CWTVKS Volume 8

NOTE

BHARATI-STAVA is an outstanding poem of Sri T.V. Kapali Sastry. Sung on the eve of the Independence of India -15th of August 1947—this Song of the Soul of India in a century of verses, rolls into seven distinct spheres on seven metrical modes. The poet greets the New Age that is dawning after India’s lot of severe stress and suffering, invokes the Name of Sri Aurobindo, the Prophet of India’s independence who first saw in his vision the advent of her freedom and the high mission she was destined to fulfil. The main theme is indeed the Soul of India, but with all her features whose moulds are to be seen in the pageant of her march at the head of nations in Arts, Crafts and Sciences, and not merely in things of the Spirit. Their stamp is indelible and could be seen in the richness of their diverse forms in the field of action and thought, in religions and philosophies in which even Nihilism of a sort found a place. It takes in a sweep a summary, yet comprehensive, view of the distinctive catholicity of her Dharma, the meaning of the appearance of Rama, Krishna and other world-moving Figures on her soil. Lastly, the voice of reasoning appeal, supplication and worship rises and goes forth to Mother India who is addressed as Bhārati following the ancient tradition:

उत्तरं यत् समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्ष तद् भारतं नाम भारती यस्य सन्ततिः ।।
(Vishnu Purana 2.3.1)

India is not a mere geographical expreșsion. The poet sings the glory of Mother India as the living Angel of the land that has been fashioned as the focal point of the Earth’s Aspiration towards its Parent-Godhead. He sings the greatness of Bharati as the guardian Spirit of India which in this picturesque creation has sprung into life from the Eternal Spirit-matrix. She is the fulcrum of the Earth’s kinesis and progress towards the abiding glory of the future that her sons have to toil and equip as a sheer joy in the pride of the work. The Soul of India is no metaphor of the poet, no dream of the patriot. She is a Reality whose truth is palpable to the disclosed eye.

A word about the Hindi rendering. The translation was done in the first instance by Sri Vithal Narayanji Acharya of Sirsi. Later it received a thorough revision at the hands of Sri Chandradip Narayanji Tripathi of our Ashram. During the revision it was found necessary to keep the Hindi as close to the original as possible in order to pre-serve the thought-content and suggestion Dhvani. That is the explanation-if one is needed for the retention of Sanskrit words wherever they are permissible in the Hindi language.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 26-8-1948
M. P. PANDIT