Translation of Don Quixote into Indian Languages'"

Shyama Prasad Ganguly Jawaharlal Nehru University

During the course of the last year 1 had the occasion to look into this almost uncharted area of the reception of Cervantes in India, especially his magnum opus El Quixote. Although this universal literary piece is a frequent reference for most of us involved in Hispanic studies, it is for the first time that 1 found

myself in the midst of the tremendously challenging task of finding concrete data both in the area of the translation of his works as well as critical reflections on the same by Indian academics and translators. It is obvious that all inter cultural studíes between Spain and Indía, in the fieId of comparative literature, are conditioned by the lack of any dírect historicaI encounter between the two cultures. Even the knowledge of the literary output of outstanding figures of the Golden Age like Cervantes, Calderon and Lope de Vega are limited to single creations and that too in a restricted sense. Thus, even for the most talked about work after the Bible, except for sorne biographical data or brief references to

certain adventures of the errant knight at the level of secondary school education, no reference of any significant nature is to be

'*This paper Ís a modified version of a text in Spanish specially researched and prepared for the Gran Enciclopedia Cervantina slated for publication in Spain in 2005.

found in most of the literary outputs in so many Indian languages. Certainly it ís a matter of a historical paradox that such a well known figure should only find place in advanced academic programs only in recent years. A paradox, because Don Quixote

has been a familiar name for decades for so many school students and Iaymen with interest in literature. An additional area of curiosity is how this knowledge is based almost exclusively on sorne or the other version of El Quijote in English.

The theme of the reception of Don Quixote therefore can be treated at two levels. First the popular level pertaining to the field of orality. And the other, intellectual, characterized by an academic treatment of the text in the written sphere. In a country like India, to have reasonable access to organized knowledge on both these streams presents acute complications. In the first place interest in the work has never been treated with due seriousness as a result of lack of knowledge regarding its field of operation, especially in the context of an inner space where literature written in Englísh has been predominant for historical reasons. In the second place, not even a reasonable amount of data, organized and centralized, in the form of an acceptable collection of documents or translated literary texts in one of the 22 literary languages in India is available for any gainful consultatíon. Therefore, any attempt to do a rigorous study on the reception of Don Quixote in India is a matter of considerable challenge. But it is also true, as 1 saíd earlier, that the title of the work and the nature of sorne of the adventures of the errant knight are well known to Ihe readers belonging to different age groups. That is to say, at sorne point in their lives, either in school or higher educatíon, besides embedded readers of foreign literature, the Iettered or educated reader of this country has known sorne ofthe episodes ofthe Don Quixote's adventures. This is a phenomenon that adds verve to the cmiosity of any researcher on the theme.

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We may conveniently presume that this has been taking place ever since the selective spread of the reading of foreign literatures in this country through English. That would be from the middle of the nineteenth century. But curiously enough, the first copy of Don Quíxote finds home in Calcutta as far back as the 1780s, thanks to William Jones, founder of the Asiatic Society and the so called father of modern linguistics, who is known to have enjoyed and entertained himself reading it in the Spanish version in company of rus wife in Calcutta. (Vide his biography, Life and Mind of Oriental iones, the Father of Modern Linguistics, by Galard Cannon). Unfortunately for us, Jones did not think it necessary to talk about Cervantes or his book to local pundits whom he was meeting so frequently to formulate rus path-breaking hypothesis on the Indo-European languages, for otherwise our contact with Don Quixote would have preceded by a few decades, almost a century. It final1y carne in the 1880s when we get the first translation into Bengalí. To be precise it was the year 1887 when, according the farnous historian of Bengali literature, Sukumar Sen, the first Bengalí version of the first volume was made available with the title Adbhut Digvijay translated by Bipin Bihari Chakraborty. Ever since then a number of versions were brought out in quite a few of the Indian languages. That is evident from the data we have been able to compile so far in this ongoing work in Don Quixote translations. At least we have been able to look at sorne of the translations available in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Oriya, Malayalam, Kannada and Gujarati. Talking of Bengalí alone, many other versions carne up later such as Dan Kriksat in 1912 (Translator unknown), another in 1931 with the titIe Don Kusti translated by Jamini Kant Som. 1 have a list of another six abridged translations that have come out till recently, all published by well known publishing houses from BengaL If we add to this the abridged translatÍons in other languages we certainly get the idea of the sub-continental dimensions of the work in India.

