Globalising Kashmiri Literature Through Translations 

Literature moves people and stirs their emotions in the deepest possible way. The translations of literary works carry this effect far and wide, enabling people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds to participate in universal pathos and joys of humanity. The importance of translation literature cannot be undermined. If the West enjoys Iqbal and Tagore and the East celebrates Dante and Goethe, it is all because of translation – the translation works that have carried these writers beyond their native lands far and wide and spread the aura of their literary works across the globe. Such translations are cultural bridges, enabling people to connect and experience human diversity. 

Though shrouded in obscurity and oblivion, Kashmiri poetry has had some instances of its voices being carried far and wide. With the arrival of Britishers in the valley, Kashmiri language and literature immediately caught their attention. They were at once drawn to the rich literary heritage of the valley. It was in continuum to this trend that Sir RC Temple wrote a book as wonderful as, “The Word of Lalla”; J.Holton Knowles compiled “A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings”; and Sir George Greirson rendered invaluable services to Kashmiri linguistics. Additionally, travelogues, surveys and memoirs written by English travellers also helped popularise the cultural charm of Kashmir and enlarged its literary bank. 

The tradition of translation has survived to this day in Kashmir. The tireless work of the likes of Shafi Shauq, Mufti Mudasir Farouqi, Huzaifa Pandit, and Mushtaque Barq has been catalytic in Globalising Kashmiri literature and placing Kashmiri classics in the transnational orbit. 

The intrinsic beauty, the universal import and heightened poetic sensibilities found in Kashmiri literature have been discussed for long. Comparisons have been drawn between Keats and Rusul Mir, Wordsworth and Mahjoor, Jami and Mehmood Ghami, Sa’adi and Sheikh Ul Aalam and others. Such comparisons, though contestable, aren’t entirely misplaced. If anything, they reflect the intrinsic richness and global flavour present in our own vernacular poetry. 

However, what has often prevented our poets from reaching the rest of the world is that the translation of their works is not given the attention that it deserves. Translated works, even if they exist, are either poorly done or passed down to publishers with no national, let alone an international outreach. The result has been obvious: the disappointing absence of our literary stalwarts from the global literary scene. 

A year ago, I lamented on the death of the doyen of Kashmiri literature, Rehman Rahi, who had been lost without being translated. A year later, we now have a translation of some of his writings in the book, “The Vyeth is Not Asleep”. 

In my opinion, if we want Kashmiri literature to have a niche in the international literary landscape, translation needs to go alongside literary creation. Our poets should be celebrated when they’re alive. Translators and worthy scholars should not wait for the demise of the author to publish her in translation posthumously. 

Kashmir is blessed with contemporaries like Farooq Nazki, Naseem Shifayi, Shahnaz Rasheed and a cluster of other poets who deserve to go global. But this can only be realised only through a robust culture of coming up with good translations. 

I recall sharing one of the poems of late Rahi sung by Vijay Malla with one of my non-kashmiri friends. Moved by the rendition, my friend asked me for its translation, which to my great dismay, I could not furnish. Even as the poem is one of Rahi’s famous and oft-quoted poems, there was no translation of it at the time. These handicaps come in our way of exporting our literature and pitching it at a scale where it can have the widest possible reach. 

If we are enjoying the works of Chekhov & Tolstoy, Shakespeare & Milton, Firdausi & Rumi and many others by means of translation, we need to equally pay back to the world and introduce them to our literary stalwarts, past and present, so that we carve for ourselves a place of prominence in the niche of international literature, which Kashmir undoubtedly deserves. Those of our writers like Agha Shahid Ali, Basharat Peer, Mirza Waheed and others who chose English as their medium of expression, received global acclaim for it. This only proves the inherent merit which our writers carry. If literature is to have a future, Kashmir needs to take its well deserved place. But the caveat remains: Who will bell the cat?       

• Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer 

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