Obreh Shechh

by MK Tikoo

"As for the problems of translations, one can hardly set a more untranslatable example than Kalidasa. One says this a little more emphatically than may sound reasonable and considering the temper of Kashmiri language. This is partly one reason why Kalidasa has so far been left untouched in this language. During the year Arjun Dev Majboor came out with a translation in verse of Meghdoota as obreh Shechh. Majboor has made a valiant attempt to sustain the poem despite the occasional jarring notes. One problem here is to integrate the Sanskrit names into cadences of the language. But this would have been less of an impediment had the poet allowed the less constricting framework of free verse".

*Overseas Sahitya Academy Indian Literature, Jan-Feb 1976 p. 65-66

Source: Kashmir Sentinel