Prof Asim Siddiqui speak on Mir at Sahitya Akademi’s Festival of Letters 2024
ALIGARH : “The differences in the choices that translators make each translated verse a bit different from the other, brings us to two fundamental issues, one translation of poetry and two, translation of a text in an unrelated language. One relates to genre and metaphoric plane of language, the other recalls debates about the nature of language reinforced by structuralists and descriptive linguists”, pointed out the eminent English scholar and commentator, Prof Mohammad Asim Siddiqui (Chairman, Department of English), Aligarh Muslim University while addressing the birth tercentenary seminar on Mir Taqi Mir, at the “Festival of Letters 2024”, world’s largest literary festival being organized by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, from March 11-16, to celebrate the great literary heritage of India that comprises the literary oeuvre of various languages and dialects prevalent in the country.
He said that some notable efforts to introduce Mir to English readers have been made by Ralph Russell and Khurshidul Islam in Three Mughal Poets: Mir, Sauda, Mir Hasan; D.J. Matthews and C. Shackle in An Anthology of Classical Urdu Love Lyrics; Shamsur Rahman Faruqi in his translation of Mir in Mir Taqi Mir: Ghazals; Gopichand Narang and Surinder Deol in The Hidden Garden: Mir Taqi Mir; and Kuldip Salil in Best of Meer Taqi Meer.
While pointing out the differences in the choices of words by various translators in the translation of Mir’s popular ghazal, “Yaaro Mujhe muaaf rakho main nashi mein hoon/ Ab do jam khaali hi do main nashe mein hoon”, Prof Siddiqui said, “Since Mir is best known for his ghazals and ghazals have a tight formal scheme, structure translators have often expressed their difficulty in getting their translations right.”
The other noted speakers at the seminar included Prof Anisur Rahman and Dr Rakhshanda Jalil.
Prof Anisur Rahman, a noted critic and translator elaborated on the different kinds of sound in Mir’s poetry, taking into account of Mir’s complete work. Referring to many English poets and their auditory imagination, he selected a number of Mir’s verses to highlight his efforts in capturing the music of words.
Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, famous writer, translator and editor, talked about the Shahr Ashob which is not necessarily a great genre of Indian poetry, but important nevertheless. She looked at the world of Urdu poetry after the devastation of Delhi caused by Nadir Shah’s plunders, and talked about the poets who were worried about losing their patrons.
She also mentioned Mir’s description of Delhi’s devastation. Her address included a comparison of Mir’s poetry with that of Nazir Akbarabadi.
Noted scholar Prof Bhupinder Aziz Parihar chaired the session, while Anupam Tiwari, Editor Hindi, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi conducted the seminar.