Poet Rabindranath Tagore was deeply influenced by the beauty of flowers. Flowers transmitted to him a message of heavenly elegance. His vast repertoire is a rich source of varied and unusual mentions and descriptions of flowers.
His love for flowers began right from childhood, though his childhood was not really spent, so to speak, in the lap of nature. He was born and his formative years were spent in Jorasanko, his ancestral home in the heart of Calcutta. Not many trees and plants grew there.
The family home had a beautiful flower garden though. Little Rabi would sometimes escape into the garden avoiding the watchful eyes of the domestic helps. He revelled in the company of flowers and the myriad fragrances intoxicated him.
Memories of Tagore’s youth revolved around the beautiful terrace garden on the second floor of his ancestral home. Lovingly named Nandan Kanan by his new Bouthan Kadambari Debi, this exquisite garden in flowerpots was her unique creation.
Many fragrant and beautiful flowers such as Beli (Arabian Jasmine), Chameli (Spanish Jasmine), Jui (Jasmine), Rajanigandha (Tuberose) and Dolonchanpa (Ginger Lily) bloomed in profusion in this patch. This garden hosted music and literature soirees many an evening.
Elder brother Jyotirindranath, Bouthan and Tagore looked forward to these evenings and actively participated in them. Poet Biharilal Chakraborty and several other connoisseurs of literature and music were regular partakers of these cultural feasts. A Jasmine garland, wrapped in a wet handkerchief and kept in a rekabi (a deep silver tray), would render such evenings fragrant. Even though these beautiful soirees formed a part of the poet’s youth, the fragrance of those flowers would perfume his entire life.
Just Jasmine
The poet has given an incomparable place to the Lotus in his poems and songs. Bokul (Spanish Cherry), Chanpa (Michelia), Malati (Aganosma) and Sephali (Night Jasmine) were among his favourites too. However Jui, Juthi or Juthika was perhaps the closest to his heart. He loved this flower from the depth of his being. The snow-white colour, the beautiful symmetric structure and the heavenly fragrance of Jui drew his admiration. On rainy evenings, the fragrance of rain-drenched Jasmines would always mesmerise the poet.
Tagore’s adoration of flowers is legendary. Each flower seemed to him the harbinger of a different message. If Kadamba (Burflower tree) conveyed to him the pleasures of a sunny morning amidst heavy rains, the intoxicating fragrance of Keya (Screwpine) had a touch of the divine nectar, amrit, and the beautiful Jui encompassed within itself the melancholy strains of a hidden past.
Images of Jasmine recur in his poems, such as Badal hawar dirghashashe juthi boner bedanane and Meghero dine shraban mashe juthi boner dirghashashe, both from Gitabitan, Prem Parjay.
The love song Mone ki dwidha rekhe gele chole (Gitabitan, Prem Parjay) mentions -
Barek tomay sudhabare chai
Biday kale kibolpai
Se ki roye gelo go
Sikto juthir gondho bedane
The poem Kalo Meye in Palataka (1918) mentions -
Ami je or hridaykhani
Chokher pare spashta dekhi anka
O jeno jui phuler bagan
Sandhya chhayay dhaka
With love from Argentina
In 1924, Tagore went on a trip to South America. On the invitation of Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo, he spent a few days at Villa Miralrio, on the banks of the Rio de la Plata on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The house had a beautiful flower garden. It was December, the beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere and the garden was full of flowers.
Despite of being rather ill, the bard never missed his walk in this garden every evening. The different flowers had become close to him and he could not ignore their beckoning.
One evening, there was a whiff of Jasmine in the air. The unmistakable fragrance of Jasmine inundated him with memories of his native land. Frantically, he began looking for the flower. The fragrance led him to a flower that seemed almost white in the falling light, but it did not look at all like Jasmine.
Later, Ocampo told the poet that the flower was locally called Espinillo (Prosopis Affinis).The poet had fallen in love with this exquisite flower from a foreign land! He named the flower Ispani. This unique discovery inspired an emotional poet to write a letter in verse to grand-nephew Dinendranath Tagore. This composition was later published in Purabi (1925) as Chithi.
Espinillo (Prosopis affinis) flower
Swapnasama parabase eli pashe kotha hote tui
O amar jui.
Ajana bhashar deshe sohosa bolli eshe
“Amare cheno ki”?
Tor pane cheye cheye hridoy uthilo geye
Chini chini, sokhi.
Koto prate janayechhe chiroporichito tor hashi
Ami bhalobashi.
Biroho byathar moto eli prane kotha hote tui,
O amar jui?
And for the eternally romantic Bengali, the melancholy fragrance of rain-drenched Jasmine and the soulful poetry of Tagore would forever remain inextricably intertwined.
