topics: |  poetry | india | sanskrit | anthology

On the whole, I found the quality of these translations uninspiring as English poetry. A little analysis on one poem that I found the sanskrit text for shows that his versions have arbitrary additions. But the main fault, in my view, is that Schelling tends towards verbosity, which can kill poetry faster than cyanate.

Amarushataka

The Amarushataka is a collection of a hundred poems by the 7th c. poet Amaru, and has been a classic in Indian literature at least since the aesthetician Anandavardhana (820-890 AD), in his dhvanyAloka, which deals with the art of suggestion in poetry, praised his poetry: "a single verse can provide a taste of love equal to whole volumes."

A 14th c. hagiography of Shankara links the poems to his debate with Ubhaya Bharati, wife of Madana Mishra, in which she challenges him with sexually coded questions. To answer her, he then identifies the Kashmiri king Amaru, who has just died, but he enters his body and enjoys his harem for 100 days, thereby learning about sexuality. Each day he composes one of the poems, before returning to his own body and vanquishing Ubhayabharati in her own art.

There are at least four variant manuscripts of Amarushataka, some with upto 115 stanzas. Some stanzas are clearly the work of other poets, though the Indian tradition has always treated Amaru as a single person. This translation uses the c.1420 version with commentry by Vemabupala.

Several other translations into English exist, of which the one by Daniel
Ingalls is the most well known.  Schellings poetry works as English, but
without the originals it is hard to see how faithful they might be.

Recently I found this cipherjournal page which gives the sanskrit
versions against Schelling's translations for a dozen poems, but the
sanskrit text appears to be suffering from some glyph inversions, due to
which it is not decipherable.


frontispiece: radha-krishna, c. 1740



Excerpts

3
Front curls tossed in disorder
earrings scattered
beads of sweat smearing the sandal
paste on her brow—
now her eyes droop as astride her
companion she finishes.
May the face of this lady protect you.
Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma,
the gods
mean nothing.

4
Tender lip bitten she
shakes her fingers alarmed—
hisses a fierce
don't you dare and her
eyebrows leap like a vine.
Who steals a kiss from a
proud woman flashing her eyes
drinks amrita.
The gods -- fools --
churned the ocean for
nothing.

5
Trembling with awakened love
they dart off,
then contract into two moist buds.
An instant they shamelessly stare,
a moment glisten with shy indirection.
Dear girl so artless—
who is it you look at
as though the feverish spell lodged
in your heart
had rushed to your eyes?

Comparing Translations: Schelling and Ingalls

Neither Schelling and Ingalls were poets, in the sense that they didn't
write English poetry.  However, Ingalls takes far fewer liberties on the
original  may be the more
direct and hence slightly preferred.  Also, surely he is the greater
master of the language.  For English versions of Sanskrit poetry which
need not be too faithful to the originals, one can look at Rexroth.

Here is an image of the messenger betraying the message -- a common theme
in Sanskrit poetry: 

	The female messenger or dUtI was entrusted with the task of mending
	quarrels and of describing the longing and impatience of the woman by
	whom she was sent.  But the messenger might prove treacherous.
	Profiting by the quarrel, by the absence of the heroine, and by the
	lover's characteristic amorousness, she might taste herself the
	pleasures heretofore bestowed on her friend or mistress.


Amarushataka poem 61

    Schelling:
	The sandal paste
	is rubbed from your lifted
	breasts,
	your lip rouge is smeared,
	the kohl's gone from your eyes.
	Deceitful messenger,
	your soft skin's aroused
	and you can’t see your own
	sister's despair!
	Tell me you went to the
	bathing tank
	not back
	to that scoundrel.
		[orig. poet: ? Subhivoka ?]

    Ingalls:
	The slope of your breast has wholly lost
	its sandal paste,
	your lower lip has lost its rouge;
	your eyes are quiet without collyrium
	while your body runs with drops of moisture.
	Destroyer of my hopes!
	Messenger, oblivious of the pain you bring a friend!
	You went in bathing at the tank
	and never saw the wretch.
		[subhAsitaratnakoSa 837 (25.1)]


sanskrit text:

niHsheSha chyuta chandanaH stanataTo niryAtarAgo-adharo
	netre dUrmanan~jane jalalavaprasyandinI te tanuH |
AshAcchedini dUti bAndhavajanasyAjnyAtapIDAgame
	vApIM snAtumito gatAsi na punastasyAdhamasyAntikam || 25.1 ||
		[kosambi/gokhale p. 154; 
		some versions of amarushataka have mithyAbAdini dutiH on l.3]


comparing Shelling with the original, we find several
extrapolations : 

* stanotaTe - is merely "slope (or bank) of the breast" - 
	"lifted breasts" seems an attempt at eroticization
* jalalavaprasyandinI te tanuH - "body spreading in moisture" - very far
	from "your soft skin's aroused",

also, i feel schelling's version of the ending gives away the subtleness of
the poem (see raging controversy from notes by Ingalls.)


note on this verse, by Ingalls

	The speaker knows that the messenger has lain with the lover she was
	sent to bring.  But the speaker is vidagdha-uttama-nAyikA : 
	'a clever woman and a lady.' Instead of accusing her messenger with
	the true fault. she charges her with a remissness which might have
	produced much the same symptoms.  Many references and several variants
	show that the verse has been a favorite.

	A long controversy has raged over the question of which particular
	words contain the hint of the speaker's true knowledge and in what
	way they contain it. Some follow Mammata in saying that the word
	adhamasya 'the wretch,' suggests that the lover would descend to just
	such a trick; in which case the suggestion is based on the primary
	power of a word (abhidhAshrayA vyan~janA). Others say that the
	evidence can really have been produced by lovemaking only and not by
	bathing. For example, bathing would have washed both lips free of
	rouge, not just the lower lip, etc.; in which case the suggestion is
	based on the secondary power of a word (lakSaNAshrayA vyan~janA).
	For full particulars see the excellent notes of P. V. Kane in his
	edition of Sahithyadarpana Of Vishvanatha (2.16).



Amarushataka poem 93

    Schelling:
	Sweat on your face?
	  —the piercing sunshine.
	Your eyes look red and excited-
	   —his tone made me furious.
	Your black hair scattered-
	   —the wind.
	What about the saffron designs on your breasts?
	   —My blouse rubbed them off.
	And so winded-
	   —from running back and forth.
	Of course.
	But what's this curious
	wound to your lip?
		[shIlAbhaTTArikA ?]

Ingalls:

"Why such breathing?" "From running fast."
"The bristling cheek?" "From joy at having won him over."
"Your braid loose." "From falling at his feet."
"And why so wan?" "From so much talking."
"Your face is wet with sweat." "Because the sun is hot."
"The knot has fallen loose upon your dress." From coming and from going.
"Oh messenger, what will you say about your lip, the color of faded lotus?"