Analysis Of Hem Barua's Translation Of Baru

‘TRANSLATION’ OR ‘MUTILATION’? HEM BARUA’S TRANSLATION OF AJIT BARUA’S

MONKUNWALI SAMAY: AN APPRAISAL Jahnabi Nath

ABSTRACT: Translation is carried out by substitutions of words between the Source Language and the Target Language. However, literary translation may not be adequate if only word equivalence guides such a translation. Cultural and aesthetic concerns cannot be overlooked. A good deal of language proficiency and cultural understanding of the translator do not always help, if the context of the literary piece or the author’s conscious use of language and style(s) are not taken into consideration, or the translator happens to ignore them unintentionally. It may lead to a shift in the interpretation of the new creation and even ruin the original intended meaning(s). This is because even though literature is called to be open-ended as far as its multiplicity of interpretation is concerned, the author has a definite

Ajit Barua is a modern Assamese poet and translator, who has great knowledge of theories of poetry. He thinks that poetry should be systematically written, the poet should know what he wants to mean; use of words and images should be governed by the poet’s conscious plan. While criticizing translations of some of his own poems by Hem Barua -another famous poet of Assam- along with an explanatory note on background information of some of his own poems, Barua says that the poet, ‘being the first reader of his poems’ has the right to interpret his poems and also to translate them; he has a definite meaning in his mind that makes up his poem. A comparative study of the translations of Hem Barua and his own, unfolds a lot of issues about the exercise of translation. The discussions in his book Padyar Pasor Kabya (1994) are a very useful source to discover relevant issues about translation of