Gitanjali (Song Offerings)

...pointed out to me a little dark-skinned man who was arranging their Chinese prints and said, “That is the hereditary connoisseur An expert judge in matters of taste and the fine arts. of the Mikado original: "Mikado." A title for the Emperor of Japan.; he is the fourteenth member of his family to hold the post.” He answered, “When Rabindranath original: "Rabindra Nath." Referring to Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). was a boy, he had literature and music all around him in his home.” I thought of the abundance and the simplicity of the poems, and said, “In your country is there much propagandist writing Writing intended to promote a particular cause or political view., or much criticism? We have to do so much of it, especially in my own country, that our minds gradually cease to be creative, and yet we cannot help it. If our life was not a continual warfare, we would not have taste, we would not know what is good, and we would not find listeners or readers. Eighty percent original: "Four-fifths." of our energy is spent in the quarrel with bad taste, whether in our own minds or in the minds of others.” “I understand,” he replied, “we too have our propagandist writing. In the villages, they recite long mythological poems adapted from the Sanskrit original: "Sanscrit." The ancient classical language of India. in the Middle Ages, and they often insert passages telling the people that they must do their duties.”

II

I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days, reading it in railway trains, or on the top of omnibuses Large, horse-drawn or motorized public vehicles; the predecessor to the modern bus. and in restaurants, and I have often had to close it lest some stranger would see how much it moved me. These lyrics—which are in the original language, my Indian friends tell me—