May  - 2012                                                                                          Odisha Review
                          Shakespeare in Odisha : A Study of Selected
                                                         Odia Translations
                                                                                                                         Lipika  Das
                   Shakespeare in Odisha forms a response to the                Shakespeare creates literature with  the
                   traditional literary dispositions  in the recent             aristocrats, with a feeling of hatred for the
                   practices of  cultural translation in  Odia literature.      common people yet, he is the most favorite
                   It also explores a range of opportunities and                dramatist even in the communist countries. As
                   possibilities regarding the nature of various                mentioned in the blurb of the book of translation
                   translational experiences. In the present context,           of Othello, the translator confidently announces
                   two major Odia translations of Shakespeare are               him as one of the most popular writers in the
                   chosen for analysis.The first one is Hamlet (1934),          world. He ensures that his readers of the
                   by Akshaya Kumar Bandopadhyaya and the                       translation will find enough justification of
                   second one is Othello (1959) by Dr Mayadhar                  Shakespeare’s characterization as they are
                   Mansingh. These two translations of  Shakespeare             portrayed with a natural blending of  ease and
                   are produced over twenty five years and focused              expertise.The readers are further informed that
                   on the aspects of the  Western impact on Odia                the ‘Bharatiya Sahitya Acadamy’ has decided to
                   literature. Both are the first full length translation       translate the four most famous plays (Othello,
                   works in Odisha and, as  translational cultural              Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear) into Indian
                   productions they constitute  a prominent  response           languages. Hence, Odia readers will be able to
                   to  the contemporary literary trends and practices           read Shakespeare in future in their mothertongue.
                   in Odia literature.                                          The translator predominantly focuses on
                            Othello in Odia is the first full length            Shakespeare’s characterisation and shows it in
                   translation by a famous poet and British educated            his translation. The emphasis falls, not on language,
                   Shakespeare scholar Dr. Mayadhar Mansingh.                   not on culture but on Shakespeare’s characters,
                   The work of translation was made in the year                 whom the translator finds  to be universal. He
                   1959, a high time of Cold War,  a conflict between           renders Shakespeare dominantly as a playwright.
                   the communist nations led by the Soviet Union                In placing his characters in a new setting, he
                   and the democratic nations led by the United                 justifies their undisturbed stature which remains
                   States. Literature as a mirror, holds these                  the same even in a work of translation.
                   reflections together  and acts as a tool to serve a                   The translation is done in  a lyrical prose
                   response to Communism. In the book blurb, the                style.The translator does not choose to explore
                   translator mentions clearly that, though                     the rich source of  Odia poetry, rather selects a
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                  Odisha Review                                                                                      May  - 2012
                  prose form, but at times the translator turns poetic      Othello- Attala-meaning, the unshakable, very
                  unconsciously and tends to Odianize it. However,          strong and composed.
                  the translation is a successful Odia creation of  a       Gratiano – Gruhatrana, meaning (gruha-home,
                  literary art with important translation decisions         trana-protecter), protector of home.
                  made by the translator to create contextual effects
                  in the work of  art. The  present text is a work of       Lodovico – Lubdhaka,meaning, possessd by
                  domestication where the translator  contextualizes        greed
                  the play through its characters. Each character in
                  the translated text is assigned a tone and  an equally    Michel Cassio - Mukta kasayapa, meaning
                  suitable language style that speak of  their role         (mukta-free, kasyapa-name of a saint), a free
                  played in the text. Each of the characters in the         saint
                  play are  potrayed as unique individuals. Thus,
                  the translator successfully justifies the  human          Iago – Ahiga, ahi-snake, meaning, being
                  nature, which is universal and goes beyond the            serpentine
                  physical boundaries of  society and nation.               Roderigo – Rudraraga-(rudra, meaning Lord
                           The attitude to Odianize is quite prominent      Siva, raga meaning anger), meaning an angry
                  from the very beginning of the play. He gives a list
                  of the names of characters in Othello in Odia, to         Lord. Montano – Madan, meaning the God of
                  introduce the dramatic personage. This tendency           Cupid
                  is quite natural with the translator. One interesting     Desdemona – Diptibarna, meaning illuminated
                  thing can be noted in this regard that the translator     in brightness.
                  is very clever to translate the names and
                  simultaneously retains a sound effect of the original     Brabantio  - Birabansi, a knight by inheritance
                  names with an elemental character trait of each
                  the characters in  the play. Hence there remains          Emilia – Ambalika, meaning, Goddess Durga
                  an echo of the English characters in the translation.
