Sacrifice — manuscript transcription RBVBMS_082
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- Catalogue identifier
- klm000033
- Alternate titles and import identifiers
- KLM000033; Sacrifice
- Author or attribution
- Rabindranath Tagore
- Record type
- Manuscript
- Language
- English
- Date / edition
- Digital edition undated; Bichitra project copyright 2013; underlying English play published 1917
- Source / repository
- Bichitra: Online Tagore Variorum, School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University
- Access
- Open access
- Subjects
- KLM Research Sources — 5 November 2026; Bengali Kali Literature; Historical Manuscripts and Critical Editions; Translations and Commentaries; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion
Description and curator notes
This manuscript witness preserves Tagore’s English dramatic treatment of a conflict over sacrifice at a Kali temple in Tripura. King Govinda’s prohibition brings royal authority into confrontation with the priest Raghupati, while Jaising, Aparna and Queen Gunavati expose the emotional costs of devotion interpreted through coercion and bloodshed. The transcript retains deletions, insertions and marked illegibilities, making it useful for studying revision rather than simply reading a normalized performance text. Its dedication connects the drama’s sacrificial language to resistance to war. The closing transformation redirects divine motherhood toward human compassion. This is a significant literary critique and reinterpretation of Kali imagery, not a neutral historical report of temple practice. The digital witness permits researchers to investigate how Tagore shaped the language of motherhood, religious authority and ethical protest.
Research source KLM000033. Source export dated 5 November 2026.
The evidence, access and licence assessments below are supplied by the curator document, not a new independent verification by this library.
Sacrifice — manuscript transcription RBVBMS_082
English title: Sacrifice
Author / attribution: Rabindranath Tagore
Publication: Bichitra: Online Tagore Variorum, School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University. Institutional transcript, numbered manuscript text sections 1–52; accompanying viewer reports 55 images. Related printed edition: The Sacrifice and Other Plays, London: Macmillan, 1917.
Date: Digital edition undated; Bichitra project copyright 2013; underlying English play published 1917
Type / language: Complete manuscript transcription / modern literary primary source; English
Complete text: https://bichitra.jdvu.ac.in/manuscript/manuscript_viewer.php?manid=87&mname=RBVBMS_082
Source record: https://bichitra.jdvu.ac.in/bibliography/master_list_drama.php
Identifier: RBVBMS_082; Bichitra manid 87
This manuscript witness preserves Tagore’s English dramatic treatment of a conflict over sacrifice at a Kali temple in Tripura. King Govinda’s prohibition brings royal authority into confrontation with the priest Raghupati, while Jaising, Aparna and Queen Gunavati expose the emotional costs of devotion interpreted through coercion and bloodshed. The transcript retains deletions, insertions and marked illegibilities, making it useful for studying revision rather than simply reading a normalized performance text. Its dedication connects the drama’s sacrificial language to resistance to war. The closing transformation redirects divine motherhood toward human compassion. This is a significant literary critique and reinterpretation of Kali imagery, not a neutral historical report of temple practice. The digital witness permits researchers to investigate how Tagore shaped the language of motherhood, religious authority and ethical protest.
Subjects: Bengali Kali Literature; Historical Manuscripts and Critical Editions; Translations and Commentaries; Philosophy, Theology, and Comparative Religion
Historical context: Modern Bengali literary reception and critique of sacrifice in a fictionalized Tripura royal/temple setting. Not an ethnographic description, scripture, or evidence that all Kali worship involved the practices dramatized.
Composition / witness: Bengali Bisarjan first published 1890 (1297 Bengali era), per Jadavpur Bichitra bibliography; English adaptation printed 1917. RBVBMS_082; exact manuscript date not established in inspected metadata
Rights: Freely readable institutional transcription; Jadavpur website states all rights reserved. Link to this edition; do not reproduce its full transcription or scans without applicable permission. Underlying Tagore text historical/public-domain status is distinct from edition rights.
Evidence / reading limits: Inspected dedication, opening dialogue, substantial middle conflict and final scene, plus transcription notation key. Not a complete line-by-line collation against manuscript images. Occasional +++ marks denote illegible source words.
Access verified: 5 November 2026. Complete text checked in the research catalog; full-text access rechecked for this export. Absent from the 401-record site comparison at 02:48–02:49 UTC.
Source access
Rights and reading conditions
Freely readable institutional transcription; Jadavpur website states all rights reserved. Link to this edition; do not reproduce its full transcription or scans without applicable permission. Underlying Tagore text historical/public-domain status is distinct from edition rights.
Citation
Rabindranath Tagore. Sacrifice — manuscript transcription RBVBMS_082. Bichitra: Online Tagore Variorum, School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University. Institutional transcript, numbered manuscript text sections 1–52; accompanying viewer reports 55 images. Related printed edition: The Sacrifice and Other Plays, London: Macmillan, 1917. Digital edition undated; Bichitra project copyright 2013; underlying English play published 1917. RBVBMS_082; Bichitra manid 87.
This page supplies catalogue metadata and links. It does not reproduce the underlying source text. Historical, religious, healing and interpretive claims belong to the cited sources, not to an independent verification by this catalogue.