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It may be noted that although we have a few longer translated versions of the work, it is primarily the abridged versions which are responsible for Don Quixote's popularity in India. This is oraHy verifiable from various generations of readers. It has not been possible to refer to aH these versions together, but we have been able to consult a few to understand the process of its oral dissemination. One of the very first attempts at an abridged translation was made in 1906 in Assamese done by Pratibha Devi with the title of Ba keko Danariyar Adbhut Viratva. A second edition of the same carne out in 1926. We also know that another version in the Oriya language carne out in 1922. No copy of this translation is available but the one done in 1978 by Govind Tripathi is available at the Sahitya Academy at New Delhi. We have also been able to see a Marathi version brought out in 1925 with the title Phankade Tarvar Bahaddar translated by Krishnaji Narayan Athlyi published in Pune by the Vishvanath Ganesh Ani Mandali. This has 143 pages. In most of the other languages cited, the abridged translations were carried out between 1952 and 1964. For example, we know that in the Malayalam language the second abridged edition of 150 pages, translated by M. Narayanan carne out in 1954 published in Kananore by Ahmed Kunni Brothers. In 1952 two more abridged versions of 190 and 196 pages were published in Telugu and Kannada respectively. In 1964 the UNESCO sponsored a Gujarati volume from the Hindi version published by the Sahitya Academy ayear before done by Chavinath Pandey. Curiously none of these translations were done from the original language. AIso important is to note that, besides the school level reading in one or the other vemacular languages mentioned; almost the entire readership of the work was based on one or the other English versions available in India, the last one being that of P. A. Monteux published by Wordsworth Classics in 1993.

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Translation Intolndian

Two important facts do stand out. Most translations in vernacular languages are abridged versions, so readers reading in these languages do not have access to the totality of the two volumes and no translator has attempted to take up that job in spite of the availability of the same in English. Secondly, there is a special interest in presenting the principal personage of the work on the basis of a selection of specific episodes. We have not dealt here with the question of why those episodes and not others. That inquiry may reveal sorne important aspects of readers' tastes or likings. It is also possible that the selection could be guided primarily by causalities prevailing in the seventeenth and even eighteenth century Spain and Europe: the entertainment objective with the conception and presentation of grotesque situations provoked by a real life performer of the adventures of fictional knight errants. That it could be a satire on the latter has been ignored as element in kindling readers' imagination. The more important cause of his appeal would líe in his representation as a quasi divine dispenser of justice, challenger of evils, strongly rooted in ethical considerations that harmonize so well with the role of our own idealized mythical performers. If that is so, the reading of Don Quixote in India could be considered as verification of our own biography, akin to texts idealizing our traditional values and fantasies. In any case, the distance and lack of historical contacts have certainly allowed more interpretative liberty, even in the choice of the book-titles for most of the abridged versions.

Let us look at sorne of the tides used. In Urdu, the Don Quixote personality is epitomized in him being a Khudai Fauz-dar,

that is, God's soldier. In Gujarati the one-word title Kihote interestingly takes a Hispano-American intonation. In one of the

abridged versions in Bengalí an alternative title Don Kusti is also included, implying the idea of a wrestler. The idea of wresding

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may be appealing to children though the nature of Quixote's wrestling is somewhat different! Another version carries a subtitle, Quickjava, which could be a distorted synonym of "Quijada" or "Quesada", nomenclatures that figure in Don Quixote. The translator obviously wants to differentiate his version from the others. In the preface of both the versions, of course, reference is

made to the original title. In the 1906 Assamese title Ba Keko

Danariar Adbhut Biratva, the second constituent meaning 'extraordinary valor' is complemented by the idea of a 'gentleman'

implíed in the word 'danariar' which is close to the Spanish eXpression 'don' or 'donaire'. The Marathi title Phamkade Tarvaar

Bahaddar again has two constituents. The latter 'valient man of the sword' is again complemented by the idea of the man being good intentioned, dreamer, adventurer, lost in himself, aH implied in the Marathi expression 'phamkade'.

