Skip to main content

Primary sourceDocument1926

Tagore Handwritten Bengali Manuscript Page

Rabindranath Tagore · 1926

A page of Tagore's own handwriting from 1926, showing part of a poem in Bengali script with interleaved English lines.

A manuscript page in Tagore's own hand, showing his working process and the doodles that later fed into his painting.

Ask Rabindranath Tagore about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Handwritten manuscript page with Bengali script at top and interleaved English lines in cursive ink, including 'My fancies are fireflies, speaks of living light, twinkling in the dark' and 'The butterfly does not count years but moments, and therefore has enough time.' Page number 5 at top right.
Rabindranath Tagore, manuscript poem page, 1926, written in Hungary.

About this source

What it is

This is a manuscript page handwritten by Rabindranath Tagore in 1926 while in Hungary. It shows part of a poem in Bengali script, with some English lines written in cursive ink between the Bengali text, including phrases comparing fancies to fireflies and describing a butterfly that "does not count years but moments."

Why it matters

This page is a direct trace of Tagore's working process. His corrections and marks on manuscripts like this one are known to have grown into doodles and drawings, which eventually led him to take up painting seriously later in life. The mixture of Bengali and English also reflects his position as a writer working across languages and cultures during his international travels.

Look closer

  • Why might Tagore have mixed English and Bengali on the same page?
  • What do the corrections and markings on a handwritten page tell you that a printed version cannot?
  • How might the circumstance of writing this abroad, in Hungary, have shaped the poem's imagery?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Rabindranath Tagore sources

Meet the AI Rabindranath Tagore →
Title page of the book Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats, published by Macmillan and Co., London, 1913.Book

Primary source

Song Offerings

Rabindranath Tagore · 1912

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore leaving a building, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

Primary source

Tagore Leaves the Sigtuna Foundation

Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Title page of Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1913.Book

Primary source

Gitanjali

Rabindranath Tagore · 1910

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore standing with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

Primary source

Tagore with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist

Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Piano sheet music score titled 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore, in D minor/F major key with 4/4 time, tempo 96, two staves (treble clef) with dynamics like f, p, ff and a fermata at the end.Document

Primary source

Jana Gana Mana

Rabindranath Tagore · 11 December 1911

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Rabindranath Tagore now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions