- 248 ~ How an idea most intimate to a culture may be missed in translating from a foreign translation can be seen in the Bengali G~LtanjaU Song No. 44, (English Gitanjati Song No 16). Let us compare the first few lines: Bengali: I j agate ananda-yajne amor nimantTan. II dhanya hat dhanya hat manab-jUban. Ill nayan amar pupep puye IV sadh mislay e bei^ay ghuye V ^raba^i amor gabh'tr surs VI hayeche magan c English G^tan^atz-: I ha^e had my invitation to this world^ festival, and thus my life has been blessed. My eyes have seen and my ears have hea'd. Literal English: I: I have had my invitation to the world^ yajna (sacred rite which is also a festive occasion). II: Blessed, blessed indeed is (my) human life, III-IV: My eyes have been satiated staring all around the city of beautiful forms; my ears have merged into the deep(est) sounds -. Shii R^s rendering: I: 'ahuto ^ham mahati. mahzte rupa-namny utsave^min 11: dhanyam janma^ ^ravana-naya^am tdbdha-saphatyam etat. The ongindl yajna had to be reduced to "festival" in English which the Sanskrit translator then renders into the secular utsaVa. Does he not know the word yajna^ Furthermore, a translator often needs to use more words and sometimes less t"o convey the sense of the original. Here, however, he has eight words (ah"D+o» ^arma^ for Tagore^ five in line I which could have been translated: ,jagata anand-yaj^^ 'sman^r/imantyanam, He then translated line II (see Bengali cind literal English above) in two words dhanyam jar?ma: "blessed (is) lifeo" Lines III-VI have been condensed into "these eyes and ears have accomplished their purpose!" We can suggest the following translation: I: jagata a^anda-^a,]^^ f sman-n (.mantranam or: jagata ananda-ya^i^e yma vayam 'nimantri.tah) II: dhanyam hi dhanyam mara^a-'^Tvanam III: nayane me ^Tip'a^am pure IV: dar^am dap^am ^arvatha ^rpya'l'am V: Sravanam mp gdbhire svare ajayat'adya magnam