BOOK REVIEW
“SHRI SAI SATCHARITRA: The Life and Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba” has been written by Professor Indira Kher, and published by ‘Sterling Publisher’s Pvt. Ltd.’, New Delhi – 110016, in the year 1999. The book is a detailed chapter-wise, verse-wise and line-wise English translation of the holy book 'Shri Sai Satcharitra' written originally in Marathi language in verse composition by Govind R. Dabholkar (Hemadpant) and first published in 1929 - eleven years after the Maha Samadhi (passing away) of Sai Baba. Of course, the idea of writing the book in Marathi had been conceived during Baba's life-time with His permission and blessings by Hemadpant. The original Marathi composition had 52 chapters with 9308 verses. In the last chapter (Chapter-52), Hemadpant had given his concluding remarks and promised to provide an index giving the contents of all the chapters in verse. After his sudden demise in 1929, the index was not found in his scripts or papers when the book was being taken to print. This was composed and supplied by Shri B.V. Dev, retired Mamlatdar of Thana - a great Sai devotee.
Though the original Marathi book as well as its adaptations into Hindi and English have been published from time to time by "Shri Sai Baba Sansthan, Shirdi," the adaptation in English was done by Shri Nagesh Vasudev Gunaji, in 1956 and has seen its 19th edition in 2001. Gunaji's English version of the holy book has reached out to thousands of devotees over last 46 years. The last chapter in this book (Chapter 52 in the original) was titled as ‘Epilogue’. Chapter 50 of the original Satcharita was incorporated in Chapter 39, and Chapter 51 of the original was treated as Chapter 50, and the Epilogue followed thereafter.
The adaptation and translation of the original Marathi verse composition of 'Sai Satcharitra' in Hindi, English and other regional languages have followed the chapterisation of the original ‘Poth’, subject to changes as pointed out above. But these books have not gone for a literal verse by verse and line by line translation and rendering from the Marathi in prose (with explanatory notes) as has now been attempted by Dr Indira Kher in this English book. Her knowledge of Marathi (she is from Maharashtra) as well as English (she is a retired Professor of English Literature, with a Ph.D), her association as the Editor of 'Shri Sai Leela' magazine (English edition) brought out by Shirdi Sai Sansthan for two and half years during 1985- 1988 and above all, her deep understanding of Sai Baba as an ardent devotee, combine to make it a superb piece of work. One would tend to agree with Shri M.V. Kamath who in his 'Foreword' to this book has aptly described it as 'a magnificent achievement' by 'any reckoning'. To quote Shri Kamath: "It is written in plain English and what is more, it gives us a flavour of the original Marathi. That is its special appeal. Smt. Kher has resisted the temptation to provide only the gist of the original in an effort to cleanse the Indianness of the original. Had she done so, she would have destroyed its essential beauty, its unique feature. Reading the translation one has the feel of the rhythm and beauty of the Marathi text - and that, thank heavens, is how it should be".
The book contains a befitting ‘Foreword’ by M. V. Kamath himself an ardent Sai devotee, and co-author of a book ‘Sai Baba of Shirdi : A Unique Saint’, along with V. B. Kher. In the ‘Preface’ which follows, the writer acknowledges the greatness of the Holy ‘Shri Sai Satcharitra’ from which Sai devotees derive a sense of fulfillment and which they read and use with great faith and devotion. She explains its uniqueness in terms of veracity, sanctity, inspiring faith and bringing in a sense of fulfillment. She refers to the Sai path as Guru-marg - the path of Bhakti and to Baba as "divine and yet so human!" She brings out the elements of mystery and symbolism from the story of Baba, which inspired the author of the Satcharitra, Shri Dabholkar to think of writing the original book.
T
he present book of translation runs into 883 pages with 53 chapters. Each chapter has been given an appropriate title or heading and the main contents are summarised or indicated under each chapter at the beginning of the book. At the end of each chapter, explanatory notes and references are given. The line-by-line and verse by verse translation in the form of narrative prose in lucid and simple English has followed the same order as the original Marathi Holy Book. There is an invocation at the beginning of each chapter. There is also a concluding verse at the end of each chapter, except in case of Chapter 52, as it was not found in the manuscript left by Hemandpant. The very last chapter titled "Epitome" (53rd chapter) was composed by "Baba's slave Bal" (meaning B.V. Deo). It is evident from the present author's notes at page 864, that "the epitome was not given in the manuscript, although in the very first verse it is said a summary would be given". The 53rd chapter ‘Epitome’ explains the circumstances in which the epitome was written, after Hemadpant's death. There is a summary of each of the 52 chapters in the Epitome.
It is evident that Professor Indira Kher has fallowed the original Pothi in Marathi with honesty, humility and, to quote M.V. Kamath, with “the practised approach of an English teacher steeled in the discipline of translation”.
The book is published with great care- the quality of printing, binding, paper and the hard cover, all combine to ensure it as a life time possession of priceless gems, as it were. A paper back edition has also come out which is priced around Rs. 200/-.
A. R. Nanda