Tagore saw Nature as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, and his poems on ‘death’ have sorrow, pain and the agony of parting along with the strength to come out of it, where his personal sorrow becomes universal grief. His identification of a feeling with its image enabled Tagore to express his most intense yearning as he did in the song Ei Korecho Bhalo Nithuro He. Using an image of incense and lamp, the poet exemplifies how through the fire of pain he may expect to realize the deeper purpose of his life, but in the intensity of agonized expectation, he also becomes one with the incense and the lamp.
Lyrics:
এই করেছ ভালো, নিঠুর,
এই করেছ ভালো।
এমনি করে হৃদয়ে মোর
তীব্র দহন জ্বালো।
আমার এ ধূপ না পোড়ালে
গন্ধ কিছুই নাহি ঢালে,
আমার এ দীপ না জ্বালালে
দেয় না কিছুই আলো।
যখন থাকে অচেতনে
এ চিত্ত আমার
আঘাত সে যে পরশ তব
সেই তো পুরস্কার।
অন্ধকারে মোহে লাজে
চোখে তোমায় দেখি না যে,
বজ্রে তোলো আগুন করে
আমার যত কালো।
English translation (Translated by- Rabindranath Tagore):
Thou hast done well, heartless one, thou hast done well
To send me thy fin of pain
For my incense never yields its perfume till it burns,
and my lamp is blind till it is lighted.
When my mind is numb its torpor must be stricken by thy love’s lightning;
and the very darkness that blots my world
burns like a torch when set afire by thy thunder.
Some useful information:
Written on: May 24, 1918, at Santiniketan
Age of the poet: 49
Published in: Gitanjali (1910)
Parjaay (Category): Puja (Worship)
Upa-parjaay (Sub-category): Dukhha (Sorrow)
Taal: Ektaal
Raga: Yaman (Iman) Kalyan
Notation: Geetalipi; Music Gitanjali
Swarabitan: Vol. 38
Notation by: Surendranath Banerjee
Purpose of the presentation
Tagore’s music resonates with people from all walks of life. His songs are performed at cultural events, religious ceremonies and social gatherings, reflecting their enduring popularity. In an effort to bring home this treasure trove to the non-Bengali population and Bengalis around the globe, Brainware University offers a selection of Rabindra sangeet in this presentation. It is enriched with details on the songs and relevant anecdotes.
Sung By
Sri Phalguni Mookhopadhayay Chancellor, Brainware University Phalguni Mookhopadhayay is the founder-Chancellor of Brainware University, founder-Chairman and Managing-Director of Brainware Consultancy Private Limited and founder-Chairman of Webguru Infosystems Private Limited. He did his schooling at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur, and graduated with honours in Economics from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He completed his masters in Economics from Calcutta University and MBA from IISWBM, before joining Hindustan Lever as a management trainee. He worked as a market planner for the ABP group for nearly a decade before striking out on his own and successfully launching two private limited companies and one University. Phalguni Mookhopadhayay is a self-taught digital artist, a versatile photographer, a filmmaker and a weekend singer who has already recorded 78 songs and is now immersed in a project to popularise Tagore songs among a global audience.
