Gitanjali

This article is about collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore. For other uses, see Geetanjali (disambiguation).

Gitanjali, Song Offerings

Author	Rabindranath Tagore
Original title	গীতাঞ্জলি
Language	English, Bengali
Subject	Devotion to God
Genre	Poem
Publication date	1910
Publication place	India
Published in English	1912

Gitanjali (Bengali: গীতাঞ্জলি) is a collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. The original Bengali collection of 157 poems was published on August 14, 1910. The English ""Gitanjali"" or Song Offerings is a collection of 103 English poems of Tagore's own English translations of his Bengali poems first published in November 1912 by the India Society of London. It contained translations of 53 poems from the original Bengali Gitanjali, as well as 50 other poems which were from his drama ""Achalayatan"" and eight other books of poetry - mainly ""Gitimalya"" (17 poems), ""Naivedya"" (15 poems) and ""Kheya"" (11 poems).

The translations were often radical, leaving out or altering large chunks of the poem and in one instance fusing two separate poems (song 95, which unifies songs 89,90 of ""Naivedya""). The translations were undertaken prior to a visit to England in 1912, where the poems were extremely well received. In 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize, specifically the Nobel Prize for Literature, largely for the English ""Gitanjali"".

Th English ""Gitanjali"" became very famous in the West, and was widely translated. The word gitanjali is composed from "git", song, and "anjali", offering, and thus means – "An offering of songs"; but the word for offering, anjali, has a strong devotional connotation, so the title may also be interpreted as "prayer offering of song".

Poems

Some poems involve themes related to nature, but here, too, the spiritual is subtly present, as in this poem (no. 57), given here along with the Bengali text in Roman script:

Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light!

Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.

The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light.

The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion.

Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad.

---

আলো আমার আলো ওগো, আলো ভূবন ভরা আলো নয়ন ধোওয়া আমার আলো হৃদয় হরা । নাচে আলো নাচে ও ভাই, আমার প্রাণের কাছে - বাজে আলো বাজে ও ভাই, হৃদয়বীণার মাঝে জাগে আকাশ, ছোটে বাতাস, হাসে সকল ধরা । আলোর স্রোতে পাল তুলেছে হাজার প্রজাপতি আলোর ঢেউয়ে উঠল মেতে মল্লিকা মালতী । মেঘে মেঘে সোনা, ও ভাই যায়না মানিক গোনা - পাতায় পাতায় হাসি ও ভাই, পুলক রাশি রাশি । সুরনদীর কূল ডুবেছে সুধা-নিঝর-ঝরা।       - অচলায়তন

Alo amar, alo ogo, alo bhubon bhora alo noyon dhoa amar, alo hridoe hara. Nache alo nache, o bhai, amar praner kachhe -- baje alo baje, o bhai, hridoe binar majhe -- jage akash, chhoţe batash, hashe shokol dhora. Alor srote pal tulechhe hajar projapoti. Alor đheue uţhlo mete mollika maloti. Meghe meghe shona, o bhai, jae na manik gona -- patae patae hashi, o bhai, pulok rashi rashi. Shuronodir kul ḍubechhe shudha-nijhor-jhora.       -Ocholaeoton

Legacy

In the English-speaking world, the writings of Tagore are no longer widely read. Nonetheless, for millions of Bengali speakers, the Bengali originals continue to resonate, as in this verse:

I stand mesmerized,
wondering how you sing
your notes hold the world spellbound –
the light of your music
lights up my universe.
     (song 22 of Bengali Gitanjali, song 3 in the English)

See also

• Bengali literature
• Bengali poetry
• Indian literature
• Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo (Where the mind is without fear)
• Kazi Nazrul Islam

External links

• Gitanjali (Song Offerings)

.