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So on and so forth for the
pitfalls in content and style. But as I said earlier, going
through the different translations of the Jataka stories,
including the present one, is a delightful experience. All
irritants lose their sting when we consider that these stories
of Arya Shura are crucial cultural artifacts, having come to us
through various translations, retranslations, mouldings and
remouldings in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Hindi, and
English. They reach as far back as Sutta Pitaka (4th century
B.C.) or perhaps an even earlier oral tradition. Their
long-lasting appeal, thus, cannot be denied. Like the Christian
Mystery Plays, they trace the development of a certain form of
typical art, whatever its blemishes, and are thus important
cultural documents. Even if a literary critic finds in them the
salient features of a propagandist’s art, it is amazing to
feel the bubbling urgency with which certain notions of right
human conduct are driven home. It bespeaks of the clerical as
well as the secular anxiety to humanise and stabilise the
conduct of society at large. And though the modern mind would
not agree with these notions straightaway, the issues at stake
today are exactly the same today as these were all those years
ago — the defining of the good and the bad in every sphere of
human activity.
Story after story
we try to see how the Bodhisattva, in different incarnations, is
progressing towards ‘Buddhahood’, cutting his passage
through the forces of good and evil. If through sacrifice the
body wins the battle against evil, its existence is justified.
This gross body of the Bodhisattva may be in the human form or
that of an animal — hare, fish, quail, swan or ape. And
sometimes animals prove to be more compassionate than humans and
even gods. There is a clear prejudice against a householder’s
life and an ascetic’s life with its subsistence on fallen
leaves is the favoured proposition. But the householders are not
dismissed; they in their own way contribute to pious acts. And
it is a particular responsibility of the ascetic to work for the
salvation of everyone. Through patience and compassion everyone
should become free from the agonies of death, lust, greed, and
hatred. And if people do not rectify their ways, there is no
hesitation in branding them as incurable fools.
Translation of an
ancient text into a modern idiom is a difficult assignment.
Perhaps a modernist reader can respond more readily to the
Buddhist stories — though still burdened with discourses —
of Paul Dahlke, which incorporated purely human interactions
focussed primarily on contemporary city life. It is becoming
increasingly difficult today to present moral strands through
animal-human paradigms except in children’s literature. But a
consummate piece of art can still do it. Our future translators
of ancient heroic and clerical texts can glean a few lessons
from that Irish man.
Every new and
serious translation — like the present one — of the Jataka
tales is always welcome but we still await a translation with
some shades of the stylistic graces of Oscar Wilde’s genius.
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GOING
through the stories of Jatakamala in different translations
is a fascinating experience. Not necessarily because they would
appear to be perfect art to a modern reader. Far from it, a modern
reader of Gorky, Chekhov, or Maupassant might have severe
reservations about the way stories are told in the present
collection.
