Zafarnama by Guru Gobind Singh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A multiplicity of factors make this book precious to me! yes, precious! The store-it-in-a-lock-and-key kind of precious! So let's start this review with why I will not lend you this book even if you are my soul mate:

-It's a first day first edition! I was the first person to buy it minutes after its release from a book store in Chandigarh.

-It's more than just a book, it's an important source of history and helps to understand in depth the aftermath of the Battle of Chamkaur and the History of Sikhs as we know it today.

-It was one of the last books my grandfather read before he died, and being well versed in as well as an avid reader of both Persian and English, he was in a true position to comment on it. I think that mentioning that he died a fan of Navtej Sarna is a testimonial in itself on how brilliantly successful Mr Sarna has been in his endeavour to translate this historic letter by Guru Gobind Singh to Aurangzeb.

-It's a signed copy! Yes! Signed by the man himself with the inscription:
For Shriya,
In the memory of your beloved grandfather.

However, even if this book hadn't been so priceless for me, even if Mr Sarna hadn't been one of my most favourite authors and a truly wonderful person at heart, and even if I hadn't been so blessed as to meet him by the most serendipitous twist of fate in a book shop, this book would still have been my, favourite.

Like I said with my other review in the morning, you cannot translate Persian poetry into English very easily. you have to make sure that your words capture the depth, the essence and the very soul of the poet to be able to do this.

I think I just have to thank my stars that Mr Sarna chose to translate this particular piece. One thing I can say without even thinking twice is Navtej Sarna has a natural flare for poetry. He's effortless with his words, his rhymes come out perfectly formed, and even in a translation, his knack for poetry is incomparable.

In the words of my grandfather, who left us last year, "If you can read and understand both Persian and English, you'll be able to see that in case of this particular translation, Navtej Sarna is not merely the translator but also a poet in his own regard."

Well, I couldn't test that theory because I know nothing about Persian but as a student of history, who had already read Zafarnama in a non poetic translation, I would say this is the best one ever!

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