Questions tagged [rabindranath-tagore]
Questions about the works of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) or his life as a writer. He was a Bengali poet, dramatist, and novelist, best known for the poetry collection 'Gitanjali' (1910). If asking about any of his works that were originally written in Bengali, use the [bengali-language] tag as well.
28 questions
5
votes
1
answer
86
views
What were the works of Tagore that Mistral commented on?
Mistral's first published collection, Desolación, contains a number of prose works in addition to her poetry. In one of them, "Commentarios a poemas de Rabindranath Tagore", Mistral wrote ...
5
votes
1
answer
384
views
What was the poem Tagore wrote in Satyendranath Dutta's memory?
Satyendranath Dutta's Wikipedia page says that Rabindranath Tagore wrote a poem in his honor after his death. It cites The Report, which says:
Rabindranath Tagore has immortalized Satyendranath in a ...
4
votes
1
answer
673
views
What are the Bengali original texts of the poems which Tagore has translated in Stray birds?
I have been reading Stray birds by Tagore.
This link says that some poems in there are translations of the poems in Kanika. Do any records exist which maps the English verses to the original bengali ...
0
votes
1
answer
64
views
Who to contact to amend Tagore's Jana Gana Mana? [closed]
In the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, I propose replacing the word Sindh (the province is in Pakistan since 1947) with Isaanya (north east India) to reflect contemporary geographical ...
6
votes
1
answer
121
views
What is the Persian story that Rabindranath Tagore summarises in a letter from June 1894?
In Glimpses of Bengal, a selection of Rabindranath Tagore's letters included in The Definitive Tagore (Rupa Publications, 2017), Tagore summarises the following story (letter from 24 June 1894):
...
7
votes
1
answer
377
views
What are the lines in the Bhagavad Gita that Sandip is alluding to?
Rabindranath Tagore's novel 1916 The Home and the World consists of chapters told from the point of view of varying characters.
One of these is Sandip, who is a militant nationalist and an active ...
5
votes
1
answer
65
views
What song is mai chhoro brajaki basari?
In Chapter VII of My Boyhood Days, Tagore describes how the narrator as a child became interested in music and singing. The "family friend Srikantha Babu was absorbed in music day and night":...
4
votes
1
answer
298
views
Who classified Rabindranath Tagore's lyrics into the six standard categories?
The standard edition of Rabindranath Tagore's song lyrics, গীতবিতান / giitabitaan, "A Canopy of Songs", classifies the lyrics under six headings:
পূজা / puujaa, "Worship"
স্বদেশ / ...
2
votes
0
answers
93
views
What does the sword represent in poem 52 of Tagore's English Gitanjali?
In poem 52 of Tagore's English version of Gitanjali, a female persona speaks of a gift that a man or lover left her:
What token left of thy love? It is no flower, no spices, no vase of perfumed water....
5
votes
1
answer
784
views
What are the originals of the poems Tagore has translated from English into Bengali?
Rabindranath Tagore's 1886 collection of verse কড়ি ও কোমল / ka.Di o komal, "Sharps and Flats", includes a set of 15 or so poems under the general heading বিদেশী ফূলের গুচ্ছ / videshii ...
3
votes
0
answers
70
views
Why does Tagore not consistently use ‘thou’ when addressing the supreme being in Gitanjali?
The large majority of poems in the English version of Tagore's Gitanjali address a supreme being. Tagore uses the pronouns "thou", "thee" and "thy" in almost all of these ...
3
votes
1
answer
520
views
Does Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Vishabriksha have a special meaning in Tagore's Chokher Bali?
Rabindranath Tagore's novel Chokher Bali makes a few references to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Vishabriksha or The Poison Tree, which was first published in 1873. (The passages below are quoted ...
5
votes
0
answers
299
views
How does Irishness affect subject-formation and national identification in Kipling's *Kim* and Tagore's *Gora*?
Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) and Rabindranath Tagore's Gora (1910) have several parallels. Each is about an Irish orphan who passes for Indian. Each is also a Bildungsroman, portraying their ...
4
votes
0
answers
300
views
What is the relationship between Tagore's poems and his song lyrics?
