Malavikagnimitram (3 page)
Authors: Kalidasa
In the present translation I have tried to develop a diction that reflects the current spoken rhythms of colloquial English while keeping in the mind the text's ancient courtly setting. The key in this regard was dealing with the multilingual fabric of the text. Dialogue between servants, like the sprightly conversation between BakulÄvalikÄ and KaumudikÄ which sets the play in motion, are marked with short phrases, idiomatic breaks and simple contractions, while the speech of the noble king and nun are translated with long polysyllabic words in a more Latinized diction. The dynamic and often fast-paced repartee of the drama's dialogue is peppered with versified interludes that are set apart from the main text as moments of heightened insight and declamatory revelation. I have translated these poems in an elevated diction, but refrained from attempting to translate the complex Sanskrit metres that couch them. The distinctive rhythms of the original, however, never strayed from my mind and I tried to capture the movement of each poem with a conscious effort to monitor line number, length, density and cadence.
There is a view among translation theorists that the literal and the literary fall on a spectrum in which authenticity is counterbalanced by felicity. The role of the translator, then, is to decide where to fall on the scale or, to put it another way, to negotiate how much to favour one aspect in sacrifice of the other. My own view on translation, especially in regard to works of classical literature, is to not see these two considerations as elements in a zero-sum equation. I believe strongly in sticking closely to the text; one could say I like being as literal as possible whenever the transfer of idiom âworks'. At the same time, I never hesitate to rearrange syntax, contract phrases, expand ideas and play with words and sound combinations in the target language. The translation of Sanskrit literature into Western languages has a long history, much of which is steeped in the Western academic traditions of philology, linguistics and comparative studies. Most translations in this vein are valued for being scholarly and accurate, but many are literal to the point of being unreadable. In the 1960s and â70s, scholars like A.K. Ramanujan opened up new possibilities for the translation of South Asian literature. Works like the 1967
Interior Landscape
combined rigorous scholarly detail with felicitous English free verse. As a reviewer recently observed: âIt is difficult to overestimate the importance of
The Interior Landscape
. . . It showed that translation called for as much in the way of creativity as it did in the way of scholarship.'
23
Since that landmark publication, there has been an inspiring trend among scholars of Indian classical literature to produce what I am often compelled to qualify as âscholarly literary translations'. In a very simple sense, these are rigorous scholastic attempts to craft translations that are both accurate to the source language and readable as literature in the target language.
The bare text of a play is called kÄvya, and when it is arranged for performance it is deemed
nÄá¹ya.
The text as I thought of it was a piece of literature and I laboured at translating it as kÄvya, especially in regard to the verse interludes. Although spoken rhythms played within my mind while I translated each line of dialogue, my initial approach did not envision a play that would be staged. During the course of my translation, however, an opportunity arose where a partially staged reading of Act I could be organized. I was apprehensive about the prospect, but hearing the lines come to life through the voices of real actors made it clear that the present text could indeed work as a nÄá¹ya. As with all talented playwrights, it is KÄlidÄsa's subtext that really inspires the dramatic action. What we read on the page is but a soul without a body, yearning to be realized on stageâa text awaiting another form of translation. In KÄlidÄsa's time, these dramas were certainly staged for an elite aristocracy in formal royal playhouses with elaborate costumes and musical accompaniment. The contemporary audience's reaction to the reading was most encouraging, the hÄsya of the drama came through and people genuinely laughed at ancient jokes. I can only hope that others take to the text in a similar way and give it yet another life on stage.
Translating ancient literature into a modern language is a mode of retelling the past. In a broader sense, the very act of writing history is a process of translating, one that stretches and moulds the contours of time and the vicissitudes of the human drama. KÄlidÄsa is a powerful symbol in the modern imagination of ancient India: his writings and characters encapsulate what has been praised as the paragon of ancient Indian values, cultural norms and ethics. Whether we deem this ancient culture to be âHindu' or simply âIndian' is a heated point of contention that rages on even today. What I have tried to show in this introduction is that pluralism in its broadest capacity has been a hallmark of South Asian society for millennia. When we let voices of the past speak to us in our contemporary tongue, we imbue the past with the present and project our hopes for the future. As I write, the political scene in India is infused with various appropriations of historical events, characters and memories. At this time it is all the more critical to read the past in the context of its composition, study ancient works with scholarly authority, and translate literature as an act of non-judgemental listening rather than as a product of a predetermined vision of what was, or ought to have been, the past.