The case of the work' s reception in Urdu merits closer attention. One of its most weH known writers, Ratan Nath Dar 'Sarsar' in the last century (1845-1902), wrote a long novel Fasana-e-Azad (the adventures of Azad) in 1880 which was first serialized in Avadh Akhbar and was well received in the literary circles of those years. The structure and narrative framework of this novel closely resembles the work of Cervantes. It tells the story of the adventures of its protagonist Azad, always

accompanied by his Sancho-like attendant Khoji, traversing

through a series of disconnected episodes through the lanes of the city of Lucknow. Though many critics hold that such a structure

derives from the Persian narrative tradition called Dastaan, there exists a striking similarity, especially in the structure of the first part of the novel, to connect it to the influence of Cervantes. The

author was well aware of Don Quixote whose Urdu translation consisting of both the volumes he published in 1894 with the title

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Khudai fauz-dar. There is no doubt that this was a labour of many past years of work. We are also aware from the history of Indian literature of those times that in Urdu an effort was on to effect a cultural renaissance by emulating the models of the great universal works of literature and 'Sarsar' was a faithful adherent of the same. We also know that Premchand did an abridged translation of the

work based on Sarsar' s Urdu translation.

Turning now to some aspects of the translation-related exercise, let us examine very briefly a few of the versions available in Bengalí and Hindi, languages which lean manage to understand. It is a pity that the 1887 Bengali version of Bipin Bihari Chakraborty with the titIe Adbhut Digvijay ("extraordinary conquest") is not traceable, not even in the National Library at Calcutta. After almost a Borgesian search for the text I seem to be closer to have a glimpse of it and may soon add more details about it. But no less fascinating is the considerable enthusiasm shown in the publication of the abridged versions for children and adolescents by a number of Ca1cutta publisher. This in itself is an interesting phenomenon. These versions are rather adaptations which seldom follow the practice of literal translation. The language Ís simple, direct and modern which, of course, does not transmit any idea about the linguistic nuances of the Spanish language of the epoch nor the specificity of Cervantes as a magical scrivener of thought. That is also not the objective. In the short introductions, some essential biographical data about the author are mentioned. AIso mentioned is the fact that the work is full of ironic and comic episodes resulting from the twisted manner of imagining things of reality. In the translation done by Jamini Kant Som (Don Kusti, 1939, consisting of 132 pages that include 9 shortened episodes, it is mentioned how Cervantes wrote them to mock the fiction on knight errantry in Spain without any reference to the

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latter' s impact. These episodes refer to the background of the character, the preparations for the journey, how the knight dons his armor, the first misfortune, the second preparation, the fight with the windmills, the horse Rocinante, Sancho's punishment, the adventure with the sheep herd, Quixote's imprisonment, the third preparation, adventure with the lion, Sancho as island's governor and its sad end, other things occurring with Sancho, the adventure with the knight of the white moon and finally the death of Quixote. Thus, as against the more extensive translations which exelusively concentrate on the first part, these shorter versions inelude episodes from the second part also.

In the most abridged version of 51 pages done by Nanigopal Chakraborty (published in 1954) there is an interesting historical comparison between Spain of the 15th century and the evolution of Cervantes in the following period precisely when Akbar, the Great Mughal ascends to glory in India. Moreover, the preface also del ves into the extraordinary capacity of Cervantes to understand human nature. In this version which also has 9 chapters we find the inelusion of the scrutiny of the priest and the barber in the Hidalgo' s bookshop and of the beautiful Dorotea. This version ends with the return of Don Quixote and Sancho to their village and does not refer to the final outcome. In another abridged version by Bimal Dutta ("Quickjava", 1972) consistíng of 81 pages, it is interesting to find how the translator actually manages to produce commendable adaptations, almost in the manner of fairy tales that could be narrated orally, paraphrasing parts of the original work with actual dialogues interspersed between characters, mainly Quixote and Sancho. This is also true of other abridged versions. But in this one by Bimal Dutta one can see a elear intentionality to offer to young readers an overriding moral. The translator ends the text saying: " ... (Quixote) was a good man full of valor. He

