Indian Pilgrimage - Rabindranath Tagore; 'Bharath-Tirtha’ Translation & Recitation - Bitsip Sipbit

Описание: Tagore - was a Titan - not only amongst the Bengali Poets, but amongst the poets of the whole world.

This poem 'Bharot Tirtho' was wrtitten in 1910 when he was 49, when had attained an unimaginable mastery of language and poetic devices.
At that time, he himself had recited and recorded it in wax cylinder, since vynil gramophone records were yet to be invented.
16 years later, in 1926, he composed music for the poem and converted, it into a great inspirational song. He did not translate it into English.

In this poem, he imagines India as an ocean of 'maha-manab', not an individual but a collective entity of the great and glorious throughout the history.

Unity and universality, love and assimilation, are the underlying concepts and themes of this great poem. He is also aware of the obnoxious caste-system which he mentions in the last stanza, and hopes it will end.

A number translations of the poem exist - some brilliant - some nondescript.

I have added here, my humble effort to translate this poem into English free-verse version taking liberty not to reproduce word-by-word, line-by-line, what the poet said.

My recitation in Bengali of the original poem can be found here:
   • ভারত তীর্থ - রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর - বাংলা আবৃ...  

Notes:
Rudra veena (Rudro-bina in Bengali) /Veena of the Lord Rudra
Rudra veena is a plucked string instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music like dhrupad. According to Indian Mythology the instrument was invented by Rudra the severe form the god Shiva.

God-within man
Tagore was hugely influenced the singing 'Baul' mystics of Bengal who believe that the supreme being cannot be found by visiting temples, churches, mosques or synagogues, but must be discovered within us, because He resides within each of us.


Resources and Materials for Video:
I have used only free and open source software on a linux desktop to make this short video.
Some audio-visual materials used in making the video are from:


Digital Images:
clker.com; openclipart.org

Background Music:
audionautix.com