Publishep's Preface

puBlishep's preface In 1955 William Buck discovered an elaborate nineteenth- century edition of The Sacred Song of the Lord, the Bhagavad-Gita of Lord Krishna in a state library in Carson City, Nevada. Captivated by this find, he plunged into a study of Indian literature which has resulted in this rendering of Ramayana, a retelling of Mahabharata, and an unfinished manuscript of Harivamsa—unfinished because of his death in 1970 at the age of 37. His discovery of the Bhagavad-Gita moved Mr. Buck to read the Mahabharata, and he would be satisfied with nothing less than a full translation. An 11-volume set was then being reprinted in India, and in his determination he subsidized the reprinting when it became apparent that the publisher had insufficient funds to complete the task. Midway through his reading, Mr. Buck decided the Rama- yana and Mahabharata should be rewritten for a modern English-speaking audience. In his own words, "Mahabharata was about 5,000 pages, and Ramayana much shorter. When I read these translations I thought how nice to tell the story so it wouldn't be so hard to read. We talk about all the repetition and digression of the originals, but as you read all that endless impossible prose a very definite character comes to each actor ix in the story, and the land and times are most clearly shown. I wanted to transfer this story to a readable book." To this end, William Buck began years of reading and rereading the translations, studying Sanskrit, planning, and writing. One of his approaches was to decipher and list all the elaborate appellatives used in place of names for heroes and gods and kings and princesses in the original text. He then used the qualities of these appellatives to describe the char- acters in his own renderings and thus preserve their mood and meanings. He read all available English versions of the two great epics, but said of them, "I have never seen any versions of either story in English that were not mere outlines, or incomplete, except for the two literal translations." He always kept in mind that the epics were originally sung, and reading aloud from both the original translations and Buck's own work became part of the Buck family life. William Buck's vision of his task was firm, and he had the balanced form of each epic clearly in his mind as he worked. In his words, "It is always apparent just what is the thread of the story and what are later interpolations. It is stuffed with preachments, treatises of special interests, doctrines of later caste systems, long passages of theological dogma, but these are in chunks, and only slow the story." His goal was to tell the tales in such a way that the modern reader would not be discouraged from knowing and loving them as he did. He wanted to convey the spirit, the truth, of the epics. In answer to a critic of his manuscripts he replied, "I've made many changes and combinations in both books, but I wish to have them considered as stories which they are, rather than as examples of technically accurate scholarship, which I told you they weren't. One thing however is true. Read the stories and you get the real spirit of the original once you're done, and if they're entertaining that's all I ask." And in an- other letter: "Ramayana is one of the world's most popular stories, and it is part of its own tradition to be re-told in different times and places, as I have done." That was his aim—to make it possible for contemporary x readers to know the Ramayana in terms meaningful for modern times, as well as in terms of its origins. Of the finished manuscripts he wrote, "My method in writing both Maha- bharata and Ramayana was to begin with a literal translation from which to extract the story, and then to tell that story in an interesting way that would preserve the spirit and flavor of the original. My motive is therefore that of the storyteller. I'm not trying to prove anything and I have made my own changes to tell the story better. Here are two great stories just waiting for people to read them. Based on the words of ancient songs, I have written books. I tried to make them interesting to read. I don't think you will find many other books like them." xi .

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