ORIENTAL STUDIES / SHARQSHUNOSLIK /
ВОСТОКОВЕДЕНИЕ
2017,
№
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54
KHODJAEVA NILUFAR
Researcher, TSIOS
Premchand in Uzbekistan: translation of Hindi texts into
Uzbek language
Abstract.
This article is devoted to Uzbek translations of Indian writer Premchand. In
the article it was analyzed the problems of translation from Hindi into Uzbek. Especially,
to the translation of phraseology in Premchand’s novel “Vardan”.
Keywords and expressions:
culture, literature, Uzbek, Hindi, indologists, translators,
translation, phraseology, word for word translation.
Аннотация
.
Ушбу
мақолада
Ҳиндистон
ёзувчиси
Премчанд
асарларининг
ўзбек
тилидаги
таржималари
таснифланган
.
Мақолада
ҳиндийдан
ўзбек
тилига
таржима
муаммолари
тадқиқ
этилган
.
Хусусан
,
Премчанднинг
“
Севги
инъоми
” (“
Вардан
”)
ро
-
манининг
ўзбекча
нусхасида
ибораларнинг
таржимаси
таҳлилга
тортилган
.
Таянч
сўз
ва
иборалар
:
маданият
,
адабиёт
,
ўзбек
тили
,
ҳиндий
тили
,
ҳиндшу
-
нос
,
таржимон
,
таржима
,
фразеологизм
,
сўзма
-
сўз
таржима
.
Аннотация
.
В
данной
статье
класифицируются
переводы
произведений
индий
-
ского
писателя
Премчанда
на
узбекский
язык
.
В
статье
исследованны
проблемы
пе
-
ревода
с
хинди
на
узбекский
язык
.
В
частности
анализируется
передача
фразеоло
-
гизмов
на
примере
узбекского
перевода
произведения
Премчанда
“
Дар
” (“
Вардан
”).
Опорные
слова
и
выражения
:
культура
,
литература
,
узбекский
язык
,
хинди
,
индолог
,
переводчик
,
перевод
,
фразеологизм
,
дословный
перевод
.
Notwithstanding the fact, that Uzbek Indology, going back to medieval time of
Al-Beruni`s
Indica
(10
th
–11
th
centuries). A difficult and complicated way to be abun-
dant of ups and downs
1
had undergone
up to now. A genuine scientifically systemic
tradition in this respect should be truly attributed to the middle of the 20
th
century,
when in the wake of Independence of India at the Tashkent State University there was
established on the Department of Indian Philology. Along with teaching Hindi and
Urdu languages, its Staff members as well as their students started a noble work of
translation of the best books of Indian writers and poets in their own tongue, simul-
taneously assimilating a rich experience of their Russian colleagues. However,
unfortunately, during a long time the Uzbek lovers of Indian Culture and Literature
used to content themselves with Russian translations, indeed.
1
Concerning a further post-al-Beruni period of medieval times it may be stated that notwithstan-
ding very lively mutual relations between two our regions, especially during Moghul Empire in
India, a scientific aspect of these interactions was limited to separate scholarly sources in Arabic
and Persian, but not in Uzbek, except “Tuzuk-e Baburi”. These activities had been going on
mostly through spontaneous compilation of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries like Hindustani-
Arabic, Hindustani-Arabic-Persian and at least Hindustani-Persian-Turkic characters. Very rarely
such teaching appliances were used to be supplemented with elementary didactic comments,
containing description of several grammatical rules.
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Concerning initial specimens of Indian fiction rendered in Uzbek one can mention
Rabindranath Tagore’s novel “Subha” translated and published in magazine “Maorif
va o‘qituvchi” (
The Education and Teacher)
as early as in 1925. Though many of
Indian writers’ compositions had been translated into Uzbek throughout 1950–1960,
but until 1958 they were usually relay translations, through a mediator-language,
mostly Russian. Later on the Uzbek readers started to enjoy reading the works of
Tagore, Yashpal, Krishan Chandar, Amrita Pritam and Premchand, the great repre-
sentatives of Indian literature as whole translated from the original indeed.
