Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Note on the Texts 699
have been intended for a play.
World’s delight. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1900 – 1901.
PART THREE: BARODA AND BENGAL, CIRCA 1900 – 1909
Poems from Ahana and Other Poems
Ahana and Other Poems was published in 1915. It consists of the
long poem Ahana, written in Pondicherry, and twenty-four shorter
poems, most of which were written in Baroda. Sometime after 1915,
Sri Aurobindo wrote in his copy of the book, “Written mostly between
1895 and 1908, first published at Pondicherry in 1915.” This
inscription shows a degree of uncertainty: “1895” was written over
“1900”, while “1908” was written over “1907”. Neither of the dates,
written more than a decade after the poems, need be considered exact.
Surviving manuscript drafts of these poems do not appear to be earlier
than 1900. Near-final drafts of many of them are found in a typed
manuscript that may be dated to 1904 – 6. When Sri Aurobindo looked
over these poems in 1942 while his Collected Poems and Plays was
being arranged, he commented: “I find that most of the poems are
quite early in Baroda, others later on and others in the second period
[of poems in the book, i.e. 1906 – 9]. It would be a pity to break
up these poems, as they form a natural group by themselves.” In the
present volume, these twenty-four poems are published in a single
group, while “Ahana” is published along with other works written in
Pondicherry. Two of the poems in this section, “Karma” and “Appeal”,
are adaptations of mediaeval Indian lyrics. They are published here
in their original context, and also in Translations, volume 5 of THE
COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO.
Invitation. 1908 – 9. This poem was published in Sri Aurobindo’s
weekly newspaper Karmayogin on 6 November 1909, under the inscription:
“(Composed in the Alipur Jail)”. Sri Aurobindo was a prisoner
in Alipore Jail between 5 May 1908 and 6 May 1909.
Who. Circa 1908 – 9. Published in the Karmayogin on 13 November
1909.