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Art/Literary - Tourism & Travel | | Hindi term or phrase: Siri sana rasi sanyasi - jo isse bachche, jive Kashi | I'm translating a book from German into English, a memoir of travel in Benares and the North. The German author is fairly bad at transcribing Hindi however, and since the commission is for an Indian English-language publisher I want to be sure of my ground when translating the Hindi phrases he uses from time to time.
The phrase is supposedly a Benares proverb: but what does it actually mean, and how should I really spell it in English transcription? |
| S P WillcocksKudoZ activityQuestions: 21 ( 1 open) ( 1 without valid answers) ( 6 closed without grading) Answers: 16
| | Local time: 05:23
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| | English translation:Be on your guard against widows, bulls, stairs, and sanyasi, and you may worship at Kashi | Explanation:
The proverb goes like this:
rand, sandh, sirhi, sanyasi
inse bache to seve kashi
rand > prostitute, vagrant woman, widow
sandh > bull
sirhi > stairs, steps (of temples, bathing places etc., which may be very steep and dangerous)
sanyasi > ascetic person, but often a mendicant
These are the common things found in Benaras, and one can enjoy the city if one can avoid these hassles.
in se bache > avoids these, escapes these, keep aloof from these
seve Kashi > serves Kashi
In some citations "seve Kashi" (serves Kashi) is replaced by "jave Kashi" (goes to Kashi), or even "jive Kashi" (=survives Kashi).
In my meaning I have combined ideas from different sources including:
http://books.google.com/books?id=px00YEFJ4VUC&pg=PA193&lpg=P...
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft65800...
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Note added at 5 days (2010-10-10 18:42:08 GMT) Post-grading
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My heartfelt thanks to all who commented. Special thanks to Mr Willcocks for his nice judgement. |
| Selected response from:
 Quamrul Islam
Local time: 08:23
| Grading comment Both answers very helpful, but this has the edge in explaining the variant that I found in my source text.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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2 hrs confidence:  peer agreement (net): +5 Widows, bulls, stairs and saints, escape them all to reach salvation (Kashi)
Explanation:
“Rand, Sand, Seedi, Sanyasi, Inse Bacche to Sevai Kashi.” Saint Kabir, 15th Century
As the great poet Kabir is attributed to have said, “Widows, bulls, stairs and saints, escape them all to reach salvation (Kashi)”.
(http://blog.walksofindia.com/)
Rand - Widows
Sand - bulls
Seedi - stairs
Sanyasi - saints
Inse Bacche - escape them all
to Sevai Kashi - to reach salvation (Kashi)
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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-10-05 12:08:47 GMT)
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in Hindi
रांड़, सांड़, सीढ़ी संन्यासी।
इनसे बचै तो सेवे काशी।।
(http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:94NLDW6...
| Lalit Sati
India
Local time: 07:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:  Hindi
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The translation workplace 
