The Knight in the
Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by
American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s
most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum
opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t
give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights,
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry.
King Rostevan of
Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her.
Verse 368 from
Avtandil:
‘The doctor’s could do
nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed,
I was on fire because
of love, but nobody knew or guessed.
They blamed my blood.
The king decided bleeding my arm would be best;
I let it be done to
hide the suffering I had not confessed.’
But a knight in
panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers,
sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she requests that he spend three
years searching for the knight in the panther skin to find out who he is. With
a month before the deadline, Avtandil finds the knight in the panther skin. His
name is Tariel, and he has a tale of woe – which he tells Avtandil. Tariel
loves Nestan-Daredjan, the daughter of a king. She loves him too, but she
requested that he fight the Khatavians.
Verse 459 from Tariel:
‘We dismounted on the
battlefields, and took a much-needed rest,
My arm had a sword-cut:
it seemed to me fit subject for a jest.
I took it as a mere
scratch, but my soldiers were very impressed,
Some were speechless.
Others their admiration forthrightly expressed.’
Even though Tariel
defeated the Khatavians, Nestan’s mother (the queen) wanted her to marry the
son of the King of Khvarazm.
Verse 519 from
Tariel :
‘The queen said: ‘The
King of Khvarazm is mighty, and holds great sway.
To have his son for
our son-in-law is something for which to pray.’
How could I dare
dispute whatever the queen thought was right to say?
So I agreed. I gave my
assent. For me, it was heartbreak day!’
Nestan and Tariel plot
a scheme so that they can marry. Alas, the scheme backfires. Tariel is ousted
from the kingdom. This is how he comes to wear a panther skin:
Verse 662 from
Tariel :
‘Because I see her as
a beautiful panther, worthy of note;
For this I love its
skin, and for myself preserve it as a coat.
This woman sews it,
sighing and moaning, as she stitches by rote.
I whetted my sword in
vain: I didn’t use it to slit my throat.
A year later Tariel meets
King Nuradin Pridon who has news of Nestan, if Tariel helps him conquer his
enemies, which he does. The news is not good, and that is why he is crying. Now
that Avtandil knows the story, and they have bonded in friendship, he can go
back to Tinatin, and relieve Shermadin, his deputy, of his duties.
Verse 705 from
Avtandil to Tinatin:
He told her then what
he’d seen and heard; the whole story he gave.
‘Like a panther he
roams, and for his house and abode he has a cave.
A damsel is there to
maintain his life; she used to be a slave.
Alas! Fate makes all
who dwell in the world shed tears, even the brave.’
Avtandil and Tariel
can now marry, but Avtandil says he must go back and help Tariel first. King
Rostevan is angry and says he cannot go, but Avtandil defies him (but leaves a
note). He goes back to Tariel, vowing to help him win the heart of Nestan, if
they can find her. Will Tinatin wait for Avtandil’s love? During his journey he
has an admirer who flirts with him.
Verse 1097:
Patman Khatun sent the
letter, hoping Avtandil’s heart to win.
He started reading as
if it had come from a sister or kin.
He said, ‘Who’s this
flirt trying to come between me and Tinatin?’
‘Patman, and my beloved:
how can I comparison begin?’
But Avantdil changes
his mind about Patman. Thinking that she might be helpful, he agrees to see
her. But just as Avtandil and Patman are embracing, they are discovered.
Verse 1107:
They sat down and
began to kiss, to sport pleasantly and to preen.
When a certain youth
appeared in the doorway, of a graceful mien,
Followed by a servant
holding a shield and a sword that looked keen.
The youth seemed
startled and said, ‘The road is rocky,’ seeing the scene.
But Usen, Patman’s
merchant husband, and Patman are indeed useful. Avtandil learns from Patman that
the Kadjis have Nestan-Daredjan, and that a mighty woman is their leader.
Verse 1229:
‘Dulardukht was a
woman, but hard as a cliff, a rock, a wall.