Therefore, it is important to note that apart from several M.A. thesis there is a
wide range of problems connected with practical issues pertaining to modes of
translation from Indian Languages. Taking into account a unique feature of the In-
dian fiction reflecting ancient historical as well as rich traditions, diverse customs
and habits, which are sometimes available in various dialects and therefore they
create many difficulties for translators testing their abilities in the realms of
artistic narration of events described by Indian writers. While the translation into
Uzbek from western speeches has already developed drastically at the same time
as for Oriental ones we had mostly translations from Arabic and Persian only.
Regarding the masterpieces of Indian literature, as one can observe that even
today we come across a sufficient number of relay translations. It is very fortunate
that since last decades in Uzbekistan many Universities began to supplement
special divisions dealing with translation theory, which do pay proper attention to
the retour translation of chef d’oeuvres created in oriental languages. For
example, since the academic year 2010 Tashkent State Institute of Oriental studies
established department Translation theory and practice. To teach Translation
studies of Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Turkic, Korean, Persian and other orient-
tal languages. Department specially established for that purpose. In fact, this can
serve as a clear evidence for our observations given above.
The first occasion to initiate retour translations from Hindi into Uzbek for
wide circulation began in 1962. This palm of the success belongs to late senior
lecturer of the Department Mr. R. Muhammadjanov, who triumphantly translated
from Urdu a golden masterpiece of Premchand
Godaan
1
. Later on, in 1967 the
Uzbek readers received an excellent rendering of
Nirmala
, after which in 1976
there came out
Ghaban
and at last in 1985
Rang Bhumi
, too
2
.
1
By the way, the translator since 1962 worked in close collaboration with the Urdu scholar,
Qamar Rais, who came over to Tashkent State University as visiting professor and kept visiting
Uzbekistan frequently, disseminating Urdu Language and Literature as well as Indian cultural
values among Uzbek people, also actively assisting Uzbek Indologists in training specialists in
Hindi and Urdu.
2
As far as translators of these are concerned it should be mentioned, that the first translation of
“Nirmala” was from Russian by Sh.Tolipov. The second translation of “Nirmala” (2016) and the
translation of rest two novels belongs to the excellent skills of Amir Faizulla, who graduated in
Hindi from the Department in 1967 and soon turned to become a devoted disciple of Rehmanberdi
Muhammadjanov.
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Apart from that, throughout 1955–1975 one could notice a certain breakthrough
in the process of translation of Indian short stories. For example, as a summit of glory
in this direction, it might be considered a huge collection under the title
The short
stories of Indian writers (1958)
, where along with those of Premchand there were
also a numerous fiction specimens, created by Krishan Chandar, Khwaja Ahmad
Abbas, Yashpal, Raziya Sardar Ja`fri, Dhumketu etc
1
. All these works were carried
out during pre-Independence period of Uzbekistan`s history.
These activities had been supported by solid research works, which a central
place gradually happened to be occupied by those, were dedicated to the creativity
of Premchand, proper
2
.
As far as those achievements gained by Uzbek Indologist translators in post-
Independence period, which started since 1991, are concerned, it should be underlined,
that a great part of them was immediately connected with Premchand`s heritage.
Moreover, especially these successes became evident thanks to the initiation of a brand
new journal “Jahon adabiyoti” (
World Literature)
, meant mainly for publishing and
propagating both classical and latest literary texts of either foreign or national authors.
That‘s why due to its publications the Uzbek Indology can righteously boast of
bringing out two widely popular novels of Premchand
Sevasadan
(2003) and
Vardan
(2009), translated into Uzbek by Mr. Amir Faizulla
3
, a talented disciple of outstanding
Indologist Mr. Rehmanberdi Muhammadjanov
4
.
Now we are proceeding to the main purpose of the present paper in order to
highlight properly some individual feats of the translator of “Vardaan”, which is
nowadays widely acknowledged as the best achievement of the Uzbek Translation
School from Hindi.
Such a skilled master as Amir Faizulla translated the most Hindi short stories,
novels and poems into Uzbek. The translation of novel “Vardan” laid down as an ob-
ject of investigation. Besides, it can be considered as a brand new achievement in this
regard like a reproduction of national colour; a successful translation of local phra-
seology being particularly interesting and complicated issue for discussion; preserva-
1
The publication was preceded by two another collections, entitled “Indian short stories” (1955)
and “The Red Flowers” (1956).
