Two Tagore Songs

Tagore classified his songs into a few broad themes. Puja, Prem, Prakriti etc. Prem means love. Prakriti means nature. These are easily translated but translating the word puja is a bit tricky here. Because generally by puja we mean religious rituals, functions etc. Tagore's Puja songs are not at all religious in that sense. In fact being a Brahmo himself he was against the idea of organised religion with gods and goddesses.

I think the word "spiritual" best describes the word Puja in the context of Tagore songs (if you are a Bengali and have a better suggestion please feel free to let me know). 

Now many, if not most Puja and Prem songs are interchangeable depending on how you interpret them. Some obvious love songs, you might discover, are classified as spiritual and some apparently spiritual songs are classified by Tagore as love songs. We ordinary mortals do not understand how the mind of geniuses work. 

I will discuss here two such songs. One is classified as Puja song or spiritual while the other is classified as a Love song while it could easily be a spiritual song where "you" could well mean God. But one is free to interpret it to have some other meaning. These two are two of my most favourite songs. They are quite famous among Tagore lovers. And the two songs are more or less similar in their thoughts.

One I sang and recorded to be played at a memorial for my mother. I sang it as my address to my then just departed mother. It is supposed to be a love song, as classified by Tagore. A song of longing and waiting in vain. It has a lot of pathos in the way the words are arranged, not to speak of the tune in which it is set and the tempo at which it is supposed to be sung.

It is about the waiting and longing for someone who you think might come some day and you are staying awake for that moment. But you are getting tired and feeling sleepy while waiting. The melody of the song has a pathos in it. It could be interpreted as a wait for a lover, a departed soul or God himself. It is entirely upto you how you want to interpret it. Because the setting is a temple somewhere in a dark forested area.

I shall write the Bengali version of the song first and then attempt a translation to explain the meaning. I will also try and find a link to the song I recorded for my mother. 

দীপ নিবে গেছে মম 

ধীরে ধীরে 

এসে তুমি যেও না 

গো ফিরে 

এ পথে যখন যাবে আঁধারে 

চিনিতে পাবে 

রাজনীগন্ধার গন্ধ 

ভরেছে মন্দিরে 

ধীরে ধীরে 

এসে তুমি যেও না 

গো ফিরে 

আমারে পড়িবে মনে কখন 

সে লাগি প্রহরে প্রহরে 

আমি গান গেয়ে জাগি 

ভয় পাছে শেষ রাতে ঘুম আসে 

আঁখি পাতে 

ক্লান্ত কন্ঠে মোর সুর ফুরায় 

যদি রে 

ধীরে ধীরে 

এসে তুমি যেও না 

গো ফিরে 

Now the translation. I am not sure if there is an official translation of it. I will attempt one without the rhyme. It will be a literal translation just to explain the meaning to any one who doesn't know Bengali. 

Dip* nibe gechhe momo 

My prayer lamp has flickered off

In the gentle breeze of the night

Please don't go back if you do come afterall

In your soft steps

You can find the way here in the darkness

From the tuberoses

That fill the temple with their fragrance 

Please don't go back if you do come afterall

In your soft steps

I don't know when you might remember me at last

That's why I stay awake throughout the night

Singing songs every hour

I fear my tired eye lids might close 

Towards the end of the night

When my music dies out in my tired throat

Please don't go back if you do come afterall

In your soft steps

Those who are not poetically inclined and have still read this far - Tagore is pleading for the lover not to go back even if she (since Tagore is a man I am assuming it's a she. In Bengali gender cannot be understood unless stated categorically) remembers about him and comes some time late. There are two reasons why she might go back, he fears. First the darkness because the lamp has blown out. Second she might find him asleep from the tiredness that comes from waiting in vain. But he is trying his best to stay awake. 

He possibly wants to be woken up. He doesn't say it. Certain words are best kept unstated, particularly in love.

Being an extremely emotional man every time I sing this song I break down crying. The emotion is too much for me to handle. 

* Dip in Bengali means the small butter lamp that is used in temples. The translation "lamp" doesn't quite convey the meaning of the soft gentle light that it produces in a dark temple in the jungle. 

The next one is a similar song of waiting but it's a Puja song. It's very famous and usually it is sung in spring time, particularly in the evening. 

Aaj jyotsna raate sabai gechhe bone 

আজ জ্যোৎস্না রাতে সবাই গেছে বনে 

বসন্তের এই মাতাল সমীরণে 

যাবো না গো যাবো না যে রইনু পড়ে ঘরের মাঝে 

এই নিরালায় রব আপন কোনে 

যাবো না এই মাতাল সমীরণে 

আমার এ ঘর বহু যতন করে 

ধুতে হবে মুছতে হবে মোরে 

আমারে যে জাগতে হবে কি জানি সে আসবে কবে 

যদি আমায় পড়ে তাহার মনে 

বসন্তের এই মাতাল সমীরণে 

Again I am not sure if there is an official translated version of this song. Here is my attempt at a literal translation to explain the meaning. 

This moonlit night everyone has gone to the forest

In this intoxicating springtime breeze

I won't go, I will stay alone in the solitude of my home

I won't go in this intoxicating springtime breeze

I have to keep this house clean, sweep the floors with care

I have to stay awake, you never know when He* might come

In case he remembers me in this intoxicating springtime breeze

In the last but one line I have used the pronoun He because it is classified as a Puja song. By He Tagore definitely means God. But we in Bengali do not use gender based pronouns. A person is "shay". It could be a he or she. We understand from the context. So we can freely interpret to mean as any person. 

I have no idea why Tagore made such an obvious love song turn into a spiritual song. A song of longing and waiting in the intoxicating breeze of springime that too on a moonlit night. The gentle breeze during a moonlit spring evening is extremely romantic in Bengal. Who wants to wait for God? You can only wait for your lover. Also the song is set to a faster tempo and cannot be sung with any pathos really. 

But as I said the mind of a genius is very difficult to understand for us ordinary mortals. 

As I discovered, I do not have these songs readily available to share. I shall record them some other time and then share. It will take time. Keep coming back to check.