Chha Mana Atha Guntha By Fakir Mohan Senapati

 Chha Mana Atha Guntha had to wait for more than sixty years before being translated into English. It seemed like a thunderous start, though. Two English translations of the novel were published in 1967: The Stubble under the Cloven Hoof by C.V.N. Das and Six Acres and a Half by A.M. and B.M. Senapati.  A third English translation called A Plot of Land by Nuri Mishra, presenting a simplified and retold version of the novel, was published two years later, in 1969. Truth be told, all these were local affairs, neither published in respectable forums nor well projected.

It was troubling to think that the iconic Odia novel’s translational odyssey would end here, in the 1970s, with the end result that the visibility enjoyed, say, by Premchand’s Godaan—the classic translation of this novel by Gordon C. Roadermel was done in 1968—would be denied Chha Mana Atha Guntha.This is a translation that is sensitive to the twists and turns of Chha Mana Atha Guntha, especially its rambunctious narration. And it is attractively packaged with a beautiful cover, giving us a whiff of an Odia, nay, an Indian village. It succeeds in its chosen task of making Fakir Mohan Senapati’s novel desirable and endearing for the twenty-first century readers.