What are the Bengali original texts of the poems which Tagore has translated in Stray birds?

Question

I have been reading Stray birds by Tagore. This link says that some poems in there are translations of the poems in Kanika. Do any records exist which maps the English verses to the original bengali poems?

I found one:

"WHAT language is thine, O sea?"
    "The language of eternal question."
"What language is thy answer, O sky?
    "The language of eternal silence."

is a line for line translation of প্রশ্নের অতীত (prashner atiit, "The Eternal Question"):

'হে সমুদ্র, চিরকাল কী তোমার ভাষা ।'
সমুদ্র কহিল, 'মোর অনন্ত জিজ্ঞাসা ।'
'কিসের স্তব্ধতা তব ওগো গিরিবর ।'
হিমাদ্রি কহিল, 'মোর চির-নিরুত্তর ।'

"he samudra, chirakaal kii tomaar bhaaShaa"
samudra kahila, "mor ananta ji~Naasaa"
"kiser stabhdataa taba ogo girivar"
himaadri kahila, "mor chira-niruttar"

Source: Kanika by Rabindranath Tagore. 1899. Calcutta: Vishwabharati, 1948. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, 11 September 2023.

Answer 1

Whether the pieces in Stray Birds (1916) can rightly be called poems is debatable. There are indeed a couple of (very) brief poems, such as the one cited in the question. But four lines is as long as they get. Most of Stray Birds consists of aphorisms a single line long. Some are indeed quite arresting:

What is this unseen flame of darkness whose sparks are the stars? (81)

"I have lost my dewdrop," cries the flower to the morning sky that has lost all its stars. (199)

But the vast majority, alas, are trite:

That love can ever lose is a fact that we cannot accept as truth. (312)

Men are cruel, but Man is kind. (219)

The false can never grow into truth by growing in power. (258)

Yes, some of the jottings in Stray Birds are paraphrases of poems from Tagore's 1899 collection of short verses, kaNikaa ("Particles"). But his inexplicable decision to reduce those already-brief poems to a single line or two robs the pieces of their power and wit. For example, here is kaNikaa 34, কুটুম্বিতা-বিচার (kuTumbitaa-bichaar, "Family Feeling"):

কেরোসিন-শিখা বলে মাটির প্রদীপে,
"ভাই ব'লে ডাক যদি দেব গলা টিপে ।"
হেনকালে গগনেতে উঠিলেন চাঁদা ;
কেরোসিন বলি উঠে, "এসো মোর দাদা ।"

iTrans:

kerosiin-shikha bale maaTir pradiipe,
"bhaaii ba'le Daaka yadi deba galaa Tipe."
henakaale gaganete uThilen chaa.Ndaa ;
kerosiin bali uThe, eso mor daadaa."

Translation (mine):

The kerosene lantern says to the earthen lamp,
"If you call me sibling, I'll throttle you."
Just then the moon rose in the sky—
The kerosene called out, "Welcome, my elder brother!"

Translation ("Kinship-consciousness", by William Radice):

The kerosene-lantern says to the taper,
"I'll wring your neck if you say we're kin."
Whereas to the moon he says, "Come in:
I welcome you warmly as my brother."

Tagore's rendition ("Stray Birds" 53):

While the glass lamp rebukes the earthen for calling it cousin, the moon rises, and the glass lamp, with a bland smile, calls her, "My dear, dear sister."

This is extremely weak sauce. A glass lamp could be quite pretty, after all, whereas a kerosene lantern is stained and smelly. Part of the force of the original is that a clay lamp is in fact more appealing, visually and aromatically, than a kerosene lantern. A rebuke is several degrees of temperature lower than a threat to wring the neck. And of course, translation cannot capture the cultural nuances of the kinship words "bhaaii" (which could mean brother, cousin, or simply friend) and "daadaa" (which specifically is an honorific for one's elder brother, or for any older personage accorded that status). The contrast between "bhaaii", a fairly innocuous address to someone seen as an equal, and "daadaa", a hierarchical if potentially affectionate term, underscores the difference between the kerosene lantern's gruff threat to the earthen lamp and the obsequiousness of its address to the moon. That they both literally mean "brother" make the poem laugh-out-loud funny, particularly as Tagore defers the word "daadaa" to the very end, making it the punchline.

