Prakashmishra1991 at 05:40, 15 March 2026

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{{Short description|Collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore}}
{{About|the collection of poems by [[Rabindranath Tagore]]||Geetanjali (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox book
| name = Gitanjali
| image =
| alt =
| caption = Title page
| author = {{ubl|[[Rabindranath Tagore]]}}
| title_orig = গীতাঞ্জলি
| translator =
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = [[British Raj|British India]]
| language = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| series =
| subject = Devotion to God
| genre = Poem
| publisher =
| pub_date = {{Date and age|df=yes|1910|08|04}}
| english_pub_date = {{Date and age|df=yes|1912}}
| media_type =
| pages = 104
| isbn =
| oclc =
| dewey =
| congress =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| wikisource =
}}

'''''Gitanjali''''' ({{langx|bn|গীতাঞ্জলি|lit='Song offering'}}) is a collection of [[poems]] by the [[Bengali poet]] [[Rabindranath Tagore]]. Tagore received the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 1913, for its English translation, ''[[Song Offerings]]'', making him the first non-European and the first [[Asian people|Asian]] and the only [[Indian people|Indian]] to receive this honour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gitanjali|title=Gītāñjali | poetry by Tagore|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>

It is part of the [[UNESCO Collection of Representative Works]]. Its central theme is devotion, and its motto is "I am here to sing thee songs" (No. XV).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Summary of Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore{{!}} Kaitholil.com |url=https://kaitholil.com/blog/summary-of-gitanjali-rabindranath-tagore |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=kaitholil.com |archive-date=2022-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210123140/https://kaitholil.com/blog/summary-of-gitanjali-rabindranath-tagore |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History==
The collection by Tagore, originally written in Bengali, comprises 157 poems, many of which have been turned into songs or [[Rabindra Sangeet]]. The original [[Bengali language|Bengali]] collection was published on 4 August 1910. The translated version, ''Gitanjali: Song Offerings'', was published in November 1912 by the [[India Society]] of London. It contained translations of 53 poems from the original ''Gitanjali'', as well as 50 other poems extracted from Tagore's ''Achalayatan'', ''Gitimalya'', ''[[Naibedya]]'', ''[[Kheya]]'', and more. Overall, ''Gitanjali: Song Offerings'' consists of 103 prose poems of Tagore's own English translations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhowmick |first=Abira |date=2023-08-27 |title=When Worlds Collide: Tagore, Yeats, and the Phenomenon of Gitanjali |url=https://www.brainwareuniversity.ac.in/celebrating-tagore/when-worlds-collide-tagore-yeats-and-the-phenomenon-of-gitanjali/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Celebrating Tagore - The Man, The Poet and The Musician |language=en-US}}</ref> The poems were based on medieval Indian lyrics of devotion with a common theme of love across most poems. Some poems also narrated a conflict between the [[Economic materialism|desire for materialistic possessions]] and spiritual longing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gitanjali|title=Gītāñjali | poetry by Tagore|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore |url=https://sacred-texts.com/hin/tagore/gitnjali.htm |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

==Reworking in other languages==
{{Main article|Song Offerings}}

The English version of ''Gitanjali'' or ''Song Offerings/Singing Angel'' is a collection of 103 English [[prose poem]]s,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gitanjali|title=Gītāñjali | poetry by Tagore|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> which are Tagore's own English translations of his Bengali poems, first published in November 1912 by the [[Royal India Society|India Society]] in London. It contained translations of 53 poems from the original Bengali ''Gitanjali'', as well as 50 other poems from his other works.<ref name="The Criterion">{{cite web|last=Ghosal|first=Sukriti|title=The Language of Gitanjali: the Paradoxical Matrix|url=http://www.the-criterion.com/V3/n2/Sukriti.pdf|work=The Criterion: An International Journal in English|access-date=14 August 2012}}</ref> The translations were often radical, leaving out or altering large chunks of the poem and in one instance fusing two separate poems (song 95, which unifies songs 89 and 90 of ''Naivedya'').<ref name="GB">{{cite book |via=Google Books |last=Sukriti|title=Gitanjali: Song Offerings |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-670-08542-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nEiLMy5hDsC&q=Gitanjali |access-date=8 April 2017}}</ref> The English ''Gitanjali'' became popular in the West, and was widely translated.<ref name="schoolofwisdom.com">{{cite web |author=Gitanjali: Selected Poems |url=http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/history/teachers/rabindranath-tagore/gitanjali/ |title=Gitanjali: Selected Poems |publisher=School of Wisdom |date=2010-07-30 |access-date=2012-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721220852/http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/history/teachers/rabindranath-tagore/gitanjali/ |archive-date=2012-07-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Stream of Life]], the ''Gitanjali'' poem #69, reworked by composer [[Garry Schyman]] as lyrics for the song "[[Stream of Life#In popular culture|Praan]]"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscatinline}}
*{{Wikisource-inline}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/rabindranath-tagore/gitanjali}}
{{Rabindranath Tagore |state=uncollapsed}}
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.brainwareuniversity.ac.in/celebrating-tagore/when-worlds-collide-tagore-yeats-and-the-phenomenon-of-gitanjali/ | title=When Worlds Collide: Tagore, Yeats, and the Phenomenon of Gitanjali | date=27 August 2023 }}</ref>
[[Category:Poetry collections by Rabindranath Tagore]]
[[Category:1910 poetry books]]
[[Category:Poems in Bengali]]
[[Category:Bengali poetry collections]]
[[Category:Bengali-language books]]

Gitanjali - Revision history

Prakashmishra1991 at 05:40, 15 March 2026