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Essay on The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
The poems that Tagore refers to as chhelebhulano chharha can be heard throughout Bengal, and are familiar to most Bengali children. Mothers, grandmothers, and nursemaids frequently recite them to soothe crying children, to distract them into eating, to lull them asleep, and to coax and console them in myriad other ways. Recitation occasions vary from peaceful afternoons and evenings when the mother is alone with her child to stressful mornings when she is trying to calm a screaming toddler as she prepares the afternoon meal.
The poems thus express a variety of emotions, ranging from happy musings on the child to the general melancholy and sadness that Bengali women often associate with their own social condition. These poems thus furnish a convenient window to the inner thoughts of their composers, and also alert us to the type of cultural influences that Bengali children are exposed to as they grow up.( MUKHOPADHYAY, Prabhat Kumar 1975)
Tagore's empathy with romantic nationalism in his adolescence prompted him to collect folklore as early as 1883. With the founding of the Bangiya Shahitya Parishat (The Bengali Literary Academy) in 1894 Tagore found an official platform from which to urge other scholars to collect these "relics of national treasure". And there was indeed a spurt of activity in the editing and publishing of folk songs, folktales, and nursery rhymes during this period..................