Other men may be
wounded but to her, no injuries befall.
She had two nephews,
Rosan and Rodia, who were still quite small.
Now she sits as
sovereign of Kadjeti, mightiest of all.
Her city is
impenetrable.
Verse 1250:
‘The city of the
Kadjis is unassailable by their foes.
The center of the city
does a huge rock, high and long, expose,
Inside it is a
hollowed out passage, and to the top it goes,
She, who consumes
those who see her with fire, that rock does enclose.
How how can Avtandil
and Tariel rescue Nestan? Ah yes, Nuradin Pridon will help.
Verse 1418:
Pridon and Avtandil
are men of unrivalled valor and might,
Yet nobody desires to
fight Tariel, the greatest knight.
The sun overshadows
planets and the Pleiades with its light.
Now pay heed,
listener: you shall hear a story about a fierce fight.
The reader does hear a
story about a fierce fight. Of course this epic saga has a happy ending, or two.
Verse 1499:
This hidden truth was
revealed to us by Dionysus, the wise:
God creates only good;
he lets no evil in the world arise.
He makes the good
unending; the bad, a momentary surprise.
His creation He makes
perfect; He makes sure it never dies.
In the poem, Avtandil
is the ‘lion’ and Tariel is the ‘panther’ – both brave knights. The two knights
are very similar – which could explain their eternal friendship. They both love
the daughters of kings. Both kings have only one daughter, and no sons. Both
daughters profess their love to the knights and both knights vow never to love
another woman. Both knights are requested to fulfill a task before claiming
love and marriage as their reward. They are both ready for the task. Both are
also sentimental – they cry, swoon, and faint a lot!
Shota Rustaveli (born about 1150-1165, died early 13th
century) declares himself the narrator in the prologue, where he also explains
why he has written such a long poem:
Verse 17:
Another kind of
shorter poem is meant to be a simple song -
It’s good for wooing,
joking, making fun, and none of that is wrong.
But though we like to
hear such work performed in voices clear and strong,
He still could not be
called a poet who cannot recite for long.
This translation is
the best and does a great service to the great poet. The first English
translation in 1912 by Marjory Scott Wardrop used the 1888 Georgian edition as
the basis for her work, and presented the work as prose. The 1968 Venera
Urushadze’s translation was presented as an unrhymed poem. Other translations
in 1977 by Katherine Vivien and R.H. Stevenson were also in prose. This 2015
translation by Lyn Coffin uses the 1966 Georgian edition and is a contemporary format
in keeping with the style, metre, and rhyme of the original poem. There are only
two examples that could be improved: ‘moidan’ I think should be maidan (public
square); and ‘pled’ which rhymes, but I would prefer another word, such as
dread or said. Nevertheless the drama, deceit, desire, despair, and humour of
the original poem are clearly evident.
Also in this edition
are the pictures by Mihaly Zichy, first used in the 1888 Georgian edition,
which the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts archived. So while this is a
more expensive edition of the poet’s great work, it is high quality,
beautifully bound, and illustrated.
So, as Shota Rustaveli
says in Verse 9:
An ancient Persian tale
I took, and in the Georgian tongue retold.
Until that time, it
was an unset pearl; from hand to hand it rolled.
But I transformed it
for the one who is so beautiful and bold.
To the one who
ravished my reason, I have brought poetic gold.
Poetic gold it
certainly is.
As a footnote, the
poem, The Knight in the Panther Skin, has inspired a hotel to be built in
Tbilisi, Georgia, with character-themed rooms. The tender for its design
(exterior and interior) has currently attracted seven architects who registered
to participate. It will be a boutique hotel with 15 rooms, each decorated with
motifs of the epic poem’s characters. Hotel construction is scheduled to begin
in November 2015 and is expected to open in April 2016 (Georgian Journal, 15-21 October, 2015).
MARTINA
NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and
the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Comments
Post a Comment