The Other Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore by Marechal Ilke

Synopsis This narrative, divided in eight sections, is a critical analysis of the two anthologies of poems with identical names, by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-‐1941) and published with a gap of two years. The Dirst one was composed as an original text titled Gītānjalī (August, 1910; Calcutta) – immensely popular as a book of 157 songs in Bengali – with 86 songs and 71 lyrical poems. The second, also called Gitanjali: Song Offerings (November, 1912; London), was published by the India Society in London Dirst then by MacMillan, with 103 texts translated into English by the poet himself where only 53 (29 songs and 24 lyrical poems) were taken from the 1910-‐anthology in Bengali. About 50 other texts came from his eight other books of poems. Of the choices Tagore made in creating his English-‐texts, we present here an in-‐depth analysis including details of the thematic, lexical selections, allusions, inter-‐textual linkages, as well as Tagore’s philosophical ideas in his Gītānjalī series of poems. The dissatisfaction that poet-‐artist Rabindranath Tagore had had with language – a medium he used all his life – drove him Dirst towards music and performing arts, and then towards visual arts. The question today, a hundred years after his international recognition through the Nobel prize award, for us as his readers (of literary and other texts), viewers (of his paintings and performance) and listeners (of Rabindra-‐sangīt or Tagore-‐music) is ‘What is the nature of the world Tagore was looking for?’. Skimming through his writings, one Dinds the poet describing an imaginary land, a U-‐Topos he lived in where an incessant stream of music played constantly. The leitmotifs of the two Gītānjalī texts are also taken up for a thorough discussion here in order to show how the Bengali text had highlighted the variety as well as various dichotomies, whereas the English (1912) text focussed on the themes of Līlā (‘Divine Dalliance’) and Pūjā (‘Devotion’), and a few dyads such as Jīvaņ-‐ Maraņ (‘Life vs. Death’), Dissonance/Harmony, Finite/InPinity, Poetry/ Muse, Language/Silence, Time/Eternity, Real/Ideal as well as I/Me vs. You/Yours, etc. The question whether the texts selected by Tagore for the Gitanjali: Song Offerings in English were based on thematic congruence, ease of transportability across different kinds of languages, and on estimation of what might appeal to the unfamiliar readers in the English-‐reading world is also discussed thoroughly here. And it is argued here that beyond a point, it is difDicult to explain the choice only on the basis of logic, as Tagore was as free as air, water or sky knitting myriads of patterns every moment, often defying all logic. That Tagore did not belong to any of the competing schools of translation usually discussed in the translating circles is clear now, because he was a product of unshackling and de-‐schooling. 3

Translating must have been a great learning process for the Poet himself – a means of discovering his own potential as a possible author in yet another medium. To unravel this rare beauty of the Gītānjalī (1910) – not popularly available in a literary translation in English, except the 53 poems in Tagore’s English Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912) – all 157 poems and songs are translated in the second part of this book.

THE OTHER GĪTĀNJALĪ By Rabindranath TAGORE

Analysis, Narration and Translation Udaya Narayana SINGH Visva-‐Bharati, Santiniketan, India

GOLDEN TAGORE COLLECTION The InPinite in the Finite and the Finite in the InPinite

THE OTHER GĪTĀNJALĪ By Rabindranath TAGORE By Udaya Narayana SINGH, Visva-‐Bharati, Santiniketan, India

© 2014 Udaya Narayana SINGH (translation, narration, analysis) First published spring 2014 © 2014 AnimaViva multilingüe SL Escaldes – Engordany, Principat d’Andorra www.animaviva-‐publisher.com Iconographic Credits: Visva-‐Bharati University, Santiniketan, India Cover Design: Joan Carles Casal (from Tagore’s painting) Ebook: ePub ISBN 978-‐99920-‐68-‐25-‐0 Legal Deposit AND.71-‐2014 Ebook: mobiKindle ISBN 978-‐99920-‐68-‐04-‐5 Legal Deposit AND.72-‐2014

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-‐copying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

To Rajarshi and Suchita for having emotionally stood by me at difDicult moments

Transliteration Scheme Vowels and Diphthongs অ a ঋ ŗ ৠ (Never occurs in Modern Bangla) আ ā ঌ (Never occurs in Modern Bangla) ই i এ e

ঈ ī ঐ ai উ u ও o

ঊ ū ঔ au Note: Only those vowels appearing independently, generally in the syllable-‐initial slot are shown up, and their variant forms used for contexts where vowels follow a consonant are transcribed in the same manner in Roman. No distinction between the two is made in the text here for the purpose of transliteration. Consonants [The vowel a is implicit after all consonants and consonant clusters and is supplied in transliteration, with the following exceptions: a) when another vowel is indicated by its appropriate sign; b) when the absence of any vowel is indicated by the subscript symbol ( . ) called hasanta.] Gutturals Palatals Retro4lex Alveolars Labials ক ka চ ca ট ṭa ত ta ৎ ta প pa খ kha ছ cha ঠ ṭha থ tha ফ pha গ ga জ ja ড ḍa ড় ṛa দ da ব ba

