Chitto jetha bhayshunyo
Encyclopedia
Chitto jetha bhayashunyo (Where the mind is without fear) is among one of the most quoted poems in India
and Bangladesh
.
Written by Rabindranath Tagore
before India's independence, it represents Tagore's dream of how the new, awakened India should be. The original Bengali poem was translated by the poet himself and was included in the Nobel prize
winning Gitanjali
in 1912.
This poem was composed most likely in 1900; it appeared in the volume Naivedya(July 1901). The English translation was composed around 1911, when Tagore was translating some of his work into English after a request from William Rothenstein
. It appeared as poem 35 in the English Gitanjali
, published by the India Society, London, in 1912.
In 1917, Tagore read out the English version, (then titled Indian Prayer) at the Indian National Congress
session in Calcutta, 1917
As in most of Tagore's translations for the English Gitanjali
,
almost every line of the English rendering has been considerably simplified. Line 6 in the English omits a reference to manliness (পৌরুষ, pouruSh), and the stern ending of the original, where the father is being enjoined to "strike {the sleeping} nation without mercy," has been softened.
This poem has inspired Indians with its image of a free-thinking, undivided, dynamic nation, and often appears in textbooks. The poem is also popular among liberals in Bangladesh.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
.
Written by Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
before India's independence, it represents Tagore's dream of how the new, awakened India should be. The original Bengali poem was translated by the poet himself and was included in the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning Gitanjali
Gitanjali
Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.This volume became very famous in the West, and was widely translated....
in 1912.
English text
- Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
- Where knowledge is free;
- Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
- Where words come out from the depth of truth;
- Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
- Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
- Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action --
- Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
bAnglA text
- চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, উচ্চ যেথা শির,
- জ্ঞান যেথা মুক্ত, যেথা গৃহের প্রাচীর
- আপন প্রাঙ্গণতলে দিবসশর্বরী
- বসুধারে রাখে নাই খণ্ড ক্ষুদ্র করি,
- যেথা বাক্য হৃদয়ের উত্সমুখ হতে
- উচ্ছ্বসিয়া উঠে, যেথা নির্বারিত স্রোতে
- দেশে দেশে দিশে দিশে কর্মধারা ধায়
- অজস্র সহস্রবিধ চরিতার্থতায়,
- যেথা তুচ্ছ আচারের মরুবালুরাশি
- বিচারের স্রোতঃপথ ফেলে নাই গ্রাসি---
- পৌরুষেরে করে নি শতধা, নিত্য যেথা
- তুমি সর্ব কর্ম চিন্তা আনন্দের নেতা,
- নিজ হস্তে নির্দয় আঘাত করি, পিতঃ,
- ভারতেরে সেই স্বর্গে করো জাগরিত॥
This poem was composed most likely in 1900; it appeared in the volume Naivedya(July 1901). The English translation was composed around 1911, when Tagore was translating some of his work into English after a request from William Rothenstein
William Rothenstein
Sir William Rothenstein was an English painter, draughtsman and writer on art.-Life and work:William Rothenstein was born into a German-Jewish family in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His father, Moritz, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to work in Bradford's burgeoning textile industry...
. It appeared as poem 35 in the English Gitanjali
Gitanjali
Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.This volume became very famous in the West, and was widely translated....
, published by the India Society, London, in 1912.
In 1917, Tagore read out the English version, (then titled Indian Prayer) at the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
session in Calcutta, 1917
As in most of Tagore's translations for the English Gitanjali
Gitanjali
Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.This volume became very famous in the West, and was widely translated....
,
almost every line of the English rendering has been considerably simplified. Line 6 in the English omits a reference to manliness (পৌরুষ, pouruSh), and the stern ending of the original, where the father is being enjoined to "strike {the sleeping} nation without mercy," has been softened.
This poem has inspired Indians with its image of a free-thinking, undivided, dynamic nation, and often appears in textbooks. The poem is also popular among liberals in Bangladesh.
See also
- Freedom of thoughtFreedom of thoughtFreedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
- Independence Day (India)Independence Day (India)The Independence Day of India is celebrated on the fifteenth of August to commemorate its independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation in 1947. The day is a national holiday in India. All over the country, flag-hoisting ceremonies are conducted by the local administration in...
- National revivalRomantic nationalismRomantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...