Book Review | Timeless hymn, glibly rendered

Vikram Seth seems to have finally surfaced from his prolonged creative hibernation to write a translation of Tulsidas’ Hanuman Chalisa. The translation was done by Seth — as he himself admits — 10 years ago as a “labour of love”. In the very opening doha, his translation of the line, “barnau raghubara bimal jasu, jo dayaku phal chaari” as “I sing of Ram, from whom all things come, truth, means, desire and freeing”, is to my mind, a rather inexact rendering. Similarly, the last two lines of the opening second doha, “bala buddhi vidya dehu mohi, harahu kalesa bikaar”, is translated by him as “Grant to me wisdom, knowledge and strength; take every blemish away.” While the translation of the first line is simple enough, “kalesa” means strife, discord, grief, etc., and “bikaar” means disorder, either physical or mental, and represents the six vices. Vikram’s translation as “take every blemish away” is far from adequate.