Ancient Hymn, Modern Verse

Vikram Seth's translation of Tulsidas's Hanuman Chalisa captures the incantatory quality of the original

- Malini Saran

THE HANUMAN CHALISA

Translated by Vikram Seth

SPEAKING TIGER ₹399; 100 pages

Literary translation is famously difficult and translating poetry particularly so. More challenges arise when the poem in question is a 40-verse (chalisa) hymn in Avadhi, the language of Ayodhya, to the godly Hanuman, a poem that is loved and recited daily by millions of Hindus. Poet-novelist Vikram Seth calls his latest publication, The Hanuman Chalisa, a labour of love published several years after its completion in which he renders the incantatory quality of the original Avadhi into English poetry, the first ever such attempt.