CHAPTER 2

A SURVEY OF BHYRAPPA’S TRANSLATED NOVELS

2.0 Introduction

S.L. Bhyrappa is the best-selling Kannada novelist, and is perhaps

the most translated novelist in India today. Bhyrappa’s the latest novel
Avarana, created a record by going for twenty-two reprints in just two
years. His twenty-one novels and a stunningly absorbing autobiography
Bhitti have had the same distinction. Two of his novels have been
translated into all fourteen official languages of India, while several
others have been translated into many languages especially Marathi and
Hindi. As a modern Indian author, he occupies a unique position. He has
a relevant literary potentiality, which can be summarized thus,

“The modern author is a potential literary entity today, and

of greater consequence than before. He is a culture icon, an
informed individual, a political being, an economic creature.
……Descending through a line of gyan-gurus to e-gurus, he
strikes a balance and acquires his individual identity. He
traverses through a maze of time and place: he represents a
part that aspires to reflect the broad Indian socio-cultural
reality as a whole that is both diverse and united….. He
historicizes the land and its people; he projects a broader
perception of truth and a broader kind of knowledge with
reference to the Indian nation… its racial predicaments,
cultural configurations, and linguistic interfaces”. (Rehman
178-179)

All the translators of Bhyrappa agree that the difficulty in

translation is, Bhyrappa’s deep analysis on the subject matter, definitions
of the known factors with a different perspective, profound knowledge
regarding Vedic studies etc. So equally it is important that the translator
also transmits intermingling of modernity and traditional. Like modern

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author he takes up his position as modern translator. Put him in the
words,

“……They have engaged themselves with retrieving and

reviving the past, reinventing the form of the ancient and the
classical Indian texts, turning the exotic into strikingly real
for their contemporary relevance, and finally developing
new resistances and new representations for the
contemporary reader”. (Rehman 179)

2.1 Encountering Bhyrappa’s untraversed way through

Translations.

As discussed earlier, Bhyrappa has his own elephant’s way in

writing his novels. His path was not taken by many. What matters in
reading Bhyrappa is his thoughtful ideas convince both serious critics and
common readers.

“All his novels have magnetic ripples of intellectualism,

diverse themes, eloquent style of story writing, striking
language and emotions which make the reader to read it at
stretch”. (Aital 1)

The present critic speaks regarding Bhyrappa’s novels of Kannada

version. When one discourses about the Translated Novels, one wonders
whether the same intellectualism, themes, style, striking language, and
emotions can be injected into rendered works. The query is not about the
level of intellectual dimensions one language has, but about the journey
of words which the author has used with all its tributaries. Every word in
a language is an appalling fusion of cultural complexities and
simplicities. It is energised with sentiments and receptivity of the people
belonging to that community.

When Bhyrappa initiated his career as writer, ‘Navya’ movement

was a prominent literary movement in Karnataka, but Bhyrappa cherry-
picked the distinct way of writing. He discovered answers to his haunting
questions of life. He chose Novel as a form of his creative thoughts. He

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firmly believes that when a story element sprouts in the mind of a
creative writer, obviously it takes the form of a novel and not the form of
a short-story. The horizon of mind expands with novel. Here he has
chosen up the most suitable mode of his writing form of literary genre
that is Novel. He says,

“Soon I realized that Novel would be the most useful form of

literary genre because that is closer to life. It gives wider
scope to narrate all facets of life. One can directly dwell into
the hearts of readers. So I began my inventions with Novel. I
strained deeply to scrutinize some of my problems and
experiences. This was a kind of ‘soul searing’ experience.
Every novel has taken me one foot closer to that mysterious
point of life which has given me the wisdom of life’s
complexity and meaning. This kind of creative writing has
given me more satisfaction than reading pedantic
philosophy”. (Bhyrappa 23)

For the purpose of present study as discussed in Introduction,

Bhyrappa’s novels are divided into three stages. The first two novels
written in youthful stage can be considered as the first stage. Later from
the first popular novel Dharmashree to Anveshne that is from 1964 to
1973 can be called as the second stage. The third stage can be considered
from writing Parva to Kavalu till 2010. His five translated novels belong
to second and the third stage. The majority of the translated novels belong
to the third stage, which is considered to be the most matured and ripened
level of the writer. It is observed that when he penned his first-stage
novels, Bheemakaya and Belakumuditu while studying in intermediate,
there is a clear visibility of his genuinely interested areas like the
Mahabharata and the Anthropology, though the writer claims that they
are his immature creations.

2.2 The Modern Translator and his Responsibilities

Bhyrappa has ardently felt that Novel as an important genre of

twentieth century, has allowed him to wide-awake the feelings at
subconscious level. As discussed in the previous chapter, the varieties of

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cultural elements are traced perfectly in the author’s works of SL text.
What are the limitations when these elements are rendered into English,
and whether the rendered work is able to convince the reader is another
important question while surveying his translated novels? So it is
important to survey the translated novels keeping in mind the genuine
problems challenged by the translators, as cultural-translation is a highly
complex activity. Though In India it is the activity of bygone days, the
recent trend in translation is absorbed by the intricacies of culture like
‘hybridity’, ‘mass culture’, ‘untranslatability’, ‘spatial’ and
‘transnational.’ So, what are the challenges involved in translating
Bhyrappa’s novels which are inscribed with convolutions of these
cultural elements? How effectively the translator gets uncluttered in
transferring them into other language is really an operational move. One
of the problems visualised by Raja Rao in the ‘Foreward to
Kanthapuara’ is applicable to Indian translations in English,

“One has to convey in language that is not one’s own the

spirit that is one’s own. One has to convey the various
shades and omissions of a certain thought-movement that
looks maltreated in an alien language.” (Raja Rao i)

Various problems challenged by the translator are innumerable as a

way to translation itself indicates the bed of thorns. In addition to these,
recently the problems of modern translators are again on a different and
higher level, because now a culture is a set of practice. He has to study
anthropology, as most of the characters in SL texts are interpreted on
anthropological aspects. He has to face many challenges like meme,
which has a scientific touch. Meme is a new way of understanding
culture. It is
“an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person
within a culture which may evolve by natural selection in a manner
analogous to that of biological evolution”. (Chesterman 5-6).

How this idea of meme helps in national growth is keenly

discussed in the chapter, “Nation and Language Power”. He should be
aware of the development in anthropological studies, which is important
today to realise why particular communities are prone to violence, why

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some communities are interested in knowledge, and why majority of the
population in some regions are diseased. The translator has to interpret
culture on global term.

“Culture is concerned with the production and exchange of

meanings- the giving and taking of meaning- between to say
that they interpret the world in roughly the same ways and
can express their ideas, their thoughts and feelings about the
world, in ways which will be understood by each other. Thus
culture depends on its participants interpreting meaningfully
what is happening around them, and ‘making sense’ of the
world, in a broadly similar way”. (Hall. S 2)

The important remark is applicable to all the translators, who wish

to see their works belonging to their native area on the global scenario.
On this perspective, let’s survey the works of Bhyrappa one by one.

2.3 Scion or Uprooted (Vamshavriksha)

Plot: This novel is considered to be one of the best early novels of

Bhyrappa. It deals with the problem of defender of traditional ethics,
whose trust is traumatized by an inadvertent discovery. The entire story is
woven around three major characters Katyayini, Shrotri and Sadashiv
Rao. Katyayini symbolizes nature and beauty, Shrinivas Shrotri
symbolizes wisdom and values of life and Sadashiv Rao symbolizes
knowledge. The author mentions about the transition period encountered
by human beings, where they come across with the conflict between
modernity and tradition, wisdom and knowledge, emotional and
practicality, culture and nature. Probably in this transitional period, tragic
marriages are inevitable. All the three protagonists endure tragic
marriages. Shrinivas Shrotri, a man of principles is a staunch believer of
dharma. He believes that ‘Dharmo Rakshito Rakshitaha!’ That religious
stance protects him from all the misfortunes of life. Many a times his
wisdom and values of life are at stake, but his complete realization of
dharma protects him like an aura. In his youth he is forced to practice
celibacy as his wife suffers from health complications. He refuses to
marry again. His wife permits him to have sexual relationship with the

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beautiful maid servant Laxmi, but his tough conviction in Sanatana
dharma prevents him from doing so. In his opinion, marriage has two
commitments: The first one being the perfect householder, discharging all
the duties as a son, husband and as a father. Secondly it has to perpetuate
the family tree. He accepts and marries Bhagirathamma, though not his
choice, but because the marriage has been arranged by elders. Woman is
married to a class, a family not to an individual alone. Marriage is a
responsibility for both man and woman. Thus both the purposes of
Shrotriya are fulfilled. He is able to discharge his duties as householder,
and his wife cooperates with him in propagating lineage by giving birth to
a son. He is able to retain his balanced philosophical mind, when his only
son Nanjund dies caught in the whirl of river Kapila. He shoulders the
responsibility of his family again. He decides to guide his young,
beautiful widowed daughter-in-law and her son. He thinks that, education
would suffice her rhythm of life, but he is perplexed when Katyayini
decides to marry again. Yet he remains unruffled and as tough as a
boulder. He says,

“Natural dharma is not the only dharma. The ultimate and

supreme goal of life is not the enjoyment of life as
householder. Its goal is the perpetuation of the family tree,
the continuation of its life, it scion. ……” (97)

Shrotri’s wisdom allows him to go to that advanced level, where he

is able to realize the predicament of his daughter-in-law and gives his
consent to take independent decision. His indomitable will to remain
calm and balanced is revealed, when he greets Sadashiv Rao though
knowing that his plight of being alone is due to Sadashiv Rao’s younger
brother who marries Katyayini. His pride shatters like a withered leaves
when the secret of his birth is discovered. His final decision to renounce
everything and enter Sanyas dharma is again his belief in tranquility. He
transfers all his responsibilities to his grand-son and moves away. His
intense desire to meet his daughter-in-law concludes in Katyayini’s death.
He preaches Cheeni, his grandson to perform his mother’s death rites and
withdraws himself from the scene.

