I Won't Let You Go: Selected Poems

by Rabindranath Tagore

  Ashadh: the third month of the Bengali calendar and the first month of the rainy season, mid-June to mid-July.

  ashok: an evergreen tree with a dense crown of dark green leaves and clusters of lightly scented flowers which are at first orange and then turn scarlet. The young leaves of the ashok tree have a pretty reddish tinge and its flowers are one of the major beauties of springtime. Its current botanical name has been given to me as Saraca asoka, (Roxb.) de Wilde, Caesalpiniaceae, but the curious are likely to find it often referred to as Saraca indica, L., of the same family, subsumed in the larger order of Leguminosae. Its earliest Latin name was Jone-sia asoka, Roxb., after Sir William Jones.

  ash-sheora: a shrub the twigs of which are used to brush the teeth, the Glycosmis pentaphylla, (Retz.) DC., Rutaceae, which would seem to be the same as Glycosmis pentaphylla, Corr., and Glycosmis Retzii of the same family.

  Ashwin: the sixth month of the Bengali calendar and the second month of the post-rains, mid-September to mid-October.

  Badrinath: a town in Uttar Pradesh, high up in the Himalayas, close to peaks of the same name, and a famous centre of pilgrimage.

  Baishakh: the first month of the Bengali calendar and the first month of summer, mid-April to mid-May.

  banana: the fruit of the banana tree is familiar to everybody in Britain, but those who have not travelled to the tropics will not know what the tree looks like. Strictly speaking, the Musa sapientum, L., Musaceae, is not a tree but a herbaceous plant with a trunk that is a cylinder of encircling leaf stalks pressed close together (Thomas H. Everett, Living Trees of the World (Thames and Hudson, London, 1969), p. 87). Sanskrit poets often likened a woman’s shapely thigh to the trunk of a banana tree. From the top of this distinctive trunk emerge large flapping rectangular leaves of a soft yellowish green colour. The predominant impression the banana tree makes is of leafiness and greenness. ‘Young-banana-leaf-green’ is an expressive Bengali way of naming a certain shade of green. The large leaves are used as disposable plates. At night moonlight on the flapping leaves can make the tree look like a veiled woman beckoning, and this resemblance is a fruitful source of ghost stories.

  Bankipore: an important town in Bihar, close to Patna.

  banyan: Bengali bot, the Ficus benghalensis, L., Moraceae, the spreading branches of which send down shoots which take root and become additional trunks. Spreading itself in this manner, one tree can eventually cover a very large area. The shady banyan tree plays an important part in Indian village life. The curious are likely to find the name of this tree more often than not entered under the broad family name of Urticaceae. The word banyan came to English from Gujarati, via Portuguese, and is ultimately of Sanskrit origin; the name was first given by Europeans to a particular tree of this species growing near Gombroon (modern Bandar Abbas) on the Persian Gulf, under which banyans or Hindu (presumably Gujarati) traders had settled and built a small temple.

  Baruna: a river bordering Benares that joins the Ganges. The name of the city, properly Varanasi, derives from the two rivers, Varuna (or Varana) and Asi, which enclose the principal part of the city and fall into the Ganges.

  Baruni: a river of this name exists in eastern Bengal (Bangladesh) at latitude 24.35N, longitude 90.58E, and I have traced it in a 1927 Government of India Survey map. Did Tagore choose this name in the poem ‘Impossible’ to evoke the magic of his youthful days in the riverine landscape of eastern Bengal, when he lived in houseboats and went up and down the rivers? The name has a strong association with water itself, meaning the daughter of Barun (Skr. Varuna), who in later mythology is the god of the oceans, a kind of Indian Neptune. Baruni or Varuni rose from the waters at the time of the churning of the oceans and is the presiding deity of wine. There is also an association, through the sound of the name, with the mythological river Baitarani (Skr. Vaitarani) which encircles the underworld, an Indian Styx.

  Baul: See the note on poem no. 13 of Shesh Saptak in the Notes section.

  bel: a small climbing shrub of the jasmine family, usually clipped down to a low height in gardens, with fragrant white flowers, the Jasminum sambac, (L.) W. Ait., Oleaceae.

  Benares: the celebrated sacred city of the Hindus on the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh. See the note on Baruna above.

  betel leaves: leaves of the Piper betle, L., Piperaceae, sweetish and pungent at the same time, which are rolled, for chewing, into little triangular packets with areca nuts and other ingredients inside them. The word betel is ultimately of Sanskrit origin and has journeyed to English via Malayalam and Portuguese; the Bengali word commonly used is paan.