ঘ gha ঝ jha ঢ ḍha ঢ় ṛha ধ dha ভ bha

ঙ nga ঞ -‐ ণ ṇa ন na ম ma Semivowels Sibilants Aspirate য ya য় ẏa স sa শ śa ষ şa হ ha Lateral র ra ল la

ব ba ~ (va) [used both as a labial and as a semivowel. When it

occurs as the second consonant of a consonant cluster, it is transliterated va. When ব is doubled, it is transliterated bba.] 8

Anusvāra Bisarga Candrabindu (anunāsika) ng H n+C [or, a Vowel followed by nC]

Contents PART I : 1

Thema, Tempus & Spacium

‘Constructing’ a Gītānjalī for the Western Readers

More about the Choices Made: The Dilemma

The Meta-‐Text

The Two Gītānjalī texts: Commonalities

How Love and Devotion are Fused Together

Gitanjali: Song Offerings – Some Interpretations

The Architecture of The Other Gītānjalī by R.T.

PART II :

English Translation of the original Bengali (Bangla) Gītānjalī

PART III :

The Paintings

217

Acknowledgements

228

Other Academic Publications by Udaya Narayana SINGH

230

Chronology of Rabindranath TAGORE’s Major Works

232

The Authors

234

Our publications

237

THE OTHER GĪTĀNJALĪ by Rabindranath TAGORE1

Udaya Narayana SINGH Rabindra Bhavana, Visva-‐Bharati PART I [1] Thema, Tempus & Spacium How does one empty one’s soul, and pour into the unDilled gash a stream of unending bliss where many lives blend into one – such that an ordinary mortal assumes immortality – that has been the question with which the English Gitanjali: Song Offerings began. The opening lines in the English text that bagged the coveted Nobel Prize for Rabindranath Tagore (1861-‐1941) came not from the Bengali Gītānjalī, but from another anthology called ‘Gītimālya’ 2. Nevertheless, it had captured the mood of the Gītānjalī-‐poet where he says that these were offerings for the Supreme Being who had emptied him and Dilled him up again: āmāre tumi aśeş karecho / emani līlā taba Gloss: Me You endless have-‐done / Such+Emph Game Yours phurāye phele ābār bharecho / jīban naba naba3 Gloss: Emptying having-‐done again Dilled-‐up / Life new new To match up with this powerful original, full of echo expressions, aspectual verbs, emphatics and peculiar syntactic manipulations, the poet began with his inimitable lines in somewhat semi-‐classical style – “Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure”. Although the puritans among the translators will question the wisdom in opting for lexical equivalences between the Sanskritic expression in Bengali – ‘līlā’ (roughly, ‘divine daliance’) and the English ‘pleasure’, let us ignore such pedantic issues here. We will return to the issue of līlā in the seventh section. Before we do that, let’s have a few words about this narrative. It is divided in eight sections, and is a critical analysis of the two anthologies of poems with identical names, penned by the same author, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-‐1941) and published with a gap of two years. The Dirst one was composed as an original text titled Gītānjalī (August, 1910; Calcutta) – immensely popular as a book of songs and poems, 157 in number, in Bengali – with 86 songs and 71 lyrical poems, and the second is also called Gitanjali: Song Offerings (November, 1912; London) published by the India Society in London Dirst and then by MacMillan, with 103 texts translated by the poet himself into English, where only 53 (29 songs and 24 lyrical poems) were taken from the 1910-‐ anthology in Bengali. About 50 other texts came from his eight other books of poems, mainly Gītimālya, 1914 (11 songs and 5 poems), Naibedya, 1901 (one song and 14 1

A small part of the text was used for the inaugural talk given at the National Seminar on Impact of Gitanjali on Indian Literature, Santiniketan; Department of Udiya, Visva-Bharati and Sahitya Akademi; March 1-2, 2013. 2

Gītimālya was published in book-form later in 1914, where this poem appears as text 23.

The word-for-word glossing has been done to facilitate understanding complexity of Bengali syntax.