Even a translator as skilled as Radice does not fully convey the wit and power of Tagore's original; but Tagore's own inept foray is lamentable indeed. It is an act of service, therefore, to redirect readers of Stray Birds to the corresponding poems in kaNikaa, so here is a table of the 30 such correspondences that I have found.

Stray Birds number	kaNikaa number	kaNikaa title	Transliteration	Literal Translation	Radice Translation
6	77	ধ্রুবাণি তস্য নশ্যন্তি	dhruvaaNi tasya nasyanti	The imperishable too is destroyed (Sanskrit)	Pointless Grief
12	81	প্রশ্নের অতীত	prashner atiit	The Original Question	Beyond All Questioning
24	93	বিরাম	viraam	Rest	Rest
30	73	নতিস্বীকার	natiswiikaar	Abnegation	Submission
53	34	কুটুম্বিতা-বিচার	kuTumbitaa-bichaar	Family Feeling	Kinship-consciousness
58	6	ভার	bhaar	The Burden	Glory's Burden
66	84	মোহের আশঙ্কা	moher aasankaa	Captivation's Anxiety	Rapture's Anxiety
71	13	রাষ্ট্রনীতি	raaShtraniiti	Politics	Politics
86	79	ফুল ও ফল	phuul o phal	Flower and Fruit	Flower and Fruit
119	106	চিরনবীনতা	chiranavinataa	Eternal Renewal	Eternal Renewal
129	43	অসম্ভব ভালো	asambhav bhaalo	Impossibly Good	Unbearably Good
130	58	একই পথ	ekii path	The Same Road	The Same Path
134	29	মূল	muul	Roots	Roots
139	66	উপলক্ষ	upalakshya	Synechdoche	One-upmanship
153	76	কর্তব্যগ্রহণ	kartavyagrahaN	Taking Up One's Post	Acceptance of Duty
156	64	মাঝারির সতর্কতা	maajharir satarkataa	The Cautiousness of the Middle	Prudent Mediocrity
157	88	অদৃশ্য কারণ	adR^ishya kaaraN	The Unseen Cause	Invisible Agency
163	9	অসম্পূর্ণ সংবাদ	asampuurNa sa.nvaad	The Unfinished Dialogue	Incomplete Information
166	44	নদীর প্রতি খাল	nadiir prati khaal	The Canal versus the River	Canal's Grievance
172	35	উদারচরিতানাম্‌	udaaracharitaanaam.h	Greatness of Spirit	Greatness of Spirit
173	98	চালক	chaalak	The Driver	The Driver
176	80	অস্ফুট ও পরিস্ফুট	asphuTa o parisphuTa	The Obscure and the Clear	Shallow and Deep
189	10	ঈর্ষার সন্দেহ	iirShaar sandeha	Jealousy's Suspicions	Jealousy's Suspicions
191	82	স্বাধীনতা	svaadhiinataa	Liberty	Freedom
201	30	হাতে-কলমে	haate-kalame	First-Hand	True Achievement
234	63	নিজের ও সাধারণের	nijer o saadhaaraNer	Private and Public	Public and Private
236	86	পর ও আত্মীয়	par o aatmiya	Alike and Akin	Closer than Kinship
237	97	সুখদুঃখ	sukhadu:kha	Joy and Sorrow	Pleasure and Pain
240	45	স্পর্ধা	spardhaa	The Competition	Arrogance
296	85	স্তুতি নিন্দা	stuti nindaa	Praise and Censure	Praise and Censure

This table is likely incomplete. I read kaNikaa alongside William Radice's translations, then read Stray Birds, and tried to connect the sentences in the latter with the poems in the former. I have probably missed some poems, and perhaps misidentified a few as well. Corrections welcomed.

References

Tagore, Rabindranath. kaNikaa. 1899. Calcutta: Vishwabharati, 1948. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, 11 September 2023.

———. Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems. Trans. and Intro. William Radice. London: Angel Books, 2001. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, 11 September 2023.

———. Stray Birds. Translated from Bengali to English by the Author. New York: Macmillan, 1916. Retrieved from ibiblio.org, 11 September 2023.