Book review

Sanskrit love story: keeping the flavor intact

By
Randeep Wadehra

Kadambari by Bana (Translation: Dr. Padmini Rajappa)
Penguin Classics. Pages: xxvii+395. Price: Rs. 399/-

Banabhatta, a great Sanskrit litterateur, lived in 7th century A.D. He was King Harshavardhana’s court poet. His celebrated works include 'Harsha Charita' a biography of Harsha and 'Kadambari', a romantic fable. The latter creates a world wherein humans, gods and demigods, the natural and the supernatural, the real and the ethereal are all interwoven into an enchanting storyline which is complex and ornate.  Banabhatta transcends all paradigms and limitations vis-à-vis time and space and constructs a fantasia wherein gods become demigods and even ordinary mortals; and mortals turn into celestial beings. Curses transform humans into animals and birds, and talking birds possess the gravitas of the learned. But it is love, in all its passionate hues, that endures successive births and keeps the readers engrossed.

The story begins with a prologue wherein a chandala woman presents a talking parrot, named Vaishampayana, to King Shudraka of Vidisha. This parrot can engage in highly complex intellectual debates on a variety of subjects. The king is intrigued and asks the parrot the secret of its great knowledge. The parrot tells him how it escaped hunters and reached the ashram of a great saint named Jabali…

In fact, like most of the classic Sanskrit stories, Kadambari too is a multi-layered narrative with story-within-a-story format. Everything connects eventually even as you enjoy the surfeit of alankaras, i.e., ornate metaphors and similes peppered with hyperbolic descriptions of valour, beauty, wisdom and other qualities of various persons, places and things. The story in brief is:

The gandharva princess Kadambari and her companion Mahashweta meet Pundarika (son of sage Shwetaketu) and his friend Kapinjala on the banks of Achchoda lake near the foothills of the Himalayas. Pundarika falls in love with Mahashweta but dies heartbroken. While dying he and the moon trade curses. As a result the moon is born as Prince Chandrapida the son of King Tarapida of Ujjayini. While Pundarika is reborn as Vaishampayana the son of Shukanasa who is Tarapida’s advisor, Kapinjala, due to a curse, is born as a horse named Indrayudha that becomes Chandrapida’s mount.

After officially becoming yuvraj (the heir apparent) to the throne Chandrapida, along with his friend Vaishampayana, leads an army on a world conquering expedition. On the way he espies a kinnara couple (half-human-half-horse) and chases it. Consequently, he reaches Lake Achchoda alone. There he meets Mahashweta who takes him to the palace of Kadambari’s father, the gandharva king. Later, Vaishampayana too meets Mahashweta and falls in love with her. Not knowing that he was Pundarika’s reincarnation she curses him. Consequently, he becomes a parrot in his next birth while Chandrapida is reborn as Shudraka. All these separations and emotional vicissitudes have a happy ending when Chandrapida marries Kadambari and Vaishampayana marries Mahashweta.

Translations are never easy. Often the translator’s voice superimposes that of the author’s, resulting in loss of meaning and significance of certain expressions. There is a profusion of puns in the original text which Rajappa has tackled with great felicity. Sanskrit words are often extremely complex, fashioned through the device of sandhi. While attempting their vichched (breaking them down into simpler words) it is possible to have different meanings. Bana used them with great finesse and Rajappa has translated/paraphrased them in such a manner that the joy of reading is enhanced. She manages to retain the original flavor and that’s laudable.

Extract:

She looked at me with eyes that filled again and again with tears; as they fell the tears seemed intended to wash the words sullied by the smoke from the fire of Kama raging within. The rays threading out from her teeth as she smiled sadly seemed meant for tying up the words she intended to speak, for fear that they might escape her memory

 Its a wonderful novel.In my school days its one of our lessons. Today also i remember those phrases & exclamations.The translation into other languages is very difficult. Its really a good love story. I liked it so much.

L SRINIVASU | April 7, 2011

 i love this story it's very interesting

Haridha | February 12, 2011