Bharat Tirtha, the indian pilgrimage

We reprint here the English translation of Rabindranath Tagore's poem Bharat Tirtha, or The Indian Pilgrimage. This poem was recited from memory in Bengali by Chameli Ramachandran upon receiving the Mahatma Gandhi Shanti Doot Award in honor of her and her family's work for peace in Asia. The translation is by by Smt. Indira Devi Chaudhurani.

The Indian Pilgrimage/A hymn to India 
 Rabindranath Tagore 

Awake my mind,
gently awake in this holy place of pilgrimage
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.

Here I stand with arms outstretched to hail man,
man divine in his own image,
and sing to his glory in notes glad and free.
These mountains rapt in meditation,
these plains with rivers winding like rosaries,
behold this earth that is ever holy--
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.

No one knows whence and at whose call came pouring
endless inundations of men
rushing madly along—to lose themselves in the sea:
Aryans and non-Aryans, Dravidians and Chinese,
Scythians, Huns, Pathans and Moghuls--
all are mixed, merged and lost in one body.
Now the door has opened to the West
and gifts in hand they beckon and come--
they will give and take, meet and bring together,
none shall be turned away
from the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.

These battling hordes who crashed into our midst
with frenzied war-cries,
cutting their way through deserts and over mountains,
they are all, one and all, become a pulse of my being,
none is far away, in my blood throbs the echo of their diverse music.
O celestial music, fierce and terrible,
let thy notes sound louder and louder,
the walls that divide shall crumble
and they who stand aloof in the arrogance of isolation
they too shall come and crowd together--
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.

In this land did once resound a hymn unceasing
to the one, the primal source and wonder of creation,
the music of many hearts mingling in that one harmony,
and minds, disciplined and dedicated, had poured
their diverse offerings into one sacrificial flame,
and to their chant had awakened
a Mind magnificent,
all embracing, all absorbing.
Break open the door to the vision of the sacred flame,
of the spirit's unceasing endeavour--
for we must gather again with bowed heads
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.

Behold the sacred fire with its blood-red flame of sorrow
ours is the sorrow and in its flame we must burn within--
so has Fate decreed.
Welcome pain, welcome anguish that makes us one again,
freed of fear, freed of the load of shame!
This agony unbearable shall end
in the spirit's rebirth, vast and boundless,
the night has run its course and the Mother awakes
in her spacious abode
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India

Come ye Aryan, come non-Aryan, Hindu, Muslim, come,
come ye English, come ye Christians, welcome every one,
come Brahmin, cleanse your mind and clasp the hand of all,
come ye outcaste, come ye lowly, fling away the load of shame!
Come, one and all, to the Mother's crowning,
the sacred jar is yet to fill,
and all must join that the water be consecrate
on the shore of this vast sea of humanity
that is India.
​
​