In closing, I quote from Sri Aurobindo who spent hours in the study of Sanskrit texts, especially the works of KÄlidÄsa, which he painstakingly translated into florid English. In regard to the study and translation of ancient literature, his remarks, made almost a century ago, seem equally relevant to our modern world, in which we may flourish only by embracing rather than condemning the diversity of our peoples, ideas and speech.
Now that nations are turning away from the study of the great classical languages to physical and practical science and resorting even to modern languages, if for literature at all then for contemporary literature, it is imperative that the ennobling influences spiritual, romantic and imaginative of the old tongues should be popularised in modern speech; otherwise the modern world, vain of its fancied superiority and limiting itself more and more to its own type of ideas with no opportunity of saving immersions in the past and recreative destructions of the present, will soon petrify and perish in the mould of a rigid realism and materialism.
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He stands with sole supremacy
as his suppliants reap rich rewards
and yet he clothes himself in garments made of hide.
His body is united with his beloved
yet he transcends even renouncers
whose minds dwell beyond the senses.
He sustains the entire universe with his eight forms
1
and yet displays no vanity.
May our Lord dispel the cycle of darkness
and give light to the perfect path.
2
//1//
END BENEDICTION.
DIRECTOR
(
looking towards the dressing room
): Come here, sir.
Enter assistant.
ASSISTANT
: Yes, sir.
DIRECTOR
: Our cultured audience tells me that
Malavikagnimitram,
a play by Kalidasa, should be performed at the spring festival. Let's begin production.
3
ASSISTANT
: Oh no! How can we disregard the works of widely celebrated poets like Bhasa, Saumilla and Kaviputra, and choose this composition by Kalidasa, a modern poet?
DIRECTOR
: You voice a valid concern,
4
my friend, but consider:
Not all old poetry is good,
nor new bad.
The wise search to discern one from the other,
while foolish minds are guided
by the opinions of others. //2//
ASSISTANT
: True, sir.
DIRECTOR
: Then be quick, sir.
For like these expert players
5
in the service of Queen Dharini,
I wish to fulfil the audience's request,
accepted earlier with a bow. //3//
Both exit.
END PROLOGUE
BAKULAVALIKA
: Queen Dharini commands me to ask the dance teacher Master Ganadasa how Malavika is progressing with the chalikam dance
6
that she's just started learning. I'll check the music hall.
(
She turns around
.)
Enter Kaumudika with jewellery in hand.
BAKULAVALIKA
(
seeing Kaumudika
): Kaumudika, my dear, why so serious? You pass so close without even a glance.
KAUMUDIKA
: Oh, Bakulavalika, my friend, I deserve that comment.
7
I was absorbed in this sparkling signet ring, engraved with a serpent seal, that I just picked up from the queen's jeweller.
BAKULAVALIKA
(
staring
): The golden glow from that ring catches the eye, it's like a flower blooming at your fingertips.
KAUMUDIKA
: Where are you going, my friend?
BAKULAVALIKA
: By order of the queen I'm going to see the dance teacher Master Ganadasa to learn how Malavika is doing in her lessons.
KAUMUDIKA
: She's kept so far away and busy, my friend. How did the king even see her?
BAKULAVALIKA
: Well, he saw her beside the queen, in a picture.
KAUMUDIKA
: How?
BAKULAVALIKA
: Listen, the queen once went to the art gallery and sat
8
staring at the fresh red paint on the master's canvas. And then the king arrived.
KAUMUDIKA
: Then what?
BAKULAVALIKA
: The king greeted the queen and sat down beside her on the couch. And looking at the painting, he noticed a lady seated among the queen's attendants, and asked . . .
KAUMUDIKA
: What did he ask?
BAKULAVALIKA
: âThis mysterious woman beside you, my queen, what's her name?'
KAUMUDIKA
: A fine body is certainly cause for desire! And then what?
