Two Songs of Tagore VIII
Translator’s note: These two hitherto untranslated songs of Tagore fall into the category “Prakriti” or Nature as per the system of categorisation followed in Gitabitan, Tagore’s anthology of song lyrics. Within that category, songs are further classified in accordance with the ṛtu or seasonal division that they pertain to. The two songs translated here pertain to the “Sharat” (Sharad) ṛtu; and, sticking to the long-standing Bengali tradition of Ᾱgomonī songs, here Rabindranath offers us two fine Ᾱgomonī lyrics, both bathed in elegant melodies composed by the poet himself. The tradition of Ᾱgomonī songs celebrates, in homely lyric poetry and enchanting tunes, the yearly arrival of the Great Goddess Durga to the earthly abode of her parents Himalaya and Menaka. In Bengal, the Great Goddess’s yearly homecoming is not regarded as any different from the homecoming of the daughter who has been married off into a family in a faraway village. This subgenre of devotional music in the Bangla language thus represents one indispensable pillar of the cultural and ritualistic wealth of the Durga Puja in Bengal, and is, therefore, an essential part of the Bengali identity. Despite being a Brahmo Samaji himself, the quintessential Bengali poet Rabindranath has left for his people and posterity a number of such Ᾱgomonī songs that bear the distinct signature of his musical and lyrical styles, and celebrate the annual worship of Devi Durga in the Sharad ṛtu. In a few of the upcoming issues of “Two Songs of Tagore”, we will offer verse translations of suchlike songs, starting today i.e., Mahālayā tithi of the Bengali Era 1428.
Kār bā͂śi niśibhore bājilo
(To listen to the original Bangla song, click here)
Whose flute has echoed in my soul at the break of dawn!
Oh! Burgeons of a budding sun’s rays shot up on the horizon.
In this glow of Sharad approaches the Beauteous One,
The bedewed eyes of Earth are with joy overrun,
In the heart’s grove has blossomed the sweet Shephalika[1], oh!
Ᾱmār nɑːyano-bhulāno ele
(To listen to the original Bangla song, click here)
Enchanter of mine eyes, You have arrived,
What a sight did I behold with my heart spread open wide!
Past the Shiuli-tree bower, upon the bed of fallen flowers,
Over the bedewed grasses, treading with feet rosy as the young sun,
Enchanter of mine eyes, You have now come!
Thy aanchal of shadow and light is strewn across forests,
Flowers regard that Face of Yours, and speak inwardly unbeknownst.
Take the veil off Thy Face, we shall greet Thee and usher Thee in,
With Your two hands now push aside this meagre cloud-covering!
Doorways of the forest goddess echo with deep trumpets of conch-shells,
And the strings of the heavenly Veena announce Thy arrival.
Where chimes the gold anklet – perchance in the middle of my heart!
Pouring the nectar that melts stones, over all ways and all acts –
Enchanter of mine eyes, You have arrived!
[1] Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Shiuli/Shephali
