VON SCHACK.
His Fame as Translator of Firdausī--Stimmen vom
Ganges--Sakuntala compared with the Original in the
Mahābhārata--His Oriental Scholarship in his Original
Poems--Attitude towards Hafizian Singers.
As an Orientalist, von Schack's scholarship is amply attested by his
numerous and excellent translations from Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit.
His _Heldensagen des Firdusi_, as is well known, has become a standard
work of German literature. In fact, we may say that his reputation rests
more upon his translations than upon his poems.
Though we have consistently refrained from discussing translations, it
is felt that the _Stimmen vom Ganges_, which is a collection of Indic
legends from various sources, especially from the _Purāṇas_, cannot be
left entirely out of consideration.[230] In many respects these poems
have the charm of original work. The models moreover are used with great
freedom. To cite von Schack's own words: "Für eigentliche Übertragungen
können diese Dichtungen in der Gestalt, wie sie hier vorliegen, nicht
gelten, da bei der Bearbeitung bald grössere bald geringere Freiheit
gewaltet hat, auch manches Störende und Weitschweifige ausgeschieden
wurde; doch hielt ich es für unstatthaft, am Wesentlichen des Stoffes
und der Motive Änderungen vorzunehmen. In Gedanken und Ausdruck haben,
wenn nicht der jedesmal vorliegende Text, so doch stets Indische Werke
zu Vorbildern gedient."[231]
A brief comparison of any one of these poems with the Sanskrit original
will show the correctness of this statement. Let us take, as an
illustration, the second, which gives the famous legend of Śakuntalā
from the _Mahābhārata_ (i. 69-74; Bombay ed. i. 92-100).
Schack leaves out unnecessary details and wearisome repetitions. Thus
the elaborate account of the Brahmans whom the king sees on entering the
hermitage of Kanva and their different occupations (_Mbh_. 70, 37-47) is
condensed into fourteen lines, p. 36. Again, in the original, when
Śakuntalā tells the story of her birth, the speech by which Indra urges
Mēnakā to undertake the temptation of Viśvāmitra is given at some length
(_Mbh_. 71, 20-26); so also the reply of the timid nymph (ibid. 71,
27-42); the story of the temptation itself is narrated with realistic
detail in true Hindu fashion (ibid. 72, 1-9). All this takes up
thirty-three _ślōkas_. Schack devotes to it barely five lines, p. 38;
the speeches of Indra and Mēnakā he omits altogether. Again, when the
king proposes to the fair maid, he enters into a learned disquisition on
the eight kinds of marriage, explaining which ones are proper for each
caste, which ones are never proper, and so forth; finally he proposes
the Gandharva form (_Mbh_. 73, 6-14). It is needless to say that in
Schack's poem the king's proposal is much less didactic and much more
direct, pp. 40, 41.
On the other hand, to see how closely the poet sometimes follows his
model we need but compare all that follows the words "Kaum war er
gegangen," p. 42, to "Dem sind nimmerdar die Götter gnädig," p. 47, with
the Sanskrit original (_Mbh_. 73, 24-74, 33).
Minor changes in phrases or words, advisable on aesthetic grounds, are
of course frequent. Similes, for instance, appealing too exclusively to
Hindu taste, were made more general. Thus in Śakuntalā's reply to the
king, p. 51, the faults of others are likened in size to sand grains,
and those of himself to glebes. In Sanskrit, however, the comparison is
to mustard-grains and bilva-fruits respectively. A few lines further on
the maid declares:
"So überragt mein Stamm denn
Weit den deinen, wisse das, Duschmanta!"
which passage in the original reads: _āvayōr antaraṃ paśya mēru
sarśapōr iva_, "behold! the difference between us is like that between
a mustard-seed and Mount Mēru." In the same speech of Śakuntalā the
Sanskrit introduces a striking simile which Schack omits as too
specifically Indic:
_mūrkhō hi jalpatāṃ puṃsāṃ śrutvā vācaḥ śubhāśubhāḥ
aśubhaṃ vākyam ādattē purīṣam iva sūkaraḥ
prājñas tu jalpatāṃ puṃsāṃ śrutvā vācaḥ śubhāśubhāḥ
guṇavad vākyam ādattē haṃsaḥ kṣīram ivāṃbhasaḥ_
(_Mbh_. 74. 90, 91.)
"The fool having heard men's speeches containing good and evil
chooses the evil just as a hog dirt; but the wise man having heard
men's speeches containing good and evil chooses the worthy, just
as a swan (separates) milk from water."[232]
We believe that these illustrations will suffice to give an idea of the
relation which Schack's poems bear to the originals.
* * * * *
His fondness for things Oriental finds also frequent expression in his
own poems. In _Nächte des Orients_ (vol. i. p. 7 seq.),[233] like Goethe
before him, he undertakes a poetic Hegira to the East:
Entfliehen lasst mich, fliehn aus den Gewirren
Des Occidents zum heitern Morgenland!