poems), Kheyā, 1906 (11 poems), Śiśu, 1903 (3 poems), Caitālī, 1896 (one poem), Kalpanā, 1900 (one song), Utsarga, 1914 and Smaraņ, 1903 (one poem from each) as well a song from his drama Acalāyatan which was also published in 1912. Thus, in the 1912-‐text in English, 43 came from the basket of songs and 60 from his folder of poems. Going back to the opening song 4 in English Gitanjali: Song Offerings again, it arrived during the peak of Baiśākh-‐heat5 with the seasonal storm – kāl(a)-‐baiśākhī, as nicknamed in Bengali as when Santiniketan got an overcast sky – when “the immortal touch of thy hands” 6 was perhaps possible to feel in the drizzly breeze and in the drops that chased the wind. That’s when the words within swelled to burst open to dance in heavenly bliss with the tune of the Dlute that played on and on ceaselessly. However, soon after the initial song, the second text was a ‘poem’ (not to be sung) selected by Tagore for his English edition was actually the 78th poem from Bengali Gītānjalī composed two years before the Song Offerings was collated – some times during the late summer on 10 June 19107. The way the texts were organized in the English anthology, this poem seemed to be a response to the Dirst text where the poet took the cue from the Supreme Being to sing a song that allowed all that was harsh and discordant within to melt into a melliDluous concord as it came out as a harmony like a skylark on a Dlight at ease across water. The poet admits here that he cannot fathom the depth of His divine presence by “thinking” or “contemplating” about Him, but what his thinking self cannot do, his song offerings do easily with their “far-‐spreading wing” because they reach unchartered land easily where erudition and penance cannot hope to get to. That the poet has an identity of a singer before His Master is what makes him proud, as could be seen in the opening lines: tumi jakhan gān gāhite bala, which in English rendering of Tagore reads as follows8 : When thou commandest me to sing, It seems that my heart would break with pride; And I look to thy face, And tears come to my eyes The theme is as follows: All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony-‐-‐-‐and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its Dlight across the sea. This second song, which in my own rendering appears as 78th text in this anthology, reads thus: 4

When you ask me to sing, my heart is Dilled with joy My eyes are Dilled with tears as they look at your face ceaselessly All that is hard and bitter in me want to come out in a song

It was composed as a song in 1912 on 20th April (7th of Baiśākh, 1319 Bengali year).

Baiśākh is the first month of a Bengali calendar year, beginning in mid-April to mid-May, during the peak summer when the north-western blows. 6

Gītānjalī: Song Offerings, Text 1.

In Bengali calendar, 27 Jaishtha 1317 (২৭ জ্যৈষ্ঠ ১৩১৭).

tumi jakhan gān gāhite bala/ garba āmār bhare oţhe buke/ dui ānkhi mor kare chala chala/ nimeş-hārā ceye tomār mukhe.

All my prayers and penance wish to Dly like birds never caged before

I know you’re pleased with my songs ‘n air I know you like’ em all – love ‘n care It’s my songs that allowed me to sit before you With yet another tune that I always knew One who could never be reached otherwise My songs touch His feet with tunes precise I forget my self as my song develops And I begin to call my Lord my Friend Lest it appear that the Supreme Entity remains only a silent listener of the song offerings of the poet, the next and the third song (22nd in the Bengali version) reverses that impression, as Tagore renders his well-‐known song composition into English thus: “I know not how thou singest, my master! I ever listen in silent amazement”. This particular song was written on a Wednesday night – and as we know, the Brāhma-‐samāj9 had its weekly services on Wednesdays. It was one of the earliest songs10 among the texts common to Bengali and English Gitanjali: Song Offerings. The theme was that music illumined, and that it Dlashed as life-‐breath in the sky, that it demolished all obstacles of narrow walls constrained by language and geography. All these ideas came out so well here. The poet admits here that as he tries to look for the right words, they do not appear; when he looks for the appropriate melody, he is befuddled as he “vainly struggles for a voice” 11. But when he Dinally surrenders, accepts defeat, and looks around, things seem to be pouring from all corners, and he seems trapped in “endless meshes of thy music” (ibid). The original lines that appeared in Bengali Gītānjalī 22 began with the following: tumi keman kare gān kara he guņī 12. Let me render this song in the following manner through a loose translation:

I do not know how you sing my Lord! I listen to you with wonder and awe The light of your melody covers the world The breeze of your song Dloats in the sky Having blasted stones, gushing out The holy Dlow of melody sets forth in wonder

Brahmoism was the name of the religious cult followed by the members of Brahmo Samaj which was established on 20th August 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Debendranath Tagore – father of Rabindranath as reformation move protest against the orthodoxy in Hinduism. It arrived as the prevailing Brahminism of the time (specifically ‘Kulin’ practices) and began the caste-ridden Hinduism, and gave rise to what is now known as the ‘Bengal Renaissance’ of the 19th century that was responsible for many social, religious and educational advancements among the Hindu community. 10

It was written on 25 August 1909 (10th Bhadra, 1316 Bengali Year).

Gitanjali: Song Offerings, Text 3.

tumi keman kare gān kara he gunī/ āmi abāk haye suni, kebal suni/ surer ālo bhuban phele cheye/ surer haoya cale gagan beye…

How do you sing the song, my Lord! I hear you with wonder ‘n awe.

I sing as it pleases my soul When I search within, the tune is lost What I wish to say, words fail’ em all My heart weeps as it loses at the end Knows not how it was trapped By the net cast by your tune, my Lord!