  Bethune School: initially known as the Victoria Girls’ School, was founded in Calcutta in 1849 by the British administrator J.E.D. Bethune. Targeted at the daughters of the Hindu upper classes, it was the first public institution for the education of girls which was not under the control of Christian missionaries. After Bethune’s death in 1851, it was maintained for five years by Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of British India, from his private purse, after which it was taken over by the government. It had to struggle to establish itself; Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, the noted activist for female emancipation, was involved in its management for many years. By the closing decades of the 19th century Bethune School and its collegiate extension, Bethune College, had become trail-blazers in female education in Calcutta.

  Bhadra: the fifth month of the Bengali calendar and the first month of the post-monsoon season, mid-August to mid-September.

  bigha: a unit of land measurement, approximately a third of an acre.

  black drongo: the phinga or phinge, a common bird of the Bengali countryside, belonging to the Dicruridae family, brisk and busy, with a long forked tail which it dangles as it perches on a tree or a telegraph wire. It sometimes sits on the hump of a grazing cow or buffalo, from where it swoops on insects dislodged from the grass by the movements of the feeding animal. Black drongos are valued in farms because of their depredations on insects.

  boinchi: a low compact spiny shrub that bears berries. When ripe, the berries are dark purple – nearly black – in colour and sweet in taste. The Latin name given to me is Flacourtia indica, (Burm. f.) Merr., Flacourtiaceae. I have also seen it called Flacourtia sepiaria, Roxb., Bixineae, with variants Flacourtia ramontchi and Flacourtia cataphracta.

  bokul: an evergreen tree with a dense crown and small, fragrant, star-shaped flowers, Mimusops elengi, L., Sapotaceae.

  cajan: Bengali arhar, a variety of pulse that is made into dal, Cajanus cajan, (L.) Millsp., Fabaceae, identical with Cajanus indicus, Spreng., Leguminosae.

  camellia: a shrub belonging to the tea family, Camellia japonica, L., Theaceae, bearing showy flowers.

  casuarina: Bengali jhau, the tall straight-stemmed Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst., Casuarinaceae, with jointed near-leafless branches that look like huge horsetails and rustle in the wind. ‘Its so-called leaves are really jointed branches bearing a whorl of minute scale-leaves’ (Satyendra Kumar Basu & Rammohan Dutta, Trees of Santiniketan (Visvabharati, 1957), p. 50).

  Chaitra: the twelfth month of the Bengali calendar and the second spring month, mid-March to mid-April.

  chakravaka: literally, the bird ‘with the speech of wheels’, so called because of its screeching cry, known in colloquial Bengali in the shortened form of chakha (male) and chakhi (female), which are the actual words used in the original of Song no. 6 translated in this volume (beginning ‘Sunshine and shadows play hide-and-seek today’). This bird has a strong symbolic meaning in Indian bird-lore. The male and the female of the species are supposed to spend the night apart, calling to each other from opposite banks of a river, thus representing the faithful couple doomed to stay apart. Known as the Brahminy Duck in old Anglo-Indian terminology, the bird is identified in Hobson-Jobson as the Casarca rutila or ‘Ruddy Shieldrake’: ‘constantly seen on the sandy shores of the Gangetic rivers in single pairs, the pair almost always at some distance apart’ (Col. Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, Routledge & Ke
gan Paul, 1969, p. 112).

  chalta: the Dillenia indica, L., Dilleniaceae, an evergreen tree bearing large white scented flowers and globose fruits which consist mainly of the enlarged sepals which are hard outside and fleshy inside. The fruit is made into sweet and sour dishes.

  chameli: a flowering creeper of the jasmine family. The Latin name given to me is Jasminum grandiflorum, L., Oleaceae.

  champa/champak: an evergreen tree bearing very fragrant yellow-orange flowers with longish petals, Michelia champaca, L., Magnoliaceae.

  Chandi: one of the many names of the Mother Goddess. She is the same as Durga or Kali.

  Chariot Festival: the annual festival, held in the monsoon month of Ashadh, in which the god Jagannath (‘Lord of the World’, an aspect of Vishnu) is carried in procession on a grand chariot pulled by devotees. The festival is accompanied by a country fair in which children are well catered for and where there are toy chariots on sale. It is from this festival, especially the one held in Puri, Orissa, where the principal temple of Jagannath is situated, that the English word juggernaut is ultimately derived.