2
For example, diverse aspects of Premchand`s artistic mastership used to attract an attention of
very experienced scholars, like late Dr. O.Kolomeytseva (Polinova),
assistant
professor of the
Department in 1951 and 1981, Dr.R.Elizarova, assistant professor of the Samarqand State Univer-
sity in 1957 and Dr. L.V.Eremyan, a senior research scholar of the al-Beruni Institute of Oriental
studies, Uzbek Academy of Sciences. All of them did highlight these problems in their mono-
graphs, papers and Ph.D. thesis as well.
3
By the way, subsequently Amir Faizulla became honoured by Indian Government to be a
participant of Seventh Vishva Hindi Sammelan, held in 2003 at Paramaribo (Surinam).
4
To our mind, Rehmanberdi Muhamadjanov is righteously deserving to be recognized as a
founder of Uzbek national school of translation from Indian Languages, because apart from many
Hindi and Urdu books he has made a brilliant translation of Nanak Singh1`s famous novel
“Golden bullet” from Punjabi, too.
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tion of stylish standard during translation of historical and archaic words and expres-
sions; a proper translation of religious concepts and terminology as well.
All these points might be treated as scholarly novelties. Moreover, it is natural
to expect a growth of such works dedicated to the problems relating to crucial
aspects of the translation from Indian languages at full length, opening a prospec-
tive way for compiling a fundamental research works.
Premchand’s hero is a simple man suffering from poverty and mundane difficulties,
clearly looks like very acceptable to the Uzbek audience indeed. The main topic of his
works usually set in countryside environment to be abundant with indigenous peasants
representing real picture of national problems as a whole. The real images created by
Premchand distinguished by such peculiarities as open-mindedness, generosity and
simplicity beyond comparison may touch and win sympathies of everydiv worldwide.
We recognize the novel “Vardan” as a vivid example of Premchand’s creativity. The
novel is devoted to description of a tragic love, coming across different heroes with
their natures, views and destinies. The Uzbek reader picks up extremely curious infor-
mation like Indian festivals, customs and rites, specific features depicted in charmingly
attractive manner and simultaneously the translator skillfully exploit‘s a rich resource of
his own tongue, which decorates all traits of general fibula, enriching its aesthetical
value. That‘s why undoubtedly the novel should be qualified as a completely perfect
translation of the original work.
Undertaking a comparative analysis one witnesses the cases of masterly
translation into Uzbek a specific Indian realm by means of selection of equivalent
expressions. At the same time, one can state that many concepts of Indian origin
have turned to be integral elements of the Uzbek mind too.
Several concepts were rendered into Uzbek with special comments while the
other ones became equipped by footnotes and explanations. Nevertheless, in our
minds, in very few cases such preferences proved to be either omitted or
neglected, thus, preventing a reader’s understanding the meaning of that.
Thereby we have perceived that except sole cases of matching and similarity bet-
ween the two versions there are many different cases demonstrating some shortcomings
and in accuracies not reaching exact and precise hitting the targets in this regard.
Generally, by our unanimous opinion, Mr. Amir Faizulla, during the process
of translation, has done his absolutely best in exploiting such professional devices
of translation art as transliteration as well as a direct and an explanatory or com-
mentary modes of the one.
It’s well known that every speech has a sufficient stock of specific idioms
denoting social and historical events as well as moral, spiritual and cultural norms,
mental conditions, religious beliefs, national traditions and customs. In this con-
nection it is quite natural that between different people there perceived a lot of
phraseology reflecting common living conditions, habits and logical deliberations.
That‘s why such units do derive from common human mentality and thought as
well as daily observations too.
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A
material similarity is also seen from phraseological equivalents among the
languages compared to because these are mainly based on the same living
experiences fixed in such concepts and perceptions so that they can replace each
other
easily. Let us give some examples from “Vardaan”.
For instance:
बोध
तो
तु हार
नाक
पर
रहता
है।
1
[krodh to tumhari nak par rehta hai].
Word for word: “Your rage is always on the tip of your nose”
Uzbek translation: Jahling-ku, burningda turadi
2
.
This unit does completely cover respective Uzbek phrase. Here we have the
same object and subject as well. In Uzbek, the one is regarded as very popular. So
in this case, the similarity in phraseological utterance gives evidence of common-
ness and closeness in living conditions, rites and logical deliberation between the
two people indeed.
