tomorrow evening. This portion had to be perhaps a little free – according to your explanation – as it was a little condensed. But I think it will please you nevertheless.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 2. 1934 — 1935
Letter ID: 479
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
August 31, 1934
I send the last but one instalment of Nishikanta’s translation. The next portion will be completed, I hope, by tomorrow evening. This portion had to be perhaps a little free – according to your explanation – as it was a little condensed. But I think it will please you nevertheless.
(...) But your “Night by the Sea” is congenial to the temper of Bengali and I feel everyone will agree that Nishikanta’s translation is very melodious and though your subtlety one misses then it reads like an original beautiful poem. It will, I feel, remain in our language by virtue of its atmosphere of “poeticalness.”
But what about Bejoy Krishna and the māyāmṛga1 of Rama? Let B.K. come first, māyāmṛga next week? Qu’en dites-vous? [What do you say?]
Well, I thought I had finished with Rama who after all belong to the past. The Māyāmṛga was an absolute necessity for removing Rama from the Ashram, otherwise Ravana could not have been able to carry Sita off, so the Divine or Valmiki (to whichever you like to give the credit of the incident) arranged it in that way (a very poetic way, you must admit) and the instrumental Personality accepted the veiling of the consciousness so that his work might be done, just as Krishna clean forgot all he had said to Arjuna in the Gita so that he might teach him something else. You must expect such things from the Avatar! However, Nolini has sent me all the correspondence for treatment, so I suppose I shall finish my unfinished letter soon to deal with certain points and also write something about Avatarhood in general – that means two productions. But not now, I have Bejoy Goswami in my mind and I am continually being whipped from within to complete the Harmony affair which August and Rama and Bejoy Goswami have kept in a state of uneasy and dissatisfied swoon. I shall see Nishikanta’s translation today or on Sunday. I am rather overwhelmed today.
1 māyāmṛga: a magical golden deer which enticed Sita in the Ramayana. Sita requests Rama to catch the deer for her and in his absence, she is abducted by Ravana.