தினசெய்தி – 15 5 2023
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அருந்தமிழும் அன்றாட வழக்கும் – 161
தமிழ்க் கவிதை வானில் ஷேக்ஸ்பியரின் சிந்தனை மழை !
முனைவர் ஔவை அருள்
தில்லிப் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் நான் 28 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு வழங்கிய
முனைவர் பட்ட ஆய்வின் பதினோராம் பகுதி வருமாறு:
If one looks at AkalikaiVenba, yet another scholarly work by V.P.Subramania Mudaliar, the behavioral pattern of the characters, their thought processes and speech modes have all been modeled on a blend between the Dravidian and English traditional concepts.
As an instance, the author says that the altercation between Akalikai and Indira find parallels in some of the profound utterances of Shakespeare, though the Bard wrote these much later.
V. P. Subramania Mudaliar is the one who has collected the different stories about Akalikai available now and he should know.
In his scholarly translation of Bharathi’s Panchali Sapatham,
(The Oath of Draupathi), the translator T.N.Ramachandran has located a number of Shakesperean parallels.
He says that the poignant words of Dhritarashtra are the same as those of King Henry.
Yea, there thou mak’st me sad, and
Mak’st me sin, in envy
Henry IV, Part I, (Act I, Scene 1)
Or Dharma’s resignation to fate reminiscent of Hamlet’s words
‘There is a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough – hey them how we will.”
Hamlet(act v, scene II)
Or,the way Arjuna is enticed in the game of dice is likened to the lines in
‘The Merchant of Venice’
‘The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest”.
(Act III, Scene II)
Or Sakuni’ senticing words that are the very words of the cruel queen of
Cymbeline………….”
I never do him wrong
But he does buy my injuries to be friends-
Pays dear for my offences
(Act I, scene I)
In recent times, it is said that Bharathidasan attempted a translation of The Merchant of Venice, but unfortunately, the manuscripts have not come out in print.
It is generally believed that the great poet Bharathidasan must have read or listened to the readings of Shakespeare’s plays whose impact is seen in his script of the movie ‘Ponmudi’, an emotional replica of Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet.
Likewise, the speeches of the revolutionary poet in his ‘Bilhanan Kathai’ may have been inspired by the emotional speeches of Mark Antony in Julius Caeser.
In fact, the impact of Shakespeare on Tamil literature or the hunt for literary parallels between Tamil classics, ancient or modern, could actually be a fruitful source for many doctoral dissertations.
The Bard of Avon, his attitudes, his insights and vision of life as a whole, were very inviting to the Indian sensibilities and set the Indian hearts ablaze.
This helped in his influence gaining hold throughout India, in general and Tamilnadu, in particular.
The first translations of Shakespeare’s plays were made in Bengali by Michael Madhusudhan Dutt.
It is interesting to note that a road in Kolkata has been named after Shakespeare and this is but an example of the admiration of the Bengalis for the great playwright.
The first English editions of Shakespeare’s plays are said to have arrived only in Kolkata, when it was the capital of the Britishers.
The European settlers are believed to have spent their evening hours in reading and enacting scenes from Shakespeare.
Individual characters like Prospero, Falstaff, Shylock and Lady Percy were also represented on the stage.
Thus, it was in Bengal that Shakespeare was introduced in India by the British.
If one looks at Hindi, there are ten versions of “The Tempest” and Rangeya Raghava’s “Toofan” is a close translation in unrhymed free verse.
Henry IV Parts (I) and (II) have been rendered into prose by Ganga Prasad.
“Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare’s famous love tragedy, has had several versions, out of which, four are in the form of prose narratives.
Of Julius Caesar, one finds a rendering in prose and two full translations by Lala Sitaram, and Rangeya Raghava. Lala Sitaram’s translation of “Hamlet” is all in prose, but his “Othello” is far superior to “Hamlet”.
“Macbeth” has been translated by as many as ten persons and Harivansh Rai Bachan’s “Macbeth” is a memorable contribution and perhaps the first Hindi version of “Macbeth”, to be staged. Ganga Prasad has also attempted a prose rendering of “Antony and Cleopatra”.
There are many translations of Shakespeare in Sanskrit too.
Guide Rao Harkare of Hyderabad (1887-1973), a multi linguist has translated Shakespeare’s Hamlet and A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream in Sanskrit.
Prof. Sukaye Mukhopadhya, a Professor in the University of Calcutta, translated Hamlet into Sanskrit and published it in 1981 to which Dr.V.Raghavan, Professor and Head of the Dept. of Sanskrit of the University of Madras, has given a foreword in English.
This also shows that even in those days, the scholars worked together when it came down to classics.
– முனைவர் ஔவை அருள்
தொடர்புக்கு dr.n.arul@gmail.com
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