In the twentieth century, the Marathi renaissance effloresced into many forms including literature, music, drama, and movies, with emphasis on personal emotional exploration and fulfillment. Later, Tukaram (1608-1649) composed the Gatha, a collection of devotional songs. Namdev, a contemporary of Dnyaneshwar, also composed devotional songs which had wide influence not only regionally but also on the Sikh religion in Punjab. The Maratha Empire established by Shivaji In the mid-17th century grew over the next two hundred years under the Peshwa administration to encompass almost the entire subcontinental landmass.ĭnyaneshwar (1275-1296), one of the earliest poets of the Marathi language, composed Bhavartha Deepika, commonly known as Dnyaneshwari, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and Amrutanubhav, or Immortal Experiences. The Yadava dynasty that ruled Maharashtra in the 13th and 14th centuries adopted Marathi as the court language. While there are early references to Marathi from almost two thousand years ago, it has flourished as the vocable of regional statecraft, culture, and spirituality for the last thousand years. Derived from Sanskrit, this Indo-Aryan language has about seventy five million speakers, and is one of India’s official languages. Marathi is the language spoken by the people of the western Indian state of Maharashtra. I wish you as much pleasure in reading these translations as I received in making them, and that a window opens for you on the Marathi world. The notes accompanying the translations highlight the particular issues that needed addressing. But they present some fundamental difficulties for translation, such as of imagery or style or rhythm or the shade of emotion or the cultural context alien to a non-Marathi, or at any rate, a non-Indian person. The poems I chose for translation are beautiful in the original. The translations attempted after my study of the relationship between meaning, scansion, rhythm, and melody, produced here in Appendix: Poem, Chant, Song, exhibit a greater awareness of the demands of melody. The rhyme structure and melody generally did not survive, but a new, more natural rhyme-structure usually emerged, and in several instances, the English versions supported a new melodic structure that can be sung. I attempted to preserve or at least to suggest the rhythm, and this was successful in many cases. In addition to meaning, many other elements require consideration, such as the rhythm, the rhyme structure, and the melody.
#Marathi bhajan full#
Not all intermediate versions are reproduced in this collection refer to the blog for a full account of all the steps. It is fair to say that the final translations are trans-creations in English. In most cases, the final versions are well-supported by the corresponding originals. More steps are needed for refining the translation so it gets successively better (a word that has meaning only to the ear and the heart), until the poem “relaxes” into English. The next step is to place oneself fully in the frame of mind and emotion of the original poet and get in touch with the central experience, thence to write it in English as naturally as possible. An element of interpretation enters even at this stage, and the net of literal sense and association must be cast wide so that the true connections are discovered as the translation develops. With each poem, the first step was to create a literal translation, as true as possible to the original, while being sensitive to the various shades of meaning and implication. The organic discussions in which the translations unfolded are available on my blog. I am indebted to the encouragement, suggestions, and improvements given in that circle.
#Marathi bhajan series#
Thus the series of translations started to get shared in a small circle of friends. I learnt from them of the legendary royal swan whose diet is a harvest of pearls. I had to ask a few friends for the meaning of the bird of life that picks pearls from a stream. With this conviction, I began the search for an effective expression in English of diverse Marathi poems and songs. By going deep into them, the appropriate expression can be found in another tongue and cultural context. Human relationships, emotions, and experiences are universal. I wondered how a primarily English-speaking person could enter into the world portrayed in it. And then there was a bird of life that picks pearls from a stream. The cycle of the seasons, ever-returning to spring, is personified as a king, love is likened to blossoming flowers, and its sweetness invoked by the bumble bee’s attraction to honey. It is replete with tropical imagery and culture. As I leafed through it, I came across the Kokila song. One day I found an old book of Marathi poems.
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