Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

702 Collected Poems
he was the editor of the weekly journal Karmayogin, in which several
of his poems appeared. In February 1910 he went from Calcutta to
Chandernagore, and six weeks later to Pondicherry, where he spent
the rest of his life.
Satirical Poem Published in 1907
Reflections of Srinath Paul, Rai Bahadoor, on the Present Discontents.
This poem was published on 5 April 1907 in the daily Bande Mataram.
This political newspaper, edited by Sri Aurobindo and others, carried
a number of satirical poems, most of which were the work of Sri
Aurobindo’s colleague Shyam Sundar Chakravarti. This piece is the
exception. Sri Aurobindo remembered writing it in 1942 when his poems
were being collected for publication in Collected Poems and Plays.
(It was not published in that collection because the file of the daily
Bande Mataram was not then available.) Later the poem was independently
ascribed to Sri Aurobindo by Hemendra Prasad Ghose, another
Bande Mataram editor and writer, who was in a way responsible for
its composition. In his report on the session of the Bengal Provincial
Conference held in Behrampore in 1907, Hemendra Prasad wrote that
the chairman of the Reception Committee, a loyalist named Srinath
Paul (who bore the honourary British title Rai Bahadoor), finished his
address “perspiring and short of breath” (Bande Mataram, 2 April
1907). This phrase moved Sri Aurobindo to write this amusing piece
of political satire. It was published under the heading “By the Way”,
which was the headline he used for his occasional column in Bande
Mataram. The same words were used in place of a signature at the end.
Short Poems Published in 1909 and 1910
The Mother of Dreams. 1908 – 9. Published in the Modern Review in
July 1909, two months after Sri Aurobindo’s release from the Alipore
Jail. The following note was appended to the text: “This poem was
composed by Mr. Aurobindo Ghose in the Alipore Jail, of course without
the aid of any writing materials. He committed it to memory and
wrote it down after his release. There are several other poems of his,
composed in jail.”