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 The next protagonist Katyayini meets series of misfortunes in her
life. Both her marriages end in tragedy. She is married to Nanjund, the
son of Shrotri. She is proud to be the daughter-in-law of Shrotri family.
She is blessed with a son and leads a contented life. However, she
questions her individuality, when she loses her husband. To discover
herself, her father-in-law advises her to take up the higher education
where she meets Raja Rao, a teacher of English educated at Oxford who
makes her feel more womanly and offers her a chance to lead a new life.
She struggles between her responsibility as a daughter-in-law and mother,
than her genuine love to Raja Rao. She asks her father-in-law

“A widower can re-marry ten times. But a woman can never

remarry. This world has refused to understand a woman’s
inner nature with any sympathy”. (97 scion)

She continues that it is natural dharma for a person to live the

effective life of a householder at proper age. She argues,

“In our social order, if a woman suffers a catastrophe, there

is no way she can overcome it and return to normality.”
(97scion)

Shrotriy persuades her that she can get a new husband, but they
won’t find their son back. It’s only their grand-son who can carry on their
family tree. She is disheartened and is unable to accept even Raja’s love
and support, which made her to understand the definition of Prakriti
(nature). Initially her surrenderance to Raja is passionate. Her guilt-ridden
heart scorches her unceasingly, which effects in many miscarriages
making her powerless to become mother. She regrets incessantly till her
death. Shrotri and her son’s presence in her death probably bring her a
kind of solace. Thus her widow-remarriage ends in a great failure. Time
and again critics pointed out that Bhyrappa is against social reforms.
(Giraddi Govindraj 252). Bhyrappa defends his point by saying that he
has portrayed a psychological image of an individual, and he is convinced
by this fact after talking to a psychiatrist (Desh Kulkarni 41).

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 The third character Sadashiv Rao is a champion of India’s cultural
heritage. He has taken up a major project as a historian about the cultural
history of India. He is a perfect householder with a loving wife
Nagalaxmi, and has a son for the perpetuation of family line, but he is
unsatisfied without intellectual partner which he finds in Karuna, a
brilliant student of history, educated in England. Eventually he marries
her by losing the emotional support of Nagalaxmi. Karuna helps him in
completing his project. Later Rao suffers from health problems and is
tortured by the emotional state of guilt and repentance for his desertion of
Nagalaxmi for no fault of hers. He is in a state of flux, where he couldn’t
give up the old tradition and accept the modern relationships. He is
unable to bounce back. He reunites with Nagalaxmi but dies soon. Here
the character fails to balance his personal and professional life. All his
women characters effervesce with individuality. They are decision
makers. Though uneducated, Nagalaxmi’s decisions are stronger in every
situation, she comes across with.

2.3.1 Translational Problems of Scion or the Uprooted

(Vamshavriksha)

1. Language: The present novel The Uprooted is one of the most

successful novels of Indian literature. When we look into the
challenges of translation, the main obscurity occurs in the language.
The indomitable character Shrotri has proficiency in Sanatana-
dharma. His everyday communication is heavy with Sanskritised
words, but he emerges as a towering personality in every situation
with pious words and virtuous behaviour. This idiolect is the
identification of Shrotri which is difficult to reproduce in English
version because often the flow of language contains words like Maya
(illusion), Sanyas (renunciation), Vedas, Parabhrama, Bramatva,
Prajapatiyagna etc which imbibe the essence of ancient literature. It
is impossible to have a clear coherence for the foreign reader about
situations as the words are with Indian Vedic dharma. Even the
dialect used in the novel is traditional Brahmin dialect. When
Katyayini, widowed daughter-in-law intends to continue her studies,
her mother-in-law objects and says,

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 “……..Don’t we, too, feel sorry that this should have
happened to her at so young an age? If she had taken the
conventional widowhood, at least she could have assisted us
in the ritual chores. But now she must spend her time
somehow by doing her present work – sweeping the floor,
washing the front yard and decorating it. Perhaps she could
also help in preparing the wicks and other items for worship
or she may observe vows,”… (49)

Here the English reader doesn’t get the sequence correctly. The
word like ‘conventional widowhood’ surely clouds him, which means a
lady after the death of her husband should appear with her head shaven
and the traditional red sari wrapped round her. Then she should eat one
meal a day and perform worship. Strangely even the reader in English in
India belonging to other parts of India has different meaning for
‘conventional widowhood’ which differs from region to region.

2.3.2 Humour in the Dialect

One more important factor is a peculiar style of a person’s speech.

This is untranslatable because Bhyrappa uses varieties of languages like
rural, urban, traditional, modern, feminine and masculine. The varieties
of Kannada are used to bring out the effectiveness in the characters. In
translation, only one language is used that is English and the different
characters like maid, clown, learned person, minister speak the same
language with the same tone. e.g in SL text, a clown in Hindu
mythological drama Mricchakatika makes absurd comparisons which
takes the audience into a roar of laughter. This has no meaning in the
translation. The character says Sha instead of sa, and to make it more
humorous he brings some characters from the Mahabharata and fuses
into the Ramayana. In Kannada the writer need not elaborate the stories
of mythology to the audience because every Indian is acquinted with
mythological stories since their childhood either in the form of folk
songs, dances, dramas or oral stories. In one of the plays of
Vamshavriksha, the clown says (k),

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 “Elai, Vashantasene, Neenu nanna hridayavannu
kaLagicchinante Shuduttiruve. Ratriy VeLe malagiruv nanna
nidreyannu hodadodisuttiruve.Aadare Ig Bhayadind
Beeluttiruvudannu kaNade ODuttiruve. Ig neenu, Kuntiyu
Ravanan kaige sikkidante nanna kaige sikkiruve…… (p. 31)

The English version goes like this,

“You, Vasantasene, you burn my heart like a forest fire. You

are the one who mercilessly drives away my sleep in the
night. Now I am running, unaware of my fear. Now, you are
like Kunti who was caught by Ravana, in my control………”
(20-21)

This kind of humour is not possible in translation, because humour

has sprung out of mythology of the land. In the similar way humorous
exchange of words between husband and wife is cultural based. Shrotri,
who is considered to be the renowned Vedic Scholar by everyone in the
village, is just a ‘thoughtless slave to custom’ (dharma goddu) by his
wife. She has faith on English speaking people. (SL 184) Nagalaxmi
gives special oil massage bath to her husband on his birth-day making fun
of his grey-hair, (TL 13) who looks sixty years old rather than thirty-five
which is his real age. She continues saying that her husband doesn’t
remember what his wife has said the previous night, but remembers how
many old elephants which king had in his military. He has forgotten his
birthday, who doesn’t remember neither his wife’s age nor of his son’s.
The words in SL are more humorous and reveals wife’s acceptance of her
husband at any situation and at any age. Her love, care and motherly
affection to her husband shows the responsible position of Indian woman.
Later in the novel Sadashiv Rao tells Karunaratne, his second wife that
she is raised to the position of a mother not to the position of wife who
demands her authority. (TL 258)

2.3.3 The Problem of Equivalence

1. Mantra: In a similar way translator has to face one more problem

that is the problem of equivalence. There is musicality in the

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 language. Here the untranslatability of mantras can be mentioned. It
is not possible to find any equivalence to mantras. Shrotri chanting
mantras has special significance. When his grand-son is seriously ill
he sprinkles holy water everywhere, reciting sanskrit mantra, “Yeh
smare:t Pundari:kaksyay sabahyabhyantara shuchi:”. English
translation just gives the meaning of mantra which misses out the
rhythm. Shrotri chanting the mantra of his lineage makes him proud
of it. Katyayini is taken aback when she hears the mantra recited on
her husband’s Shra:ddha, (death anniversary). She has come to take
her child back, without knowing that a visit is on inauspicious day.
(179 SL) This situation moves every native reader as the day
connotes the confluence of hundred emotions. Katyayini observes
that floor is cleaned, but it is bereft of the auspicious Rangavalli
designs. This special moment with mantras doesn’t carry many
feelings in English reader because the translator has rendered it as
following,

“My father Nanjunda Sharma of Kashyapa gotra arrives in

the form of Vasu every year for the purpose of death
anniversary” (174 TL)

2. Proper Nouns: The writer uses proper nouns like the names of
places, persons with such efficacy that the reader often urges to visit
the place mentioned after reading the novel. The description of the
places and persons is done with accurate words and syntax. But
reading translations of the same, gets the feeling of a dry narration
because the spellings of the places seems to be bored because number
of the alphabets are more, which naturally loses the grip over the
narration and kills the curiosity of the reader. e.g. the places like
Kukkenahalli, Saraswatipura, Nanjangudu, Srirangapatnam,
Udakmandal have greater significance with serene natural beauty.
Any reader from Karnataka is suddenly shifted to that world of
exquisiteness, but for English reader, it is merely a place with big
name. So there are no equivalents for these proper nouns.

3. Flora and Fauna: The translator has to be at a greater task to bring

exact words or equivalent words related to flora or fauna which is an

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 essential part of cultural-translation. e.g. Shrotri advising Laxmi the
maid servant, to pluck flowers for God which might bring her peace
of mind. Everyday in the morning at four o’ clock, Shrotri goes to
river and takes bath uttering religious mantra, making garlands by
jasmine flowers etc. Katyayini watering the Jasmine flower plants
and comparing her dry life with the plant full of Jasmines.

The next cultural problem occurs in the name of food, clothing,

religious items which do not have equivalents. e.g. Chitranna, Dhal,
Saru, Gojju, Anna, a special sweet dish for guests etc. these cannot be
completely omitted as they help greatly in creating the atmosphere
which may be peculiar to a particular culture.

4. Kinship Terminology: One more cultural-problem in finding

equivalents is the respectable term given to the relationships. In
Indian situation the elders are not addressed with their names as it is
in Western culture. Cheeni the son of Katyayini respects his
grandparents calling them tata and ajji. For him tata and ajji are not
just two elderly people taking care of him, but they are the parents as
well as grand-parents. He sheds off his relationship with his mother,
when he comes to know that she is the teacher in his college. He
rejects her by joining other college. His sense of moral responsibility
towards his grand-parents is higher than that of his mother, because
he thinks that he should support his grand-parents during their old-
age.

Prithvi, the son of Sadashivrao calls his uncle Raj as

Chikkappa which means younger father. Raja Rao takes the complete
responsibility of Prithvi and his mother in the absence of his elder
brother. Prithvi calls Katyayini Chikkamma, the younger mother. She
gives him bath by massaging oil on his back, gets him new cloths and
teaches him lessons from his text book. Thus these terms for
relationship which have sense of responsibility is completely missing
in Western culture. The translator has substituted the words like
uncle and aunt for Chikkappa and Chikkamma which has no meaning
in Indian context because here any married woman and man are
addressed as Uncle and Aunt. In this context one can even talk of

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 honorifics, which are noticeably seen in Indian languages. Here when
one addresses elderly person, he addresses as Avaru which is a
respectable term. A gigantic personality like Shrotri is addressed by
everyone in the village as DhaNi, the owner and the person with
greater wisdom.