Words failing to match up with the senses is a theme that recurs in Tagore’s text ever-‐ since Gītānjalī-‐days. It arises out of the dissatisfaction that poet-‐artist Rabindranath had had with language – a medium he used all his life. It is a different matter that he used other ways of signiDication as a deft semiotician in the post-‐Gītānjalī era – through the language of music, dance, and painting. The question that would interest us as his readers (of Tagore texts), viewers (of his paintings and performance) and listeners (of Rabindra-‐sangīt or Tagore-‐music) today, a hundred year after his international recognition, would be about the nature of the world Tagore was looking for. As I skim through his writings, I Dind the poet describing the imaginary land, a U-‐Topos he lived in where an incessant stream of music played in his mind. He calls his potential reader, or object of illocution, and asks: “Can you hear that muse?” Then he himself goes on to answer and argue thus (which I render roughly as follows): I can sense (the muse) when you pass by my eyes and leave a mark on what I could see. In this neverneverland, the green leaves speak with the morning light but I do not understand their language. Perhaps they sense what my mind wants to speak out in its own way, and reveal it through a song that comes out of my interior landscape. Can you take that song to play onto the string of your heart because the tune seems to play on and on in my mind for ever until it settles for ever?

The lines in original read like this:

āmār maner mājhe je gān bāje śunte tumi pāo go āmār cokher ‘pare ābhās diye jakhani jāo go ॥

rabir kiraņ ney je ţāni phuler buker śiśirkhāni āmār prāņer se gān tumi temani ki nāo go ॥

The nature of this neverneverland and the form of its presiding deity become the subject-‐matter of Gītānjalī. Here and elsewhere – in his songs, the Poet gives vent to his emotion for the singing ecstasy as he says: “I would have been in deep slumber still but you keep me awake so that I could sing my songs to you. You call me as you surprise me because you have taken up the cause to wipe off the grief. I and my heart seem restless on the shore where the boats return as the birds come back to their nest and the darkness descends, but O Grief-‐taker – you never allowed the swing of tears to stop as I am saddled with errands galore 14

but instead you Dilled up my heart, made me drink this nectar of music, and decided to stand behind the veil of my sorrows”13. Divided in eight sections, this narrative is an in-‐depth analysis of the choices Tagore makes in creating his English-‐texts, including details of the thematic, lexical selections, allusions, inter-‐textual linkages, and his philosophical ideas as expressed in his Gītānjalī series of poems. As mentioned earlier, the dissatisfaction that poet-‐artist Rabindranath Tagore had had with language – a medium he used all his life – drove him Dirst towards music and performing arts, and then towards visual arts. The question whether the texts selected by Tagore for the Gitanjali: Song Offerings in English were based on thematic congruence, ease of transportability across different kinds of languages, and on estimation of what might appeal to the unfamiliar readers in the English-‐reading world is discussed thoroughly here. It is also argued here that beyond a point, it is difDicult to explain the choice only on the basis of logic, as the analysis presented here also establishes that Tagore was as free as air, water or sky knitting myriads of patterns every moment, often defying all logic. It was, however, established that most texts in English were meant to be poems were devotional, belonging to the category (or paryāya) of Pūjā. Once this basic thesis is followed, the progression path of the Gitanjali: Song Offerings becomes clear. Not surprisingly, in exchange with Einstein, Tagore had commented: ‘The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an inPinite idea which once realised makes all movements full of meaning and joy. But if we detach its movements from that ultimate idea, if we do not see the inPinite rest and only see the inPinite motion, then existence appears to us a monstrous evil, impetuously rushing towards an unending aimlessness’. One could not agree more with him here. That Tagore did not belong to any of the competing schools of translation which we discuss and debate in the translating circles, is clear now. That he was a product of unshackling and de-‐schooling, and his choice of style and his decisions on ‘manipulations’ were entirely meant as a means to creating a space for Diner elements in his text written in other tongue is also evident. For those who cared to look inside Tagore’s world from the other and outer windows, these points would be revealed easily. It must have been a great learning process for the Poet himself – a means of discovering his own potential as a possible author in yet another medium. The variety of Tagore texts in translation all placed under Gitanjali: Song Offerings – discussed and referred to in the narrative, underscore the way the mind of this great Poet-‐Artist worked – and they also help us in understanding the moves Tagore had made in establishing the relationship between Man and Nature. That the poet would offer his own life to his ‘Lord of Life’ (= Jībana-‐debatā) if death were to strike with an element of surprise was clear in many of these translated texts. The narrative also considers and rejects the assertion of the poet-‐translator André Gide (who transcreated the French version of ‘Song Offerings’), namely that its serious Dlaw was Tomāy gān śonābo tāi to āmāy jāgiye rākho/ ogo ghum-bhāngāniyā/ buke camak diye tāi to ɖāko/ ogo dukha-jāganiyā/ elo āndhār ghire, pākhi elo nīŗe,/ tarī elo tīre-/ śudhu āmār hiyā birām pāy nāko/ ogo dukha-jāgāniyā. 13

