Solutation to Bharat

Salutation to Bharat

By Subramania Bharati

This, this is the land that saw

 father and mother live and thrive.

This is the land where countless ancestors

 lived their hoary lives and died.

Thoughts a thousand grew

 and flourished in this land.

In remembrance of it all

 may I not praise my land?

 Let me sing time and again

Mother, I bow to you. 

Mother, I bow to you.

This, this is the land that gave us

 birth and suck and the light of knowledge.

This is the land where our mothers

 lisped their first words and grew in wisdom.

Here in their pure virgin girlhood

they danced and sang in abandon.

 Here too in river or tank

 they cooled their lustrous bodies.

 In their memory I sing:

Mother, I bow to you. 

Mother, I bow to you.

This, this is the land where, as young women, 

our mothers married and reared their hearths.

'twas here, here they knew the rapture 

of motherhood, the pride of children. 

Here the people's greatness soared high above

 in a prodigal spread of temples; 

and when they ceased to be, the gentle dust

 mingled with the holy mother earth. 

In commemoration may I sing:

Mother, I bow to you.

 Mother, I bow to you.