2.3.4 Gesticulations

One more peculiar non-translatable cultural expression is facial

expression with body gestures, coupled with high toned language and
abuses. In a situation where widowed Katyayini comes to her in-laws
house to take her son back after her second marriage, her mother-in-law
abuses her with a long list of words in a high toned language calling her a
disgrace to family. When Katyayini’s father abuses his daughter in
English, Bhagiratamma feels confident about his language though never
understands a single word. As Ramachandran rightly points out that the
literature of a particular community is derived from so many factors like
the high tone of the language, gestures and bombastic word. He refers
Steiner’s definition that,

“Different civilisations, different epochs, do not necessarily

produce the same speech mass. Certain cultures speak less
than others: some modes of sensibility prize taciturnity and
elision, others reward prolixity and semantic
ornamentation” (Sharma 128)

He continues that,

“It is my belief that they have indeed a rare relevance with

reference to the behavioural patterns we see in English and
Kannada. Kannada, like any other Indian language, seems
to be only too eager to resort to what I have called
elsewhere by the name of ‘Amplification of Utterance’: Look
at how we converse among ourselves, whether we are in a
public place or at home. I have found the same
characteristic present in most of the Mediterranean
languages and in the languages of Africa. People speaking

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 these languages like the people in India; seem to believe in
gross gestures, large exaggerated movements of both words
and hands, in communicating with others. No wonder that
the same characteristic appears in our writing. We have no
use for whispers, things said in an undertone.” (Ibid 128)

Probably the entire literary history of Kannada contains words of

bombastic and thunder. We are into the habit of using verbose, pompous
and highly stressed words with long sentences.

2.3.5 Myth

‘Myth’ poses as one more impediment while rendering cultural

elements into English. In Vamshavriksha, myth occupies the major part
of the novel. Shrotri, a Vedic scholar often relates his own life with the
life mentioned in Vedic books. The detachment in life should be followed
like a catalyst. He is as tough as boulder even when he hears the death of
his son Nanjund. His firmness continues, when his widowed daughter-in-
law gets married. His steady decision of giving away the entire property
for charity takes place when he comes to know the secret of his own
birth. He takes examples of many sages and gurus from Vedic times, who
led the secluded life staying like Sanyasi.

2.3.6 Cultural Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology moulds characters

of every country. A particular decision, living style, a decision between
right and wrong depends upon the way the culture is shared within the
family or community. The decision of Katyayini to marry again was quite
revolutionary, but the way she has been nurtured in her maternal home
and husband’s home probably comes as a constraint in her new home.
The sense of guilt isolates her. As a result she is unable to conceive, and
remains childless. She craves for the love of her first son, but he rejects
her. Here her behaviour is completely on cultural-anthropology which
determines her destiny.

The novel Vamshavriksha has stirred the hornet’s nest of critics.

We find two extreme kind of criticism on this particular novel.

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 “Bhyrappa’s understanding of the problematic nature of
marriage in the context of modern Indian society (the action
of the novel is set in the first half of the last century) is
impeccable and the schema he works out in terms of action
and character satisfactory but, as has been pointed out time
and again by his critics, he treats his characters as puppets
and manipulates their destines to suit his own purpose
denying them their freedom and truth. Shrotri’s sudden
discovery that he is not a legitimate scion of the Shrotri
family, Sadashiv Rao’s belated remorse for neglecting his
first wife and Katyayini’s repeated miscarriages which sour
her marriage ----are manipulated events and do not carry
conviction. Another serious limitation of Bhyrappa as
novelist is his indifference to the resourcefulness of language
which comes through even in the English translation.” (G.S
Amur: 263-264)

One more reader Ravishankar Ramanath writes review on

translated work that is The Uprooted with different angle,

“This is a path breaking book in Kannada written with a

serious purpose. Bhyrappa usually takes up problematic
issues and provides a perspective entirely different from the
usual and the cliché. Vamshavriksha tackles, or rather tries
to tackle the issue of dealing with one’s own roots and the
consequential dilemmas and problems one has to face when
encountered with situations which are bizarre and shocking
to one’s own existence. Shrotri’s problems are not because
of the truth he encounters regarding his birth and parents,
but because of the enormity of the tree that is uprooted- the
tree of traditional belief and pride deeply rooted in religion
knowledge and common sense. The whole purpose of his
religious quest and belief becomes a butt of mockery by the
situations he finds himself. ---- Bhyrappa very evidently asks,
though subtly, ‘Where do we belong to?’ This question
seems to be a very favorite one to Bhyrappa since we see a

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 recurrence of similar questions in his other books ‘Parva’
and ‘Datu’. This is one of those books which try to achieve a
confluence of Indian and western schools of thoughts by
invoking Indian sentimentalities and views of life in the
perspective of existential crises which is a western idea.”
(Ramanath 1)

Whatever are the translational problems, and social problems

of Vamshavriksha, it is more popular even today. The popularity
of the novel is in almost all the languages of India.

2.4 Datu (Crossing Over)

Plot: This novel has won the Central Sahitya Academy Award for
1975. Focusing on the evils of caste system, it is hailed as “a novel with a
progressive view and a revolutionary bias.” (Gurudatta v-x)

The entire novel is woven around the problems of the class

consciousness in India. It stresses upon social and inter-caste conflict and
highlights hypocrisy of the system. In a small town named
Tirumalapura, people belonging to different castes and creeds live
harmoniously rather they are forced to live harmoniously. The story
revolves around three important families of the village. One belongs to
the village priest Venkataramanayya. He has a son Venkatesh and a
revolutionary, educated daughter Satyabhama. He has lost his wife in the
prime of his youth, but secretly develops a relationship with Matungi, a
woman belonging to scheduled caste. He opposes the marriage between
Satyabhama, his daughter and Srinivas who belongs to Vakkaliga
community. He is deeply involved in the world of God and religion,
which takes him to the frenzied state of mind. He performs sacred thread
ceremony to Satyabhama and preaches her Gayatri mantra. He keeps
aloof himself from the entire crowd. At the end, in the same cynicism, he
loses his life after drowning into a reservoir.

Another family in the village is of Melagiri Gowda, a minister in

the state government. His son Srinivas studies in Mysore. Instead of

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directly opposing the marriage between Satyabhama and Srinivas, he
creates such an appalling scene, where Satyabhama is forced to resign
from her job and withdraws from her marriage. Their marriage is
thwarted by using power and religious misinterpretations. Melagiri
Gowda’s wife strongly believes that marrying a girl from the upper caste
especially from priestly caste brings evil deeds to the family. Melagiri
gowda is able to suppress Satyabhama’s intelligence to such a lower ebb
that she is incapable of securing job for herself. She is forced to join as a
sales girl, but his deeds are like boomerang. He cannot bring fortunes to
his son’s life either. He chooses a girl from a rich and another M.L.A’s
family as his daughter-in-law. His power and money cannot stop
misfortunes that happen in the family. His son loses his wife Kumudini.
Even to his son’s second marriage with Meera, a daughter of another
M.L.A Bettayya, he brings a great opposition because the girl belongs to
the lower caste. He doesn’t want his superior upper caste gets polluted
with the lower caste. The sanctity has to remain. Thus Srinivas’ life is full
of tragedy. He turns insane in search of real love.

The next character is of Bettayya, another M.L.A representing the

scheduled caste has a daughter, Meera and a son Mohandas. Meera
develops intimacy with Srinivas and wants to marry. She believes in
simplicity but her contact with Satyabhama makes her revolutionary.
Sathybhama performs a religious thread ceremony to Meera. Her brother
Mohandas is a hot-blooded young man and wishes to marry Satyabhama
belonging to the upper caste. He wants that Harijans of that village should
enter the temple, but religious beliefs are so deep rooted that even his
revolutionary plan is foiled by psychological reactions. He is washed
away by the flood. Meera drowns in the reservoir.

“Datu created a new awareness of familiar experience of

the people in the society. It was their own society, their own
environment, their own familiar characters and they are
analyzed, till Bhyrappa presented them so clearly and in
such an artistic and new angle and with such a deep
reflection and analysis of the various factors underlying
them”. (Gurudatta x)

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 At the same time a serious critic Gourish Kaykini is puzzled
regarding disintegrated relationships of the society. He feels that the
writer could have taken the relationships on a smoother side. He says,

“Why didn’t Datu end in the union of Satya-Mohandas?

Why didn’t Meera-Shrinivas get registered marriage? Was
the writer preoccupied with these things? Was tragedy
inevitable in Datu?” (Kaykini 58 trans. mine)

Probably the writer is pointing out at the decadence of one

community and also indicating a passing phase in the life of an
individual, community and country. This is inevitable which entangles
every human being into a transition period. In this transition period tragic
incidents are common because everything has lost its inner strength
which leads to the confusion and chaos. Then again rejuvenation takes
place as man learns lessons by his mistakes.

2.4.1 The Problem of Dialect

The novel is based on a common social evil that is the problem of

caste system. The story takes place in Tirumalapur, the rural place in
Karnataka, near Chennaraypattan. The language is exclusively rural one.
The main characters speak a particular dialect. The translation of Datu
has full of cultural convulsions as the subject matter itself belongs to the
important part of social culture of India. The first problem is that of a
particular dialect spoken in Tirumalapur, near Srirangapatna. The
Kannada spoken in that region is different from that of other parts of
Karnataka. The problem of caste is not unnatural, but here all the people
belonging to three major castes that is the Brahmin, Vakkaliga (farmers)
and Scheduled Caste want to place their caste above others. Everyone has
developed superiority complex. So, one can find out the harshness, sneer
and verbal abuse in the language spoken by the villagers. The problem in
translation is the language which is as smooth as any educated Indian
speech.

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 The novel depicts the transition period of Indians during Post
Independent Era. May it be any kind of social gathering, the people
belonging to one caste never quit an opportunity to insult or taunt other
caste people E.g. the teacher from a school casually tells that he has tried
his best to make Melagiri Gowda, pronounce the word “garuda” but
utterly failed. Though he corrected him hundred times, all he could
manage to say was “galda” because of his lower caste. (11 Crossing
Over) Krishnappa, a teacher of Kannada said,

“How do you expect lower-caste people to pronounce a

Sanskrit word of that Kind? Only Brahmins familiar with
chanting Vedic hymns could do it: a person has to be
familiar with the principles of svarita, udatta and anudatta.”
(11 Cr)

But Nagaraj, an unemployed educated but practical young man

said,

“Despite that, their turn has really come, hasn’t it? That
man managed to become a lawyer and now he is a minister.
These people are more or less running the government,
while all we’ve got left is the ability to pronounce words like
‘garuda’ correctly.”(11-12 Cr)

In later episode, Melagirigouda, taunts the upper caste people

saying that they cannot be called as the higher caste people because
Venkataramanayya, who could pronounce Garuda correctly, became
priest in the temple worshipping garudapillar and he who pronounced
‘galda’ became lawyer after the completion of B.A and L.L.B. After
sometime, he was able to become the minister again. There is a deep
touch of reality beneath this light humour. This incident has less impact
in the TL because the meaning of garuda and its pronunciation is felt
only by the native reader.

