Official Review: Sundara Kãnda by BS Murthy

[the_gia0ur]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sundara Kãnda" by BS Murthy.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The sundara kanda is the fifth book in the Hindu epic the Ramayana. This book is unique in that it departs from the adventures of Rama, and instead focuses on Hanuman, the monkey god and ardent devotee of Rama. This translation, called Sundara Kanda - Hanuman’s Odyssey, is BS Murthy’s attempt to “transcreate” this central and ancient text from its original Sanskrit to modern English. Despite its high place in the canon of Hindu literature, there has not yet been a definitive translation of the Ramayana, or of this popular chapter of the epic. As such, any and all attempts at “transcreation,” as Murthy calls it in his introduction, are valuable in opening this amazing story to a wider global audience.

What is most striking to the reader in Murthy’s Sundara Kanda is the poet’s close attention to the rhythms of the original Sanskrit. This close fit to the original text is at once this translation’s vice and virtue. On the one hand, the reader begins to get a feel for the unique grammatical patterns of what (for most American readers) is a language to which that reader has never been exposed. It also sets up a high level of trust between the reader and poet, as the reader understands that the poet is adhering as closely to the original work as he possibly can. The close attention to rhythm also serves to keep the reader engaged for long periods of time, and makes pieces of this translation wonderful to read outloud.

On the other, the poet, in places, adheres so closely to the original text that sometimes English grammar is sacrificed altogether. The language becomes so thick in some places that it is nearly impossible to understand what is happening, serving to throw the reader out of the text entirely, rather than drawing the reader in to better appreciate and discover this pinnacle of world literature. An example of this kind of thick, questionably grammatical English is taken from a stanza Canto 1:

Spoke he thus to assure them:
Won’t I dart like Ram’s arrow
To Ravan’s land there lay yonder?

Another is taken from Canto 13:

Were I to go without her sight
It’s like taking death sentence.

Several pages of this kind of convoluted, agrammatical English make it difficult for the average reader to fully appreciate the beauty of the story. More importantly (and perhaps paradoxically) it also makes it difficult for the reader to appreciate the beauty of the language. The reader spends so much effort trying to piece together what is being said, that any appreciation for the craft or the story is lost. Even when the meaning is clear (as in the example from Canto 13), the blatant disregard for English grammatical structure makes it hard to take what is being said seriously, and thus damages the appreciation one could have for the work.

This is not to suggest, however, that Murthy’s translation is a garbled mess. I give this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. First, the very impulse to translate something that has proved difficult for translators for thousands of years is already an impressive and commendable impulse. Furthermore, though much of this translation can be thick and difficult to understand, there are many places where the writing is very beautiful, and the linguistic beauty of the original craft shines through to the reader. This is far from a one-star, but I think more care needs to be paid to the grammatical demands of English before it can be rated a three or a four.

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Sundara Kãnda
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[chytach18-]

I completely agree with you, the_gia0ur. I have just finished another book by BS Murthy, the book of plays. I share some of your difficulties. Having said that, I can see the uniqueness and ambitions BS Murthy has.