56 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE PATRIOT SONGS OF INDIA. 



The Durbar number of the Hindustan Riview is 

 noteworthy for the witness which it bears to the 

 efflorescence of poetry in India. There is a Corona- 

 tion Ode by Ragbubir Narayana, bidding Their 

 Imperial Majesties welcome. There is a review of 

 Mr. K. H. D. Cecil's Coronation Poem and love- 

 songs, Mr. Cecil being an Indian by nationality and 

 a Parsi by religion. Here are two stanzas from the 

 Coronation Ode : — 



England, lliou bast iinlound the chains from the hands of the 



slave, 

 England, thou hast conquered the land and held the invincible 



wave, 

 Mother of sons, whose hearts are strong as (he sun and brave, 

 England, England for ever ! 



England, thou giver of many a gift and sower of seeds 

 Whose harvest is flowers .and blossoms of dealhless deeds, 

 England, thou mother to all, and killer of castes and creeds, 

 England, England for ever ! 



The reviewer adds a tribute which, from our Indian 

 fellow-subjects, is worth reproducing :— 



It has been remarked that there is no language which lends 

 itself to the expression of lyric emotion, to the free outpouring of 

 the inmost depths of the liuman soul, so well as English ; there 

 is no literature that has produced a group of writers who can 

 compare in this respect with Wordsworth and Shelley, Keats and 

 Byron, I lood and Campbell, Tennyson and lirovvning, Coleridge 

 and Uossetli. 



"BANDE MATARAM " IN ENGLISH. 



Mr. Saint Nihal Singh writes on the patriotic songs 

 of India, and gives a free translation of Bankim 

 Chandra Chalterjee's " Bande Mataram " (Hail, 

 Mother !). This was first published more than a 

 generation ago, but was not taken up as the war-cry of 

 Bengali patriotism until 1905, when Lord Curzon par- 

 titioned Bengal. The title of the song became a 

 popular phrase of salutation. This song in conse- 

 ijuence caused some anxiety to the Government. It 

 will come as a surprise to English readers at home 

 that any British Government could resent such poetic 

 outburst of love for the common India which the 

 British Government itself has created : — 

 I bow to thee, Mother, 



'I'hou who art rich in streams, fruit, and cool southern breezes. 

 Whose fields are green with harvests, 



Whose nights are a-glitter with the sheen of silvery moonlight. 

 Who art decorated with blossoming trees. 

 Whose smile is radiant, 

 W hose voice is musical and whose words arc like sparkling 



jewels. 

 Who fulfdlest desires. 

 Thou who dost strike terror with thy babel of millions of 



voices. 

 And with the sharp swords of countless arms, 

 Who dares to call thee helpless? 

 'I'hou who dost wield the strength of a multitude and repel 



hosts of enemies. 

 Thou who art the saviour of thy people, 

 To thee I bow, 



Tliou art wisdom, thou art religion, 

 I'hou art the heart, the very core of our heart, 

 Thou art the life-breath of our bodies, 

 Tliou art the strength of our arms. 

 Thou art the piety of our hearts. 



In temple after temple we set up thine image, ^ 



Thou art the goddess Duiga, holding the ten weapons in thy 



hands ; 

 Thou art Lahshmi (the goddess of Fortune), residing in lotus 



lakes ; 

 Thou art Sarasvali (the goddess of Le'arning) ; 

 To thee I bow, 

 I bow to thee, Lakshmi, the pure, the handsome, the smiling, 



the sincere, the bejewelled, the Mother. 



A PSALM ON INDIA. 



Mr. Singh quotes another poem, " one of the most 

 charming of these efforts, which invests the passion 

 for India with religious significance ": — 



O God ! the Nameless under many names I 

 O Thou, the formless under many forms ! 

 The Silent, who art heard in many voices ! 

 Through all the pores of Being take my prayer 1 

 Be favourable to this ancient land. 

 This Motherland of saints and holy men. 

 This land of hallowed hills and sacred streams, 

 Of sombre forests and sun-flooded plains ; 

 This glory of the immemorial East, 

 Whose dwelling is the splendour of the Sun ; 

 Our Motherland, our home, our India ! 

 May all her many peoples live together 

 Honouring one another, quietly ! 

 Bring her the peace that kings cannot bequeath. 

 The happiness that cometh not by wealth ! 

 Each in his own way, yet let each for all 

 Work and let work, live and be good to life. 

 So let the self of each be India's self. 



And India each man's creed, and each man's race be India, 

 India, India. 



All this poetry is a sign of the new life which is 

 awakening, unifying and propelling India. 



THE GEIKWAR'S LIBRARY MOVEMENT. 



Thk unhappy attention drawn to the Geikwar of 

 Baroda at the Delhi Durbar makes us turn with the 

 greater pleasure to the account given in the Modern 

 Rii'ie7ii for December of the magnificent development 

 that his Highness is arranging of libraries in Baroda. 

 For long he has cherished the idea of a network of 

 free village and town libraries in his State, and for 

 this purpose he compared experiences during his 

 visits to Europeati and American public libraries. 

 The American model impressed him most, and from 

 America he issued an order instructing the educa- 

 tional department of his State to organise at once 

 a network of village libraries throughout the State. 

 He also appointed Mr. W. A. Borden, an American 

 librarian, to organise the work for him. Mr. Borden 

 found already in existence in four districts of the 

 State forty larger libraries with nearly 40,000 

 volumes, and 191 small village and town libraries, 

 with an aggregate of 25,000 volumes. The Laxmi Vilas 

 Palace Library has been transformed into a Central 

 Library, to be the Free Public Library of Baroda 

 City. The woik is going forward with all the latest 

 American develoi)ments, and with thorough .American 

 organisation, including library class, information 

 bureau, libraries for children, lectures, etc. The 

 writer of the paper is R. K. Prabhu. 