The writer makes fun of the society which fails to understand the
predicament of an educated man like Shrinivas who had chosen a better
companion. His own people tears him apart emotionally, who goes mad

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later. People in the street laugh and call him “eunuch” deriving pleasure
from the sight, where Shrinivas going on the streets like mentally
imbalanced person. (664 Cr) Thus Bhyrappa brings layers of deeper
meaning in his humorous remarks.

In fact in SL text, the dialogues have natural and casual touch of

common everyday language. The writer has used only a sentence for each
dialogue to give the temperament of common people. But the TL text
contains three to four sentences to catch the sense of a Kannada sentence.
Here one can make out the flexibility of language. At the same time the
longer and more number of sentences in English version may give
erroneous opinion about a particular community for an English reader. He
may not distinguish between the casual talk and serious talk because in
English society, people avoid casual talks in social gathering lest it
might disturb one’s prestige and personality.

2.4.2 Idioms and Phrases

Secondly Bhyrappa’s style of using accurate idioms poses a greater

problem. Idioms are the spontaneous way of saying the occasion in a
short sentence. Even the translator should know the local idioms and
phrases or else that might lead to a misinterpretation of the sentence. e.g.
Eating till they pull off their wives’ matrimonial necklace which means
eating till one dies. But the translator has translated as eating till one
turns bankrupt. (11 Cr) In Indian context, matrimonial necklace has a
greater significance for women. Pulling it off from woman’s neck means
her husband is dead.

“Kudregalu mele biddu hodaru Kattegalu Tamma Layakke

Serisalla” (23)

Eventhough Horses want to join the group of donkeys; donkeys

won’t allow them to join.

“Cowards on the other hand bury their minds in the mind

and live like worms” (43)

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 When the reader goes through the idioms and phrases used by
Bhyrappa, he is astonished by the fact, that they are not only the one
which are used in everyday colloquial language, but are infused with rare
words of relevance.

2.4.3 Myth in the form of Stories, Mantras, Abuses, Curse

One noticeable factor in translating Datu is the impact of

mythology on common mass of the village. The entire novel revolves
around mythological stories about village temple, village fair, the upper
caste, the lower caste, the village deity. The four Varnas.—Bhramin,
Vaishya, Kshatriya, Shudra—were followed strictly. The priest of the
temple Venkataramanayya, explained the origin of the four castes,
“Brahmins were born from the mouth of the cosmic being, the ruling
class from his arms, the traders and moneyed class from thighs and
Shudras from his feet.” (150 Cr) But there was no answer from
Venkataramanayya for Satyabhama’s question, “then who created
Muslims and Christians?” (150 Cr)
The entire village that never bothered about their origin of the caste
earlier strangely gets involved into a mass hypocrisy during census,
where everybody wants to prove that somewhere they are connected to
Brahmin lineage. The peaceful village that worked hard and lived happily
gets distorted due to illogical mythological stories of the past which
turned to be the part of mass unhappiness.

The entire novel has many myths in the form of stories and folk
songs. They have a story about goddess Maramma who should be offered
Buffalo as a sacrifice. A boy came from the scavengers’ community, who
was very fair-complexioned and intelligent enough to absorb all the
Vedas without being taught. He married a Brahmin girl by deceit and had
children. When wife learnt the truth, she set the house on fire and killed
herself along with her children. Now the buffalo standing for sacrifice
symbolises her mendacious husband. The sheep and goats are her
children. (498 Cr) During the procession, a person acted the role of
Ranagayya, a younger brother of the boy who deceived the Brahmin girl,
continuously shouts abuses and hurls bad words at everybody as a part of
ritual. He spits in front of every house in the village. This funny acts

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sound comic and irrelevant in rendered work. The novel contains fifty
percent of Sanskritised Mythological words, which surely obstructs the
flow of translation work.

Though the English reader is acquainted with the hitches of racism,

he is unable to understand the evils of casteism in India because the
whole society falls prey for the egoistic acts of elders. In the end
minister’s son Shrinivas loses his mental balance, Mohandas dies in the
flood, Meera Mohandas’ sister commits suicide, Kumudini Srinivas’ wife
dies in pregnancy, Venkataramanayya Satyabhama’s father commits
suicide, and Satyabhama remains unmarried. All these misfortunes take
place due to the false prestige, and the self-centered deeds of elders in the
family. One more psychological trauma that spreads like a virus in the
rigid society is the ‘curse of a Brahmin’. Venkataramanayya, the priest
had disturbed mind as his daughter’s decision of getting married with
Srinivas belonging to Vakkaliga family had an abrupt end. Satyabhama
and Srinivas want to get married to put an end to the old beliefs. People in
the society are of the opinion that if a girl from higher caste gets married
with the boy of lower caste, then Brahmin’s curse is sure to bring evil.
Melagiri Gowda says,

“A higher river should keep to its level, a lower one should

flow beneath it. Let’s face this fact: if the two rivers flow into
each other, the village will be flooded and the community
may be drowned.”(71).

In SL text, the writer’s rhetoric questions bring more meaning.

“A river which has to flow upwards should flow upwards. A

river which has to be at downwards should be at
downwards. If one joins it, Can anyone expect to have
undestroyed village and houses?

So the families of Sathybhama and Shrinivas prevent their

marriage. But later Venkataramanayya in a frenzied moment curses
Kumudini, the wife of Shrinivas. When Kumudini dies, the entire society

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comes to the conclusion that, she has suffered due to the curse of the
priest.

Again the acts of lower-caste people entering temple, their

hesitancy in looking at the face of god, later washing the entire temple
from golden shrine at the top to the bottom pouring thousands of pots of
water, reminds the reader the barbaric society in its inception.

2.4.4 Religious Untranslatability

Satyabhama often recites Gayatri Mantra and takes Brahmopadesh

by wearing religious thread. She gives Brahmopadesh to her friend
Meera. All these instances rejuvenate Indian readers with thrill and
excitement because these kinds of acts like reciting Gayatri Mantra and
taking Brahmopadesha reminds him of Vedic age where women like
Gargeyi, Maitreyi proved to be on equal footing with men scholars of
those days. Religious Words like Teertha (sacred water), Panchagavya
(cow urine), Prasad, Naivedya, Pinda, Uddharane, Religious sari are
untranslatable. The translator has to find out some equivalents which may
fail to get the essence of the original words. There are many mantras
quoted in the novels which has more musicality, but that can be realised
by Indian readers. All these acts have less impact on the English Reader,
but the Reader in English might have faced fewer challenges.

2.4.5 Media Culture

One of the chief difficulties what an English reader faces is the

particular media culture of the nation. Especially in India, during post-
independent era Hindi movies played an important role in common man’s
life. It was common attitude of the people to praise the beauty of someone
in and around by comparing it with that of the Bollywood celebrities. e.g.
Kumudini looks like Nargis (a noted film actress) to .Shrinivas. Meera
looks like Vaijantibala, (another noted film actress), Shrinivas refers
beautiful proper names mentioned in Sharatchandra novels etc. (A
famous Bengali novelist)

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3.5 Parva

Plot: The Mahabharata has been a source of inspiration as well as

challenge for many great writers of India through the centuries. Parva is
considered to be the Magnum Opus of Bhyrappa. Though the
Mahabharata story at the backdrop, it reflects the quality of
contemporaneity. It is this quality which distinguishes Parva from the
Vyasbharat, the original source of the Mahabharata myth on which
Parva is based. Here the author’s intention doesn’t seem to be to re-tell
the story of the Mahabharata, but to offer a different perspective on a
community living at a particular time and place, which can be seen
through contemporary consciousness. So Parva is considered to be the
modern novel.

“…This is one of the ultimate books, which I have read in

my life. His novels are one, which could be read more than
10 times. Every page of all books is so thrilling that you turn
the pages every now and then to digest it. It will be pride for
the reader to tell his fellow friends every line of those books.
His books mark the reader to follow and to achieve every
character as model. The reader becomes more mature in
terms of philosophy and acquires a huge treasure of
knowledge. The authors command over the language is rich
and fabulous”. (Renukaradhya 1)

The story of the novel takes place during the time of the
Mahabharata war. The novel begins with the conversation between
Shalya and his grand –daughter Hiranyavati. The writer mentions many
revolutionary things like the acceptance of children in the society born
out of wedlock, the system of Niyoga, the important role played by
woman in the society. One wonders at the Vedic culture existing during
that period. He has created known and familiar characters like
Dharmaraj, Bhishma, Duryodhana, and Krishna with all their strengths
and weakness. To uncover the psyche of the characters mainly the sub-
conscious the author has used the contemporary novelistic techniques

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such as the introspection of characters, their reminiscences, the use of
fictive dialogues and interior monologues. He has created innumerable
minor characters to enhance the effect of the modern novel. Yuyudhana-
the charioteer of Krishna, Kamakatanakati –wife of Ghatotkacha,
Hiranyavati –granddaughter of Shalya, Neela, Kruta, metal worker,
Barabraka and many others, who rather act as the link between two
important characters.

Kunti’s helplessness as an unwed mother is shown through her

reminiscences. The psychological turmoil of Draupadi as a wife of five
husbands is revealed. Draupadi couldn’t protest against the wish of Kunti
to get married with all her sons to keep the unity in the family. Kunti
mentioned it as Arya Dharma. Another example is that of Gandhari. She
has to sacrifice her sight because of her husband and was denied the
simple joys like touching and caressing her children. The illusion of being
a mortal goddess snatched away all her joys of life. The anthropological
approach like, ‘why Kamsa has to be so harsh despite of being born in a
somber community like Yadavas’ is done with a greater social concern.
Why Pandavas and Kauravas though belonging to a same genealogy were
so different? No character in this novel is God or Demon. All of them
share same kind of strengths and weaknesses.

Renowned Hindi critic Kamaleswar has exclaimed that,

“In my concerned opinion Parva is a colossal modern

classic…..and I wish I had written it! There is a lot to talk
about it ……..Apart from the time transcending content, the
structure is simply superb……..” (Kamleshwara 1)

Raghavendrarao, the translator claims that he has achieved to some

extent the impossible, reconciling and irreconcilable aims of producing a
literal translation and producing a creative work and says,

“Despite the formidable challenges and hazards, I have

enjoyed working on this translation. I have tried to be
totally faithful to the original, producing virtually a word for
word translation, but without losing its essential spirit and

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 gusto. Perhaps paradoxically, perhaps not, I have tried to
produce a work which is meant to read like an English novel
in its own right”. (R Rao x-xi)

The translator admits that he has used word-to-word translation in

Parva to retain the original meaning, but more than half of the words are
Indianised words to keep the local colour, which might distort the
complete meaning of the story, when it is rendered into English.

