Stay tuned to our new posts and updates! Click to join us on WhatsApp L&C-Whatsapp & Telegram telegram Channel
L&C-Silhouette Subscribe
The L&C-Silhouette Basket
L&C-Silhouette Basket
A hand-picked basket of cherries from the world of most talked about books and popular posts on creative literature, reviews and interviews, movies and music, critiques and retrospectives ...
to enjoy, ponder, wonder & relish!
 
Support LnC-Silhouette. Great reading for everyone, supported by readers. SUPPORT

Two Tagore Songs of ‘Puja’ Parjaay in Translation

May 9, 2015 | By

On the auspicious day of the bard’s birth anniversary celebrations, my humble homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and his mystical melodies.

Picture1

The dreamer, the idealist, the sage, the bard, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

Today, on Rabindra Jayanti, an auspicious occasion that marks the birth of the poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, born in the illustrious Jorasanko Thakurbari, Kolkata, I offer my most humble tribute to the bard, the philosopher and sage. In this post, I present my small offering, the English translations of the lyrics of two songs of the bard, both belonging to the ‘Puja’ parjaay (section) of his treasure-trove, Geetabitan.

The urgency and desire to translate these soul-nourishing lyrics embracing love, divinity and humanity originated in me a couple of years back while working on my first book-length memoir, as I looked back, reflected on my pent up, calcified memories. The revelation that Tagore songs and their inherent spiritual fervor were very much a part of me and my memories came up quite instantly, as I had translated the lines of ‘Tobu Mone Rekho (And, still, remember me)’.

The flawless timber in the voice of Kanika Bandyopadhyay, the voice that has immortalized Gurudev’s songs while emoting them with effortless ease

The concept of God, the Almighty, as well as Tagore’s quintessential celebration of  spirituality is expressed with new, enriched dimensions, meanings and nuances in all the lyrics of his songs in the ‘Puja’ parjaay of Geetabitan. God, his eternal playmate, his beloved and friend and his dear confidante, is a mystical, inspirational entity with whom he celebrates his overflowing love, while also trudging the path of natural oneness with the divine. To internalize the lyrics of the songs is an experience that is too subtle, too profoundly personal, and to translate them has often been regarded as a challenge in terms of transcribing their original nuances and the emotions that went into composing the songs.  However, I would like to add here that the inspiration behind these translations came from reading the works of numerous scholars and exponents, who have taken painstaking efforts to dissect, analyze and reanalyze Tagore’s treasure trove of songs, poems and prose and spread it to the rest of the world.

“আহা    তোমার সঙ্গে প্রাণের খেলা, প্রিয় আমার, ওগো প্রিয়–
বড়ো    উতলা আজ পরান আমার, খেলাতে হার মানবে কি ও॥
কেবল  তুমিই কি গো এমনি ভাবে   রাঙিয়ে মোরে পালিয়ে যাবে।
তুমি    সাধ করে, নাথ, ধরা দিয়ে আমারও রঙ বক্ষে নিয়ো–
এই      হৃৎকমলের রাঙা রেণু রাঙাবে ওই উত্তরীয়॥”

Original lyrics of the song: courtesy Geetabitan.com

Parjaay : Prem
Taal : Dadra
Raag : Pilu-Tappa
Written on : 1910 (Magh 1326)
Collection : Arupratan

With you, my soul plays in an infinite rhapsody,
o my lord, my beloved playmate.
My restless soul  teases, adrift, would not surrender to you.
Would you, always, my lord, elude me, thus,
Color me, adorn my spirit, and leave me, lovelorn?
For once, do willfully embrace my color in your bosom,
May the scarlet hues of my lotus heart
Paint your drape in submission.