                  Almost all Indian names are lexical (with a                       In the present context, it is evident to note
                  dictionary meaning). They have a meaning rooted           that the translator makes a name translation, which
                  in the culture and customs of the country. On the         is considered as an interesting feature of the
                  contrary, the original names in Shakespeare’s play        concerned work of translation. But they only
                  are not lexical but the names in Odia have a              remain at the outset, i.e. in the list of the dramatic
                  meaning that describes a characteristic trait as per      personage and do not get a place in the text.
                  the translator’s perception of each character of          Inspite of that, they generate an influence in the
                  the dramatic personage.                                   mind of the  reader, as the reader in the very
                           Here  the list of Odia names (which              beginning is introduced to the characters through
                  appear only in the introduction of dramatic               familiar and conventional ideas in form of native
                  personage) and their meanings are  provided in            names. Hence, before a reader comes across
                  the following lines. The translator  calls the Odia       Iago’s malice,  she could guess his cunning nature
                  list of characters the‘Indian list’ to give a national    through the hint provided in the native name,
                  status to his work.                                       Ahiga.
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                 May  - 2012                                                                                 Odisha Review
                      The present work is a case of                      Here the translator finds an appropriate religious
                 conventionalization where the translator relocates      substitute ‘Saraswati’,  for ‘Muse’and translates
                 the themes and occasions in Odia cultural milieu.       the expression as “aaee ta saraswati daya
                 Lets take an interesting case of religious              kaleni’.The translator makes it clear that as
                 conventionalization in the text. In the first scene     ‘Muse’ is to English men, ‘Saraswati’ is to Odia
                 of Act 1, Iago’s response to Brabantio begins as        people. He conventionalizes the term ‘Muse’ for
                 'Zounds Sir, you are robb’d; for shame put on           Odia readers to give the exact  religious
                 your gown’ (Act1.sc1.88). The word ‘Zounds’             equivalent  in Odia.
                 in this context is ‘God’s wounds’, referring to                 Change and modification of any kind
                 Christ’s wounds. It is simply impossible to find        related to the form of expression, i.e. rhyme,
                 an equivalent, as this religious specific occasion      rhetoric, poetic utterances, sound effects etc  is
                 has no similar reference in Odia cultural               known as rhetorical scheme change in translation.
                 background.This is a word rooted in the                 Change in any poetic and rhetorical scheme is
                 history,culture and the religion of the English         always determined by the demand of the tone and
                 language.Here the translator meets a challenge and      stylistic requirements in the process of translation.
                 decides to substitute  ‘Zounds’ with ‘Bhagawan’,        In the context, the scheme change is necessitated
                 meaning God. Here the translator                        by the characters when they are domesticated in
                 conventionalizes the term in Odia religion. The         the play. The translator keeps the characters in
                 word  Zounds’ again occurs in the next dialogue         focus and the required modifications follow from
                 by Iago, but in the translation it is simply omitted    them. One such case (taken from Act.4, Sc.3) is
                 to avoid the untranslability of this religious          analysed below.
                 reference. Another example is the untranslability
                 of the word ‘gown’ (Act1, sc1, 86). Iago asks                   In the present context, Emilia forms her
                 Brabantio to put on the ‘gown’ for shame, as he         opinion regarding the unstable nature of man for
                 intimates him of Desdemona’s elopement with             a woman.{Act 4, Sc (iii)}
                 Othello.The word ‘gown’ is translated as
                 ‘lugapata’, which means clothes. There is no            ST (Source Text) -
                 equivalent for the word ‘gown’ as no such concept
                 exists for a  nightwear  in Odia culture. Hence, it     Then let them use us well : else let them know,
                 is noted that the translator constantly negotiates             The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
                 with cultural-specific terms to minimize the
                 strangeness of a foreign text for Odia readers.         TT (Target Text) -
                          Another interesting case we find in the        “ jesa ku tesa
                 word ‘Muse’ appearing in a conversation between         Ghaita pasile bara ghare jaiee
                 Iago and Desdemona  regarding Iago’s description        Nari na kariba kian se pesa?
