1. Shakespeare

Translating Shakespeare in Kerala

31ST JULY 2019  ISSUE 11

Ever since his works began to be translated into Malayalam in the mid-nineteenth century, Shakespeare’s adaptations have appeared as books, plays, comics and films in Kerala. Thea Buckley writes about the history of Kerala’s engagement with Shakespearean literature.

Thea Buckley

For how long have Shakespeare’s works been translated in Kerala? That is the question! Kerala was never fully occupied by the British, who introduced the playwright to the subcontinent. His works were added to the Indian Civil Service Examination syllabus by 1855.  The region’s early assimilation of Shakespeare reflects a lasting familiar enjoyment of the author, as evident from the Malayalam translations of his works, preceding India’s Independence in 1947 and continuing till today.

The repeated reprints and high sales of Malayalam versions of Shakespeare’s works in Kerala, from the series of slim Paico Classics comics translated by R. Gopalakrishnan, to the hefty volume Shakespeare Natakangal [Dramas of Shakespeare] (2000) edited by noted Malayalam playwright and translator K. Ayyappa Panicker, are indicative of a popular local reception. Panicker’s collection, which sold over 5,000 copies in the first three months since its publication, comprises thirteen translations by various reputed authors like Kavalam Narayana Panicker: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, and Henry VIII.1

The earliest known translations of Shakespeare in Malayalam date back to the colonial era, with roughly twenty documented versions. The first of these was Almarattam [Substitution] (1866), Kalloor Oommen Philippose’s adaptation of A Comedy of Errors.2 The Merchant of Venice was translated as Porsyaa Svayamvaram [Portia’s Wedding-Choice] (1888), and Venisile Vyapari [The Merchant of Venice] (1902), and The Taming of the Shrew became Kalahinidamanakam (Kandathil Varghese Mappilai, 1893).3 In 1897, Kodungalloor Kunjikkuttan Thampuran brought out Hamlet, and A. Govinda Pillai translated, directed and acted in Brittanile Rajavu Lear [King Lear of Britain]; it was staged in Trivandrum and noted novelist and playwright C. V. Raman Pillai played Lear.4 The first Malayalam Macbeth was published anonymously in 1903 in the magazine Bhashaposhini.5 Macbeth was later translated by K. Chidambara Vadhyar in the daily Nasrani Deepika in 1929, then reprinted in 1933 as a novel, Prataparudreeyam athava Streesahasam [The Story of Prataparudram, or, the Woman’s Escapade].6 The most popular early Shakespeare translation was a musical adaptation, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1909), which pleased the local audience tremendously.7

Malayali translators adopted individual strategies to lend more local appeal to Shakespeare’s works. Some copied Sanskrit plays, with their nandi sloka or prefatory invocation, and mix of