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DEC. 6, 1872.]
A BENGALI SONG.
THE LADY AND THE DOVE:
A BENGALI SONG, COMPOSED BY A HINDU FEMALE. TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE,
BY REV. J. MURRAY MITCHELL, LL.D., CALCUTTA.
FEMALE education has now made such progress in Bengal, that the writings of women both in prose and verse are beginning to appear not unfrequently in print. A very interesting collection of female compositions was given to the public a few months ago by the adjudicators of the Hare Prize Fund,-the fund having for its special object the production of works in Bengali fitted for the instruction of women. The adjudicators scem to have made a very good selection of papers written not only for, but by, women. The volume extends to 267 pages, and it is interesting throughout.
I have selected for translation the piece which, on the whole, appears to me the most spirited in the book. If I do not over-estimate its merits, it is possessed of much life and colour. It is said to have been composed by a lady of Dhaka (Dacca).
I am far from thinking the rendering of verse into verse an easy task-I almost assent to the dictum of Voltaire, Les poètes ne se traduisent pas. If, then, any of my readers maintain that my lines but poorly represent the vivacity of the original, I certainly shall not dissent from the judgment. In one thing I hope I have succeeded-I mean, in reproducing the tone of the Bengali. The poem is sad throughout; and the sadness deepens as the strain proceeds. I have done my best to make the version a faithful echo of the plaintive note of the unhappy Hindu woman.
The measure in the original is Trochaic; the first two lines of each stanza are octo-syllabic, the last two decasyllabic. I have also used Trochaic metre; each line containing seven syllables.
The original has double (generally called female) rhymes always; but I do not possess a sufficient mastery over our somewhat intractable language to imitate the poetess in this respect.
I give the original in Roman character, with the hope of attracting a much larger number of readers than would attempt Bengali letters. The relation between Bengali and most of the dialects of Northern India is such that no person who has a good knowledge of one of these will find serious difficulty with the lady's composition.
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Hardly anything as yet has been done towards the use of Romanized Bengali; and several questions in orthography thus remain undetermined. Initial y in Bengali sounds like j in Sanskrit; and I have written it j, though with hesitation. Ksh sounds kh in Bengali; but I have not had courage to throw out the s. For the most part v sounds like b; and I have so given it, as 'subarna' for suvarna. But when the word occurs in the contracted form 'svarna,' I have not dared to write sbarna,' the Bengali pronunciation-though corrupt enough-having then no sound of b in it.
PA'LITA KAPOTINI'R PRATI.
Bala ogo kapotini Kena eta bishâdinî Heritechi balago tomâya Prakâsiyâ bala nâ âmâya. Eta duḥkhi kona duḥkhe Áchha sadâ adhomukhe Netranîra kara sambarana Sudhâo âmâya bibarana. Subarna sikala pade Sadâ âchha uchchapade Subarna piñjare abasthâna Itheo ki bhole na go prâņa? Tomâra santosha tare Apârbba kotarâpure Rahiyâchhe khâbâra sakala Tabe tumi kena go chañchala? Bala kari bicharana
Kari âhârâharana
Tâtei bâ kata sukhodaya Bala more haiye sadaya. Suna go kapotapriye Balite bidare hiye Amio go piñjaravâsinf.
Kiba sukhe bañche svechchâdhînî. Áchha tumi je sukhete Svarnamaya piñjarete Ámâdera nahi eta sukha. Tumi kena hao go bimukha? Nâ deya gañjanâ keha Dâsitva bhara na baha Annajale nâhika abhâba. Tabe kena bhâba nânâ bhâba
