On Translation

Aurobindo himself says that even after the translator has decided on the right form for his text, “…there will naturally be no success unless the mind of the translator has sufficient kinship, sufficient points of spiritual and emotional contact and a sufficient basis of common poetical powers not only to enter into but to render the spiritual temperament and the mood of that temperament…” (“On Translating Kalidasa”). This is calling for a metaphysical communion between the translator and the author, and functions at a much higher level than the reading and understanding of a text at its denotative and connotative levels. He discusses at length the problems he encountered in the translation of Kalidasa, the major one being that of the metre into which he could translate.

After that he brings up the question of fidelity. Like countless translators before and after him, Aurobindo talks about the dilemma he faced as to the choice between a literal translation and something that might appear to be a new work under the cloak of translation. He observes that “…rigid rules are out of place” here. It is the purpose of the translation that should determine the strategy. If the aim is to “acquaint foreign peoples” with the ideas and themes of the writer, literal translation is alright. But the translator can draw upon her/his creative powers in re-rendering the original work if his/her aim is to recapture the spirit of the original for the benefit of the target readers. Aurobindo points out that the ideal of a translation is different from both: "The translator seeks first to place the mind of the reader in the same spiritual atmosphere as the original; he seeks next to produce in him the same emotions and the same kind of poetical delight and aesthetic gratification and lastly he seeks to convey to him the thought of the poet and substance in such words as will create, as far as may be, the same or a similar train of associations, the same pictures or the same sensuous impressions” (“On Translating Kalidasa”).

He admits that this is but an ideal to which a translator can perhaps only aspire, but this is the ideal that s/he should yearn to reach. The translator should try to tone down the alien quality of the text for the benefit of the target reader. For instance, he cites an example from Kalidasa's Meghadutam, where a huge dark cloud is compared to “the dark foot of Vishnu lifted in impetuous act to quell Bali”. The translator has to keep in mind that a non-native reader would not be aware of the story behind this at all. So Aurobindo translated it as: “Dark like the cloudy foot of highest God/ When starting from the dwarf shape world-immense / With Titan-quelling step through heaven he strode”. Aurobindo admits that this is more paraphrase than translation, but this has to be accepted if the translator has to communicate the spirit of the original to the reader. He points out that the differing world views of two distinct cultures pose a problem to the translator's job. He observes how the Hindu (Indian) mind has the tendency to “seize on what is pleasing and beautiful in all things and even to see a charm where the English mind sees a deformity and to extract poetry and grace out of the ugly” (“On Translating Kalidasa”). Aurobindo wants the translator to take all these differences into cognizance before embarking on a translation.