  Chitrarath: Tagore seems to have made a mistake in his reference to Chitrarath in ‘Tamarind Flower’. A Gandharva of this name (Sanskrit Chitraratha) does exist in the Mahabharata, but far from being a vanquisher of Arjuna, he was in fact vanquished by him. His chariot too was burnt by Arjuna. Because of the prayer of his distressed wife Kumbhinasi and at the intercession of Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers, Chitraratha was afterwards released by Arjuna, became a friend of his, and there was an exchange of gifts between them. It seems that Tagore has mixed up two Gandharvas, because there is another Gandharva in the Mahabharata named Chitrasena, a courtier of Indra and a teacher of music and dance in Indra’s heaven, who fits the reference partially, but again, not totally, because Chitrasena was never a vanquisher of Arjuna either. Chitrasena was a friend of Arjuna during the latter’s sojourn in Indra’s heaven and taught him dance and music. He actually vanquished Duryodhana, the head of the Kaurava brothers, but released him at Yudhisthira’s request after being nearly overcome in battle by Arjuna.

  coconut: remember that the tree that bears coconuts, the cocos nucifera, L., Arecaceae, is a tall and elegant palm, often with a leaning trunk, crowned by long dark-green pinnate leaves that seem to comb the air as it blows through them. A group of rustling coconut trees contributes greatly to the beauty of the landscape in which it occurs. In commercial terms the tree is the world’s most valuable palm and produces numerous products from ropes to oil. Every part of the tree is used. It is certainly very important in India’s economy.

  Darjeeling: a hill resort and important town, 7000 ft. above sea-level, in the north of West Bengal. The British regarded it as ‘the most important sanatorium of Bengal’ (Handbook for Travellers in India, Burma and Ceylon ( John Murray, London, 13th edition, 1929), p. 486). Both Everest and Kanchenjunga are visible from here. Teas grown in the tea gardens of the Darjeeling district are regarded by connoisseurs as ‘the champagne’ of Indian teas.

  date tree: is likely to be the wild variety, Phoenix sylvestris, Roxb., Arecaceae, a native of India, valued specially as a source of molasses and toddy, rather than the Phoenix dactylifera, valued for its fruit. Remember that in either case it is a palm tree with its characteristic shape.

  Dehra Dun: an important hill town in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In the British days Dehra Dun enjoyed a great reputation as a hill resort and had a large resident population of retired people, both British and Indian (Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in India, Burma and Ceylon, cited above, p. 422).

  deodar: literally, ‘the timber of the gods’, a tall long-lived native of the western Himalayan region, the Cedrus deodara, (Roxb.) Loud., Pinaceae, not to be confused with the Polyalthia longifolia, Benth. & Hook. f., Anonaceae, which is a native of Ceylon and Tanjore, which has been given the name ‘deodar’, and which is often planted as an ornamental tree in avenues. There are deodars of this latter variety in the Santiniketan campus, but in poem no. 36 of Balaka Tagore is referring to the Himalayan deodar of Kashmir.

  dolonchampa: the Hedychium coronarium, Koen., Zingiberaceae, a plant growing from ginger-like rhizomes; the stalks bear crowns of flowers with an exquisite fragrance, usually white with a yellowish tinge at the centre, though other colours are also known. This is the flower currently called the dolonchampa in Santiniketan; it is, however, possible that Tagore was thinking of a different flower, perhaps a variety of the champa/champak.

  Durvasa: a sage famous in legend for his bad temper and readiness to pronounce curses. He curses Shakuntala, the heroine of Kalidasa’s celebrated play Abhijnanashakuntala.

  ektara: a one-stringed instrument used by Bauls and other folk musicians.

  fan palm: the tall palmyra or Borassus flabellifer, L., Arecaceae (Palmae), valued for its fruit, leaves, timber, and sap. The large fan-shaped leaves have many uses, including in the manufacture of hand-fans, sun-hats etc. This is the tree (Beng. tal) from the name of which the word toddy is ultimately derived, it being one of the trees the fermented sap of which is turned into an intoxicating drink (tadi).

  frangipani: Bengali golokchampa, the Plumeria acutifolia, Poir., Apocynaceae, a deciduous tree with thick branches full of milk, bearing fragrant funnel-shaped flowers, white with yellow centres, in compound cymes. There is also a variety bearing pure white flowers, Plumeria tuberculata, and a variety bearing red flowers, Plumeria rubra, in the same family. These trees came to India from the New World.

  Gandharva: an order of demi-gods who are the celestial musicians of Indra’s heaven. For the reference in ‘Tamarind Flower’, see the entry on Chitrarath above.