                 of women. In Act 2.sc1, Iago says,                      Bhala ra bhala,
                                                                         Ghaita dhalilee aadara jatana nari mana
                 “ I am about it; but indeed my invention                kian haba chagala?”
                 Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frize;
                 It plucks out brains and all: but my Muse labours,              This is a case of idiomatic translation
                 And thus she is deliver’d.’’                            where a moderate expression changes its scheme
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                  Odisha Review                                                                                     May  - 2012
                  with a native, rustic  poetic utterance that contain     rich resources of its language. The source of
                  a well known proverb, ‘jesa ku tesa’ meaning,            identity was not the land,  territory,  religion,
                  tit for tat. The  translator, mentions the term          history or cultural heritage, but its language which
                  ‘ghaita’, (in a derogatory sense) meaning a              mirrored all these resources together. The
                  husband, to contextualize the idea in Odia               emphasis was focused on language which was
                  language.  The translator is very keen to form such      considered to be capable of great things.
                  an expression which is colloquial in nature to meet               The present task is a  work  of
                  the character portrayal of Emilia. Shakespeare           domestication where the translation is initiated in
                  worked with the characterization with artistry in        the Odia  cultural background. In the present
                  the original play,so as the  translator  does for an     context, cultural domestication as a transparent
                  Odia Hamlet. This scheme change adds to the              strategy  is adopted to minimize the  strangeness
                  dramatic effect for an oral form, simultaneously         of the original foreign text  for the convenience of
                  brings in expansion and makes it communicative           the target text readers. In this case, domestication
                  for  the Odia readers.                                   as a form of Odianization conforms to values
                          Placed alongside Othello, the Odia               currently dominating target language culture,
                  translation of Hamlet constitutes a more                 taking a confident and intrepid approach to the
                  enthusiastic attempt to render Shakespeare as a          foreign trends, appropriating it to prove the
                  poet. The translator, Akshaya Kumar                      independence and affluence of domestic literary
                  Bandopadhyay forms a strong literary response            trends.
                  to a most fundamental question,                                   The translator outlines his perspectives at
                  “What is it that endures when Shakespeare is             the very beginning of his work.William
                  deprived of his tongue?”                                 Shakespeare in English, needs no introduction,
                       (Foreign Shakespeare, Denneis Keneddy).             but when translated into Odia, the name of the
                                                                           playwright is  accompanied by four adjectives
                          In the context, the answer drawn is, what        describing  him as world famous (biswa bisruta),
                  endures is a  meaningful revival of Shakespeare          well reputed (suanamadhanya), English poet and
                  with  artistry and rich ornamentation in Odia            dramatist (ingraji kabi o natyakara)
                  poetry  by the translator. In Odia Hamlet, the           respectively. He perceives the play  a suspenseful
                  intercultural exploration of Shakespeare’s art           one and mentions it as ‘Rahasyamaya Nataka’.
                  confirm his ‘timelessness’. Shakespeare’s insight        The reverberations of the note of suspense
                  into human character, the philosophic depth, the         prevails throughout the play. In the same page,
                  aestheticism, the aura of meaning created through        the translator mentions his qualifications
                  the poetic language, and the fables underlying his       deliberately as M.A., B.ED to bring his western
                  play,  get an appropriate investment in Odia poetry      educational background into focus to generate a
                  through the work of  translation. The work of            sense of superiority for his Odia readers.
                  translation was made in the year 1934, a time                     Cultural  and literary approaches in
                  considered as the highpoint of Odia nationalism.         translation incorporate the treatment of the text
                  This was a time when the Odia identity was longed        and at the same time reflects in detail the
                  for and claimed a meaningful recognition from the        translator’s role in the process of translation. In
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