By Shambhavi Kapoor
BABA BULLEH SHAH POETRY
“Charhdey Sooraj dhalde vekhey”
Charde suraj dhaldy wekhy
Bujhe deway balday wekhay
Heeray da koi mul na paway
Khote sikay chalday wekhy
Jinan da na jag te koi
O wi putar pal de wekhy
Oh de rehmat nal
Banday pani utay chalday wekhy
Loki kehndy dal ni galdi
Main te pathar galday wekhay
Jinhan qadar na keeti yar di
Hath khali oh malday wekhy
We will begin with a brief description of the prestigious poet ‘Baba Bulleh Shah’ who has written this beautiful poem, before getting into the translation.
Baba Bulleh Shah is speculated to have been born around 1680, in a village in Punjab, Pakistan. Present at the time of Muslim-Sikh communal riots, this spiritual scholar turned to poetry to pen down the problems of societies and deliver a message of spiritual enlightenment as a solution for peace to of his time; hence known as a humanist and philosopher.
He used in his verses was KAFI, a classical form of Sufi Poetry. It is defined as,
“Kafi poetry is usually themed around heroic and great romantic tales from the folklore, often used as a metaphor for mystical truths, and spiritual longing.”
I chose this poem, originally an “Urdu-Punjabi” composition for my translation is because of its simple message.
Let’s translate each line of the poem literally,
“I have seen the rising sun setting,
I have seen the extinguishing lamps burning
Nobody found the cost of diamonds worthy,
Have seen hollow coins working
Those who had no one in this world,
Those sons, I have seen growing up
From His grace,
I saw people crossing oceans
People say pulses don’t soften,
I have seen stones melt
Those who didn’t value their friends,
I have seen them rubbing their empty hands.
PRO’S AND CONS OF LITERAL TRANSLATION
- Due to the simple meaning of the poem, it was not a difficult task except having to change the words of a few lines as the literal translation would have led to a weird meaning-
“ by his grace,
I saw people walking on water"
- The rhyme scheme a-a, b-a, c-a, couldn’t be retained while attempting translation. We lose the rhythmic essence somehow, but the value and message of the poem remain almost intact.
- The translator must have a rich vocabulary of both languages in order to understand, interpret and translate. He should focus on what the author/poet is trying to convey.
- It also made me realize the beauty of languages as a form of expression and how it has been uniting civilizations since ages.
CONCLUSION
We can only retain literary meaning by translating it into. to the closest possible reference in English, making it almost equivalent to its original form, but not 100% the same.
It opened up a truly interesting aspect of understanding translation and exploring its problem and beauty. The intricacies, of translating a simple poem with a powerful message, in exactly the same way, in English was a pleasant experience for me.
