# I Need A Translation Of This Text From India **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109 "2014-08-08T14:01:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/1 "2014-08-08T14:01:15Z")
My girlfriend reads IIRC Hindi, Gujarati and some Sanskrit. She can’t read [this](http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a151/doccathode/indiantext.jpg). She thinks it’s Bengali. I’d greatly appreciate any help my fellow Dopers can give me. ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/2 "2014-08-08T21:43:08Z")
This is definitely Bengali, but I don’t read it well enough to tell what it says. Looks to be a poem by Kabir (a famous poet saint) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/3 "2014-08-08T21:45:08Z")
Thanks! That’s more information than I had before. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/4 "2014-08-08T22:38:33Z")
I talked to my girlfriend and she says she got it from a Tagore page. So, it looks like it’s [Tagore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagore) and not Kabir. Though after reading the Wikipedia entry on Kabir, he seems worth further study. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/5 "2014-08-09T02:19:58Z")
Acsenray is Bengali origin, though I’m not sure if he reads the language, so you could check with him. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/6 "2014-08-09T03:07:58Z")
The text in the link is definitely attributed to Kabir, not Tagore. I can’t read Bengali, I’m afraid, but it’s similar enough to Hindi to make out some basic characters. Definitely Kabir. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/7 "2014-08-09T04:01:45Z")
It is a Tagore poem. Bengalis (and I am Bengali although I was not born or brought up there) call him - Kabi Guru - the guru of poets. That’s why many are confusing Kabi with Kabir. Here is the translation: **My cup of joy brims over** আমার জীবনপাত্র উচ্ছলিয়া মাধুরী করেছ দান amar jibono patro uchholiya (audio) My cup of joy brims over With the sweetness you bestow You know not what it is worth Like the tuberose unseen by eyes Scents the night with sweet dreams You fill my life with your song Time has come to say farewell Do lift your radiant face Offer at your feet I will A life fulfilled in sweet death One whom you never did know Silent night of his secret pain May it now come to an end. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/8 "2014-08-09T04:03:45Z")
That translation is taken from here : [Gitabitan in English: My cup of joy brims over](http://gitabitan-en.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-cup-of-joy-brims-over.html?m=1) Somehow I don’t feel like the English translation cuts it. It takes away a lot of feelings. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/9 "2014-08-09T11:13:23Z")
Here’s a different one. My goblet of life has spilled with your gift of ardor How priceless that has been to me – you know not. Just as the fragrance of ‘Rajanigandha’ under cover Fills the night with dreams You drench my heart with your song. It’s time to part – Let me see your delightful face – I shall offer my life onto your feet with a lovely demise. Let the quiet night of his concealed suffering may come to an end For whom you have never known. taken from [http://www.geetabitan.com/lyrics/A/aamar-jibonpatro-uchchholia.html](http://www.geetabitan.com/lyrics/A/aamar-jibonpatro-uchchholia.html) Slightly better, but the transcription may be better to try and follow for those who understand Hindi Aamar jibonopatro uchchhalia madhuri korechho daan- Tumi jaano naai tumi jaano naai Tumi jaano naai taar mulyero poriman. Rajanigandha agochare Jemon rajani swapone bhore sourabhe, Tumi jaano naai tumi jaano naai Tumi jaano naai, marome aamar ddhelechhe tomar gaan. Biday nebar shomoy ebar holo - Prashanno mukho tolo, mukho tolo mukho tolo- Madhur morone purno koriya shopia jaabo praan charone. Jaare jaano naai, jaare jaano naai, jaare jaano naai, Taar gopono byathar nirobo raatri hok aaji aboshan. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/10 "2014-08-11T04:57:59Z")
Thanks so much, everybody! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-translation-of-this-text-from-india/695109/11 "2014-08-11T06:05:05Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > That translation is taken from here : [Gitabitan in English: My cup of joy brims over](http://gitabitan-en.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-cup-of-joy-brims-over.html?m=1) > > Somehow I don’t feel like the English translation cuts it. It takes away a lot of feelings. Tagore did his own translation of his \*Gitanjali \*into English (and in places it differed considerably from the original Bengali text). Won him the Nobel Prize. Very cool guy. [My favorite of his](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitto_Jetha_Bhayshunyo): Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.