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“I’ll not touch water”
Thus did the Chittor Rana* swear
“Till the Bundi fort
Standing there I can’t abort”.
“Alas! What an oath;
Impregnable it is” – the ministers quoth;
“You can venture into it
But for ignoble defeat”.
The Rana* says, “If so,
My oath will go”.
Chittor and Bundi fort are asunder
But only six miles from one another.
The Harabansi tribe there
Dare devil as tigers they are.
Random is their king Hamu’s raid
Of any hazard he is not afraid;
All these the Rana heard about –
Evidences now leave him in no more doubt.
And it is only six miles away,
So the Rana will no more sway.
Calls all, his subservient the minister –
Thus all of them confer –
“Let’s build a false fort tonight
That like Bundi will sight;
Let the Rana with his hands own
Hit the fort and see it blown.
Else, just his words to abide
He is heading for suicide!”
So the minister with his aides
The false fort near Chittor lays.
Kumbha a Harabansi, Rana’s vassal
With his tribal bravery
On return from his stag hunt
Shoulders with archery load stunt
Smells foul in the hearsay
Early in the day –
Cries aloud, “Who’s there?
With a false fort dare
Abase the Harabansi Rajput –
I’ll guard the fake castle astute.”
Comes Rana amidst bustle
To smash the clay castle –
“Keep afar Your Highness” –
Uproarious Kumbha says,
“A fake Bundi for a fake fight
Never I’ll endure this slight;
To defend that clay mound
Today I’m duty bound”.
So does Kumbha thunder –
“Your Highness, keep afar!”
On the ground sets his knees
Shoots arrows in whiz;
Kumbha alone wards off
Their sly plot to scoff
The Harabansi glory
In full fury.
Rana’s troops slay his head
All around surrounded
Near the gateway
Of the fort for play.
He drops dead,
His blood, crimson red
Sanctifies the castle clean
In ablution of all vicious sin.
Original Poem Nakalgarh (False Fort) in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore of the book Katha (Legends) written in 1899.
Note: “Rana” was the title of the King of Rajputana (now Rajasthan) whose capital was Chittor. This poem touchingly reflects the heroic character of the Rajputs and yet their various factional egos which were the causes of their downfall at the hands of the Muslim invaders.
Translator’s note: Historians have recorded, interpreted and analyzed the historical events/developments. Tagore, through a number of his poems, has extracted and presented us hot the human emotions - ego, uprightness, virtuosity, malice, evil etc. which had propelled our history. Our students have to cram their history lessons on compulsion. Could Tagore’s poems anyway supplement their lessons to enable them to understand the humans of the yore beyond their mere historical silhouettes? They may find at least some of the chapters of Indian history e.g. those on the struggles of the Sikhs, Marathas and Rajputs, the Buddhist period etc. animated by virtue of a good number of inspiring poems of Tagore based on historical facts and legends related to these periods, inter alia. Our teachers may give this proposal a thought.
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