A case of sedition once came to the court of a British magistrate named H.T. Sorley. The accused, Jethmal Parsram Gulrajani, editor of the Hindvasi, was charged with inciting violence against the British government through an article published in the newspaper on April 5, 1919. The article opened with a verse by the 18th century Sindhi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. The fair judge, in attempting to determine if it really was subversion, enquired of various scholars the meaning and context of the verse of that mystic bard. After a thorough investigation, Sorley came to the conclusion that the verse was indeed subverting to the interests of the British crown and sentenced the editor to two years’ imprisonment. But this investigation kindled in Sorley a deep passion for the majesty of Latif’s poetry which culminated, two decades later, in a marvellous book titled Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit: His Poetry, Life and Times. This was a seminal study of Latif’s poetry in its historical and intellectual context and included, for the first time, English translations of a selection of the verses.

Later, Mrs Elsa Qazi, the German wife of the eminent scholar Allama I.I. Qazi, also translated a selection of Latif’s poetry. As interest in this venerated poet grew, many other translations —fragmentary in most cases — were offered by renowned scholars including G. Allana, Tirthdas Hotchand, Muhammad Yakoob Agha, Agha Saleem, Ashique Hussain Memon, Mushtaq Ali Shah, Abdul Ghafoor Alasti, Saleem Bhutto and K.S. Nagpal. The first attempt to translate the complete Risalo was made by Amena Khamisani, former chairperson of the department of English at the University of Sindh. It was a labour of love to make Latif’s poetry accessible to the world. This new translation of the Risalo by Christopher Shackle is a worthy addition to the growing corpus of Latif translations.

Shackle, an eminent scholar of South Asian and religious studies, taught languages and cultures at the University of London and the School of Oriental and African Studies. With his expertise in Seraiki and other Punjabi languages, he has authored several books on Seraiki and Punjabi literature and has translated the works of many classical poets, including Khwaja Ghulam Farid. The book under review is an initiative of the Murty Classical Library of India, which aims to provide modern English translations of classic works from South Asia. Included among its other initiatives is a translation of Baba Bulleh Shah’s poetry.

Christopher Shackle’s translation of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s Risalo loses out on nuance, but is consistent, articulate and fairly accurate

For his translation, Shackle has followed the abridged edition of Shah Jo Risalo compiled by Kalyan Advani. Though not complete, or even standard for academics and scholars, this edition is generally accepted and circulated. A parallel Sindhi text runs along the translation based on the digital edition of Shah’s Risalo, painstakingly composed and made available online by Abdul Majid Bhurghri and his team of volunteers. Following Advani, the translation of nearly 1700 baits and vais — the traditional forms used by Latif — are divided into 30 surs, or chapters, based on folk tales and musical compositions.

Poetry is very hard to translate. The non-transmutability of languages makes it difficult to transfer the exact sounds, rhythm, vocabulary, syntax and mood of one language to another. Poetry, by its very nature, rests on the expressive and aesthetic conventions of language. Great poets achieve excellence through the use of metaphors, alliteration, symbols etc, and by transmitting emotions and ideas with imagery, which may be unique and creative, but which the readers of that language can identify. The task of translating Latif is even more arduous and intricate as his poetry is wrapped in very dense linguistic, figurative, musical, aesthetic and expressive layers which are not easy to penetrate and convey in another language with all its majesty and impact. Shackle is aware of this predicament and notes in his introduction that the “tightly condensed expression and freely allusive rhetoric of Shah Latif’s poetry are often quite hard to render naturally into modern English.” He has, therefore, wisely refrained from the vain attempt of reproducing original rhyme or figurative style. Instead, he tries to “convey some sense of the poetry in a consistent style of modern English prose.”

Shackle is quite successful in conveying that ‘sense of poetry’. His translation is consistent and articulate, fairly accurate and, in some cases, even very literal. With remarkable ease, he delivers the sense of the complete Risalo with its varied themes and shades of meaning lucidly. However, Robert Frost once said “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” There is also the question of what the translator should aim for: form or essence? Should a translator be content with literal translation, or strive to bring forth the soul of the verse? Sometimes even the best efforts leave a lot to be desired and while Shackle successfully renders the form of Latif’s poetry, the essence is somewhat ‘lost in translation’.

There are two parallel streams in Latif’s poetry. In keeping with the tradition of his times, he used various popular folk tales as the framework of his poetry and a key character — usually the female protagonist — as the vehicle for his expression. These tales are not narrated fully; only critical sections are selected and through two- to five-line verses a particular scene or emotion is narrated. But these tales are mere external devices; Latif’s verses metaphorically and symbolically express spiritual, emotional, aesthetic or mystic reality. There is an outer stream of form and an inner stream of the essence in each verse. A translation of Latif’s poetry bereft of these essential elements holds very little value.

In his translation of Risalo, Agha tried to capture both the outer form and inner truth of Latif’s poetry. His translation of the verses is accompanied, where necessary, with explanations of the underlying idea and augmented with quotes from the Holy Quran or verses by Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafez, Omar Khayyam and other Persian poets. Even if not emulating Agha’s exhaustive approach, Shackle should have explained, as Sorley termed, “certain nuance of meaning” which native speakers of the language take for granted. This could also have been done by providing more elaborate and extensive notes, which would have certainly given readers of this translation a chance to glimpse the veiled beauty of this wonderful poet.

Also, the succinct background of each sur, or chapter, given by Shackle in the notes may be fine for those already familiar with the cultural and spiritual traditions of the subcontinent, but it is hardly sufficient for those new to the realm. Almost every translator of Latif’s poetry has given a fair introduction at the beginning of each sur; this usually includes a description of the tale around which the verses are composed, its spiritual and metaphorical significance and the themes of the sur. This familiarises the reader with the ambience of the tale and makes his ecstatic journey into the world of Latif’s poetry smooth. Had Shackle followed this tradition, it would have been much easier for uninitiated readers to appreciate the beauty of Latif’s poetry.

Although it is an otherwise finely edited book, there are some occasional oversights; Khamisani’s translation of the Risalo came out in 1992, not 2003; Hazrat Ali (RA) was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) not just his cousin; and Lahoot is not a small place in Sindh, but a major site in Balochistan.

Legend has it that Latif always carried Rumi’s Masnavi with him. The influence of this great Sufi poet is all too obvious in Latif’s own verse. Recent times have seen a great surge of interest in Rumi and the world has found in him a master whose poetry is the key to untying many knots of the mind and soul. Latif can also guide us through this tortuous path of existence and help us not only make sense of the world around us, but also live a spiritually, emotionally and aesthetically rich life. Shackle’s translation will be a stepping stone to bring Latif’s poetry to the world and prove very useful to those who want to understand and work on the Risalo further.

The reviewer is a translator and short story writer

Risalo by Shah Abdul Latif
Edited and translated
by Christopher Shackle
Harvard University
Press, US
ISBN: 978-0674975040
704pp.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, May 6th, 2018