Lyrical Translation
The sun and the moon kaNNammA
are they the light of your eyes?
Dark round eyes kaNNammA
Are they the dark of the skies?
In the violet silk sari
The dainty diamonds embower1
They are the stars seen
In night's darkest hour
The light of the garden flower
Is it your beautiful smiling art*?
The blue sea's waves
Are they the waves in your heart?
The graceful koel's sound
Is it your voice's sweet?
I've fallen in love kaNNammA
with you a virgin so sweet*
Rules you speak to me kaNNammA
wherefore do we need rules?
Those who are impatient kaNNammA
What do they have as rules?
If the elders agree kaNNammA
Later we will rites marriage seek*
Shall I wait more? Look
Here,a kiss on your cheek
[1] - The actual word must be embed. Embower has been taken for the sake of rhyme.
* These words are not present in the original.
Adaptation
(This doesn't confirm to the orignal completely)
Is that sparkle of the eyes the dual light?
Is that black sphere the dark night?
Your indigo saree with diamonds sown
Are they the stars that night has shown?
The halo from the wild flower
Is that thy smile my lover?
The waves that the sea does hold
Are they thy bosom's sweet fold?
The cuckoo's sound of soulful note
In thy voice sweet does it float?
A maiden like a budding grove
Kannamma I have fallen in thy love.
Of rules do thee to me speak
Do rules stand for passion's peak?
Later I shall do the laws elders seek.
How shall I wait? Here, a kiss on thy cheek.
Download entire translation of this poem as a PDF from here.
Read another version of the translation here.
Friday, December 15, 2006
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7 comments:
"This evening,the sun shall not set,
For it shall rise in your eyes;
The moon will forget to rise,
Lost in the mire of their darkness;
The diamonds on your silk saree
Will twinkle like the stars in the night-sky,
What does darkness mean to them,
When they adorn your beautiful self?
I see your smile,
in the light of the flower,
The waves of your heart scream
Of your trembling love for me-
Just like the cascading highs of
the deep blue sea.
I hear your voice,
in the melodious sound of the koel's song,
For I am in love with you, Kannamma.
Speak not to me of rules or tradition,
I have no need for them.
My heart that flies with the
tempestous winds of passion,
Can I bind it down,
With ties of convention?
Kannamma,
Later, by rules we shall each other wed...
For now-
Let me just kiss your cheek..."
Lovely series of posts..:).Keep going, Sriram!
The commenter's translation is perhaps the best (even if it is not faithful) it captures the spirit of Bharathi.
Nice beginning,keep going Agni!! Ambitious title -Bharathi yaar?
@JAB - I'm humbled by your writing! My salutations to a great writer!
@Vidya - You only echoed my sentiuments about the comment. The name was chosen because I wanted more hits on Google search! :P Thanks a lot for your wishes and please keep reading!
I remember reading this story in A.K.Ramanujam's preface to his 'Interior Landscapes'. He quotes the story of the story of a Chinese king who was building a tunnel through a mountain.The minister/engineer suggested they dig the tunnel from both sides for quicker results. The King asked a question: " what if the tunnels dug from both ends to not meet?".
Pat came the reply: "then, your majesty, we shall have two tunnels instead of one".
AKR quotes it as a modest defence saying, even in cases where he falls short of nailing Sangam era in English, we would still have two poems.
//Of rules do thee to me speak
Do rules stand for passion's peak?//
was faithful and beautiful
//A maiden like a budding grove// was a piece of well constructed image, drawing inspiration from the lines.
This, along with translations like JAB's (those last four lines in particular, brought out the 'fever' really well)seems to indicate there'll be lots of enjoyable tunnel rides here.
cheers
I don't know if I've commented here before, but been reading/re-reading these translations for a while now.
Love the second version. Superb metre, rhyme and evocative writing.
Hello -
Beautiful blog you have here! I was reminded of Bharathi today by one of my friends. I shall visit often and read everything you have here!
Thank you!!!
The translation is the comments is really mindblowing and definitely captures the spirit of Bharathi for sure. I am reading this translation and listening to Hariharan's rendition of the poem in the movie "Kandukondein". Ah, I almost feel like I am in heaven right now.
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