BANDI BIR

BANDI BIR (Warrior Bound), a poem in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, based primarily on McGregor`s History of the Sikhs and Cunningham`s A History of the Sikhs was composed by him in October/November 1899. The poem celebrates the heroism of the Sikh warrior Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716). The opening stanzas tell how Guru Gobind Singh`s message had turned the Sikhs into a self respecting and fearless people.

The rest of the poem is devoted to panegyrizing the resolute resistance put up by Banda Singh Bahadur and his men against Mughal oppression and to describing how bravely he met his end after he had been arrested at Gurdas Nangal along with his companions. Before being executed with the cruellest torments, Banda Singh was, says the poet, ordered by the Qazi to kill his own son holding him in his hands. The poem was a source of inspiration to. several other Bengali writers as well as to Bengali militant youth engaged in the struggle for India`s independence.

The Poem:

On the banks of the five rivers,
Uprise the Sikhs spontaneous;
With hair coiled above their head
Inspired by the mantra their Guru spread
Fearless and unyielding......
‘Glory to Guruji’- thousands of them
Resound the horizon;
At the rising sun of the dawn
The Sikhs stare with deep emotion With new awakening.

‘Alakha Niranjan’
The war cry of the rebellion;
Let loose their chivalry;
On their ribs clank swords luminary;
In wild joy was Punjab’s insurrection
‘Alakha Niranjan’.
There came a day,
Thousands of hearts were on their way
Without any binding or fear,
Life and death at their feet slaves mere;
There on the banks of those rivers
The tale of that day still shivers.
At the tower of the Delhi palace,
Where the Sikhs are apace – Badshazada’s drowsy spell Time and again they quell;

The arena turned bleak;
With seven hundred lives gone-
Upon the martyrs’ immortalisation.
On the last round of cruelty Banda was ordered by the Kazi
To kill his own son
At ease to be done.
In mere teens was the boy,
With hands tied thrown as a toy
Into the lap of Banda and without a word He drew him close to his heart.
For a while he put his hand on his head,
Just once kissed his turban red.
He then draws his dagger,
Whispers in the child’s ear- ‘Glory to Guruji- fear not my son’
A virile in the boy’s face did burn –
In his juvenile voice the court did ring ‘Glory to Guruji’ as he did sing.
With his left hand Banda held the boy,
With right struck the dagger in his ploy.
‘Glory be to Guruji’ – was all he did implore,
As he took to the floor.
Silence fell in the court;
Guruji’s inspiration still not abort.
Then, with tong red-hot Banda’s body was pieced apart;
A word of moan he uttered not
And all in calm did he depart.
As stopped his heart throb
Witnesses closed eyes- silence choked pin-drop.

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Image:
“Portrait of R. Tagore” by 徐悲鸿 Xu Beihong
1940
Ink and color on paper
51 x 50 cm

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Xu Beihong ( 徐悲鸿 ) (1895-1963) was a master of both oils and Chinese ink. Most of Xu Beihong works, however, were in the Chinese traditional style. In his efforts to create a new form of national art, Xu Beihong combined Chinese brush and ink techniques with Western perspective and methods of composition. Xu Beihong integrated firm and bold brush strokes with the precise delineation of form.

As an art teacher, Xu Beihong advocated the subordination of technique to artistic conception and emphasizes the importance of the artist's experiences in life. Of all of the Painters of the modern era, it can be safely said that Xu Beihong is the one painter most responsible for the direction taken in the modern Chinese Art world. The policies enacted by Xu Beihong at the beginning of the Communist Era continue to control not only official Government Policy towards the arts, but they continue to control the overall direction taken in the various Art Colleges and Universities throughout China.

After his death in 1953, the Xu Beihong ( 徐悲鸿 ) Museum was established at his home in Beijing.