Two Songs of Tagore – XV

Translated from the original Bangla by Sreejit Datta

Translator’s note:

Shantidev Ghosh, one of the many direct disciples and a close associate of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, has reminisced about the creation of the song “Śarbo Kharbotāre Dahe Tabo Krodhodāho” (translated in this edition of Two Songs of Tagore) in his 1942 book Rabindrasangeet. The book is written in a Bangla; hence I am translating the relevant passages from Ghosh’s recollections for our readers:     

“Everyone remembers the time when Jatin Das went on a hunger strike in the Lahore jail in 1929; his determination for the fast unto death caused a great stir in the minds of Indians. Tapatī was written during that grim period. In those days, Gurudev was rehearsing the play with the Ashram-dwellers. Ultimately, Jatin Das passed away. When the news reached Shantiniketan, Gurudev felt an unforgettable blow on that day. It was decided that the evening rehearsal of Tapatī will take place as usual. But then, he kept forgetting his lines; he just couldn’t recall them despite the multiple attempts – he was getting distracted. Eventually he dismissed the rehearsal that day. On the same night, he wrote the song “Śarbo Kharbotāre Dahe Tabo Krodhodāho”. He later inserted it into the play Tapatī. Today, perhaps many wouldn’t know that this song was an outpouring of the intense pain that he had felt in his heart; had they known about it, the song would have become more meaningful to them.”

An almost similar account of the song’s genesis is provided by the writings of the renowned singer-composer-actor Pankaj Kumar Mullick, who corroborates Ghosh’s claim that the song “Śarbo Kharbotāre Dahe Tabo Krodhodāho” was indeed written by Gurudev upon hearing about, and in response to, the ultimate sacrifice made by the Braveheart Jatin Das. This song, as well as the other song translated in this edition (Proloy-Nāchon Nāchle Jakhon), is themed on Lord Shiva in his terrible forms of Rudra/Nataraja/Bhairava; and both songs are part of Tagore’s play Tapatī.

Śarbo Kharbotāre Dahe Tabo Krodhodāho

(To listen to the original Bangla song, click here)

All kinds of smallness are burned in Thy fury –

Bhairav! Grant strength; and look upon Thy votary!

Great Rudra! Purge all that is petty and illusory –

Death shall seem trivial before a Life that is fiery!

This grief, once churned, shall deliver immortality;

And those who fear the End shall be saved from anxiety.

The heat of Thy blazing Light shall melt the stony gyves

Deluging the Earth with streams of pious sacrifice!  

Proloy-Nāchon Nāchle Jakhon

(To listen to the original Bangla song, click here)

When You were lost in Your dance of the final dissolution,

O Nataraj! The knot of Your matted braids came undone!

Thus Jāhnavī has lost her way, now waywardly her streams run,

Dancing to musical strains are those rolling waves of hers!

Echoed all across the sky yon blessed rays of the Sun,

Carrying words that quell fears of those who left their homes.

Rapt with her own ripples, she makes friends with her own self;

And those who lost everything, found all on her shores again!