post-colonial_translation

The case of the Indian English novel 49
Tell me, Narsamma, it seems your son wants to marry Coffee-
Planter Venkatnarayana’s daughter. He will do nothing of the
kind. God has not given me a tongue for nothing. And the first
time your honoured guests come out after the marriage papers
are drawn, here shall I be in this corner, and I shall tumble upon
them, I a shaven widow, and I shall offer them a jolly good blessingceremony
in the choicest of words. Do you hear that, Narsamma
Well, let him take care, Moorthy. And our community will not be
corrupted by such dirt-gobbling curs. Pariah! pariah!’ She spat
at the door and walked away, to the consternation of Narsamma,
and the whole village said Venkamma was not Waterfall
Venkamma for nothing, and that Narsamma should not take it
to heart. And when Narsamma saw her at the river the next day,
Venkamma was as jolly as ever and she said she had a bad tongue
and that one day she would ask Carpenter Kenchayya to saw it
out, and Narsamma said, ‘Oh, it does not matter, sister,’ and they
all talked together happily and they came back home, their baskets
on their heads, content.
(Rao 1971: 56–7)
This passage is a good example to study as it consists of both narration
and dialogue. First, let us look at cultural markers. Venkamma’s ‘shaven
head’ marks her out as a widow. In the rigidly demarcated caste structure
of this village a ‘pariah-mixer’ is one who has broken the code of caste
purity and maintenance by mixing with untouchables. The ‘horoscopes’
that Venkamma refers to are not weekly forecasts but charts of planetary
positions drawn up at the time of birth, which have to be matched for a
couple to be able to marry. The ‘marriage papers’ are part of the betrothal
ceremony, and it is considered inauspicious even to see a widow at times
of celebration and religious ceremony. ‘Community’ here refers to caste.
‘Pariah’ is more than the name of the outcaste community; like such
names all over India it is a curse word. It must also be pointed out that
‘sister’ does not denote kinship but, like other kinship terms, is used in
India as a term of politeness. At the mention of the women meeting at
the river, Indian readers would visualize women bathing and washing
clothes. It is the washed clothes that the women carry back in the baskets
on their heads.
Next, the modifiers used in conjunction with the names of the
characters cry out to be noticed. ‘Coffee-Planter Venkatnarayana’,
‘Waterfall Venkamma’ and ‘Carpenter Kenchayya’ are all nominal
groups with an identifying function and are all deviant from standard