2. INTRODUCTION
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a
leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal
and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the
Upanishads.
In his mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities, he managed the family
estates, a project which brought him into close touch with common humanity and increased his
interest in social reforms.
He also started an experimental school at Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic
ideals of education. From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement,
though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of
modern India, was his devoted friend. Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in
1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in India.
Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his translations of some of his
poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking
him across continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship. For the world he became the
voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living
institution.
4. FAMOUS WORKS
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet. Among
his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are:
Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One],
Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat],
Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings],
Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and
Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes].
The English renderings of his poetry, which include :
The Gardener (1913),
Fruit-Gathering (1916), and
The Fugitive (1921),.
Tagore's major plays are :
Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber],
Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office],
Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable],
Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and
Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders].
5. He is the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels, among them :
Gora (1910),
Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World], and
Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents].
Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two
autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941. Tagore also
left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.
6. GITANJALI
Gitanjali is a collection of poems .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).
In 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel
Prize for Literature largely for the EnglishGitanjali. The
English Gitanjali became very famous in the West, and was widely
translated.
The word gitanjali is composed from "gita", 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".
7. A GLIMPSE OF
GITANJALI
. A Moments Indulgence
I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.
Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.
Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and
the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.
Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing
dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
8. SYNOPSIS
A Moments Indulgence
A Moments Indulgence by Rabindranath Tagore was written in 1910 as part of
the Gitanjali collection, 157 poems in the original language of Bengali, and 103 in English
translated by Tagore himself.
The central focus of A Moments Indulgence is about dedicating ones time to God, which
clearly brings the devotee joy. The speaker is aware that his soul has been engrossed in worldliness,
thus putting aside worldly pleasures that man is often disillusioned by, the speaker begins devoting
his time to God.
The poem begins with the speaker seeking a moment’s indulgence from his creator. This is
evident as he says, he ‘will finish afterwards’ he task he was doing, in order to connect with his
creator..
The second stanza shows the extent of the speaker’s devotion to his creator. This can be seen
through the way he says that when he is away from God, mentally or physically, his heart
remains restless, and the tasks at hand seem like they will never end. It portrays a clear
distinction between the pleasure one receives from worldliness, and the true spiritual joy one
gains from devoting time to God.
9. In the third stanza the speaker is talking about the present day, and describes the beauty of the
world which is a gift from God. He uses nature imagery to describe the beauty of the day which
is being enjoyed by both animals, the ‘bees’, plants, and ‘the flowering grove’. The speaker also
uses sound descriptions of: ‘sighs and murmurs’ to describe the present day, this has connotations
of peace and being at peace in the environment one is in, adding to the spiritual vibe of the
poem. This implies that nature is close to God as it is content, reinforcing the second stanza’s idea
that when away from God a person can not be content.
The fourth stanza shows that the speaker believes that the present time is the best time to
dedicate himself to God; he does this by singing to God and sitting quietly. Surrounding himself
with nature, and the speaker believes the silence and free time is the perfect time to devote time
to his creator because he is not distracted by worldly tasks and is surrounded by a gift, the beauty
of nature, which is from God.
11. TAGORE’S VITAL CONTRIBUTION
(NATIONAL ANTHEM)
Only first stanza is sung as national anthem
out of five stanzas.
12. ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The following translation (edited in 1950 to replace Sindh with Sindhu as Sindh after partition was
allocated to Pakistan), attributed to Tagore, is provided by the Government of India's national
portal:
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat
and Maratha,
Of the Dravida, Utkala and Bengal
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas
mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, victory, victory to thee.
13. BACKGROUND
"Jana Gana Mana" is the national anthem of India Written in highly Sanskritised Bengali it is the
first of five stanzas of a hym .It was first sung in Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress
on 27 December 1911.["Jana Gana Mana" was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as
the Indian national anthem on 24 January 1950.
The original poem was translated into Hindi-Urdu by Abid Ali
A formal rendition of the national anthem takes fifty-two seconds. A shortened version consisting
of the first and last lines (and taking about 20 seconds to play) is also staged occasionally.[Tagore
wrote down the English translation.. of the song and along with Margaret Cousins (an expert in
European music and wife of Irish poet James Cousins), set down the notation at Madanapalle in
Andhra Pradesh, which is followed only when the song is sung in the original slow rendition style
of singing. However, when the National Anthem version of the song is sung, it is often performed
in the orchestral/choral adaptation made by the English composer Herbert Murrillat the behest
of Nehru.
An earlier poem by Tagore (Amar Sonar Bangla) was later selected as the national anthem of
Bangladesh.
14. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The poem was composed in December 1911, coinciding with the visit of King George V at the
time of the Coronation Durbar of George V and "Bharat Bhagya vidhata" and "Adhinayaka" was
believed to be in praise of King George V as per the British newspapers. The composition was
first sung during a convention of the then loyalist Indian National Congress in Calcutta on 26 Dec
1911.[It was sung on the second day of the convention, and the agenda of that day devoted itself
to a loyal welcome of George V on his visit to India.
15. LITERAL INTERPRETATION
The proponents of the controversy stress the usage of the following words and phrases to
claim that Jana Gana Mana was written for the King and the Queen of England-
Stanza 1: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings
and they sing your glories.
Stanza 2: Around your 'throne' people of all religions come and give their love and
anxiously wait to hear your kind words.
Stanza 3: Praise to the 'King' for being 'the charioteer'.
Stanza 4: Drowned in deep ignorance, and suffering, poverty-striken, this unconscious
country waits for the wink of our eye and your mother's (Earth's) true protection.
Stanza 5: In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat (India) will wake up. We bow
down to your feet O Queen(Earth), and victory come to Rajeshwara (the lord of the lords).