2.5.1 Myth

The first and the foremost important problem what the translator
comes across in translating Parva is the problem of narrating the known
myth to the unknown audience. When Bhyrappa penned Parva- the
demythified form of the Mahabharata, and the native readers enjoyed it
with a different perspective. They were aghast by reading a known story
of their epic in a different shape and narration. Since childhood, though
they hear the story of the Mahabharata with all grandeur and their
favourite heroes like Dharmaraj- the icon of truth, Arjuna- the bravest in
all the three worlds, Bhīma- the strongest, Duryodhana, Dushasan,
Shakuni and Karna are considered as dushtachatushtayas who symbolize
the four evils in Kauravas, they agree that the practical approach in
viewing the characters as human beings is possible only after reading
Parva. Whenever, the Writer creates any kind of sub-stories, situations or
any character, the native reader suddenly grasps what exactly the writer
wants to intend, because he is acquainted with the plot. For English
reader the story of the Mahabharata is an epic story with an unfamiliar
atmosphere. The story is woven with web of thousands of characters,
who take part in final war of Kurukshetra. It is impossible for the
translator to give footnotes to every character. Thus the most popular
book in Kannada might have chances of the utter failure when it is
translated into English.

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2.5.2 Language

Secondly, it is the idiolect, dialect, style, idioms, puns used by

Bhyrappa which is the greatest restraint in cultural- translation. In Parva,
Every important character has capacity to analyse critically situations and
people. Especially his women characters have displayed their personality
in their unique style of using words which carries their image in every
novel as developed characters. Feminine idiolect is the major part of any
contribution related to the culture of the particular land. So, feminine
idiolect has emerged as the Strength of Culture.

Every woman character has a greater strength, intelligence and

power to evaluate the erroneous situations happening around her. e.g.
Kunti has premonition of war after the death of her husband Pandu and
doesn’t give up her claim on Kuru throne. She has her own idiolect while
musing about her futile marriage with Pandu and hurried decision of
Bhishma to get another woman to perpetuate Kuru lineage. In SL, the
reflections of Kunti are full of ironic words about the prowess of Pandu
and fruitless attempt of Bhishma to bring another woman. She says,

“…Muduka Mava Bhishma, Sainya jotege Ippattu gaDi

vastra, Patre, Kambali, Vadave modaladuvudannu HerisikonDu
Madra deshakke hoda. ………..nanage nage Bantu. Hedarikeyu:
Aayitu……………. I:ta yarallu makkalannu srustisalar. I:
Kshatriyaru yestu hendirannadaru: A: Labahudu. YesTu Da:
siyannadaru iDabahudu……………” (47 SL Parva)

The translation in English never seems to be very forceful as it is in

Kannada. In TL she succumbs to the situation that is happening.

“……The old father-in-law Bhishma, equipped with an

army, twenty cartloads of gifts of cloths, utensils, blankets
and jewellery, had journey to Madra region. …….Kunti
remembered, ‘I wanted to laugh, but I was scared to,
frankly.’ She knew that it was beyond his capacity to
produce children out of any woman. ….the Kshatriya could

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 acquire as many wives and as many concubines as he
wanted………” (50 TL Parva)

The words like Vastra, Patre, and Vadave have cultural

connotative meaning because Vastra indicates any kind of cloth stitched
or unstitched. Patre symbolises any type or shape of vessel. This is in
fact cultural untranslatability. The translator has tried to give equivalent
words which may not encompass entire meaning of regional culture, but
may satisfy the English Reader. The sentence, ‘I wanted to laugh, but I
was scared to, frankly’ (50 TL Parva) shows the lack of syntactical
awareness of the translator, because here the sentence gives the meaning
that Kunti is scared to laugh. This misleads the reader.

In SL, the word Muduka (oldman) is not considered to be the

respectable word. Adding Muduka +Ru shows the honoured intension of
the speaker. Most of the time, it depends on the speaker and the
occasion. In Kannada, singular is used only to those who are young.
The same is unpleasant when addressed elderly man with singular.
Out of anger Kunti addresses him in singular and calls him muduka.
Bhishma in the Mahabharata is known as Pitamaha. He has a
respectable position throughout the Mahabharata not because of his
age, but because of his leading position as a father in the entire Kuru clan.
Kunti’s aversion is due to Pandu’s impotency, who is married to Kunti
posing as a brave, handsome Prince on the advice of Bhishma. Bhishma,
the bachelor, is unable to understand the predicament of a young,
beautiful woman like Kunti. This powerful language of Kunti, her firm
decisions are visible in the whole novel. It is she alone, who has realised
the real dharma of Bhishma. In the similar way, Madri, the second wife
of Pandu also has same grief,

“……Can you imagine the intensity of that hunger of the

flesh for flesh? There is no more cruel punishment than to
suffer it. That old man, Bhishma, tempting my parents with
his military prowess and wealth, bought me. He pushed me
into this insatiable hunger and into the nuptial chamber,
closing the door from the outside. I am sure the old man will

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 end up in the worst hell after death, never go to
heaven…….” (103 TL Parva)

In the similar way, even Draupadi reflects when she is insulted by

Duryodhana and Dussasana openly in the dice hall in presence of all
elderly people including Bhishma. She asked him,

“ Is it dharma on the part of Dharmaraja to employ me as a

stake in gambling ?’ what did that grand-father of Kurus,
the most ancient of the entire people, reputed as the greatest
expert in Dharma, that white-bearded chronic bachelor, that
old fellow say ? This: ‘a man who is himself somebody’s
property has no right to stake anything in a gamble. But a
wife is perpetually under her husband’s control and
authority. Thus dharma is very delicate and ticklish. I,
therefore refrain from saying anything in this matter. ….”
(218 TL Parva).

All his novels pronounce the resilient position of women. In India,

this strong feminine culture is since ages. The woman in the house is the
decision maker. She is the part of this important culture. Kunti,
knowing the reason for her husband’s impotency, never allowed her
children to indulge in sex with servant-maids. She has proved to be the
strongest mother who could bind all her children with her rules and
regulations. She has made all five children to get married with Draupadi.
Draupadi displays less reverence to her husband Dharmaraj, because she
is of the opinion that he has never realised the real meaning of the word
dharma. Draupadi rememberes how Dharmaraj’s dharma has nauseating
definition,

“Dharmaraja, do you think that dharma is simply

mechanically repeating a routine knowledge of Dharma, a
mere memorising of such a routine?”(213)

This description of woman as a strong lady in ancient Indian

society surely surprises the English Reader because he comprehends
ancient Indian woman’s position in comparison with that of today which

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usually tells the tale of women suppression in the Indian male
chauvinistic society.

2.5.4 Places Related to Mythology

Parva is more cultural bound novel with names of the places with
cultural trace, because whenever the name of the places like Dwaraka,
Gokul, Mathura, Hastinavati, Indraprasta and Kurukstretra appears
in the novel the native reader is suddenly is shifted to that place with all
kinds of emotions. Unlike other novels, the places are not just the
conventional places, but they are sentient with emotions. They are
reminded of the great leader like lord Krishna who chiselled a moral
dictum of Bhagavadgeeta and the one who built a beautiful place like
Dwaraka. Gokul reminds him the prosperity of the city with plenty of
milk, butter and curds. Hastinavati stands for Kauravas and Indraprasta
for Pandavas. Kurukshetra retells him the modern horrors of war but the
TL is not able to give such great passion about the entire country,
because the cultural set up cannot be understood by the English reader.
At the same time the important issue what puzzles English Reader is the
freedom given to writers in India to interpret critically the religious epic,
which may not be possible in other countries and communities. He is
surprised by the strong status of women, the niyoga system where women
is allowed to have children with the help of another man when husband is
unable to bear children, accepting children born out of wedlock, out of
premarital relationships, women getting married with five husbands and
amazing literary books written at that time. At the same time there are
possibilities of miscommunication by the translator which might diminish
the glory of ancient India with inappropriate language. When the prose of
Bhyrappa reads like poetry, especially in the concluding part of Parva,
where he has weaved many situations and has brought uniformity with a
unique technique is the complex task for the translator. The minute details
about special local dishes, dresses designed according to weather
conditions, the local gatherings and the hospitality towards guests:
everything has local tint.

“A central problem for the translation of prose is the

difficulty of determining translation units. A text is a prime unit,

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 which has dialectical relationship with other texts and is located
within a specific historical context. But while translation of poetry
can more easily break the prime text down into translatable units,
E.g. lines, verses, stanzas, the translator of prose has more
complex task. Though many novels are broken down into chapters
and sections, the structuring of a prose text is by no means as
linear as the chapter divisions might to indicate” (H. Laxmi, 107-
108)

In fact this problem is very intense when a colossal work like

Parva gets translated, because the structure of his prose doesn’t move
linear but moves spiral. He uses many narrative techniques, where the
character analysis takes place many times with different and varied
angles. His novel The Witness (Sakshi), proves one more dimension of
this kind perfectly.

2.6 The Witness (Sakshi)

Plot: Overcome by the long-lasting guilt of having perjured

himself in a murder trial, a village elder named Parameshwaraiyya
commits suicide. Yama, the god of death and righteousness commands
him to return to earth in spiritual form to witness, but not to intervene in
the subsequent events. The village elder observes the other characters as
they are confronted by difficult decisions, and revelations which cause
them to look inward.

The entire story revolves around Manjaiyya, who is lustful, greedy,

self-centered and egoistic. But his enchanting looks are deceptive. The
writer analyses the definition of Truth and Lie. In this modern age, the
person with technique of uttering right words, right rhythm with right
tone, at right time, with the right person is the one, who leads successful
life. If truth is told with improper way or untold, the consequences are
bound to affect the entire life of a person. The story moves into the world
of lord Yama, the God of death.

‘Kama’-- has a significant place in Indian society. Vatsyayana’s

Kama sutra deals with the art of enjoying conjugal life. Never any

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literature or any sculpture has given vulgar touch to this art of life. But
when art turns into licentiousness then there is a fall of the main
character. Bhyrappa depicts modern man’s hollow life devoid of any
spirituality, morality and principles. At the same time such characters are
strangely full of poise, and narcissist. As W.B Yeats says in second
coming, “The best lack conviction and the worst full of passionate
intensity”.The main character with evil deeds is full of confidence in the
novel. The person, who never voiced untruth in his life time, tells a small
lie once in the court of law, distraught so much that he commits suicide.
He is honest, having right conduct, never believed in falsehood, yet
author cautions how untold truth disrupts the life of others around him.
Truth not told at a right time is more like a lie, because others might
gain over someone’s goodness.