that Tagore appeared to be in a hurry to select poems from different anthologies to Dill up this slender volume perhaps under pressure from the publishers to enlarge the collection. The Spanish translation of the Gitanjali: Song Offerings by Juan Ramón Jiménez is also taken up for discussion here. The leitmotifs of the two Gītānjalī texts are also taken up for a thorough discussion here to show how the Bengali text had the variety as well as various dichotomies highlighted, whereas the English text focussed on the themes of Līlā (‘Divine Dalliance’) and Pūjā (‘Devotion’), and a few dyads such as Jīvaņ-‐Maraņ (‘Life vs. Death’), Dissonance/Harmony, Finite/InPinity, Poetry/Muse, Language/Silence, Time/Eternity, Real/Ideal as well as I/Me vs. You/Yours, etc. Finally, the narrative also considers the treatise of the painter, architect and poet-‐theoretician John Ruskin (1819-‐1900) as proposed in his 1849-‐book The Seven Lamps of Architecture to argue that the architecture of the two texts was such that they both followed all the seven features proposed by Ruskin. The tremendous inDluence of this line of thinking even among the literary giants, as exempliDied in the works or statements of by Marcel Proust, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Leo Tolstoy, M.K. Gandhi, W.B. Yates and Ezra Pound that the metatext of Tagore seemed extremely appealing to the fellow poets and critics in Europe in the early-‐20th Century bringing him the rare honour of Asia’s Dirst Nobel prize in Literature. With each passing day, when one feels an element of doom and despair descending as a long old curse, one’s faith is rekindled to see that there are thinkers and doers like Tagore who Dirmly believed that ultimately the truth and beauty would prevail. To unravel this rare beauty of the other Gītānjalī (1910) – never available in a literary translation in English to a wide section of reading public, except the 53 poems in Tagore’s English Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912) – all 157 poems and songs are translated and interpreted in the second part of the book. The appendix also gives the Tagore translations of those 53 poems that overlap in these two texts. [2] ‘Constructing’ a Gītānjalī for the Western Readers In fact, many think that the texts selected by Tagore in the Gitanjali: Song Offerings must have been based on thematic congruence, ease of transportability across different kinds of languages, and on estimation of what might appeal to the unfamiliar readers in the English-‐reading world, and yet give a different taste. If one wishes to search for a logical sequence in this narrative covering a wide spectrum of subjects that had interested the author of two Gītānjalī in two literary languages, and look for a deeper understanding of all moves he made in creating these partially overlapping, and yet independent garland of poetic offerings, one will perhaps be looking into wrong direction. While I agree that reason and logic have an important place in Rabindranath Tagore’s scheme of things, a reading of the numerous biographical notes – some by the author himself, and others painstakingly prepared by different Tagore scholars – would show this cultural icon of India was not always very logical. I am not surprised when he says: ‘A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it’. Since I have been told by many in my current dispensation that I should neither wear the garb of a Tagore scholar, nor pretend to know the details of making of this multi-‐faceted cultural icon, it has freed me into thinking in a more unconventional manner about his 16

Poem n°3 handwritten and translated into prose English by Tagore in 1911

Transcription of Tagore’s own translation into English prose from his 1912 version :

Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger. I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidest. Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless life who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar. When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of many. কত অজানাের জানাইেল ত/িম, কত ঘের িদেল ঠঁাই-‐-‐ দূরেক কিরেল িনকট, ব8ু, পরেক কিরেল ভাই। প<রােনা আবাস ?ছেড় চিল যেব [~ যাই তেব] মেন ?ভেব মির কী [~ িক] জািন কী [~ িক] হেব, নFতেনর মােঝ ত/িম প<রাতন ?স কথা ?য ভ/েল যাই। দূরেক কিরেল িনকট, ব8ু, পরেক কিরেল ভাই। জীবেন মরেণ িনিখল ভ/বেন যখিন ?যখােন লেব, িচরজনেমর পিরিচত ওেহ, ত/িমই িচনােব সেব। ?তামাের জািনেল নািহ ?কহ পর, নািহ ?কােনা মানা, নািহ ?কােনা ডর; সবাের িমলােয় ত/িম জািগেতছ, ?দখা ?যন সদা পাই। দূরেক কিরেল িনকট, ব8ু, পরেক কিরেল ভাই। ১৩১৩ [গীতাPিল / ৩]

Translation in 2013 from Bengali into English by Udaya Narayana SINGH, keeping the structure and form of the original poem. Bangla Gītānjalī/ Text 3

কত অজানাের জানাইেল ত/িম,/ কত ঘের িদেল ঠঁাই-‐-‐/ দূরেক কিরেল িনকট, ব8ু,/ পরেক কিরেল ভাই। [kata ajānāre jānāile tumi,/ kata ghare dile thāi/ dūrke karile nikaţ, bandhu,/ parke karile bhāi]

How much of the unknown You made known to me How many places You’d given me shelters How You wiped off great distances, O Friend, and How You made a stranger my brother When I leave the old abode, and move over – What will happen! – My worries don’t leave me That You are New as always among all things old I forget, – how You wiped off great distances, O Friend, And how You made a stranger my brother! In my life and in death, in the whole world, Wherever You take me with You, I know All things are known so well to You as always It’ll be You who will let me know about’em all Once I know You, none else is unknown There remain no restrictions, nor fear any You rise up above by taking us all Wish I am able to see You always As You wipe off great distances, O Friend, And make a stranger my brother!

