Rabindranath’s Monsoonal Music

A rough count of the songs collected in Gitabitan in the section titled "Prakriti" or "Nature" reveals that Rabindranath Tagore composed about 16 songs of summer, over 100 monsoonal ones, 33 songs of Sharat or early autumn, 5 of Hemanta or late autumn, and a dozen or so songs of winter. In addition, he has left us around 93 songs of spring. For many decades, I kept wondering how Rabindranath managed to end up with such a lopsided list as far as his songs of the six Bengali seasons are concerned. After all, late autumn and winter are enjoyable seasons when Bengal is blissfully heat-free and the weather quite mild and bearable; why, then, did he show such fondness for the wet monsoonal months and the rapidly warming and (at its end quite unbearably hot) springtime? But I am puzzled no longer by his preference for our Borsha, for it now seems clear to me that he had good reasons to prefer the monsoonal months over all else. In recent decades, now that I fancy I have something of what Wordsworth calls the "philosophic mind" (and in this age of global warming as well!), I can appreciate fully why the monsoonal months stimulated Rabindranath so continuously into songs.

Think of this year's summer months. From mid-April till the time of writing this piece in the second week of June, the weather has tormented us all over Bangladesh with stifling heat and unbearable humidity. Who in these weeks of scorching sun, steadily frying dampness and seemingly immobile and incredibly muggy air has not yearned for an ever-increasing cloud cover leading to sudden bursts of showers and rainy conditions? Isn't the monsoon a huge relief after the summer months, despite the flaming krishnachuras and the seemingly endless stream of summer fruits that arrive in our market then? Don't we all look forward to the pitter patter of raindrops, even if accompanied by thunder and lightning, when hot and dry ourselves? And isn't the fresh green look of nature after a burst of rain so very soothing?

As in his devotional and love poems, Rabindranath captures feelingly in his monsoonal song-lyrics a variety of moods. One such mood is the longing for relief from an oppressive presence. Registering the cruel heat and humidity of our late spring and summer, his songs often exult in the respite that the monsoons afford us. Hear him thus dramatize the excitement all life forms feel just before, during and after the coming of the monsoons, in the opening two stanzas of the song-lyric "Oi Ashe Oi Oti Bhairob Horoshe":

There, there they come— monsoonal clouds—

Exhilarating, awesome, moisture-laden,

Fragrant, earth-soaked, dense, rejuvenated

Dark-hued, somber, glorious— ready to burst!

Their deep rumblings quiver dark-blue forests

Tense peacocks out on strolls cry out

The whole world is thrilled, overwhelmed.

Intense, amazing—monsoon is on its way!

Indeed, song after song of Gitabitan record Rabindranath's fascinated melodic outburst after a dramatic monsoonal outburst. Here is another example: 

("Prochondo Gorjone Ashile Eki Durdeen")

Such a dreadful day, so full of rolling, thundering sounds

Disquieting cloud buildups, ominous endless outbursts!

Such a thick cloud cover; serpentine lightning, scarring night

Making the sky stream tears despite its totally blinded eyes!

But abandon all your fears; stir O scared and slothful ones.

Cheerfully, build up within yourself ample strength

To behold with resolute and wide open eyes His serene presence

Behold Him seating superbly on his throne –defying death, fearless!

Completely committed to the notion of a Supreme Being in his works, Rabindranath conveys his wonder at the monsoonal drama of clouds, thunder, and lightning and rain in many a song, inspired by scenes that he sees in the last analysis as embodying the power and inspirational presence of the deity.

A sizeable number of Rabindranath's song-lyrics are in this religious vein, but not all. In other monsoonal song-lyrics Rabindranath presents to us not only the awe-inspiring/ sacramental signs of the deity embodied in such seasonal storms, but also the frightening and intimidating aspects of our rainy season. He is well aware of the deep unease the monsoonal storm's power and intemperate outbursts can cause, and the way it can scare all things in nature and make them aquiver. The foreboding created by the approach of an overwhelming and apocalyptic force is thus apparent in the concluding lines of the song "Hridaye Mondrilo Domru Guru Guru":

The night is full of thunder and lightning;

The clouds are intense, startling.

Jasmine creepers tremble and rustle in melancholy notes

Woodlands fill with insects chirping in alarm!