The story begins and ends with unique plot-device-discussions in

the judgment court of Yama, the Supreme controller and arbiter in the
Hindu Puranic realm. The novel is raised to height of grandeur because
these scenes enhance the eminence of the novel. The dead soul of
Parameshwaraiyya narrates why he committed suicide. The Lord and the
divine powers very well know the fact that Parameshwaraiyya is a man of
words. The soul has been given permission to enter the minds of the
people down on the earth passively.

The story is set in the beautiful surroundings of Tiptur. Scene shifts

often to Hassan and Channarayapatna. Continuing in the repercussion of
the murder-trial the story unfolds before reader with different
perspectives from different characters. Manjayya, the central character
reminds the character of Alfred Doolittle of Pygmalion by Bernard shaw.
He is a coconut farm-owner, but his deceptive good looks have won
many young ladies’ hearts. Inadvertently he slays Kanchi, who has come
to his farm to rob coconuts. To escape from the court-punishment he is
successful in turning the mind of Lakku the wife of Kanchi. He promises
to marry her. Even he is able to convince the mind of his innocent,
truthful father-in-law Parameshwaraiyya though he proved to be
undeserving son-in-law. Manjaiyya is extremely lecherous character, who
manages perfectly the affairs with mother and daughter at the same time.
Though his affair with Janaki, Parameswraiah’s wife is discovered, he is

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as normal as and as tough as anything the wife of Parameshwaraiyya
Janaki, commits suicide. The secret is buried with Janaki’s ashes and
Parameswaraiyya’s silence. Here the novel questions, Is truth not told at
a right time means it is equivalent to falsehood? Perhaps
Pameshwaraiyya could have saved his daughter Savitri’s marriage with
Manjaiyya by telling the truth. He tried to thwart the marriage, but didn’t
dare to talk about the morality of his wife. Had he tried to understand the
plight of Janaki, probably even her life would have been saved. Savitri is
stub-born enough to marry Manjayya without knowing the secret
relationship between her mother and Manjaiyya. By the time Savitri
understands his true nature she couldn’t do anything but desert him. She
takes up the life of a teacher. Manjaiyya continues to be a womanizer.
Even righteous and ethical man like Satyappa comes under the
magnetism of Manjaiyya. A perfect son-in-law of Parameshwaraiyya and
the follower of Gandhian principles never think of the second marriage
after the death of his wife Sita though she dies in her early age. Only once
in his entire life time he thinks of going wrong and the consequence was
to suffer from sexual disease. That teaches him a good warning and
recognizes the kind of people he has around him.

The real strength of woman flows through Lakku, the wife of

Kanchi. The moment she realizes that Manjayya has illicit relationship
with her daughter, her fury to take revenge intensifies. She has been in
the offing to marry Manjaiyya, but life has showed her right warning for
her mistakes. She has decided that she wouldn’t let other women to fall
prey to Manjaiyya’s deceits. Manjaiyya’s animal behavior is horrendous.
Lakku contemplates to give an end to this evil because dirt can kick the
fragrance of entire society. She takes a sharp sickle and cuts his penis.
Thus evil-doer meets a tragic death.

Bhyrappa’s women characters are resilient and assertive in their

pronouncements. Whenever they get a right context to show their vigour
they aren’t timid rather they come out with such decisions where
everyone is stunned. Sakshi differs from other novels of Bhyrappa,
because the problem tackled in Sakshi is unique and applicable to this
universal ‘free society’, which reminds us Eliot’s Waste Land. Hundreds
of women, who fall for unworthy person like Manjaiyya though knowing

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about his licentiousness reminds us about hollow money-centered society
existing around us. Manjaiyya’s dead soul continues telling falsehoods
even in the court of Yamadharma. Even Lords are amazed by his
calculations and the way of interpreting truth. The novel ends with a
rhetoric question, “Lord, is there no end to lies?” (346 TL The Witness)

The Witness has capacity to move beyond the boundaries of

language, color, culture and signifies a greater truth of life that if man
respects the highest values given to him by God whether it is in the form
of power, money, intelligence or good looks then they persist with him, if
taken advantage, then soon he has to part with them.

2.6.1 Meaning of the Title

The ‘Truth’ has different shades of meaning. Bhyrappa puts it,

“According to Vedanta (Indian philosophical tradition), the

truth corresponds neither with external facts nor with
practical utility but rather with a state of consciousness in
which a person becomes SAAKSHI, that is, a witness to
himself.” (Bhyrappa 2)

Thus the title SAKSHI has a deeper, philosophical meaning which

may not be the same when it is translated as WITNESS. It is originally
the Sanskrit name, which is the preferred name for a baby-girl in Indian
society. Probably English has no shades of meaning for the word The
Witness as Kannada has for Sakshi. Unlike English, it is not a person
who stands in a witness-box and tells the facts. Sakshi, in Indian culture,
illumines the mind to become self-evident which means that when
thoughts arise we should be aware of our own thoughts. Even during
marriage the ritual insists to take the Sakshi of Agni (fire), Vayu, (air)
Bhoomi (earth), Surya (sun), and Chandra (moon). Thus the title of the
novel itself gives different meanings for the Native Reader and the
English Reader. So the title may not be translated appropriately in
cultural-translation.

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2.6.2 Myth

Secondly, the beginning of the novel gets the foreign reader into
trouble because it begins with the Indian mythological story. The spirit of
Parameshwaraiyya, who has committed suicide in human world, has
entered a different world where it is experiencing different light, different
things unable to understand whether the place belongs to the world of
Yama. This explanation is amusing and thrilling for every Indian reader.
The SL brings more interest in the Reader of English or the native reader
because of the direct, simple and short sentences used by the writer where
unnecessary details are not given. The first sentence goes like this,

“iduvarege Kannige Parichayvadaddakkint Be:rey Belaku

Netrendriya pratyakshakke sahaka:riyad belakinalli
gocharisuva ri:tiye bere” (1 SL)

(This different kind of light was not familiar to the eye till today.
The light which is perceptible with the assistance of eyes is quite
different. trans.mine) The TL says,
“light, strange and unfamiliar to the eye. Not the kind of light that
helps things appears more clearly”. (1 TL)
In the first sentence, the reader doesn’t get the meaning of the word
light, which is polysemous in English giving more than one meaning.
Light is something which stands for brightness and also which is not
heavy. Here the translator has confused the sentence by adding comma
after the word light. He has tried to explain the meaning of the word
Yama as the Lord of the dead and of Dharma of Absolute Justice, which
might have been in the footnotes to continue the flow of the language.

The court of Yamadharma, the lord of the dead, is in session.

“It is not usually the practice here to allow those who stand
in the presence of Yama to give an account of themselves.
Normally it is the Chitra-guptas, who are asked to read from their
account of the good and the evil things that the dead have done
while on earth. When spirits arrive here they usually cry, beg, lie-
do anything they try to prove that they are not guilty. Either that or

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 they beg for forgiveness or they say that they ‘didn’t know what
they were doing’. That’s why both Chitra and Chitragupta, the two
ever-watchful witnesses inside every human being, are asked to
note down everything. Their reports are free from anger, envy and
jealousy. They never lie. Their duties are to remember and to tell
the truth. And theirs is the only version accepted here as being the
whole truth- though sometimes the spirits themselves are asked to
say if anything has been left out or exaggerated” (2 TL)
The Kannada sentence goes like this, “Hi:ge
Yamasa:nidhyadalli nintavarannu ne:ravagi prashnisuvudilla”, (2
SL) abruptly begins yet full of meaning. Whereas the first
sentence in TL is quite longer. In the similar way the writer’s skill
of using short, but meaningful sentences are not easily translatable.

2.6.3 Language

Idiolect: The word ‘licentiousness’ is a common universal factor.

The whole story revolves around such lustful and corrupt, but extremely
good-looking person, Manjaiyya. He has his own idiolect, which is so
attractive that anybody who listen to him easily fall prey to his tricks. Lie
is spoken in such a way that the truthful person is confused about his own
words. He is expert manipulator of the things around him. He convinces
Parameshwaraiyya to tell only a lie in the court knowing that he is known
as Dharmaraj, who speak the truth always. This unique style of
Manjaiyya’s speech is not easily translatable in English.
Parameshwaraiyya describes him as the one who has ‘innocent
fearlessness’. (12 SL).

Dialect: The people in the village Tipatur speak a particular

Kannada dialect which contains more number of rural and regional
words. Again characters like Parameshwaraiyya, Savitri, Manajaiyya,
Satyappa, Ramachandra, speak a polished dialect. Whereas Lakku, Nagi,
Sarojakshi speak a low class dialect, which is tough to translate because
the minute differences in their talk is not easy to identify.

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 Register: The reader gets the language of lawyer, Malali
Ramachandrayya because he speaks a particular register of lawyers which
is more professional.

2.6.4 Intellectual Humour

The writer never intends to bring humour as a mark of great

literature, but the writer’s narration is full of idioms, phrases, dialogues
which naturally get the tint of humour. In The Witness the character
Malali Venkataramanayya calls Manjayya as the person who has loose
dhoti knot (15 SL) which means the one who is a womaniser. When
Manjaiyya remains absent from his village for a long time, one of the
ladies makes fun of him, “Were you out to get monk’s robe stitched?”
(216 SL) In Kannada version the lady mentions as ‘swami’ who is
sanyasi and shyati is saffron coloured dress. Manjaiyya continues telling
lies in the court of Yama. His convincing power to prove himself as
innocent brings ironical laughter on the lips of reader. Chitragupta reports
the influence of Manjayya’s immoral behavior on the earth. He says,

“…even now when animals of either sex go into his

plantation they go mad and start rutting straight away. Cows
chase after bulls, and bulls, if they can’t find a cow, will
mount female buffaloes or donkeys anything. It’s not
necessary to describe what dogs do. A man by the name of
Satyappa even tried to open a rehabilitation center for
destitute women there, but the women there seemed to
become possessed by abnormal desires and have abnormal
sex desires. It was the same with the male workers who
worked there. It is said that men who are impotent secretly
visit his plantations at dead of night in the hope that they
will regain their sexual powers”. (345-346 TL)

This paragraph may be a serious reading for a foreign reader

because the background story of mythology is not easily digestible. But
the SL takes the regional reader into the pool of laughter, because the
reader imagines the scene in the court of Yama which must have lingered
thousand times with different scenes in his imaginative world.

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2.7 Caravan (Sartha)

Plot: Sartha literally means a trading Caravan. In ancient India,

such caravans would travel to distant lands to trade with the people of
that land. It is a remarkable historical novel about a Vedic scholar
Nagabhatta of 8th century.