Rabindranath Tagore composed and wrote the lyrics for approximately 2,200 songs, collectively known as Rabindra Sangeet, "Rabindra music". These songs remain immensely popular in India and ...
2
votes
0
answers
61
views
Is Tagore's Chokher Bali a novel that illustrates the workings of mimetic desire?
Rabindranath Tagore's novel Chokher Bali (published in 1903) describes the relationships of four individuals: Mahendra, his wife Asha, his life-long friend Bihari and Binodini. The novel's title can ...
7
votes
1
answer
941
views
How good was Rabindranath Tagore's English, in general?
As verbose recently remarked in an answer about a Tagore poem:
October/November 2020 was when I realized exactly how poorly Tagore has been served by translations, even his own. The dude really ...
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is the significance of "southern" in Tagore's poem "A Hundred Years From Now"?
The Bengali poem "Aaji Hote Shata Barsha Pare" by Rabindranath Tagore, translated into English as "A Hundred Years Hence" or "A Hundred Years From Now", is a poem written ...
5
votes
1
answer
409
views
What language was Tagore's "This Dog" written in?
Disclaimer: this is going to be a stupidly obvious question for anyone who speaks either Hindi or Bengali, but with zero knowledge of either language I can't really eke out an answer. Apologies if ...
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What is the original source of Rabindranath Tagore's "Endless Time"?
There is a poem "Endless Time" by Rabindranath Tagore as follows, which I interpret as being about a mortal human speaking to God, someone living a rushed human life and comparing it to God'...
3
votes
1
answer
277
views
When did Tagore write "The Victory"?
The anthology The Definitive Tagore (Rupa Publishing, 2017) contains several works, including five short stories. The book does not contain any information on the author, nor dates of publication or ...
3
votes
1
answer
75
views
Why would the indigo factory's steward be a messenger of death?
Chapter XI of My Boyhood Days (1940; ছেলেবেলা / Chhelebela in Bengali) contains the following passage:
The old indigo factory was still standing, with the river Padma in the distance. The zemindari ...
2
votes
1
answer
312
views
Is Rabindranth Tagore talking about the actual wave nature of light here in Gitanjali?
The Nobel prize winning work Gitanjali by Rabdinranath Tagore quotes:
Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light
Is he referring to the actual electromagnetic wave nature of ...
2
votes
1
answer
100
views
In Tagore's "Along the Way", who is the entity that the "your touch" is referring to?
Rabindranath Tagore's "Along the Way" several times refers to "your touch", such as in this first stanza:
As I walk along my way
I receive your touch
Now and then
But I don’t know ...
6
votes
2
answers
344
views
Why do the prayers stop in Tagore's "A Dream"?
At the end of Rabindranath Tagore's "A Dream", there's one part (the ending) that goes like this:
At the gate
The lamp went out
In the temple
On the banks of Shipra
The prayers stopped.
...
2
votes
1
answer
147
views
What does "raised waves in my mind" mean in Tagore's "At the End of the Day"?
In Rabindranath Tagore's "At the End of the Day", there's one stanza that goes like this:
To you I only pray –
Before I go let me know
Looking at the sky
Why mother earth so green
Gave me a ...
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why was the narrator left alone on the shore in Tagore's "Sonar Tari"?
Rabindranath Tagore's poem 'Sonar Tari', written in Bengali, was translated into English as 'The Golden Boat'. The last stanza reads:
ঠাঁই নাই, ঠাঁই নাই! ছোট সে তরী
আমারি সোনার ধানে গিয়েছে ভরি’।
শ্রা...
3
votes
1
answer
174
views
Who is Tagore's "Cruel Kindness" addressed to?
Rabindranath Tagore's "Cruel Kindness" is written in the second person, addressing a "you":
I seek so many things with all my heart
But you have saved me denying.
All through my ...
5
votes
2
answers
485
views
Why does the narrator in Tagore's story call the Cabuliwallah's daughter "Parbati"?
In Rabindranath Tagore's "The Cabuliwallah", Rahmun, the eponymous Cabuliwallah, has come to Calcutta to make a living selling nuts and dried fruits from his native Afghanistan. In lieu of a ...