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 1

আমার মাথা নত কের দাও Rহ Rতামার/ চরণধুলার তেল।/ সকল অহংকার Rহ আমার/ডSবাও Rচােখর জেল। [āmār māthā nata kare dāo he tomār caraņa-‐dhūlāra tale/ sakal ahankār he āmār/ ubāo cokher jale]

Make my head bow before you, Be one with the dust below your feet; Let all my pride drown in tears Tumbling down your eyes! So I could honour myself End up insulting my ‘self’ more ‘n more; Hovering around myself in a circle I keep getting lost every moment; Let all my pride drown in tears Tumbling down your eyes! So I do not boast of my self In all things I do So I fulDil your wishes All my life, in whatever I do I seek for you – peace ultimate, So it could bring in a glow on your face Cover myself and stand, O Lord, In the depth of my heart like a lotus Let all my pride drown in tears Tumbling down your eyes! 1906

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 4

িবপেদ Rমাের রdা কেরা/ এ নেহ Rমার ^াথeনা,/ িবপেদ আিম না Rযন কির ভয়। [bipade more rakşā karo/ e nahe mor prārthana,/ bipade āmi nā jena kari bhay]

Save me in danger Is not what I pray for I pray so I am Not afraid when in danger. For my heart Dilled with sorrows ’n grief If you can’t at all give succour See that I could Win over the sorrows for sure! If I get none to help ’n share with See that my strength diminishes not If my life’s Dilled with only losses If it receives only shame ’n deceit See that my mind Accepts these not as letdown. You will be my saviour That’s not what I pray for I pray so that I have the strength to swim over. Put me down ‘n shed my weight Console me not if you can’t See that I could Bear this all to move over.

With my head bent down in happy days I shall Dind out your face in the crowd When at night full of remorse The whole world plays a game of deceit See that I do not Have doubt about you ever at all!

1906

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 5

অfর মম িবকিশত কেরা/ অfরতর Rহ।/ িনমeল কেরা উgল কেরা,/ সুhর কেরা Rহ। [antara mama bikaşita karo / antaratara he/ nirmala karo ujjwala karo,/ sundara karo he]

Light my within and hold me out My Lord, dearer than my life! Make me pure, unspoilt Glistening with joy ’n splendour Awaken, energize! Make me fearless, O Lord! Do me good, make me untiring Remove all hesitations O Lord! Light my within and hold me out My inner, O my more intimate! Add me up to all, Open all that is closed Let me Dlow through all your work To let your rhythmic quiet show up In the lotus-‐feet, let my heart lie unmoving Make me elated, charmed Delighted let me feel! Light my within and hold me out My Lord, dearer than my life! Silaidaha 27th 1907

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 7

তSিম নব নব nেপ এেসা ^ােণ।/ এেসা গেc বরেন, এেসা গােন। [tumi naba naba rūpe eso prāņe/ eso gandhe baraņe, eso gāne]

Come to my life in new forms galore Come in the Dlavour, in the colour ‘n songs Come to my body in the touch palpating Come to my heart in the joy pulsating Come to my eyes that are closed enchanted Come to my life in new forms galore Come O bright radiant face! Come O tender graceful quiet! Come with all your rules bizarre! Come in joy ‘n grief, into my heart! Come everyday, in all effort Come to me when all the work’s done Come to my life in the forms abound Agrahayan, 1907

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 8

আজ ধােনর Rখেত Rরৗpছায়ায়/ লুেকাচSির Rখলা।/ নীল আকােশ Rক ভাসােল/ সাদা Rমেঘর Rভলা। [āji dhāner khete raudrachāyāy / lukocurir khelā / nīl ākāśe ke bhāsāle/ sādā megher bhelā]

Today’s the day of hide and seek play In this paddy Dield, and in sun and shade; Whoever’s Dloated in the blue of the sky The white vessel of cloud, today?

The bee forgot to drink nectar today It hovers around the light like crazy Don’t know why on the bank of the river Is an assembly of Tadornas today?

I shan’t go back home tonight, Won’t go back home today -‐ I shall break the vault of the sky And loot the outer world, Plunder I must today!

Like ebb and Dlow have thrown up the froth Like laughter unabated has a run on wind today; The Dlute plays without any reason today In a game to spend the day without any work!

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 15

জগৎ জyেড় উদার সুের/ আনhগান বােজ [jagat juŗe udār sure / ānandagān bāje]

All around the world, In a muniDicent voice Plays the Song of Joy! I wait for that song to delve Deeper ‘n deeper, and enter Into my heart to play on and on. When will I be able to love all – The Wind, the Water, the Sky ‘n the light, And they’ll all sit in the meeting of hearts Dressed in many forms – waiting to dazzle all. When will you open your eyes And my heart will be Dilled with joy – Happy to see you go through the way Where your gait pleases all! You are there – when will this fact Be a matter ordinary, in my life? When will your name resonate In everything that I do?

