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not an easy task. I
faced some difficulty
as I’m not very conversant with Bengali, and had to resort to the help of a Bengali dictionary several times
Bhubaneswar: Oriya writer Rabindra Kumar Praharaj, who was recently selected for the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for his book Thila Gharara Gelhapua, is an accomplished man of letters who has 36 books under his belt. Of them, 14 are translations from other languages into Oriya, including Thila Gharara… which was translated from the Bengali classic Alaler Gharer Dulal written by famous writer Tekchand Thakur way back in 1857.
“Writing is my passion, and I’m honoured that the Kendra Sahitya Akademi has chosen my work for the prestigious award,” said Praharaj, when asked about how he felt regarding the award.
“Translating the book was not an easy task,” Praharaj admits. “I faced some difficulty as I’m not very conversant with Bengali, and had to resort to the help of a Bengali dictionary often,” says the writer.
Why did he choose Alaler Gharer Dulal for translation? Praharaj recalls how he stumbled upon the book. “Many years back, I was in Calcutta to participate in a seminar organised at a university. There, I met a Bengali girl who was fond of reading. She took me to a bookstore where I saw this book which was back then was highly recommended reading. I’d heard about the book ever since I was a college student in 1959,” reminisces Praharaj.
“The book caught my fancy, and despite not knowing the language nor the rural dialect that the book is written in, I decided to translate it into Oriya. I read the book several times to get a grasp of its characters. The translation took me eight months,” Praharaj informs.
Like many other writers from the state, Bengali literature continues to fascinate Praharaj. “I’m a big fan of Tagore. I’ve translated one of his books and I’m planning to translate some other famous Bengali works in the future,” he adds.
Praharaj says he feels Oriya people should not be deprived of great literature from across the world, which is why he makes it a point to translate famous works into his mother-tongue.
“I’ve translated books like ‘Speeches and Writings of Ambedkar’, ‘What India Can Teach Us’ by Max Muller besides several others,” says the reticent writer.
Praharaj has written about 200 essays and articles and has also published an autobiography in 2008.
Apart from being a noted translator, he is also a renowned Oriya poet. “I have been writing poems in Oriya and have published around three poetry collections till now.”
Praharaj retired from Rama Devi Women’s College in 1996 and since then has devoted most of his time to writing and translation.
He mostly translates English and Bengali books, and around five translation works are ready for publication.
