Articles
Population and Voter Jihad
Dt:28/5/24
Sri Gorati Venkanna’s, Vallanki Taalam –
English Translation as : The Woodpecker’s Tap
Review By
Dr. Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary*
One of the great gifts that God bestowed on mankind is language - as many languages as there are human communities across the world. It is through language that persons communicate their thoughts, needs and emotions while the spoken word has an ephemeral effect, the written words have an influence across time and space. Ideas, emotions and inquiries and experiences put in the form of song and poetry move people into speculation, inquiry, exploration and action. While songs and poems rendered in ordinarily spoken words with alliteration and metaphor have a time and space- limited appeal, those set in prosody (Chandas) are time and space -unlimited.
2. All languages are uniquely great and precious to those whose mother- tongues they are. As a Urdu poet observed:
Naa Hindi, naa Marathi, naa Bengali
Apni bolee meethee bolee
3. One’s own mother tongue is sweetest to him/her. The imagery and emotions that words in mother tongue convey cannot be woven into words in another’s language. For example the profound thoughts and emotions and images that are in the English poem, “The Solitary Reaper” of William Wordsworth (1770-1850) cannot be carried into any other language by translation.
Things could be different if the song and poetry of an author are translated by himself/ herself into another language. Such is the case for example of Ravindranath Tagore's Gitanjali in his mother tongue, Bengali translated, rather rendered into English by himself . The translated version merited the Nobel Prize for him. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824- 1873) and Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) wrote not in their mother tongue Bengali but in the adopted tongue, English. So did Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) write the long poem Savitri in English. These persons thought themes of their poetry in English, spoke English and wrote in English. Hence they sound profound, sweet and memorable and recitable.
4. But songs and poems and lyrics written in one's mother tongue and also intended to influence and inspire the speakers of that language, translated into an alien tongue cannot have the same characteristics as of the original tongue. For example the late Sri Vemulapalli Srikrishna, a communist wrote to inspire the Telugu speaking people divided between the old Madras Presidency and the Nizam Nawab’s Hyderabad territory to unite and fight for a Visalandhra (extended Andhra State).
Cheyyetti jaigottu telugoda
Gathamentho ghanakeerti galavoda
Mukkoti balagamokkatai untenu
Irugu porugu lona paruntaadi….
This was so melodious, easily understood, vastly appealing, renderable with passion and inspiring to fight for a united Andhra that millions memorized and sang with pride . Translate it into English and recite - it will remain just a thought.
5. In the light of these thoughts I read the English rendering of Sri Gorati Venkanna's Thirty Two Telugu geyams (lyrical songs) under the title of the “lead lyric”, “Vallanki Taalam” ( the Woodpecker Tap) . I was not as much overwhelmed as I was while reading the Telugu verses. The English is flawless but English words for Telugu words are no equal in imagery emotion and sound effect. Language has sound and the sound conveys emotions, and implants impressions. Telugu classical poetry is according to prosody and the famous are Champakamala, Utpalamala, Saardoola, Matthebha, Seesa, Aaata Veladi, and Theta Gitam. Poems set to those chandas are memorized easily and sung with great delight and effect. The lines in those poems are ornaments to the paper on which they are printed. Not so are the geyas of many populist writers with agendas social, political and religious. The printed pages of Venkanna’s “Vallanki Taalam” look as geometrical figures.
6. The great Telugu poet, Kavi Sarvabhowma late Viswanatha Satyanarayana ( 1895-1976 ) wrote that the itivritta (substance -matter) in any work is 10% and how it is told is 90 percent. Such works are everlasting and they are in original and not translation.
7. The 23rd geyam, “The Ruby on the Head” ( Siga Mogga) is about the wonders of the Telugu lands and its great men. It reminds the well-read reader of the Panygeric ( Prasasti), Rashtra Ganam (national song) by the late Sri Rayaprolu Subba Rao ( 1892-1984 ), but not comparable to its inspiring content and sound in Telugu.
8. Sri Gorati Venkanna ( b. 04 April 1965) is a very versatile Telugu Vaggeyakar ! Spoken Telugu lyrical song writer and singer of what he writes. The viewers and listeners are thrilled and moved when he recites with dance. Hailing from rural Telangana, he is a child of nature and is emotionally connected with the flora and fauna, hills and dales, trees and creepers , birds that live on the trees and their songs familiar and sympathetic with the labouring people. He writes and sings. He is loved and respected as a people’s bard. The, “ left”, liberal, secular “progressive” writers and activists greatly claim him as a kindred soul . But Sri Venkanna is above all a sensitive humanist. He is honoured as a member of the Legislative Council of Telangana.
9. The English rendering of Gorati Venkanna is true to the Telugu version but alas ! Does not carry the grandeur of it in Telugu - a common characteristic of all word to word (makhi ki makhi) translations. In Telugu the words used in the lyrics make the sounds dance - not those equivalents in the translation.
10. To conclude, the translation is flawless but is not as expressive of the poet, Gorati Venkanna’s thoughts, emotions and message. The translator may be congratulated for the effort btu surely does not merit a national honour , literary or otherwise. (1473 words)
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