fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

then in another, there is a danger of theloss of meaning, or misreading of theintended meaning. If the first translatormakes a mistake it can finds its way inthe work of the second translator. Thatis why there was a great deal of risk intranslating the works of Khalil Gibran. Dr.M. M. Khan, the Head of the ArabicDepartment in Delhi University helped megreatly in understanding Khalil in thecontext of Arabic literature. The origin ofGibran's creativity is in his spiritual life.To capture his meaning from the secondlanguage into the third is in itself a greatchallenge. For me, the process of firstinternalizing the second language, and theemotions expressed therein, and thenexpressing them in a third language hasbeen adventurous journey.Among his popular works I havetranslated 'The Prophet' as 'Ishwar kaDoot', 'Wanderer' as 'Yayavar', 'BrokenWings as 'Toote Pankh', 'Spirits Rebellious'as 'Vidrohi Atmayen’ and the selected partsof his remaining works 'Sand and Foam','Tears and Smile', 'The Forerunner', 'TheMadman’ under the title 'Vividh’. 'TheProphet' is written in the prose-poem style.In it, instead of long prose passages thereis a wonderful rhythm in the consecutivesentences that are written like an unrhymedpoem. Many times, even after a full stopKhalil Gibran begins the next sentence with'And'. The syntax of Hindi is not like that,but to retain Khalil's style and rhythm asit is, I have used the word 'aur'. To givea feel of his tender emotions and his subtlethoughts, I have tried to use a euphonicvocabulary in my translation. While doingthis, Urdu words have naturally been used :for instance, though both 'soul' and 'spirits'are used as synonyms, when Khalil talksabout his beloved Salma, I felt thatchoosing the word 'rooh' would beappropriate because 'rooh' means 'lifebreath' and 'life' and Salma was his lifebreath. When the context is spiritual I haveused the word 'atma. Similarly, Hindiwords such as 'phusphusana' or'kanaphoosi' for 'whisper' cannot expressthe feel of two lovers talking in a low voice.For 'whisper' I found the Urdu word'sargoshiyan' to be the most appropriate.The word 'gosha’ means a corner, orsolitude or the ear. That is why'sargoshiyan’ expresses better than any otherword the meaning of someone sayingsomething in her/his ear when there is noone is around. At another place I had touse Urdu words while translating linesexpressing great pain. Away from home,and tormented by the memory of hisbeloved, Khalil requests his friends :"Ah! You friends of my younger daysliving everywhere in Beirut! Whenever yougo to that graveyard in the pine forest,walk with soft steps. Ensure that the soundof your feet does not wake those dead,and approach Salma's grave with greathumility, bow to that land that holds Salmain its lap. Mention my name with a deepsigh, and tell yourself, 'Here the hopes ofGibran are buried, Gibran who lived asa prisoner of love across seas. It was herethat he was robbed of his happiness, itwas here that his tears dried, and it wasfgndi •April-June 2013 :: 147