Thanks to the requests of the multi-talented Dr. Chandana Sri over at Twitter, I took up the challenge of translating William Shakespeare's Sonnet 94 to Kannada. This is an intriguing and enigmatic sonnet with multiple interpretations discussed by many scholars, so I'm not going into the details of those interpretations with no scholarly background for the same. Here's the attempt to translate it to Kannada though, where attempts to stick to its original rhyming scheme had to be given up mostly, and also my initial thoughts of ensuring dwitIyAkShara prAsa in Kannada had to be set aside too, while only ensuring it for lines 9-14.
The whole write up is in the form 5/5/5/3, so that it could match the last line that was already translated by Dr. Chandana as "ಕೊಳೆತ ನೈದಿಲೆ ನಾತ ಕಳೆಗಿಂತ ಕೀಳು"
So, in essence, it was an exercise in samasyApUraNa!
ನೋಯಿಸುವ ಬಲವಿದ್ದು ನೋಯಿಸದ ಜನರು
ಗೋಚರಿಪ ಲಕ್ಷಣವ ದಿಟ ಮಾಡದವರು
ಇತರರಂ ಕದಲಿಪರು ತಾವು ಕಲ್ಲಾಗಿ
ಜಡವಾಗಿ, ಸೆಟೆದಿರ್ದು, ಸೆಳೆತಗಳ ಮಣಿಸಿ
ಋಜುವಾಗಿ ದೈವಕೃಪೆ ಗಳಿಸುತ್ತಲವರು
ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯಸದಳವನ್ನು ಕಾಯ್ದು ಸಲಹುವರು
ಅವರೆ ತಮ್ಮಯ ಮೊಗವನಾಳ್ವ ನಾಯಕರು
ಉಳಿದವರು, ಅವರ ಹಿರಿತನದ ಸೇವಕರು
ಬೇಸಿಗೆಯ ಹೂವದುವೆ ಬೇಸಿಗೆಗೆ ಸವಿಯು
ಖಾಸಗಿಯೊಳದರದೊಂದಿರವು ಮತ್ತಳಿವು
ಆಸರೆಯ ಹೂದಳಕೆ ನಂಜಂಟುತಿರಲು
ಮಾಸುವುದು ಹೂ ಹಿರಿಮೆ ಹೊಲಸು ಕಳೆಯೆದುರು
ಹುಳಿಗೆ ತಿರುಗುವುದು ಸವಿ, ಎಸಕಗಳೆ ಬೀಳು
ಕೊಳೆತ ನೈದಿಲೆ ನಾತ ಕಳೆಗಿಂತ ಕೀಳು
The original Sonnet 94:
They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.
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