Hello Venetia,
since you explicitly mention other languages, I can't resist
"pushing" the Hungarian translation of the Gitagovinda. It's
the work of one of our senior Indologists, József Vekerdi
(still with us and probably still angry at the poet for much
of what he's done to the text), and one of the best
Hungarian poets of the second half of the last century,
Sándor Weöres (departed quite a while ago). The result is
nothing short of breathtaking, though I guess nobody but us
Hungarians can appreciate it. If interested, the full text
is available (without the authors' consent, as far as I
know) online:
http://terebess.hu/keletkultinfo/dzsajadeva.html
The point is that it's a metrically perfect translation
(well, 99.5% perfect - unlike English, Hungarian is not
based on stress accent, so poetry measured by syllable
weight works in this language) that can be recited just like
the original (indeed, there is an anecdote that someone once
recited this to an Indian audience and listeners said, ah,
could that be the Gita Govinda in your language?), also
duplicating most of the rhyme and assonance. The reason for
Vekerdi's anger is of course that Weöres was occasionally
quite free in his treatment of the meaning, but then, I
believe much of the original Gitagovinda isn't about the
precise meaning either...
Best,
Daniel
2013.01.09. 6:26 keltezéssel,
Venetia Kotamraju írta:
Dear List,
A very happy new year to all.
Has anyone come across translations which try to
convey the shabdalamkara found in a particular Sanskrit
verse or poem in English (or other languages). Apart
from the brilliant translation of the Gita Govinda by
Lee Siegel, and a few stray verses here and there, I
can't think of any others that I have read at least.
Many thanks
Venetia
--
Venetia Kotamraju
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