Podcast
Questions and Answers
What does the word 'Gitanjali' mean?
What does the word 'Gitanjali' mean?
In which book did Tagore fuse two separate poems into one translation?
In which book did Tagore fuse two separate poems into one translation?
Which event prompted Tagore's translations to be widely recognized in the West?
Which event prompted Tagore's translations to be widely recognized in the West?
What is the underlying meaning of the title 'Savitri Episode 1'?
What is the underlying meaning of the title 'Savitri Episode 1'?
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Which language did Tagore's original work 'Gitanjali' come from?
Which language did Tagore's original work 'Gitanjali' come from?
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What is the main theme of the Panday brothers' story in the excerpt?
What is the main theme of the Panday brothers' story in the excerpt?
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When did Sanskrit literature start according to the text?
When did Sanskrit literature start according to the text?
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What distinguishes Classical Sanskrit from Epic Sanskrit based on the text?
What distinguishes Classical Sanskrit from Epic Sanskrit based on the text?
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In which century did literature in Kannada appear according to the text?
In which century did literature in Kannada appear according to the text?
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Who was the first Indian Nobel laureate in literature as per the text?
Who was the first Indian Nobel laureate in literature as per the text?
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Which two literary awards are mentioned in contemporary Indian literature according to the text?
Which two literary awards are mentioned in contemporary Indian literature according to the text?
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What characterized the literature in Telugu according to the text?
What characterized the literature in Telugu according to the text?
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What is the most famous commentary that arose from the Vedic Holy texts?
What is the most famous commentary that arose from the Vedic Holy texts?
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Which epic poem is known as the longest poem in the world?
Which epic poem is known as the longest poem in the world?
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Who is the primary deity focused on in the epic poem Ramayana?
Who is the primary deity focused on in the epic poem Ramayana?
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When was the original Bengali collection of poems published for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore?
When was the original Bengali collection of poems published for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore?
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Which Indian poet wrote the collection of poems known as Gitanjali?
Which Indian poet wrote the collection of poems known as Gitanjali?
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What is the primary theme of Mahabharata, focusing on the battle between Kauravas and Pandavas?
What is the primary theme of Mahabharata, focusing on the battle between Kauravas and Pandavas?
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Study Notes
Hindu Literature
- Originated from oral traditions that produced the Vedic Holy texts around 1500 B.C.
- Vedic Holy texts led to the creation of many commentaries, including the famous Upanishads.
Mahabharata
- Written around 500 B.C.
- Longest poem in the world, divided into eighteen books.
- Nucleus of the poem concerns the battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, representing the principle of good.
- Remainder of the poem contains glosses, descriptions, legends, and treatises on religion, law, philosophy, and military matters.
Ramayana
- Written around 500 B.C. to 200 A.C.
- Poem of about 96,000 lines, divided into seven books.
- Concerns Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu) and his wife, and Rama's eventful destruction of Ravana.
- More compact and readable than Mahabharata.
Gitanjali
- Collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore.
- Original Bengali collection of 157 poems published on August 14, 1910.
- English Gitanjali or Song Offerings is a collection of 103 English poems translated by Tagore himself.
- Translations were often radical, leaving out or altering large chunks of the poem.
- Translations were undertaken prior to a visit to England in 1912, where the poems were extremely well received.
- Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, largely for the English Gitanjali.
Indian Literature History
- Refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter.
- Earliest works of Indian literature were orally transmitted.
- Sanskrit literature begins with the Rig Veda, a collection of sacred hymns dating to the period 1500-1200 BCE.
- Classical Sanskrit literature flourished in the first few centuries of the first millennium.
- Medieval period saw the emergence of literature in Kannada and Telugu in the 5th and 11th centuries respectively.
- Later, literature in Marathi, Bengali, various dialects of Hindi, Persian, and Urdu began to appear.
- Rabindranath Tagore became India's first Nobel laureate in the 20th century.
- Contemporary Indian literature has two major literary awards: the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith Award.
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Description
Explore the translations of 53 poems from Rabindranath Tagore's original Bengali Gitanjali, along with 50 other poems from his works such as Achalayatan, Gitimalya, Naivedya, and Kheya. Discover the radical nature of the translations which often omitted or altered significant portions of the poems.
