Gitabharatam: Indian Patriotic Songs

Gitabh Bratan is a book of Indian patriotic songs. While representing various geographical and linguistic units these songs capture the consciousness of mankind through the display of poetic truth that lead it swiftly to the domains of love, beauty, and joy.

The Amrts-Sanskrit commentary and the Enghish translation of the text are offered by Dr. Subhasree Dash, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. With uniformly brilliant academic career she has specialised in Sanskrit grammar, poetics, and literature. She is an author, editor, and translator of books who has got numerous publications to her credit both in national and international journals of repute.

Kshirod Chandra Dash (b. 1954) is an author, translator, research visionary and literary critic who retired from Odisha Education Service as the Head of the Department of Sanskrit, B.J.B (Autonomous) college (Utkal University, Bhubaneswar) after reaching the age of superannuation on April, 2012. With numerous Sanskrit lyrical gems published to his credit, he is the popular poet of Tarunyalatakam (Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award Winner, 1992), the book of metrical stanzas on youth and love. The Sanskrit translation of Kavivara Radhanatha Ray's famous Odia kavya Cilika (Metrical Sanskrit: Tr. prize winner, National Academy of Letters, New Delhi, 1996) and Gandhiji's autobiography Mama Satya-prayoga-katha (tr) etc, are some of his noteworthy contributions to the domain of Sanskrit literary art.

itabharatam is a book of songs for the people of India, G a great country of many dimensions. India's ethos, spirituality, landscapes, and societies together constitute its human geography. As simple as it looks to comprehend its nuances in the realm of imagination, it never fails to surprise its beholders with an enthralling trance as they begin to assimilate India within their lived experiences. At times it manifests as the craft of an artisan where ears eaves drop to the whispers of the sculpted protagonists, and at others it looks like an epic saga of ethnographic evolution that palpitates through its people and culture. India is not just a country but an emotion which can be experienced as one rafts through its rivers, treks through its mountains, trodes through its terrains, tours through its forests, and travels through its villages. The readers/singers of the Gitabharatam can visualise the nooks and crannies of India and experience the joys of this great nation as they interact with it.

Kavivara Radhanatha Ray's patriotic composition titled Bharatagitike that begins with 'sarvesam no inspired me to compose these songs. To commemorate this I have composed the First Song of this book with 'sarvesam no' as a tribute to Kavivara. This humble poetic effort is supported with commentary in Sanskrit and English translation by Dr. Subhasree Dash, Head of the Department of Sanskrit, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. She has also prepared the Slokanukramant/Index of verses and Sabdasangrahaḥ/ Glossary for this text. She is an academician of repute and I thank her sincerely for her reader-friendly and scholarly endeavor.