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 22 [=English text 3]

তSিম Rকমন কের গান কর Rয tণী,/ অবাক হেয় •িন, Rকবল •িন। [tumi keman kare gān kara je guņī,/ abāk haye śuni, kebal śuni]

I do not know how you sing my Lord! I listen to you with wonder with awe The light of your melody covers the world The breeze of your song Dloats in the sky Having blasted stones, gushing out The holy Dlow of melody sets forth in wonder How do you sing the song, my Lord! I hear you with wonder ‘n awe. I sing as it pleases my soul When I search within, the tune is lost What I wish to say, words fail ’em all My heart weeps as it loses at the end Knows not how it was trapped By the net cast by your tune, my Lord!

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 86

আমাের যিদ জাগােল আিজ নাথ,/ িফেরা না তেব িফেরা না, কেরা/ কxণ আঁিখপাত। [āmāre jadi jāgāle nātha,/ phiro nā tabe phiro nā, karo / karuņa ānkhipāt]

When you made me awake today, O Lord, You mustn’t go back, nor return then, but must Look at me – look at me with all compassion! On the intimate trees ‘n sedges in the forest The monsoon cloud does pour what she has As the night sleeps in delicate languor – Pregnant with the rain-‐bearing clouds, You mustn’t go back, nor return then, but must Look at me – look at me with all compassion! At the lashing of the thunder ceaseless As my life is wakeful without any sleep, It wishes to sing the song of joy With the rains and stream of water pouring by! My heart goes out with my tears rolling down It moves around outside at night, As the sky’s seen looking for it By spreading its hands so far! You mustn’t go back, nor return then, but must Look at me – look at me with all compassion!

143

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 88 [=English text 38]

চাই Rগা আিম Rতামাের চাই/ Rতামায় আিম চাই—/ এই কথা‰ সদাই মেন/ বলেত Rযন পাই। [cāi go āmi tomāre cāi/ tomāy āmi cāi – / ei kathāţi sadāi mane/ balte jena pāi]

I want You, I love You, I long for You, for ever! These are the words that I must speak on, For all times to come – for ever! Driven by emotions ’n passion, the path I take To go around all day and night, All that is useless, all a pack of lies ‘Cause I want You, I love You, I long for You, for ever! The way nights hide in all ages The prayer of the light, I know. That’s the kind of swoon I have As I crave for you, for ever! Even when the storm strikes the peace, It knows that it desires to have that peace! Whenever I strike You Diercely, know that I want You, I love You, I long for You, for ever!

145

Bangla Gītānjalī / Text 95

ডােকা ডােকা ডােকা আমাের,/Rতামার ি…• শীতল গভীর/ পিব– আঁধাের। [ɖāko ɖāko ɖāko āmāre,/ tomār snigdha śītal gabhīr/ pabitra āndhāre]

Call me, call me, call me O Lord! To enter into the realm of Your calm intensity – In the devout darkness of Yours that draws away The fatigue ‘n Dilth from the daily life And livings of mine – removing all the aberrations That keep happening all the time In our behaviour ‘n expressions every day! Free me, liberate me, O Lord! So that I could enter into Your intimate ‘n silent And broad ‘n endless darkness of Yours! In the noiseless night, let my speech get lost! Let my external merge with the world outside. Let the dearest one in my heart appear at last In a shape undivided integral!

152

Dancing Qigure : A Digure in dancing movement. Water proof ink and pen Ink: orange, black, red, blue green, blue used with brush and pen on paper. Unsigned, n. d. [c. 1929-‐30]. 38 x 39 cm.

222

Zoomorphic forms : Snake like reptile forms. Water proof Ink: black, violet used with pen and brush over pencil drawing on paper. Unsigned, n.d. [c. 1930-‐31]. 31.7 x 38.7 cm.

224

Composition with two faces (a couple) : Black and white. Pen ink and water proof ink used with brush over pencil drawing on paper. Signed ‘Sri Rabindranath’ in Roman script bottom right, n.d. [c. 1930-‐31]. 21 x 33.2 cm.

226

Landscape : A group of dark trees with an architectural form against grey sky. Waterproof ink and poster colour: black, brown, green, red, black used with brush over pencil drawing on paper. Unsigned, n. d. [date on the back side: Santiniketan, August 18, 1934]. 70.5 x 55.7 cm.

