Hindi Warimacha, an anthology of Hindi short stories of early period, compiled and translated by Aribam Kumar Sharma, published by Lalita Enterprises, Imphal in 1994, price Rs 40/-, page 135 + iii.

Under the objective of national integrity the writer has taken up the works of translation. He had translated the works of great authors in Hindi into Manipuri and Manipuri into Hindi. The book features ten short stories written by Jayshankar Prasad, Munsi Premchand, Bishwambharnath Sharma, Sudarshan, Bhagabati Prasad Bajpeyi, Agyeya and Chandradhar Sharma Guleri. Most of the stories belonged to the Age of Premchand. We could realize the social conditions, the nature and forms of Hindi short stories of the early age. It would have been better to give the title of this book as Anganba Matamgee Hindi Warimacha (The Early Hindi Short Story) or Premchand Matamgi Hindi Warimacha (Hindi Short Story of the Premchand Age). Premchand’s stories featured in this book are exotic. There are three short stories written by Premchand viz Kookupfi, Gehu Sher Ama Pouwa and Pukchel Chaobagi Dandi. Premchand is very slick in depicting characterization. He picks up Ghisu and Madhav belonging to the lowest stratum of society. What a beastly and awful character. The story reflects an awful taste. Like bulls Ghisu and Madhav, the father and son could never feel any sense except gluttony. Kookupfi ends with eating and drinking by the bull like father and son discarding the worldly woes. Jayshangkar Prasad’s Mera Thaomei reflects the lives in the sea. He depicts the character of a pirate named Budhagupta and a girl named Champa. The main character Champa’s ideal would be skeleton of the story. Sudarshan’s short story Maithibagi Joi (Harki Jit) tells how a robber robbed a house of a sadhu named Baba Bharati. Baba Bharati was so truthful and so innocent. On the pretext of a handicapped man Karag Singh, the robber, steal the horse named Sultan from Baba Bharati. Caught in the act, Baba requested the robber not to disclose to anybody of the robbery. This simple request amazed to Kharag Singh. It softens his heart that he was compelled to return the horse to the owner. The authors of the short stories featured in this book were all born in the late nineteenth century. So they could depict the Indian lives prevalent during their period.

Sahityada Rasa Amasung Atei Neina Wareng Khara a collection of literary essays in Manipur by Aribam Kumar Sharma, published by AK Enterprises, Imphal in 2002, price Rs 65/-, page 90.

Twelve essays are featured in this book. The term rasa is a Sanskrit word which means taste. With reference to the Sanskrit literature rasa (taste) is applied to four uses (i) taste of things (ii) taste of the Ayurveda (example: composition of the Ayurvedic medicines), (iii) Literary taste and (iv) godly taste. After chalking out the term rasa the author writes its kind with reference to the Indian literature: (i) Sringar rasa (the taste of love), (ii) Hasya rasa (humorous taste), (iii) Karun rasa (elegiac), (iv) Bira rasa (heroic), (v) Adabhut rasa (fantasy), (vi) Bhayanak rasa (the taste of horror), (vii) Roudra rasa (villainous), (viii) Bibhatsa rasa (distasteful) and (ix) Shanta rasa (religious). The taste would be the soul of literature, commented the author at length. Besides discussing the rasa, the author writes his observation on Khamba-Thoibi, the Manipuri epic, Singel Indu, Bankimchandra’s novels, the Labanga Lata, the Bir Tikendrajit road etc. In his essay entitled Manipuri Anubad Sahitya, the writer presents a detailed study on the works of translation in Manipuri literature. It would be praiseworthy to bring out such a book which features such an essay on the Manipuri translation works. There are Manipuri books galore translated from English, Hindi and Bengali. Numbers on the translated books and the translators are uncountable. The author shows how to translate a piece of work from one language to another. The translator should have the creative mind. Dinamani’s works of translation would be better and more standard than that of Raghumani or Nishan’s works because of his skill of the Manipuri language system, observed the author. In his essay entitled Labanga Lata, the author discuss on Khwairakpam Chaoba’s novel Labanga Lata as a historical novel. Though some critics refuse to take this novel as a historical novel the author completely supports the view that this novel should be a historical novel. After showing the characteristics of a historical novel AK Sharma proves his view by giving paradigms. Based on the time of King Khagemba (1597-1652) Kh Chaoba imagined two characters named Labanga and Lata, the hero and the heroine of his novel. The plot of Shanongba Higaiwa, the great historical event was sketched by the novelist in which King Khagemba and his younger brother Shanongba were quarrelling on a minor issue of wreckage of a boat and fought a war. The novelist creates Labanga the imaginary hero as one amongst Shanougba’s retinue who is in love with Kunjalatsana, the daughter of Khwairakpa.