One more example:
ब चे
मन
के
राजा
होते
ह।
3
[bachche man ke raja hote hain]
Translation: A heart of child is like a ruler, indeed.
Word for word: The children used to be rulers by mind.
Based on the account one can conclude that the Uzbek proverb is exactly
repeating the Indian one. There is also one more synonym to the proverb “bolalik
podsholik” which means, “a childhood is like kingship”.
Proceeding to a next example
यह
पऽ
देखता
ह
कमला
भीगी
ब ली
बन
गया
और
दबे
पाँव
बैठक
क
ओर
चला
गया।
4
[yeh patr dekhta hi kamla bhigi billi ban gaya
aor dabe panv baythak ki aor chala gaya]
In Uzbek translation, this sentence given as “Just as Kamla noticed the letter
he became like a wet cat and silently went to drawing room on tiptoe”.
So here, we have the idiom “a wet cat” which is equivalent to the Uzbek one
as “a cat fell into water” and in fact the translator has demonstrated his wit.
In the process of translation, the translator has managed to use similar
expressions, too. In particular, such concepts as “to be disappointed”, “to despair”
he rendered by means of a wide range of idioms in Uzbek like “as a cat fell into
water”, “having become embarrassed as a bread in water”, “to lose one’s head”.
One more example:
पर
ववा हता
क य
पराये
घर
क
हो
जाती
है।
5
[par vivahita
kanya paraye ghar ki ho jati hai]
is translated as “a married girl is to become
alien” so that she cannot be put in previous place.
1
ूेमचंद।
वरदान।
नई
द ली।
भारतीय
मंथ
िनकेतन
, 2011 .
पृ
.2
4
.
2
Премчанд
.
Севги
инъоми
.
Таржимон
А
.
Файзулла
//
Жаҳон
адабиёти
, 2009,
№
2. 50-
б
.
3
ूेमचंद।
वरदान।
नई
द ली।
भारतीय
मंथ
िनकेतन
, 2011 .
पृ
.
11
.
4
ूेमचंद।
वरदान।
नई
द ली।
भारतीय
मंथ
िनकेतन
, 2011 .
पृ
.
49
.
5
ूेमचंद।
वरदान।
नई
द ली।
भारतीय
मंथ
िनकेतन
, 2011 .
पृ
.
42
.
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Namely, view this unit world as a bright example of common features uniting
together Indians and Uzbeks in the belief that a married girl is no more belonging
to mother’s house, as she has already become a daughter in law – i.e. daughter of
a new family.
Eventually we have the same proverb used in both languages. Being a folklore
genre the proverbs are going back to ancient times.
Besides one comes across many situations to be linking points between Indian
and Uzbek cultures. Especially one means the Uzbek way of life, Indian wedding
ceremonies, rituals relating to birth of child, betrothal rites, dowry rites, and res-
pect extended to bridegroom, responsibilities of brides, love for children, and
reverence to parents and so on, all these in fact are innumerable. We do recognize
these because of historical, religious and area of proximity between two nations.
As a firm testimony to that, there is great Babur’s dynasty as well as sizable
percentage of Muslim population equal to approximately 184 million
1
to be like
connecting bridge between the two civilizations of ours.
As far as a real proximity is concerned, we believe that it was a great impetus
enhancing and strengthening the cultural and economic relations between two
neighboring states of Asia. That‘s why one can find a substantial buck of common
conditions embodied in similar phraseology, proverbs, similes etc.
Therefore, in conclusion one can summarize, that a translation of any solid book
as a rule makes the translator responsible for its preciseness. One must render all
issues peculiar to the foreign nation as well as its unknown life, religion, habits and
traditions just like in original. Apart from that, he should act with necessary skills
beyond breaching linguistic norms of the recipient language. In this situation, the
translator usually resembles a creator to be like a bird with broken wings not being
able to add either his own thought or mode while transferring a readymade product
into its own tongue. Meanwhile there are also such masterpieces, which can astonish
rather through good translation than in the original version.
Finally, it should be stressed that those books in Hindi, which had been so far
translated into Uzbek from Hindi and Urdu, including Premchand’s works are
distinguished by clear and lucid style, by the themes treated in them, easily rea-
ching the hearts of ordinary men as well. That`s why the Uzbeks like reading
these works and enjoying them to the fullest measure.
1
http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/muslim-population-in-india.html
