Abhisar by rabindranath tagore biography
Home / General Biography Information / Abhisar by rabindranath tagore biography
He wrote poetry, songs (now known as Rabindra Sangeet), novels, short stories, non-fiction pieces, drama, and even dance dramas. Whose foot adorned with anklets Suddenly rang on his chest? The young woman shivered with alarm. It was an evening in Chaitra.
What woman lay at his feet in the shadow of the mango grove? And put her stiff head on his lap — He poured water into her chapped lips, He chanted a mantra on her head, Covered her body with a soothing Cool sandal paste.
Dressed in a deep blue saree, Her ornaments tinkled — As her foot fell on the monk, Basabdatta halted. As a terrifying destructive wind howled, A lightning ripped a cruel smile Across the sky.
The below excerpts are indicatory and do represent direct quotations or translations. He belonged to the illustrious family of Tagores who were at the apex of the Bengal Renaissance.
He remains a much-celebrated literary icon, in India and abroad. * The year was not out.
‘The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am
Here, Vasavdatta,’ replied the young ascetic.
Abhisara; The Tryst | Lines 8-12
He woke up started, and the light from a woman’s
lamp fell on his forgiving eyes.
The full moon smiled at the town Emptied of people and protectors. The stars of the night Had disappeared behind clouds. The city was empty as everyone had left for The festival of flowers in the honeyed woods. Upagupta, however, asks her to go home and tells her that he will meet her only when the time comes.
Tagore then takes the reader to a blossoming spring scene a little shy of a year later. It is April, and trees are blossoming in nature.
Struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores of smallpox,
She had been hurriedly driven away from the town
To avoid her poisonous contagion.
Upagupta is walking on the empty path and passes the city gates. The palace doors were shut.
It is here the reader encounters Vasavadatta again, but Tagore contrasts it with the imagery of spring in the previous lines; she is no longer the famed beauty, but a social pariah who is afflicted with smallpox, which has reduced her radiant skin to “black pestilence”.
Abhisara; The Tryst | Lines 32-36
The ascetic sat by her side, took her head on his knees,
And moistened her lips with water, and smeared her body with balm.