So he visits the native towns of Firdausī and H̱āfiḍ and pays his
respect to their memory, and then penetrates also into India, where he
hears from the lips of a Buddhist monk an exposition of Nirvāṇa
philosophy, which, however, is unacceptable to him (p. 111). The
Oriental scenes that are brought before our mind, both in this poem as
well as in "Memnon" (vol. vii. p. 5 seq.), are of course portrayed with
poetic feeling as well as scholarly accuracy. The _ẖājī_ who owns the
wonderful elixir,--which, by the way, is said to come from India (p.
33),--and who interprets each vision that the poet lives through from
the standpoint of the pessimistic sceptic, shows the influence of ʻUmar
Xayyām. In fact he indulges sometimes in unmistakable reminiscences of
the quatrains of the famous astronomer-poet, as when he says:
Wie Schattenbilder, die an der Laterne,
Wenn sie der Gaukler schiebt, vorübergleiten,
So zieht die blöde, willenlose Herde,
Die Menschheit mein' ich, über diese Erde. (p. 55.)
This is very much the same thought as in the following quatrain of ʻUmar
(Whinf. 310; Bodl. 108):
اين چرخ فلک که ما درو حيرانيم
فانوس خيال ازو مثالی دانيم
خورشيد چراغ دان و عالم فانوس
ما چون صوريم کاندر و گردانيم
which stands first in Schack's own translation of the Persian poet and
is thus rendered:
Für eine magische Laterne ist diese ganze Welt zu halten,
In welcher wir voll Schwindel leben;
Die Sonne hängt darin als Lampe; die Bilder aber und Gestalten
Sind wir, die d'ran vorüberschweben.[234]
In his _Weihgesänge_ (vol. ii. p. 149) Schack sends a greeting to the
Orient; in another one of these songs he sings the praises of India
(ibid. p. 232), and in still another he apostrophizes Zoroaster (ibid.
p. 133). A division of this volume (ii.) bears the title _Lotosblätter_.
The sight of the scholar's chamber with its Sanskrit manuscripts makes
him dream of India's gorgeous scenery and inspires a poem "Das indische
Gemach" (vol. x. p. 26).
Oriental stories and legends are also offered, though not frequently.
"Mahmud der Gasnevide" (vol. i. p. 299) relates the story of the great
sultan's stern justice.[235] "Anahid" (vol. vii. p. 209) gives the
famous legend of the angels Hārūt and Mārūt, who were punished for their
temptation of the beautiful Zuhra, the Arabic Venus.[236] Schack has
substituted the old Persian name of Anāhita (mod. Pers. _nāhīd_) for
the Arabic name, and has otherwise also altered the legend considerably.
Schack never attempted to write original poems in Oriental form. The
Hafizian movement did not excite his enthusiasm, and for the trifling of
the average Hafizian singer he had no use whatever. In a poem by which
he conveys his thanks to the sultan for a distinction which the latter
had conferred on him he says:
Wär ich, so wie Firdusi, paradiesisch,
Ich bohrte dir die Perlen der Kaside
Und schlänge dir das Halsband der Ghasele;
Allein wir Deutschen singen kaum hafisisch,
Und wenn wir orientalisch sind im Liede,
Durchtraben wir die Wüsten als Kamele. (Vol. x. p. 106.)
Even for Bodenstedt's Mirza Schaffy songs he has no great admiration:
Gar viel bedeutet's nicht, mich dünkt!
Dem nur, was Rückert längst schon besser machte
Und Platen, bist du keuchend nachgehinkt. (Vol. x. p. 47.)
FOOTNOTES:
[230] Stimmen vom Ganges. Eine Sammlung Indischer Sagen, 2 Auflage,
Stuttgart, 1877. The first edition appeared in 1857. There the eleventh
story was Yadu's Meerfahrt (from Harivaṃśa). In the second edition this
was omitted and an imitation of the Nalōdaya substituted as an appendix.
The sources for each poem are given by the author himself in Nachwort,
p. 215, note.
[231] Op. cit. p. 216.
[232] See Lanman, The Milk-drinking Haṅsas of Sanskrit Poetry, JAOS.
vol. 19. 2, pp. 151-158. Goose would be a better translation of the word
_haṃsa_ than swan.
[233] We cite from the edition mentioned on p. vii.
[234] Strophen des Omar Chijam, Stuttg. 1878. The translation itself
dates from an earlier period than the year of publication. The author,
speaking of the delay in bringing it before the public, states that
Horace's nonumque prematur in annum could be applied in threefold
measure to this work (p. 118). Hence the translation was made about
1850, or a little later.
[235] Herder, Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität, x, ed. Suphan, vol.
18, p. 259; Deguignes, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 172; Francis Gladwin, The
Persian Moonshee, Calcutta, 1801, Pers. and Engl. pt. ii. p. 3.
[236] See Hammer, Fundgruben, vol. i. pp. 7, 8.