the
rock-filled drylands’. Following the mention of the golden shower tree, its
characteristic streamers of ‘golden yellow flowers on its branches’ dazzle
our eyes in ‘கொம்பு சேர் கொடி இணர்’. Ending with the words ‘கார் என மதித்தே’
meaning ‘thinking it’s the rainy season’, the verse beckons us to the
listen to the story within.
A man has walked off to the drylands, we gather but what more does this
tale contain? The context reveals that the man and lady had been leading a
happy, married life when the man parted away to gather wealth. When he
leaves, the man promises to return before a particular season. After a
while, seeing signs of that season, the lady languishes in pain. At this
time, to the lady, the confidante says, “Foolish indeed, it is, that
wide-trunked ‘kondrai’ tree! Although the season of return, promised by the
one, who went away to the rock-strewn drylands, has not arrived yet, it has
made the thick clusters of flowers on its branches bloom, mistaking these
untimely rains to be those of the rainy season!” With these words, the
confidante tries to assure the lady that the promised season of return was
not yet there and that the man would be back soon!
How come the confidante knows more about the seasons than a tree? Let’s
follow her words to understand her intention in that message. Even as she
opens her statement, the confidante declares the ‘kondrai’ trees to be
naive! Without giving any reason for her pronouncement, the confidante goes
on to talk about the man traversing the difficult drylands path, filled
with rocks, and reminds the lady how he promised her that he would be back
before the rainy season. Then, she adds that even though that season had
not arrived, these golden shower trees decided to put out their clusters of
flowers, foolishly thinking that the new, unseasonal rains were indeed
those of the rainy season!
If the lady could somehow time travel to the 21st century, she would be
flooded with tears, for months together before the rainy season! This is
because this golden shower tree blooms in the months between April and May,
in the peak of summer now, when there is no sign of any rains. Returning to
the verse, consider that tree’s connection with time. The ancients seemed
to have seen the months on their calendar imprinted on these changing
trees! Although the confidante knows for sure that the flowering of the
‘Kondrai’ meant that the rainy season was there, she seems to have decided
to deliver this white lie about untimely rains, hoping it would allay the
anxiety in the lady’s heart. Whether the lady believed this statement to be
true and found hope, or saw the concern in her confidante and decided to
bear with the separation, is left to our imagination. In the end, within a
few lines, the natural world and the way of life of these ancients is
revealed for us to relish!
I enjoy poetry in a few languages and one is Tamil also. KR IRS
17423
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