Translations from Bengali to Telugu
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de)
Fri, 27 Jun 1997 18:17:00 +0200 (MDT)
After reading the "foot note" on poet Sahadeva (posted by Ramakrishna garu)
where he was mentioned as the 1st person to translate Sarat in to Telugu
I went searching for other sources saying the same. I could not find any
however. But in this process I made a lot of notes last night on
"translations from Bengali works".
Now, I am not going to tell you about the (great) influence of Bengali
literature (novels, short stories, poems etc.) and Bengali writers on
Telugu. You know all that! I am only trying to list some of the earliest
translations from that language in to Telugu. My understanding is that
very few learnt Bengali and tried to translate. Whereas the majority tried
through the English versions, with varying success.
In early days the appreciation of Tagore's works was very intensive and poems
like _EkaantasEva_ of "venkaTa - paarvateeSa kavulu" (baalaantrapu & OlETi)
clearly show the influence of Tagore. raayaprOlu who had spent some time as
Tagore's disciple reveals this inspiration.
[Aside: abboori ramakRshNaaraavu returned from SaantinikEtan as a very
disppointed man, disliking the "vyaktipooja" and glorification of Tagore]
Probably the most faithful translation of Tagore's works are from Bezawada
Gopala Reddy, who published them under the series: raveendra saahityam.
Tagore's novel _home and abroad_ was translated by K. Vaikuntha Rao.
When its said that Tagore, Arabindo, Gandhi were inspired by Bankim's novels,
there is no wonder if Telugus liked to read them in their language. His
_aananda maTh_ was translated by O.Y. Dorasaamayya in 1907. The same person
went on to translate _kapaal kunDali_ a year later. Chillarige Srinivasarao
(whose name you have recently heard from me as translator of Shakespear's
Othello) translated _Saivalini_ (1910) and C. Bhaskararao wrote _praphulla_.
Also _durgESnandini_ was translated by chaaganTi SEshayya.
"venkaTa - paarvateeSa kavulu" commenced to translate Bankim's novels since
1912 and they were published in series (from 1912) by "aandhra praachariNi
granthamaala" at Kakinada.
Certianly other lit. associations were also involved in translations of
Bengali works. vEguchukka granthamaala (with which a couple of our Netizens
are associated and where great taapi Dharmarao worked) of Parlakimidi
published the detective story: _vaaDE veeDu_ (a Bengali transl.).
Now, coming to sarat's novels I am really keen in finding out who is the
"first" to translate him in to Telugu. I still believe that its Veluri
Sivasankara Sastry. First of all he is 17 years (b.1892, d. 1967) elder
to Sahadeva Suryaprakasarao (1908-1984). And he was an established scholar,
being well versed in French (I also wrote about his French translations)
and Bengali by 1929, when Sahadeva's work came out. Probably I should check
this matter at IOL during my planned visit in near future. India Office
Library (IOL), London received (in theory) one copy of every book published
in India.
Regards,
Sreenivas