In fact, Rabindranath is acutely aware of how the monsoon can disrupt lives, particularly those of people out in the open or men and women who have to travel in inclement weather despite the thunder, lightning, rain and flash floods that the monsoons invariably bring. His concern for such vulnerable people and concern at such intemperate weather comes out clearly in this particular song:

("Jhoro Jhoro Boreshe Baridhara")

Rain streams down incessantly

Alas wayfarer; alas disabled, homeless ones!

The wind moans on and on.

Who is it calling out to in this immense, deserted, dismal landscape?

The night is pitch dark,

Jamuna restless; its waves agitated, endless; its shores have disappeared!

Dense dark rain clouds hover in the horizon, rumbling continuously.

Lightning darts restlessly, dazzlingly—no moon or stars in sight!

On the other hand, the monsoons are also seasonal visitations for Rabindranath that induce in him desire for romance or romantic cravings that need to be fulfilled. Note how intensely the yearning of a lover anxious to impart his feelings to his beloved in a rain-stirred mood is articulated in the following song:

("Emono Dine Taray Bola Jai")

On such a day she could be told

On such a dense, dark, wet day!

On such a day to her I could my mind unfold,

On such a cloudy, thunderous, showery day

On just such a sunless, dense, dismal day!

I'd tell her what no one else would know

Silence would us probably surround,

We'd face each other, each sobered by a deep wound.

Incessant rain would from the sky flow;

Surely, no one then would be around.

Societal and family life would feel unreal

The hullabaloo of life too would feel surreal

What would only matter are eyes feeding on each other

And two hearts savoring one another;

All else would merge with darkness.

If in a corner of the house on such a rainy day,

I had then a thing or two to tell her

Why would anyone have anything to say?

The wind blows with great force today;

Lightning keeps flashing away

What I've been storing in my mind till this day

Is something that I'd like to tell her today—

On just such a dense, dark, wet day!

Not a few of the song lyrics collected in the "Borsha"  part of Gitabitan depict such brooding and passionate thoughts and the intense yearning for the beloved brought on by the turbulence of the monsoonal breeze. Here is another such song-lyric:

("Mor Bhabonere Ki Haowa")

What wind is it lilting my thoughts so amazingly?

Its caress swings, swings my mind unaccountably.

In my heart's horizon moist dense new clouds swarm,

Stirring a shower of emotions.          

I don't see her—don't see her at all

Only occasionally in my mind I recall

Almost indiscernible footsteps sounding

And ankle bells tinkling, oh so tunefully!

A secret dreamscape spreads

Across the wet wind-swept sky—

A new and ethereal azure shawl!

Shadowy unfurled tresses fly,

Filling me with such intense disquiet

On this far-off ketoki- perfumed wet night.

All in all, Rabindranath's inspired lyrical responses to the monsoons remind one that he is in some ways a poet following in the footsteps of William Wordsworth. One remembers, in this context, the English romantic poet's lines in Book I of The Prelude where he conveys his ardent and positive response to the coming of the English spring after the English winter's life-shrinking barrenness. Wordsworth sees the English spring ushering in a "correspondent breeze" that gives rise to poetry. To make the point somewhat differently, just as the spring breeze is Wordsworth's metaphor for the muse, Rabindranath finds in the monsoon endless inspiration for composing song-lyrics and poetry. Listen, then, to one of his most popular song-lyrics:

("Mono Mor Meghero Sangeet")

My mind is the clouds' companion,

Soaring to the limits of the horizon

And crossing wide open spaces to sravan's music

Of rain falling pitter patter, pitter patter!

My mind soars on crane-like wings

To startling, streaking, lightning flashes,

And rumbling, terrifying,

Tumultuous, deafening sounds

Responding to apocalyptic summons!

The wind blows from some eastern sea

Surging, rippling waves crest endlessly

My mind is fascinated by their frantic motion

By palm-fringed, dark-tamal tree forests

And to branches fluttering frenziedly!

Space will not permit any more long extracts, but on the subject of inspiration I can't resist including the concluding stanza of the much loved song lyric, "Hriday Amar Nachere":

Like a peacock dancing, my heart dances this day.

Showers stream down on newly sprouted branches,

Cricket songs stir forests,

The rampaging river roars over banks and floods villages,

Like a peacock dancing, my heart dances this day!

No wonder then this monsoon-stirred poet has articulated for all Bengalis so melodically the many-sides and wonders of the season as no other writer has; no other writer from our part of the world has been so mesmerized by our rainy season and so stirred into unforgettable songs and poems by it!

Fakrul Alam is a Bangladeshi academic, writer and translator.