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maintained these two qualities till the last moment of his life." It is curious that these qualities, which were so characteristic of the very biography of Cervantes, were evidently perceived by the translator and highlighted as conclusion for young readers. The language also does not reflect the linguistic specificity of Cervantes but it is quite smooth, simple and apt for the targeted readers. These versions also inelude a number of illustrations which appear quite authentic to supplement didactic objectives. Evidently, in most of the abridged versions in other languages too one of the principal motives in their textual reproductions has been to underline its positive impact on the intellectual fonnation of the young minds in their fonnative years when laughter and adventures set free by imagination occupy an important space. This is verifiable from the ímpressions carried along by generations of readers in these languages. This perhaps explains why the character is widely known even though it may not occupy its deserving place in the intellectual considerations of university students or adults in general.

In spite of English being the source of translation of such universal works where all chapters are available, the lengthiest translation in our vernacular languages that we have been able to look into is that in Hindi where all the 52 chapters of the first volume are available. This was undertaken by Chavinath Pandey and published by the Sahitya Academy in 1964, with re-editions in 1971 and 1983 and a number of reprints. Tms version carnes the introduction by Walter Starkey, briefly explaining the essential biographical data on Cervantes and the importance of the work, its appeal for readers of different age groups, and its incomparable status as an epic narrative of human love rooted in the reality of human existence. Curiously, tms Hindi vendon is the source of the Gujarati version.

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It Ís in the aspect of translation itself in this Hindi version that we find sorne relevant observations to make. Besides the

transrnÍssion of the theme and the literary and cultural expression of the distant culture, this version also provides us with the register of contemporary línguistic problematics of the Hindi language. Throughout its 446 pages the text attempts to transfer the content

of the original, supposedly in a literal manner from an English version, sentence by sentence, adjusting to the syntactic elements of the target language. But the transIator, a known academic and writer in the literary ambiance of Hindi during the sixties, has

chosen to use a type of pure Hindi which is more faithful to its classical Sanskrit roots. This type of Hindi was the medium of

literary expression from the beginning of the nineteenth century tiU years preceding independence. It is possible that the insistence on such pure form of sanskritised Hindi was motivated by polítical or

ideological considerations but the truth is that it remains quite a distance away from the writing practices of the modern Hindustani form already available and largely cultivated in the sixties for all original works or translations. As we know, in this evolved form the linguistic variations of the majority of the Hindi speakers are adequately assimilated. It is more probable that the translator, by adopting the given approach, intentionally tried to suggest the

historical difference between the situations of the language in two different epochs, implicit in the original work. But it is also true

that such an approach interferes with the communicative objective. This to sorne extent has restricted the favorable reception of the

translatíon amongst knowledgeable readers. The distance between

the source language and the target language, further aggravated by the intermediation of English language, has allowed the translator another series of liberties like the omission and modification of

sorne facts and descriptions and the introduction of new eIements

for transmitting the meanings interpreted as also a freedom from

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Translation of Don Quixote lnto lndian Languages

the responsibility of clarifying the extra-literary references, historical or mythological facts as well as the correct transliteration of names of people and places. This latter aspect is evident from the absence of any foot note and cornment.

Such examples abound in each chapter. We may mention a few here. In the very first sentence the 'acordarme' becomes 'expresarme', the Hidalgo becomes the Knight with 'ancient customs and the negative element of the original no ha mucho tiempo is displaced to the last part of the sentence causing a change in the meaning. In the thirty first chapter (as per the edition of Martín de Riquer), which in the translation appears as the fourth subtitle of chapter four, Sancho offers his good counsel to Don Quixote on marriage. The translator replaces the source language proverb 'más vale pajaro en mano que buitre volando' meaning Ha bird in hand is better two in the bush' with an apt target language equivalent. (Nau nakad na terah udhar). But the enchantment of the proverb that follows it -' ... Quien bien tiene y mal escoge, por

bien que se enoja no se venga' - is 10s1. Literally it means 'one who has recourse to good and chooses the bad could never redress an offense'. Like on other occasions here again Cervantes has made Sancho invert the tenns of a popular proverb "por mal que le venga, no se enoje" which actually means 'whatever bad may befall on you, don't get angry'. There is an intended polyvalence. Is Sancho showing off as erudite? Or does he symbolize the popular conscience capable of inverting accepted forms of expression? Or, simply is he responding to Quixote with a quixotesque linguistic adventure? These questions provoked by the original are not available in the translation. It may not be entirely the translator's fault because his is a translation from another translation. But what he has done that deviates the reader towards another direction. Instead of communicating the Cervantesque pun,

