My Sanskrit rendering of Goethe's poem on Shakuntala

[Madhav Deshpande]

Going through old papers, I found my Sanskrit rendering of Goethe's German poem on Shakuntala.  This was done sometime during my Fergusson College days in Pune.

GOETHE’S POEM ON SHAKUNTALA

 

Willst du die Blüthe des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,

Willst du, was reizt und entzückt, willst du was sättigt und nährt,

Willst du den Himmel, die Erde, mit Einem Namen begreifen;

Nenn’ ich, Sakuntala, Dich, und so ist Alles gesagt.

 

English Translation

Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline

And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed,

Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine?

I name thee, O Sakuntala! and all at once is said.

—translation by Edward Backhouse Eastwick

 

संस्कृतानुवाद: 

स्पृहयसि वसन्तकुसुमेभ्यो यदि

ग्रीष्मे यदि फलराशीनिच्छसि ।

कान्तं पुष्टिकरं तुष्टिकरम्

सन्तर्पणमात्मनो यदीच्छसि ।

शब्दैक्ये यदि कर्तुम् ग्रहणम्

वसुन्धरास्वर्गयोरीप्सितम् ।

त्वामभिदधामि हे शाकुन्तल

सपदि सकलमेकपदे प्रोक्तम् ॥

Madhav Deshpande

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

[Madhav Deshpande]

Thanks, Antonia, for that reference.  During my undergraduate days in Fergusson College in Pune, I was studying German along with Sanskrit.  There was a celebration of 50 years of German teaching in Pune, and we performed the 4th act of Śākuntalam on stage in German.  I acted as Śārṅgarava and my Sanskrit teacher Pt. N. N. Bhide (who also knew German) played the role of Kaṇva.  It was sometime around this occasion that I translated Goethe's poem into Sanskrit.

Madhav Deshpande

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 9:20 AM, Antonia Ruppel <rhodod...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Madhav,

As someone who has long loved Goethe's poem, let me say: thank you! This is beautiful. -- And just in case anyone ever asks about its source: it took me a while to find it, but it comes from a letter to F. H. Jacobi dated July 1, 1791, thus quoted in the Jubiläumsausgabe von Goethes Werken, I.258. (Apologies if you already knew that.)

Thanks again and all best,

    Antonia

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[Madhav Deshpande]

Dear Professor Slaje,

     Thank you so much for this clarification, which I did not detect due to my insufficient knowledge of German.  I gladly accept your suggestion to change हे शाकुन्तल to हे शकुन्तले in my Sanskrit rendering.  With best wishes,

Madhav Deshpande

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 10:39 AM, Walter Slaje <sl...@kabelmail.de> wrote:

Dear Professor Deshpande,

I seek your kind permission to add an insignificant remark on this amiable and spotless couplet:
Goethe did not address the play (śākuntala), but its heroine (śakuntalā).

A capital letter such as "D" of the German spelling "Dich" - if it does correspond with the original spelling - in the above quote normally marks a form of personal address. I think the English translator, too, understood Goethe's wording as a personal address: "[...] thee, O Sakuntala!"
It is of course possible that Goethe actually might have had the drama as such in his mind, when he praised "Sakontala" - the person - in place of the play.
He knew the play by the title Georg Foster had assigned to it, in which the name of Śakuntalā occupies the first place: "Sakontala, oder der entscheidende Ring, ein indisches Schauspiel von Kalidas."

„Sakontala“, in Goethe’s understanding and usage, is also elsewhere a personal name - one of the persons below to be "kissed" -, but not the name of the play:

„Was will man denn Vergnüglicheres wissen!

Sakontala, Nala, die muß man küssen“

(Goethe, Zahme Xenien)

Could it, therefore, enhance the faithfulness of your  memorable translation by using "he śakuntale" instead of "he śākuntala" (exigencies of meter set aside for the moment)?

Kind regards,

Walter Slaje

-----------------------------
Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje
Hermann-Löns-Str. 1
D-99425 Weimar
Deutschland

Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor
studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum
non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam,
sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus
humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat.
Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII.

[Madhav Deshpande]

Thanks, Artur.  I have been wondering how to render "späteren Jahres," and came up with grīṣma.  Perhaps, as you say, śarat "autumn" is a better way to do it.  To fit the meter of my poem, I can revise it to: शरदो यदि फलराशीनिच्छसि.  Thanks for your input.  Best,

Madhav

On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 2:15 AM, Artur Karp <ka...@uw.edu.pl> wrote:

Dear Professor Deshpande, 

another insignificant remark. Fruit in the poem belong to autumn, they are of 'späteren Jahres', are of the year's 'decline'. Wouldn't śaradi fit the text better than grīṣme?

With highest regards, 

Artur Karp

Polska

PS. Could you please direct me to someone using Goan Konkani?

Thank you, 

Artur K. 

2017-06-15 4:51 GMT+02:00 Jesse Knutson via INDOLOGY <indo...@list.indology.info>:

Perfection. Looking forward to holding the volume of your Skt poems in hand. Best,J