How to Translate an Epic Text Metrically When You Are Neither a Poet Nor a Professional Translator? A Few Remarks on Difficulties in Translating Book 9 (Śalyaparvan) of the Mahābhārata

Abstract

This article offers a series of reflections on the author’s experience translating extensive portions of the Mahābhārata into Polish, with particular attention to metrical challenges encountered in rendering Book 9 (Śalyaparvan). The discussion explores the impossibility of reproducing the quantity-based Sanskrit metres—such as śloka, triṣṭubh, and jagatī—within the Polish stress-based prosodic system, and proposes rhythmical equivalents drawn from Polish poetic traditions. These include trochaic octosyllabic lines, three-footed dactylic metres, and the eleven- and twelve-syllable verse patterns characteristic of Polish Romantic and children’s poetry. By tracing metrical correspondences between classical Sanskrit verse and Polish literary rhythms, the author reveals how the act of translation becomes both a linguistic experiment and a cultural rediscovery, bridging ancient Indian poetics with deeply familiar patterns of Polish verse.