ABSTRACT
Rabindranath’s views on translation of his Bengali originals into English have remained immensely flexible, shifting with varying circumstances of production and reception of the translated texts. Rabindranath’s awareness of such “power relations” between “major”/“minor” languages may have conditioned the apologies offered for his lack of mastery over the English language. He repeatedly sought the help of Englishmen, mostly poets, to revise, edit, even correct his English renditions. To return to Rabindranath’s own translations, what is most conspicuous in them is his penchant for radical departures from the originals to an extent that is far beyond what has been usually attempted – if at all – by other translators of his plays. Rabindranath is believed to have started work on the Bengali play during his Shillong sojourn in 1923, but the idea of the play could have been suggested even earlier, particularly with his first-hand acquaintance with the acquisitive/capitalist structures of America and Japan, during his visits in 1916.