“It is a physical as well as a metaphysical journey that takes

Nagabhatta through various streams of philosophy and ways
of life that were intermingling, negotiating and fighting for
survival in 8th century India”. (Bageshree 1)

King Amruka deputes the scholar Nagabhata to take up higher

studies in Kashi. But in reality he wants to know the secrets of Caravan
trade in order to improve the economy of his kingdom. It deals with the
physical journey to different parts of India, and spiritual inward journey
of Nagabhatta. After spending some years in undirected journey to many
places, Nagabhatta acquires profound knowledge of different religions,
social and cultural aspects of India, Yogik and Tantrik knowledge and
strange customs. But soon realizes that he has been betrayed, and
deceived by his good friend, King Amruka. His beautiful and young wife
Shalini is enamoured by rich ornaments, emeralds of King and is staying
with the King in the absence of Nagabhatta. She has also a child from
King. His mother has pined away and has died with a great agony. The
narrator lost interest in returning home. His desire of going home to take
revenge on King and Shalini has deepened, but later he thinks that why
should he punish them? They would be punished for their wrong doing.
King Amruka is strong now. He might be well aware of the news that has
reached Nagabhatta. So Nagabhatta has decided to stay with Caravan. He
is surprised to see the fight between the highwaymen and Caravan men.
Everyone in the Caravan is brave and has a technique to push back these
robbers. Here the narrator is surprised by the number of names of god
recited during the fight. Even the robbers take the name of ‘Manibhadra’
the God of Buddhism. The author opened up the vast amount of
knowledge regarding our Puranas and Epics that existed in eighth
century India. The journey has bought enormous experience to
Nagabhatta. The entire world is open there: Elephants, horses, donkeys,

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food grains, a big group of soldiers: who protect people of Caravan from
robbers, a group of students: who want to study in Kashi, thousands of
pilgrims, travellers etc.

At this juncture, Bhyrappa opens before us a completely authentic

recreation of eighth century India and as such, confronts the translator
with his own confidence in translating not only a bygone age, but also
technical and philosophical vocabulary into English without which the
metaphysical standpoints and scholarly disputation between Adi
Shankaracharya and Mandana Mishra cannot be presented. Again a
conflict between individual culture and the culture of the society, which
changes continuously, probably because, the existing ruler changes it
according to his convenience. His best friend Amaruka, the monarch,
sends Nagabhatta away in the pretext of congealing the country’s
economy mesmerizes his beautiful wife after his departure. Here the
writer points out how the land sentient with Vedic culture, ethics
suddenly transformed into a barren land without any culture. Nagabhatta
finds change in the mentality of the people. He takes up the culture which
is exclusively his own. His philosophical bent up of mind allows him to
reach wisdom of life. He could make a choice of right and wrong. He
knows that life teaches lesson to the wrong doer. Thus emerges very
powerful, wounded mind. He has lost his personal life, but wounded lion
has decided to win the entire life. For a while, like a tragic Greek hero he
suffers from jealousy, pity and revenge, but that subsidies like a dark
cloud. His extensive travel with Caravan, analysis of various characters,
helps him to come out of that vacuum. That thundering vacuum is felt
suddenly when the priest from his land narrates unbelievable incidents
related to his life. He knows that priest is known for his spot-on words.
“Na bruyat sathyamapriyam (3 TL)—harsh truths should not be
mentioned-did not apply to him.” He did not utter lies. He said,

‘Nagabhatta! Anyway I am going that far. Another three

days of travel. I wanted to give you the news in Kashi itself.
It’s a good thing I met you right here,’ this disturbed the
narrator. Priest continued, ‘a young wife enamored by the
rich emeralds, diamonds and ornaments of the king---a
connoisseur of women—became pregnant and had a child.

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 Unable to bear this, your mother pined away and died. How
could she send word to you? Where to? With whom? Is
Kashi a distance of half a dozen days?”(3 TL)

The human relationships take different turns and angles according

to the external circumstances. But solidarity of human relationships lies
within. The narrator, who is intelligent and has gained profound
knowledge never, had any crooked thought to deceive his own
relationships. The Dikshit priest who hardly had an inch of knowledge in
comparison with Nagabhatta had realized the greater truth of life. He tells
him,

“Education, advanced studies, and travelling to other

distant lands should be undertaken before marriage. After
that one must be content to study and learn at one’s own
place. You have blundered in flouting this rule.” (4 TL)

Bhyrappa’s protagonists are the one, who never lose their roots.
His wisdom takes him to such a high position that he forgives his friend
and his wife. But later in his life he meets a lady of his dream and caliber,
Chandrika. She is highly involved in spirituality, but a good match to the
traditional scholar Nagabhatta. Interesting subjects like mind-reading and
entering dead body known in philosophical terms as Parakaya Pravesha
are important part of this novel. Even Chandrika, who is interested in all
these mind techniques, is also a good singer. The story continues with
their romantic sensation. Chandrika is disillusioned by her previous
marriage, because the most charming lady like her decides toget married
with one blind guru, who is a renowned singer. She is young and doesn’t
know the ways of the world. She believes in sacrifice and blind love
which probably turned to be the death-valley. Too much of
possessiveness and jealousy of Yadubhadra, her husband leaves her in
dejection. Her extra marital relationship with Simukha is natural, because
she has a kind of husband who is unable to praise her excellent beauty,
her voice or her gait. To punish her, Yadubhadra commits suicide when
her romance with Simukha is discovered. She is forced to leave her city
after she gets punishment. Her enchanting beauty and her voice is more a
curse than a god’s gift. She meets her love Nagabhatta in Mathura who is

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now Krishnananda. The story lingers with all ups and downs of their
matured love story. The Muslim invasion on Sindh province forces
Nagabhatta and Chandrika to undergo physical torture by the invaders.
To save the life of her lover, Chandrika has to submit herself to the
Nawab of the alien powers. The Nawab forces her to become his
concubine which results in unwanted pregnancy. The novel ends with
Nagabhatta and Chandrika deciding to get married according to the
advice of Chandrika’s guru. The greatness of Nagabhatta lies in accepting
the child.

2.7.1. Cultural Translational Problems

Caravan (Sarth) is considered to be the novel of matured and

ripened thoughts. The intellectual debates, heart-throbbing dialogues,
gripping narration, spiritual and mental journey of the protagonist, the
thrilling experience of India in eighth century gives the native reader a
sense of pride and belongingness to his native land. When
Vamshavriksha was written, the author was rather young with more
ground-breaking thoughts. Yet the intellectual balance was retained in the
character of Shrotri. With Caravan, the reader points out that, the novel
is not for the collective mass, but for the intelligentsia.

The basic problem for the translator is whether he should take up

literal translation or word-to-word translation. But the translator of
Bhyrappa should be competent enough to know the usage of both
translations equally well because the narration of the author is highly
cultural-specific. In this regard, the translator of Sarth, S. Ramaswamy
has done commendable work. Being a scholar in English, Sanskrit and
Philosophy, specifically the scholar in Advaita Vedanta the translator has
exceptional grip over the words and the situations. Yet the two languages
English and Kannada have totally different atmosphere in every regard,
so the challenges are obligatory.

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2.7.2 Language used during Eighth Century

The present novel Sarth has a rare vocabulary, even the native
reader is less acquainted with the words. But entirely he doesn’t feel alien
because at least the words are recognizable though the meaning is not
comprehensive. Here the words have special signs as they are derived
from Vedic literature like aparajita, bhiksha, dharmachakra,
gruhamantruka, kubera, lalitsana, Sandhya Vandane, vihara etc. The
word ‘bhiksha’ has a significant meaning in Hinduism. So it cannot be
translated as seeking alms or begging. Begging only in few houses
indicates giving up one’s ego. Even other Sanskrit words cannot be
substituted. In one of the situations, Sarth is attacked by highwaymen
who chant Manibhadra, the God of Buddhsim. They have their own
temple and they worship their own God. They take oath by taking the
name of evil and blood-thirsty gods and goddesses like Shakini, Dakini,
Bhutaraya and Kapali bhyrava. (14 TL) It’s common in Indian situation
to recite a particular mantra for every distressful situation. It is so
significant in Indian situation that the characters believe that they are
protected in the aura of mantras.

Usually the English reader has diverse notions about India. They
identify that, this is the land of Vedas and Upanishads, Yoga and
Ayurveda, but at the same time they also have notion that, this is the land
of sandhus and snake–charmers. Nagabhatta encounters such tantriks and
sadhus, who consume uncooked meat of animals, wearing only a piece of
cloth even in the extreme cold, executing weird worship in the midnight
of grave yard to acquire certain strengths etc. Nagabhatta’s experience
with the people of Sartha, the name of different local goods carrying in
the bullock carts, the Upper caste people preparing their own food
without touching the food prepared by others are untranslatable.

2.7.3 Indian Classical Music

One more noteworthy contribution of Bhyrappa’s novel is the

melody of Indian classical music, which is different from the music in the
west. The repertoire of music in terms of rhythm, tone, melody and

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creativity has a particular terminology which is untranslatable. The writer
has great inclination towards Indian classical music which has occurred in
many novels. The protagonist beautiful Chandrika is known for her
melodious voice. Her enchanting voice coupled with extensive
knowledge in melody, rhythm and creativity gives her a different poise as
a great singer.

“…the musical element centers round the character

Chandrica, unique woman character created by Bhyrappa
and one the greatest characters in the entire body of
Kannada fiction. Here music is partnered by acting dance
Yoga and Tantrism. Though allied to other things in this
multi-faceted artist, her story is inextricably interconnected
with her mellifluous voice and her extraordinary physical
beauty. ….. an analysis of this story alone is rich treasure
house of the partnership between music and life itself”
(Ramaswamy 2)

While in the process of important character sketch, the translator

has to be bit careful in the usage of words. When Chandrika decides to
get married with blind singer, her mother was horrified. (hauharidaLu)
The translator has used the word ‘angry’ (121 TL) instead of ‘horrified’
which may not convey the feelings of mother. Chandrika’s posture while
sitting, the words of praise for her beauty, the simile used for
Nagabhatta’s goodlooks, his maturity in love, describing tantriks are
indeed challenging to translate, but absenteeism of these have ended the
narration in English seems to be very dull and dry.