228

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (nee ‘Thākur’; 1861-‐1941) was the Dirst Asian author to have received the Nobel Prize for literature for his inimitable collection of 103 poems and songs titled Gitanjali: Song Offerings. He was mainly responsible for having underscored the power of Indian literature world-‐wide through his Poems, Stories, Novels, Plays, Travelogues, books of Essays, Belles lettres, and, of course, through his Songs. A multilingual to the core, he wrote in three languages, Bengali (Bangla,), English and a pidgin based on Maithili and Bengali, called the Brajabuli. After so many world-‐class Dilms made on his stories and novels, with numerous discs of music playing on all occasions even after a century of their creation, and with all experiments, modiDications, format recasting his plays and performances still going on, we discover many Tagores in one. Besides authoring 314 books with 18,000 printed pages in Bengali (92,000 manuscript pages) published in 33 volumes, there are four-‐ volumes of his 2,000 pages of original English writings. He wrote the lyrics and scored music for over 2600 Songs; painted some world-‐ class images through 2500 Paintings; besides writing, producing, directing, and even acting in his 64 plays and performance texts. To that, we have to add his activities in institution-‐building at Santiniketan, 235

Sriniketan and elsewhere, as well as his initiation in micro-‐Dinance, cooperative farming, rural reconstruction, skills development, library-‐movement, literacy planning, poverty alleviation as well as branding of Santiniketan in so many Dields – dress, leather-‐work, wood-‐work, and even in low-‐cost house-‐construction. Tagore had also undertaken sea-‐journeys to 33 countries in order to bring in a better visibility of his civilization, to seek funding and active collaboration for his institution (Visva-‐Bharati at Santiniketan, a premier university in India today), to propagate his ideas on the religion of man and the need to understand each other rather than being bogged down with narrow interests of ‘Nationalism’. It is not surprising that Bertrand Russell would say that ‘[Tagore] has contributed… much… to the most important work of our time, namely, the promotion of understanding between races… [and] on this account he is worthy of the highest honour.’ (quoted from the 'Introduction' of Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Short Stories ed by Mohammad Quayum, Macmillan) Rabindranath Tagore was the fourteenth child of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore (1817-‐1905) and Sarada Devi (1821-‐1871), and grandson of Prince Dwarakanath Tagore (1794-‐1846). Rabindranath’s father was a philosopher and religious reformer, active in the 19th century awakening of Bengal, and the main mover behind the Brahmo Samaj movement.

236

UDAYA NARAYANA SINGH Born in 1951, and a grass-‐root bilingual in Bengali and Maithili, Singh is an internationally renowned linguist, translation theoretician, creative writer and lexicographer. He has been the Director of Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India – the premier language institution of India for nine years (2000-‐2009) and also the Pro-‐Vice-‐Chancellor of Visva-‐ Bharati, Santiniketan for two years (2011-‐12). Singh taught Linguistics, Comparative Literature, English and Translation at the Universities of Hyderabad (1987-‐2000), Delhi (1985-‐87 & 1979), Surat (1981-‐85) and Baroda (1979-‐81), and is currently a Professor at Rabindra Bhavana, Visva-‐Bharati handling Cultural Studies and Linguistics programs. Singh earned Ph.D. degree in Linguistics (Delhi) in 1979 in Syntax and Semantics. He studied B.A. (Hons) in Linguistics at Calcutta University and M.A. in linguistics at the University of Delhi 1972-‐74, and a semester at the University of Illinois at Urbana-‐Champaign, USA. He published 6 collections of poems with translation of his poems in several Indian and European languages, 11 plays as well as 6 books of literary essays, besides translating 6 books. In addition, he has authored over 180 research papers in Linguistics, Literature, Translation and Sociology of Language as well as edited about 16 books. Singh visited and lectured in Australia, Bangladesh, Caribbean Islands, China, France, German Democratic Republic (GDR), Germany (uniuied), Iceland, Italy, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand & USA, and received several grants and honors. He also led the Indian cultural delegation to China during 2007-‐08, and had been a member of Indian delegation to UNESCO in 2011, and to Bangladesh, France, Russia and USA in 2012, and to China again in 2013. He had also been a Poet-‐invitee at the Frankfurt Book Fair (2006) and London Book Fair (2009).

237

Our Publications:

* Sôshô YAMADA : IKKYÛ, l’Impertinence au service de la foi The Golden Nihon Collection, paper book November 2012; bi-‐lingua French / Japanese e-‐book bi-‐lingua French / Japanese (pdf 2013) e-‐books to come: bi-‐lingua French / Japanese (ePub and MobiKindle 2014) French (ePub and MobiKindle 2014) Japanese (ePub and MobiKindle 2014) * Marc-‐Williams DEBONO : Ecriture et Plasticité de Pensée Collection Essay December 2013 e-‐book (ePub – MobiKindle) French Forthcoming: * Olivier ANSART : L’étrange voyage de Confucius au Japon The Golden Nihon Collection French, English paper book (June 2014) e-‐book French (ePub – MobiKindle spring 2014) e-‐book English (ePub – MobiKindle 2014) * Satoshi OHARA / Jean-‐Christophe VALMALETTE : Kumagusu MINAKATA, un encyclopédiste entre Orient et Occident The Golden Nihon Collection French, paper book (September 2014) Japanese, paper book (September 2014) e-‐book French (ePub – MobiKindle 2014) e-‐book Japanese, (ePub – MobiKindle 2014) In Preparation: Francesc TORRALBA : The essence of love according to Søren Kierkegaard Philosophical lecture on Kjerlighedens Gjerninger (1847) Collection Essay (English, French, Spanish) Khalil GIBRAN : The Prophet The Golden Gibran Collection (English, French, Spanish, Arab)

238