Kuvempu in Urdu

Bansuri is a collection of 100 poems by Kuvempu which have been translated into Urdu by Shaad Bagalkote

Urdu is one of the most lyrical languages on Earth. When you speak Urdu, it is like reciting poetry. Listening to Urdu poetry transports one to an imaginary world and the ‘wah, wah’ that follows with every line seems like a reflex action. Sit in a mushaira and you will see the effect. But this can also be a limitation to Urdu poetry. Though contemporary Urdu poetry does talk about present day affairs, somehow it inevitably tends to make it ‘romantic’. Even harsh realities sound very ‘poetic’ and one ‘enjoys’ them rather than get angry and frustrated at what is being portrayed. The path of Urdu poetry is more subtle and indirect and hence, more effective at a very personal level. 

Now to read Kannada poet Kuvempu in Urdu is very interesting. Shaad Bagalkote has translated 100 poems of Kuvempu and the Karnataka Urdu Academy has published the collection. 

Shaad Bagalkote shares his thoughts: “I titled the collection Bansuri because Kuvempu’s first collection was called Kolalu. I have selected 100 poems randomly from his collections. It all started when I read Kuvempu’s poems and felt he was very much like the Urdu poet Joshmalli Abadi whom I like a lot. The use of language is very similar and I felt Kuvempu could read very well in Urdu and I tried my hand at it. Being an Urdu poet and having published two collections – Dohanjali and Dohayan, it wasn't that difficult. I translated 50 poems and some of my friends liked them very much. I come from Shiralkoppa which is a very small place and you don’t find much cultural activities happening there. During the Kuvempu Centenary in 2004, I approached the Kuvempu University and asked if they were interested in publishing it. After discussions, I was told that they are interested to publish it provided I share 50 per cent of the cost. It was not possible as I am a retired Hindi teacher and I could not spare that kind of money and I took back my manuscript.

From left: Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Hafiz Karnataki, Zameer Pasha, Maqbool Ahmed and Translator Shaad Bagalkote

“Incidentally in 2002, I had translated 100 vachanas by Akka Mahadevi and the Karnataka Urdu Academy published it. This prompted the Basava Samithi in Bangalore to assign me to translate another 150 vachanas as a part of their project to translate 2500 vachanas of all Sharanas into 9 languages. I got busy with that. When I met Amjad Hussain Hafiz Karnataki, President, KUA, and mentioned about the 50 poems of Kuvempu that I had translated, he immediately said, ‘Make it 100 and we will publish’. That is how the collection happened.” The book runs into 340 pages, contains 100 poems and is priced at Rs 300.

It is not easy to translate Kuvempu’s poems as the language is very poetic and sometimes needs interpretations to understand. How could Shaad translate it so effortlessly? Shaad says, “Kuvempu is called Rasarishi, a nature poet and indeed it is difficult to  translate him. In fact, I had to recreate his poems. There is a proverb in Persian ‘Shayaree zuz vey paigambari asth’. It means poetry is one part of Paigambar. Hence, a poet is one who has divine blessing. Kuvempu is one such poet. When he describes nature, you can actually feel it before you, you visualise what he is talking about. In Urdu, there are Tagazhul poems with the characteristics of a ghazal. Kuvempu is full of it. For instance, there is a ghazal by Ghalib that reads like this:

Tum mere pas hoteho goya

Jab koi dusra nahi hota 

(When you are near me
None will be near me)

It has a duel meaning - romantic as well as philosophical as 'goya' means ‘to talk’ as well as ‘means’.

Now look at one of Kuvempu’s poems: 

Neenanna baliyiralu jaga tumbi tulukuvudu

Neenu hodare dura shunyavaguvudu

Nee nanna jeevanada sarvasvavagiruve

O nanna priya mooruti edege baarai

I translated it as

Tum pas mere jab hote ho pur khaif ye duniya lagti hai

Tum door chale jaate ho jab tab khali khali lagta hai

Meri zeest ki raunak tum se hai

Mere pyar ki moorat dil me raho

Kuvempu is more successful as a prose writer than a poet. I prompt him by asking if Shaad Bagalkote wants to translate his novels. Shaad says, “No. I am a poetry person. I am currently translating Purandara Dasa’s keertane.”

We are all curious to see the result because Kannada writing is getting translated to far away European languages and it took such a long time to come into Urdu. KUA plans to translate works of Kannada’s great litterateurs such as Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and Valmiki into Urdu.

source: http://www.BangaloreMirror.com / Bangalore / Home> Entertainment> Lounge> Story / by Prathibha Nandakumar /  Saturday, January 14th, 2012