Rajani : Songs of the Night

Rajani: Songs of the Night (1916) is a poetry collection by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Published while Mukerji was a young student in California, Rajani: Songs of the Night is the debut collection of poems from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the United States. Lyrical and romantic, Mukerji’s poems capture his commitment to beauty while maintaining his sense of isolation and exile as a young man living far from home. In “Bhikshu’s Song,” the collection’s opening poem, the poet greets a Buddhist monk at the door, returning in memory to his native Bengal. Repeating the Bhikshu’s mantra throughout—“Om Moni Padme Om!”—Mukerji allows himself to “drift with the stream / To [his] destination of dream.” An exile, Mukerji can only reach his homeland through memory and song, by infusing English meter with the sights and sounds of Bengal. “A singer that sings of sorrow; / Whose night knows no tomorrow; / [His] song finds its source / In its moonless immensity.” Although he never returned to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence.

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