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he introduces his own creative and native genius by abandoning Hindi and using a classical Sanskrit shloka which fails to convey any of the semantic or popular concems outlined aboye, nor the subtle humour underlying Sancho's inversion. The two verses in the Sanskrit language signify "one who does not follow truth will

perish on his own, but one who possesses the virtue of the truth and abandons it will lose the virtues". This allusion remains incomprehensible in the context to most of the readers in Hindi. They can not relate it to the original. We wonder if the translator used this as a way of finding a parallel for so many Latin words and expressions used by Cervantes elsewhere.

The two epitaphs of the academics of Argamasilla chosen

by the translator from the last pages of the first part in the original

are those by Cachidiablo and Tiquitoc. Without making any

reference to these names, the translator integrates their epitaphs as the only possible and inevitable conclusions for a love epic and therefore considers them as the only parameters in which the

ídolized protagonist must be deservedly remembered. That is why he also uses his own creative urge agáin to even modify the epitaphs. In the burials of Don Quixote and Dulcinea, the

translated version of these epitaphs expresses praise in a much

more exaggerated fashion as compared to the original. In fact the

words, meters and rhymes used could be considered as an attempt

to undertake original literary creations to highlight the translator' s

capacity as a creative poet.

These modes of receiving the original texts not only express the points of textual divergences but also are reflections of one aspect of the Indian cultural mentality through the mirror of the original w~rk from another culture. This concept has been fascinatingly developed by the Spanish academic Angel Gonzalez

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Translation ofDon Quíxote lnto lndian Languages

in one of his texts on the subject entitled Viaje por los alrededores

de Don Quixote. Qne of the motives of the translations of the work

into Urdu has been to project the greatness of its literary level,

comparable to eternal universal works of art, to recuperate the past

Islamic glory within the framework of a cultural project proposed

by the writers of Urdu at the end of the nineteenth century. In such

situations the criteria of faithfulness to the original text is relegated

to the secondary level. It would also be interesting to examine,

maybe on sorne other occasion, the specific translational

consciousness which has evolved in our multicultural and

multilingual contexts in which the said cultural mentality tempts

translators to introduce creative spaces without being bogged down

by the rigorous Eurocentric system of assigning fixed names to

things and define the very notion of originality. But such an

approach dilutes the much needed rigour in all serious works of

literary translations. It is not a very comforting thought that in our

country very few translators de vote the necessary time, which may

at times be years of work particularly when it comes to immortal works in other languages, nor do hone thus their skill of the languages even, much less developing such practices as providing

a reasonable history of all earlier translations of the work being

produced by him or her.

Qne thing is certain. The type and mode of. reception of

Don Quixote is a clear proof of its universality. Its popularity

amongst a large section of its readers may have been on account of

its entertaining and didactic value but the consideration of so many

of its other facets rooted in the studies of the English Romantics

could not have escaped the attention of generations of our

informed readers. This is again orally verifiable and documentary

evidence may emerge only after long years of sustained research in

the area. The well known historian D.D. Kosambi compares this

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work with the Gita in so far as its impact on shaping the characters

of respective peoples. Tagore in his essay "The value of literature"

written in 1941 considers El Quíxote as the eternal carrier of the

great art of human life. In sorne recent attempts undertaken here

we see the aspects of plurality, tolerance and secularism implicit in

Cervantes's work being highlighted. With the creation of new

programs and syllabi modifications in a number of universities,

Cervantes is being considered an obligatory material for reading

and analysis. As an Indian hispanist I should also highlight how in

our courses related to Hispanic studies in India we are contributing

our grain in this direction. And finalIy, the Four Hundred

anniversary of Don Quixote being celebrated this year so widely all

over the world will certainly revive more interest in him in the

Indian contexto It will certainly turn the literary and cultural

encounter between India and Spain into a vibrant reality.

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Visual Representations of Don Quixote