Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

706 Collected Poems
Karmayogin early in 1910. (See the Note on the Texts to Early Cultural
Writings, volume 1 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO,for
more information on this “Chandernagore Manuscript”.) In the middle
of February 1910, Sri Aurobindo left Calcutta for Chandernagore,
where he remained for six weeks before departing for Pondicherry.
It would appear that he left the manuscript containing these poems
behind in Chandernagore, that someone there made copies of the poems
and other contents of the manuscript, and that at some point the
original manuscript was sent to him in Pondicherry. (See Arun Chandra
Dutt, ed., Light to Superlight [Calcutta: Prabartak Publishers, 1972],
p. 207.) In 1920 – 21 defective texts of the poems (as well as some of
the other contents of the manuscript) were published in the Standard
Bearer, a journal brought out from Chandernagore. Sometime after
their publication, Sri Aurobindo revised the Standard Bearer texts.
In 1942, the Standard Bearer versions were given to Sri Aurobindo
for further revision before inclusion in Collected Poems and Plays.
Evidently he and the editors of the volume had by this time forgotten
about the existence of the original manuscripts. These manuscripts,
however, are superior to the defective Standard Bearer texts and also
to the 1942 version, which is based on those texts. The editors of
the present volume have therefore based the texts printed here on the
original manuscripts, incorporating the deliberate changes made by Sri
Aurobindo in 1942. The texts printed in Collected Poems and Plays
are included in the Reference Volume.
The Rakshasas. 1910. This poem was intended for the first issue of
the Karmayogin to be printed from the manuscript described in the
above note. A corrupt version was printed in the Standard Bearer on
14 November 1920. This version was revised by Sri Aurobindo for
inclusion in Collected Poems and Plays in 1942. The present version
is based on the original manuscript.
Kama. 1910. This poem was intended for the second issue of the
Karmayogin to be printed from the manuscript described in the above
note. A corrupt version was printed in the Standard Bearer on 27
March 1921. This version was revised by Sri Aurobindo for inclusion
in Collected Poems and Plays in 1942. The present version is based on
the original manuscript.