The Chieftain's Daughter
Page 17
Taking a cue from Bankim’s choice of what was to him a contemporary if literary idiom, this translation too does not attempt to recreate a historical English equivalent of the ‘classical’ Bengali of the original text. It uses, instead, a more universal form of the English language, without attempting to use Victorian English, which would place the novel in a society and geography far removed from both its setting and from India in 1865. Unlike in Rajmohan’s Wife, for instance, the word thou has not been used in this translation.
The real relationship with the original, therefore, is allegiance to Bankim’s voice, rhythm, and storytelling. Thus, the translation maintains the long, flowing sentences, the almost breathless tone of narration, the piling up of descriptive phrases, the sharpness of the verbal exchanges—all of it without deviating from the content as well as, one hopes, intent of each and every line.
As an example, consider this passage describing Bimala as she prepares to assassinate Katlu Khan. Bankim is, quite literally, in full flow here and this section continues in this vein for some length.
Why do you pour so much wine? Pour, then, pour even more, you have your dagger concealed inside your garments, have you not? But of course you do. How then can you smile so much? Katlu Khan is gazing upon you! What was that? One of your glances! And again! There, you have further aroused the Yavana already drunk on the taste of wine. Is this the ruse with which you have eliminated the others to become the object of Katlu Khan’s affections? And why not—for how bewitching is the smile, how provocative the posture, how suggestive the conversation, how inviting the glances! Again you pour! Beware, Katlu Khan.
Bankim was nothing if not a crafty master of the language, moving effortlessly between emotion, introspection, action and comedy in the course of his narration and yet keeping the pace of his storytelling relentless. This translation has attempted to preserve each of the individual registers. Here, for example, is an exchange between Gajapati Vidya Diggaj, the one comic character in the novel, and the maid Aasmani who he tries, unsuccessfully, to woo.
Aasmani entered as soon as he opened the door. It dawned on Diggaj that his beloved deserved a worthy welcome. Therefore, he intoned, his arm upraised, ‘I bow in reverence to you, o goddess.’
‘And where did you discover such juicy poetry?’ enquired Aasmani.
D: I composed it today just for you.
A: Not for nothing have I dubbed you the king of love.
The intensity of the dramatic moments, the twists and turns in the plot, the graphic descriptions of battle, death and assassination are all conveyed in the original through precise detail, enhanced by similes and metaphors. The details remain in all their exactness; when metaphors and similes could not be transferred to English directly, they have been recrafted to sit easily in the language of the translation.
Finally to the title which has arisen out of a compromise. Durgeshnandini literally means the daughter (nandini) of the lord of the fort (durgesh). Perhaps the most appropriate English translation of this would have been The Castellan’s Daughter, the word ‘castellan’ like ‘durgesh’ conflating the stature of the man with the property he owns. However ‘castellan’ feels too unused a word for today and thus the translation of ‘durgesh’ could retain only one of its meanings—that of a nobleman. Chieftain seemed the best word in this context as it seemed to imply the feudal world of Bengal and indicate Virendrasingh’s position most accurately.
This translation owes a special debt to Professor Shirshendu Chakrabarti who ensured that it has not strayed from the original in meaning and interpretation. The result, it is hoped, would be pleasing to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay were he to read The Chieftain’s Daughter today.
THE BEGINNING
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First published in Bengali as Durgeshnandini 1865
Published by Random House India 2010
Published in Penguin Books by Penguin Random House India 2016
English translation copyright © Arunava Sinha 2010
Introduction copyright © Shirshendu Chakrabarti 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Jacket images © Anna Higgie
ISBN: 978-0-143-42568-7
This digital edition published in 2016.
e-ISBN: 978-8-184-00246-1
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.