Recognition for a literary endeavour
R. MADHAVAN NAIR
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The translation of Oriya poet Ramakanta Rath's classic work `Sri Radha' into Malayalam by N. Gopalakrishnan and P.M. Narayanan won the duo an award of the Kendra Sahithya Akademi.
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... I realised a poem greater than this has not been written in Malayalam. P. Valsala
Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
TEAM WORK: N. Gopalakrishnan, left, thought P.M. Narayanan, was the right partner in the literary doubles match, which resulted in the translation of `Sri Radha.'
Even experienced translators admit that the toughest test of their skills is translating poetry. For, it is said, poetry is that which is lost in translation. So it was with considerable reluctance that N. Gopalakrishnan agreed to translate Oriya poet Ramakanta Rath's classic book `Sri Radha' into Malayalam.
Gopalakrishnan roped in Malayalam poet P.M. Narayanan to do the job. And the fruit of their poetic association has been quite spectacular. It won applause from critics and now the award of the Kendra Sahithya Akademi for translation.
Gopalakrishnan has translated into Malayalam `Insider,' a novel by former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, and a biography `Dominic Chacko alias DC.' Narayanan's published works include poems `Tadakam' (The Lake ) and essays published under the title `Njan aaranu?' (Who am I?).
Dwelling upon their award-winning work, Gopalakrishnan said, "Reading the great Oriya poem, acknowledged as a modern classic, was joy unalloyed but translating it into Malayalam was a process fraught with moments of ecstasy and anguish. We spent hours searching for lines that would capture the greatness of the original. Our efforts often fell short of our expectations. So much so, we found ourselves revising the copy. It appeared to be an endless process." Finally, one evening they put down the pen and declared, "We hereby declare the translation of Ramakanta Rath's `Sri Radha' from Oriya to Malayalam completed."
Fruit of friendship
The Malayalam translation of the book is the result of a long-standing friendship between Gopalakrishnan and Ramakanta Rath. They belong to the same batch of central civil services, the former in Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) and the latter in Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
Although Ramakanta had made his reputation as a poet at an early age, Gopalakrishnan had not heard about `Sri Radha' until their common friend and Bengali poet Kalipada Konar told him about it. But Gopalakrishnan had no ideas of translating it into Malayalam until Ramakanta Rath himself asked him to do so. He thought Narayanan, who was then in Kozhikode, was the right partner in this literary doubles match. "I knew together we would be able to do it because I had immense faith in Narayanan's skills in versification," said Gopalakrishnan. Ramakantha Rath himself had translated `Sri Radha' into English. The book's Malayalam translators drew heavily from the English version though Gopalakrishnan knows a smattering of Oriya.
Said Narayanan: "Although we had an agonising time and were haunted by doubts about the quality of the translation, it was satisfying to find it has been well received." `Sri Radha' in Oriya won the prestigious Saraswati Samman, the Kabir Samman and the Sahithya Akademi Award.
Although Ramakanta Rath is a widely acclaimed poet in Oriya, for many readers `Sri Radha,' the sixth of his books, contains poetry at its best. The well-known legend of Radha's love for Krishna is used only as a framework, for the theme of these poems is discovery of the self through an intense experience of love. Said writer P. Valsala about the Malayalam rendering of Sri Radha: "Malayalam does have a number of beautiful poems about Radha. But after reading `Sri Radha' I realised a poem greater than this has not been written in Malayalam."
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