  Ganga: the Indian name for the Ganges. (Ganges is the Greek version of the name.)

  ghat: steps which give access to a river or water-tank, where people congregate for washing or fetching water, or where boats can be moored.

  guava: the tasty fruits of the Psidium guajava, L., Myrtaceae, Bengali peyara, are still very rare on supermarket shelves in Britain, but guava jelly can sometimes be seen. The tree was introduced to India from tropical America.

  heloncho: a variety of edible bitter greens that grow near water, Enhydra fluctuans, Lour., Asteraceae, used as a vegetable. The family name may be subsumed in the larger order Compositae.

  henna: Bengali hena or mehedi, the Lawsonia inermis, L., Lythraceae, the same as Lawsonia alba, Lam., Lythraceae, a pretty shrub with fragrant greenish white flowers, often used for hedges. Its shoots and leaves have long been used in oriental cosmetic preparations to dye the skin and hair. Nowadays one can see the name of this plant on labels of shampoo bottles in the West as well. Both Eng. henna and Beng. hena are ultimately derived from Arabic.

  hibiscus: the red-flowering variety of the Bengali joba, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, L., Malvaceae, is the commonest, the white-flowering variety being rarer. Many varieties and hybrids are cultivated. I have read a description of the white hibiscus of Hawaii, a slightly different species, but I do not know if it is cultivated in India and doubt if Tagore was referring to its flower in ‘Camellia’. A reference to a white variety of the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, very common in India, is much more likely.

  Howrah Station: the railway station at Howrah, a town facing Calcutta on the west bank of the Hooghly, used for westward journeys from Calcutta, including to Bombay, Delhi, and Madras.

  Indra: the mythological king of the gods.

  jaam: a large evergreen tree with a dense crown and shiny leaves, yielding juicy fruits which are dark purple, nearly black in colour. The fruits look like black grapes or olives, have stones in the centre as olives do, and have a strong, sweet-astringent taste. Its current botanical name, I am told, is Syzygium cumini, (L.) Skeels, Myrtaceae; in most old authors it is called Eugenia jambolana, Lamk., Myrtaceae.

  jack: the Artocarpus heterophyllus, Lamk., Moraceae, the same as Artocarpus integrifolia, L., Urticaceae, a large evergreen tree bearing huge edible fruits which have a
potent smell when ripe and which are also cooked as vegetables when green. The jack fruit is described thus in Basu & Dutta, p. 49: ‘a globose or cylindrical aggregate formed by a large number of flowers growing together, mostly sterile but many with seeds; 12-30 by 6-12 in. hanging on short stalks from the trunk and larger branches, the rind with conical protuberances, each representing a single flower’. It is apparently the largest known fruit in the world: specimens weighing 90 pounds have been recorded (Everett, p. 133). When a large fruit is opened, several people can make a meal of it. The timber is used for furniture. The word jack is ultimately from Sanskrit, via Malayalam and Portuguese. The Bengali word commonly used is kantal or kanthal, also of Sanskrit origin.

  Jamuna: or Yamuna, or the Jumna of the old maps, one of the important rivers of northern India, which rises from the Himalayas, flows past Delhi and Agra, and meets the Ganga at Allahabad, an important place of pilgrimage. The Jamuna also flows past Vrindavan and Mathura, two places strongly associated with Krishna.

  jarul: the Lagerstroemia speciosa, (L.) Pers., Lythraceae, identical with Lagerstroemia flos-reginae, Retz., Lythraceae, a deciduous tree with ‘Large handsome mauve flowers in terminal erect panicles’ (Basu & Dutta, p. 28). The timber is highly prized.

  jasmine: I have always translated the Bengali juthi or jui, the Jasminum auriculatum, Vahl., Oleaceae, as the jasmine, as it comes closest to the jasmine of English gardens. To avoid confusion, other members of the jasmine family retain their Bengali names in the texts.

  jujube: Bengali kul, the spiny tree Zizyphus mauritiana, Lam., Rhamnaceae, in older sources called Zizyphus jujuba, Lam., Rhamnaceae, bearing tasty drupes which are eaten raw when ripe and also made into pickles and chutneys. The taste of the ripe fruit resembles that of ripe gooseberries.

  jungle crow: larger than the common house crow, uniformly glossy jet-black in colour, with a heavier bill and a deeper, hoarser cawing. It normally lives in the countryside, avoiding urban areas, but sometimes hangs around the outskirts of human habitations in search of food.