The soulful rendition of this intense dedication, in the mellifluous voice of Ritu Guha:

 

“চিরসখা, ছেড়ো না মোরে ছেড়ো না।
সংসারগহনে নির্ভয়নির্ভর, নির্জনসজনে সঙ্গে রহো ॥
অধনের হও ধন, অনাথের নাথ হও হে, অবলের বল।
জরাভারাতুরে নবীন করো ওহো সুধাসাগর ॥”

Original lyrics of the song: Geetabitan.com

Parjaay : Puja
Taal : Tritaal
Raag : Behag-Tappa
Written on : 1899

O my eternal mate, my beloved forever, do not abandon me.
In the unfathomable depths of this earthy realm,
As I remain fearless, unwavering
Who do I count upon, but you, lonely, or in company?
You, the only treasure of the penniless,
the Lord of the hapless, the strength of the powerless.
You, the ocean of the nectar of sweet love, rejuvenate
The old, the weary, woeful.

The golden voice of Kanika Bandyopadhyay (Mohor di), lending her astute charm, her flawless emotions to this timeless rendition of the bard:

Lopamudra (Lopa) Banerjee is an author, editor, poet and writing instructor staying in Dallas, Texas with her family, but originally from Kolkata, India. She has a Masters in English with thesis in Creative Nonfiction from University of Nebraska and also Masters in English from University of Calcutta, India. Apart from writing and editing some critically acclaimed books and being awarded with the Reuel International Prize for Poetry (2017) and for Translation (2016), she has dabbled in all genres of writing, from journalism and content writing to academic essays and fiction/poetry. She has been interviewed in various e-zines, literary blogs and also at TV (Kolkata) and at radio stations in Dallas, Texas. Very recently, she has been part of the upcoming short film 'Kolkata Cocktail', a docu-feature based on poetry, but her love for writing feature stories go back to her journalism days when she interviewed people from all walks of life and wrote essays and articles based on them. She loves performing poetry as spoken words art and has performed in various forums in India and USA.
All Posts of Lopamudra Banerjee

Hope you enjoyed reading...

... we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading and supporting our creative, informative and analytical posts than ever before. And yes, we are firmly set on the path we chose when we started... our twin magazines Learning and Creativity and Silhouette Magazine (LnC-Silhouette) will be accessible to all, across the world.

We are editorially independent, not funded, supported or influenced by investors or agencies. We try to keep our content easily readable in an undisturbed interface, not swamped by advertisements and pop-ups. Our mission is to provide a platform you can call your own creative outlet and everyone from renowned authors and critics to budding bloggers, artists, teen writers and kids love to build their own space here and share with the world.

When readers like you contribute, big or small, it goes directly into funding our initiative. Your support helps us to keep striving towards making our content better. And yes, we need to build on this year after year. Support LnC-Silhouette with a little amount - and it only takes a minute. Thank you

Support LnC-Silhouette

Creative Writing

Got a poem, story, musing or painting you would like to share with the world? Send your creative writings and expressions to editor@learningandcreativity.com

Learning and Creativity publishes articles, stories, poems, reviews, and other literary works, artworks, photographs and other publishable material contributed by writers, artists and photographers as a friendly gesture. The opinions shared by the writers, artists and photographers are their personal opinion and does not reflect the opinion of Learning and Creativity- emagazine. Images used in the posts (not including those from Learning and Creativity's own photo archives) have been procured from the contributors themselves, public forums, social networking sites, publicity releases, free photo sites such as Pixabay, Pexels, Morguefile, etc and Wikimedia Creative Commons. Please inform us if any of the images used here are copyrighted, we will pull those images down.

One thought on “Two Tagore Songs of ‘Puja’ Parjaay in Translation

  • Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Today’s Motivation

    <div class=at-above-post addthis_tool data-url=https://learningandcreativity.com/learn-from-mistakes/></div>Make mistakes and learn from them. <!-- AddThis Advanced Settings above via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings below via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons above via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons below via filter on get_the_excerpt --><div class=at-below-post addthis_tool data-url=https://learningandcreativity.com/learn-from-mistakes/></div><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt -->
    Make mistakes and learn from them.