2.8 The Un-translated novels

The modern Kannada novel of the last hundred years is so rich, and
vibrant that it has won ample recognition at the national and international
level through translation. In fact the growing body of translation from
Kannada into English is encouraged by the success of A.K. Ramanujan’s
versions of the Vachanas and Anatmurthy’s Samskara. When one
surveys the entire assortment of Bhyrappa’s novels, one perceives that the
opening novels like Dharmashree, Doorasaridaru and Matadan are the

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conception from his own life. Most of the incidents, situations and
characters are drawn from his early life. Yet when they took the form of
Novel, they were given different contour, silhouette and incarnation. This
was the route to popularity. Later novels like Grihabhanga, Anveshane
have diverse approach with more matured touch of life. In the novels like
Sartha, Aavarana, the writer reaches the heights of his wisdom. He is
able to give more accurate records to support his views. He believes that
great books are meant to gain knowledge and to elevate human beings.
They allow writers to have the greatest experience of life, but they
shouldn’t allow writer to lose his own individual character and thoughts.
After gaining knowledge the writer should have his own path to follow.
With this edifice Bhyrappa has set to explore novel in the contemporary
and historical scenario.

When one has bird’s eye view of all the novels of Bhyrappa, it is
clearly visible that the original novels written in Kannada are the most
widespread novels in Kannada region. But it is evidently noticeable that
the admiration is not that forceful, when the works are rendered into
English. The numbers of prints of English translations don’t even stretch
to the quarter of the original version. It was expected to carry the higher
popularity, as the audience belongs to every part of the world. The
popularity of SL text is probably higher because it shares the same
language of the reader who is in majority. At the same time the one who
reads the translation is the one, who doesn’t know Kannada. So
translated works are primarily meant for those who cannot access the
original. No translation can be satisfactory for someone who has close
reading of the original and has enjoyed it by sharing with others. The
translated works prove that they are disappointing, because the same
work is trans-created twice by two different translators. This is marked
when Vamshavriksha is translated twice. Even the novels Crossing
Over (Datu) and The Uprooted (Vamshavriksha) have more than one
translator. At this point one important discussion is mention worthy
regarding the translation of Samskara by A.K.Ramanujan. The
competent translator like Ramanujan is the main source for the
International and national fame of Samskara. Probably the translator
from India wouldn’t have been so able to get the exact grip over the work
as Ramanujan did because Ramanujan stayed in America with ample of

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English friends, who could grasp the tone, style and vocabulary of
language. Despite all these problems, one is surprised by the critical
reviews by the young readers on Web Site.Churmuri, writes in his blog
about Dr. U.R Anantmurthy remarks,

“Bhyrappa doesn’t know either Hindu religion or the art of

story-telling. He is only a debater. He doesn’t go beyond his
opinions. He constructs the plot and selects characters only to suit
his opinions and end up as a debater, rather than a creative
writer.”

In response a reader Anasuya Aswath in her blog writes,

“One wonders whether URA is reviewing the book

Aavarana or its writer Bhyrappa, the person. He would have
done well to question any of the issues taken up by Bhyappa
in his book. If the author is a debater, readers like his
debates.”

Shanthu Shantharam, Ellicott City. MD, USA writes to the editor

of Deccan Herald,

“Anantha Murthy’s personal attack on Bhyrappa is totally

unbecoming of a litterateur. When many book lovers enjoy
reading Bhyrappa’s novels it hardly matters what a political
opportunistic like URA says. He could just write a critical
review of Aavarana and let the readers to decide whether
the book is worth reading or not. After Samskara has URA
written anything worthwhile?”

Another reader partially agrees with Anatha Murthy but doesn’t

agree with Ananatha Murthy’s claim as Bhyrappa is not a good writer.
He says,

“URA’s opinion is partially right. Bhyrappa’s own standard

Aavaran is a huge disappointment. Man who gave the world classics like
Tantu, Daatu, Doorsaridaru, and Sartha uses his novel to propagate

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RSS mind-set. But claiming Bhyrappa is not a good writer is not
acceptable. He still remains a literary genius.”

But one more reader concludes, that

“The positive thing is that so many Kannadigas are tuned

into literature that this issue has become front page news.
The bad news is that the writers involved seem to be taking
overtly political stands. Is it bad news?”

Ultimately this indicates present Kannada literary scenario. The

following are the opinions about Bhyrappa’s novels. Harsh, Jose
California (U.S) writes about Parva,

“The Mahabharata is a great epic by itself; it is supposed to

be the zenith portraying Navaras or nine human emotions.
What great Bhyrappa has done is even more
phenomenal…….But kudos to Dr.Bhyrappa, he saw
something which no human being could have ever extracted
out of Mahabharata resulting in an epic by itself”.

Most of the readers in this web site write that Parva changed their
very perspective of the whole story of the Mahabharata. Ramanath
writes about The Uprooted,

“This book is a slow moving yet all the more interesting one.
The interest is sustained by the amount of details Bhyrappa
tries to achieve in each and every page of the book”

The translators of Bhyrappa might have not achieved the exactness

of Ramanujan as mentioned above; still one cannot deny their merit in
their contribution. One more advantage for the translator is both the
languages Kannada and English have prolonged contact with each other
for centuries. The flexibility increases when a large number of words

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from both the languages mix in each other’s language. Thus smoothness
increases in the translation. They have used many techniques employed in
the translation like borrowing, definition, literal translation, substitution,
lexical creation, omission, addition and redundancy. While explaining
redundancy Nida and Taber quote the remark of an African who said that,

“This is just what a python does when he kills an animal he

cannot swallow. He coils his body around the animal,
crushes it and thus squeezes it out long and thin so that he
can swallow it. The meat and the bones are all there. They
are just in a different form,” (Nida 251)

Almost every translator uses this technique to make his work

acceptable by the readers. This is also the method used by the Translators
of Bhyrappa to make the texts digestible. Translators have reduced the
effort of reader by stretching and diluting certain words, situations and
grammar.

2.9 Conclusion

Today the postcolonial translator’s responsibility is not pertaining

to nation alone, it is transnational and he has to create new transcultural
forms. So surveying Bhyrappa’s translated novels should be on a wider
level with more number of translated works.

“Through the centuries many theories have been formulated

by experts in the field to help the translators make better
translations. But no theory is so comprehensive that the
translators do not have any more problems. Every translator
encounters a few problems, when he undertakes to translate
a material. Using the individual intuitive power and
knowledge one solves these problems. Based on his
efficiency in solving the problems, his work gets branded as
good translation or bad translation”. (Kalyani 65)

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 Thus all the problems of translation have to be handled carefully
because ‘bad translation’ would mislead the English Reader about Indian
ethos and culture. When the work is translated by one translator, he has to
encounter innumerable problems and then he comes out with solutions by
using many strategies. The question of ‘problems’ in translation is viewed
differently by different translators. The curiosity of the reader enhances
when one work is translated by two different translators and a co-
translator. So the next chapter deals with the multiple translations of The
Uprooted (Vamshavriksha), its influence on audience as a movie. How
Bhyrappa’s other translations in indigeneous literature has gained more
popularity in comparison with those of English translations is discussed
in detail. One more noteworthy aspect is ‘Media Culture’ which has
shrunk the world today, but has emerged as a powerful weapon of the
mass-culture.

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References.

1 Rehman Anisur. “Author Text Translator Reader: The New Indian

Context”. Translation and Culture: Indian Prespectives. New
Delhi: Pencraft International, 2010. 178-179.
2 Rehman Anisur. “Author Text Translator Reader: The New Indian
Context”. Translation and Culture: Indian Prespectives. New
Delhi: Pencraft International, 2010. 179.
3 Aital, U.S. “Mahan Kadambarikara: S.L. Bhyrappa – Ondu
Parichaya (Greater Novelist: S.L. Bhyrappa – An Introduction)”.
Bhairappanavara Kadambarigalu: Ondu Adhyayana (The
Novels of Bhyrappa: A Study). Kundapura: Bhandarkar’s Arts and
Science College, 2005. 1.
4 Bhyrappa, S.L. “Speech given during 1975 Central Literary Award”.
Naneke Bareyuttne? (Why I Write?). Bangalore: Sahittya
Bhandara Publication, 2006. 23.
5 Rao, Raja. Kanthapura. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.i.
6 Chesterman, Andrew. “Survival Machines for Memes”. Memes of
Translation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamines Publishing
Company, 1997. 5-6.
7 Hall, S. “Introduction”. Representatio: Cultural Representation
and Signifying Practice. Milton Keynes: The Open University. 2
8 Govindraj, Giraddi. “Vamshavriksha (Uprooted)”. Sahaspandana.
Bangalore: Sahitya Bhandra, 1978. 252.
9 Desh, Kulkarni. “Baraha: Kadambarigalu”. S.L. Bhyrappa.
Bangalore: Navkarnataka Publication Pvt. Ltd, 2006. 41.
10 Sharma, Ramachandra. “Mediating Between English and Kannada:
A Personal Statement”. Literary Translation. New Delhi: Creative
Books, 1999. 128.
11 Ibid
12 Amur, G.S. “S.L. Bhyrappa’s Vamsaviksha”. Essays on: Modern
Kannada Literature. Bangalore: Karnataka Sahitya Acadamy,
2001. 263-264.
13 Ramanath, Ravishankar. “The Customer Review: The Uprooted:
Translation of the Original Novel Vamshavriksha in Kannada (New
World Literature Series) (Paperback)”. Amazon.com:Ravishankar
Ramanath’s Review. www.Amazon.com, 14th May, 2000. 1.

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14 Gurudatta, Pradhan. “Introduction”. Crossing Over. Delhi: B.R.
Publishing Corporation, 2003. v – x.
15 Ibid. x
16 Kaykini, Gourish. “Bhairappanavara Kadambarigalalli Dharma”.
S.L. Bhyrappa: Avara Krutagalli Vimarhe. Bangalore: Sundara
Prakashana, 2002. 58.
17 Renukaradhya, (ranukaradhya@yahoo.com)(Bangalore). “Customer
Review: A very simplified Mahabharata”.
Amazon.com:Renukaradhya’s Book Review. www.Amazon.com,
9th July, 2001. 1.
18 Kamleshwara in a letter written to Bhyrappa dated 4th July, 1985.1
19 Rao, Raghavendra. K. “Translator’s Note”. Parva. New Delhi:
Sahitya Academi, 1994. x-xi.
20 Laxmi, H. “Translation of Prose”. Problems of translation: A
study of Literary and Technical Texts, Hydrabad: Booklinks
Corporation, 1993. 107-108.
21 Bhyrappa, S.L. “Foreword”. The Witness. Hydrabad: East West
Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd., 2000. 2.
22 Bageshree, S. “Literary Review: Roots of Conflict”. The Hindu
April 02, 2006. 1
23 Ramaswamy, S. “Aesthetics and music in Bhyrappa’s novels”.
L’ Associazione, http://all.uniud.it/all/simp/numn6/articoli/art5.html
23 Eugene A, Nida. “Implication of Contemporary Linguistics
for Bibilical Scholarship”. Language Structure and
Translation. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1975. 251.
25 Kalyani, P.K. “Problems in Translation”. Translation Studies.
New Delhi: Creative Books, 2001. 65

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