BAKULAVALIKA
: When the king's question went unanswered, he grew suspicious and pressed the queen over and over again. And when she didn't reply, the young princess Vasulakshmi shouted, âBrother, she's Malavika!'
KAUMUDIKA
(
smiling
): Oh the innocence of a child! So tell me what happened next.
BAKULAVALIKA
: What else? Malavika was immediately sent away and kept out of the king's sight.
KAUMUDIKA
: You should attend to your work now, my friend, and I must take this ring to the queen.
(
Exits
.)
BAKULAVALIKA
(
turning and looking out
): The dance teacher is leaving the music hall, I'll go to him now. (
Walks around
.)
Enter Ganadasa.
GANADASA
: Granted, everyone thinks his family's knowledge
9
is great, but the reverence paid to our dance traditions isn't false, it's the truth.
Sages value it as a peaceful,
living
10
ritual to the gods.
Its two distinct parts
11
blend together
like Uma joined in Shiva's own body.
The ways of the world, rising from the Three Qualities,
are depicted on stage with various emotions.
And though different people are of varying tastes,
dance delights themâone and all. //4//
BAKULAVALIKA
(
approaching
): Greetings, master.
GANADASA
: Live long, my lady.
BAKULAVALIKA
: Sir, the queen hopes Malavika isn't causing you too much frustration as she learns her lessons.
GANADASA
: My lady, inform the queen that Malavika is most talented, and very smart. What's more:
Each movement I demonstrate
to express a particular emotion,
the young girl betters in execution
as if she were teaching me. //5//
BAKULAVALIKA
(
to herself
): Sounds like she's better than Iravati.
(
Aloud
) So your student is quite accomplished. As her guru you must be pleased.
GANADASA
: My lady, the dance is quite difficult, it makes one wonder how she was brought to the queen.
BAKULAVALIKA
: The queen has a half-brother
12
named Virasena. He's a commander stationed in a frontier fortress on the banks of the Narmada. He found this girl to have some artistic talent and sent her as a gift to his sister the queen.
GANADASA
(
to himself
):
Her distinguished appearance makes me think she's not of low birth.
13
(
Aloud
) My lady, she will surely make me famous.
When a teacher's art is imparted to a worthy student,
its quality changes,
like cloud-water turning to pearl
in an ocean oyster. //6//
BAKULAVALIKA
: Really? So where's your student?
GANADASA
: I just taught her the five abhinayas
14
and told her to rest. She's standing at the window now, looking out at the lake and enjoying the breeze.
BAKULAVALIKA
: Then let me go to her, sir, and inspire her further with her master's praise!
GANADASA
: Go, see your friend. I'll use this free moment to go home.
Both exit.
END INTERLUDE
15
Enter the king accompanied by his minister who bears a letter in hand. Attendants stand to one side.
AGNIMITRA
(
looking at his minister who's read the letter
): Vahataka, what does the king of Vidarbha say?
VAHATAKA
: He's sealed
16
his own destruction, my lord.
AGNIMITRA
: I want to hear the message.
VAHATAKA
: This is his latest response:
âYou claim that my cousin,
17
the noble Prince Madhavasena, who was promised in marriage to your family, was assaulted and captured by my frontier guardsmen while passing through the borders of my realm. And now, out of respect, you expect me to release him along with his wife and sister.
18
âSurely you agree that there must be respect between kings of equal stature. Madhavasena's sister was lost in the confusion surrounding the capture, and I will make every effort to find her. As for the prince, I will release him only if you heed my demands:
âIf your grace frees my wife's brother,
the captive Mauryan minister,
I will immediately release Madhavasena
from his imprisonment.' //7//
AGNIMITRA
(
enraged
): Does this fool expect me to engage in making deals? Vahataka, Vidarbha is our natural enemy and the king harbours hostility towards us. Since he positions himself so carelessly, give the order, as we had planned earlier, for the battalion led by Virasena to mount a full-scale attack.
VAHATAKA
: As you command, my lord.
AGNIMITRA
: Would you suggest otherwise?
VAHATAKA
: You speak in accordance with our foreign policy,
19
my lord.
