BHAGWAT GITA IN KHASI

Kurukshetra, the epic battleground of the Mahabharata, is metaphorically within every individual trying to battle all evils, said Lesli Hardinge Pde, who has brought out the first Khasi translation of the Bhagwad Gita.

He said, every religion teaches righteousness in its own way and individuals try to follow the right path battling within against all forms of evil, in the same manner as the battle of Kurukshetra.

Pde, a multi-faceted personality, has earlier translated the Ramayana, the Upanishad, the Mahabharata and now the Bhagwad Gita, into Khasi literature.

Although a Catholic Christian by faith, Pde said he has translated the Bhagwad Gita into Khasi, titled, “Ka Jingruwai U Blei” or The Song of God, so that people in Meghalaya could read and understand its teachings.

In the Mahabharata, the Bhagwad Gita comprises of 18 chapters from the 24th through 42nd and is a collection of 700 verses. The first verse begins with a lamentation of the consequences of war.

The verses are spiritual discourses between Lord Krishna urging a confused Pandava prince Arjuna, to fight his evil cousins in the battle of Kurukshetra in Mahabharata. The spiritual conversations are intended to go beyond the scope of religion and benefit humanity.

“Every religious scriptures, be it the Bhagwad Gita, the Bible or the Koran, teaches about righteousness, truth and morality. These gives people inspiration, so I decided to translate some of these books,” he added.

Pde said he took almost four months to translate the Bhagwad Gita from the English editions written by Indian philosopher and monk of the Ramakrishna order, Swami Prabhavananda and British novelist, Christopher Isherwood.

Although Pde has many Khasi publications to his credit, he first began translating some of the epics on Hindu philosophy from 1986.

In 1986 he first translated the Ramayana and then the Mahabharata in 1988. Later in 1991 he translated the Upanishad.

“I am now working on Kalidas’ epic Abhijnana Shakulntalam and would be coming out with a Khasi version on it soon,” the Septuagenarian retired Meghalaya government official said.

Pde said he as a member of the Catholic Church has received encouragement to translate books from different languages into Khasi. Pde’s latest publication was financed by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

“The Sahitya Academy has stressed that as many books as possible maybe translated into Khasi to enrich the language. So I am trying to contribute in that direction in my own humble way,” Pde added.