A newly enthroned enemy,
not yet popular with his subjects,
is easily rooted out,
like a freshly planted sapling. //8//
AGNIMITRA
: Kautilya's
20
principles are most true. Use these words to enlist the general.
VAHATAKA
: So it shall be.
(
Exits
.)
Attendants surround the king in accord with their duties. Enter Gautama.
GAUTAMA
: His majesty said: âGautama, I saw Malavika in a picture by chance, devise a way for me to see her in person.' So I did just that, and now I'll tell him about it. (
He walks around
.)
AGNIMITRA
(
looking at his counsellor
): Here comes my vice minister of internal affairs.
GAUTAMA
: May you prosper, my lord.
AGNIMITRA
(
nodding his head
): Sit down.
The counsellor sits.
Is your clever eye
21
finding a way to see?
GAUTAMA
: Rather ask how the plan is laid.
AGNIMITRA
: What's the plan?
GAUTAMA
(
whispering in his ear
): It's like this . . .
AGNIMITRA
: Excellent, my friend, how clever you are! And though success seems difficult, we must be hopeful.
A king only completes a challenging task
with the help of a friend,
for even a man with perfect vision
needs light to see in the dark. //9//
FROM BACKSTAGE
: Enough with the excessive boasting! Only in the king's presence can we decide which one of us is better, or worse!
AGNIMITRA
(
listening
): My friend, a flower blooms in your well-planted plot!
22
GAUTAMA
: And before too long, you'll see it bear fruit!
Enter Maudgalya.
MAUDGALYA
: Your majesty, the minister sends word that your command is done. On another matter, Haradatta and Ganadasa are here.
Two masters of expression,
each seeking victory over the other,
are eager to see you in person,
like two embodied emotions. //10//
AGNIMITRA
: Let them enter.
MAUDGALYA
: As you command, your majesty.
(
Leaves and returns with the two
.) This way, this way, my lords.
HARADATTA
(
looking at the king
): What an intimidating regal persona!
He's not unfamiliar, nor unsightly,
but I tremble in his presence.
He is but himself and, like the ocean,
new to my eyes in every moment. //11//
GANADASA
: Truly, he is splendour in human form! And so:
Though granted entry by sentries at the door
and ushered in by a guardian of the throne,
my vision is blinded by his brilliance and, so it is,
I'm turned away without even a word. //12//
MAUDGALYA
: Here is his majesty. Come, my lords.
GANADASA
and
HARADATTA
(
approaching
): Long live the king!
AGNIMITRA
: Welcome, masters.
(
Looking at the attendants
) Chairs for the two lords.
Both sit in chairs brought by the attendants.
Why, when it is time for class, do both masters come here together?
GANADASA
: Please listen, your majesty. I learnt the art of dramatic expression from a real master, I've given performances, I'm patronized by the king and queen. . . .
AGNIMITRA
: I'm well aware of that. So what?
GANADASA
: Even then, I've been insulted by Haradatta. In the presence of nobles he said I didn't even compare to the dust at his feet!
HARADATTA
: Your majesty, he was in fact the instigator. Supposedly the difference between him and me is like the difference between the ocean and a puddle! You should test our knowledge and technique. As a connoisseur, your majesty is our only judge.
GAUTAMA
: An honest request.
GANADASA
: A wonderful suggestion! Your discerning majesty deserves to listen.
AGNIMITRA
: Wait. The queen will suspect favouritism. She must be present along with Sister Kaushiki
23
if the hearing is to be fair.
GAUTAMA
: Your grace is most right.
GANADASA
and
HARADATTA
: Whatever pleases your majesty!
AGNIMITRA
: Maudgalya, after explaining the situation, ask the queen to come here with Sister Kaushiki.
MAUDGALYA
: As you command, your majesty.
(
Exits, reenters with the queen accompanied by Kaushiki
.) This way, this way, my queen.
DHARINI
(
looking at Kaushiki
): Sister, how do you rate Haradatta and Ganadasa?
KAUSHIKI
: Don't worry, your favourite won't lose. Ganadasa is his rival's superior.
DHARINI
: But even then, the king's favour
24
gives Haradatta an advantage.
KAUSHIKI
: Your majesty, remember that as queen
25
you too have a share.
