HIMACHAL TOURISM

SRI AMARNATH JI YATRA

The Legend

There is famous Rigvedic Verse that says "Ekam Sat " that is "There is one Being, the sages call him by many names." The  God (Parmeshwar) has three deities who carry on the world .This is Known as Holy Trinity. Brahma- the creator, Vishnu - the perpetuator of life and Shiva (Mahesh ) -the purifier and perpetuator of good and destroyer of evil. Rig Veda refer Shiva as Rudra as in its following verse .  "We Worship Tryambaka (Rudra) , Who spread Fragrance and Increases Nourishment , May He release me, like the cucumber from its stem, From Mortal Life, But not From Immorality. "(Rig Veda Mandal VII Sukta 59 and Mantra 12)

    The Yajurveda describes Shiva as ascetic warrior Whose robe is of Deer Skin  and he carries Trishul. 
According to the verse Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram the life is described as having three facets Truth (Satyam), Good (Shivam) and the Beautiful (Sundaram).

        Shiva is a living God. The most Sacred and  ancient books of India, the Rig Veda narrates his presence in the hymns. Vedic myths, rituals and even astronomy testifies to His existence from the dawn of time. The Mohinjodaro and Harappa findings confirm Shiva worship in the ancient India. According to the older scriptures, He has three places of his residence. One is  Kailash Parvat another is Lohit Giri under which Brahamputra flows and third is Muzwan Parvat. 

  The Amarnath Cave has special significance .
    The  Legend about the  importance of Amarnath Cave is as follows :-

      This is The Cave which was chosen by Bhole Shankar  for narrating the secrets of immortality and creation of Universe to Maa Parvati ji. The story goes like this. Centuries ago Maa Parvati asked Shiv ji  to  let her know why and when  he started wearing the beads of heads ( Mund Mala). Bhole Shankar replied when ever you are born  I add one more head in my beads. Maa Parvati said, " My Lord, my body is destroyed every time and I die again and again, but you are Immortal. Please let me know the secret of this ." Bhole Shankar replied that it is due to Amar Katha ."

         Maa Parvati insisted that she may be told that secret. For long Shiva ji continued postponing .   Finally on consistent demand from Maa Parvati he made up his mind to tell the immortal secret . He started  for lonely place where no living being could listen it. He choose Amarnath Cave. In preparation to that he left his Nandi ( The Bull which he used to ride ) at Pahalgam (Bail gaon). At Chandanwari he released Moon from his hairs (Jataon). At the banks of Lake Sheshnag he released the snakes. He decided to leave his son Ganesha at Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh Hill ). At Panchtarni, Shivji  left the Five Elements behind (Earth , Water, Air , Fire and Sky) which make living being. He is the Lord of these elements. It is believed that as a symbol of sacrificing the earthly world, Shivaji and Maa Parvati  had Tandav Dance. After leaving behind all these, Bhole Shankar enters the Holy Amarnath Cave along with Parvati Maa. Lord Shiva takes his Samadhi on the Deer Skin and concentrate . To ensure that no living being is able to hear the Immortal Tale, He created Rudra named Kalagni and ordered him to spread fire to eliminate every living thing in and around the Holy Cave. After this he started narrating  the secret of immortality to Maa Parvati. But as a matter of chance one egg which was lying beneath the Deer skin remained protected. It is believed to be non living and more over it was protected by Shiva -Parvati Asan (Bed). The pair of pigeons which were born out of this egg became immortal  having listened the secret of immortality (Amar Katha). 

 Many pilgrims report seeing the pair of pigeons when they trek the arduous route to pay their obeisance before the Ice-Lingam (the phallic symbol of Shiva).

Discovery of Holy Cave
The story narrated by people about the discovery of this Holy Cave  is of  a Gujjar ( shepherd) Buta Malik . He is given the credit of discovering this Holy Cave. Story goes like this, that a saint gave Buta Malik a bag full of Coal. On reaching his home when he opened the bag , to his utter surprise the bag was full of gold coins. This made him overwelmed with joy. He ran to thank the Saint. But,  what he found was that the Saint had disappeared. Instead, he found  The Holy Cave and Shiv Lingam in there. He announced the discovery of this to the Villagers. Then onwards this has become the sacred place of Pilgrimage .

    The ancient epics narrate an other  story which  goes like this. The valley of Kashmir was under water. It was a big lake. Kashyap Rishi drained the water through number of rivers and rivulets . In those days Bhrigu Rishi came that way on a visit to The Himalyas. He was the first to have Darshans of this Holy Cave. When people heard of the Lingam, Amarnath for them became Shiva’s abode and a Centre of pilgrimage. Since then Lacs of devotees perform the pilgrimage through tough terrain and avail eternal happiness.

The trek to Amarnath, in the month of sharavan ( July–August) has the devout flock to this incredible shrine, where the image of Shiva, in the form of a Lingam, is formed naturally of an Ice Stalagmite, which waxes and wanes with the Moon's cycle. By its side are fascinating, two more Ice Lingams, that of  Maa Parvati and of their son, Ganesha .

Route Map

Situated in a narrow gorge at the farther end of the Lidder Valley, Amarnath Holy Cave stands at 3,888 mtrs. and is 363 kms. from Jammu Via Pahalgam and about 414 kms. from Jammu Via Baltal. The detailed description of the two routes to the Holy Cave is given below:

 How to Reach
                 One can reach the first part of journey through ;

 Air:
         The nearest aerodrome is Srinagar. Srinagar is a beautiful valley having world famous sights to see, such as Dal Lake, Nagina Lake, Shankaracharya Temple, Mughal Gardens and what not. It is the most sought after  tourist place. It is also known as "Paradise on earth". Srinagar is summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir. There are daily flights to Srinagar from Delhi and Jammu. On some week days flights also pickup  passengers from Chandigarh and Amritsar .

 Rail:
           Jammu is the nearest Railway Station . Jammu is winter Capital of Jammu & Kashmir. Jammu is a beautiful city and is also known as "CITY OF TEMPLES". One may  visit old temples such as Raghunath Temple , Mahadev Mandir and other temples . It is well connected with all stations of India.The various trains coming to Jammu are listed here below.

Road :
          Jammu and Srinagar are also connected through road. Buses and Taxies are also available for this part of the  journey .These can be hired on daily as well as full tour basis.
How to Reach Amarnath Holy Cave :
          Though it is tough route still nearly one and a half  lac pilgrims visit  every year . The number of pilgrims is increasing every year. The journey from Jammu onward is by road and there are two routes.

Stephen Hawking 

Stephen Hawking was born January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England. From an early age, he showed a passion for science and the sky. At age 21, while studying cosmology at Cambridge, Hawking was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Despite his debilitating illness, he has done ground-breaking work in physics and cosmology and his several books strive to make science accessible to everyone.

Early Life
The eldest of Frank and Isobel Hawking’s four children, Stephen William Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of the death ofGalileo, which has long been a source of pride for the noted physicist. Stephen was born into a family of thinkers. At a time when few women thought of going to college, the Scottish-born Isobel earned her way into Oxford University in the 1930s, making her one of the college’s first female students. Frank Hawking, another Oxford graduate, was a respected medical researcher with a specialty in tropical diseases.

Stephen Hawking’s birth came at an inopportune time for his parents, who didn’t have much money. The political climate was also tense, as England was dealing with World War II and the onslaught of German bombs. In an effort to seek a safer place to have their first child, Frank moved his pregnant wife from their London home to Oxford. The Hawkings would go on to have two other children, Mary (1943) and Philippa (1947). A second son, Edward, was adopted in 1956.

The Hawkings, as one close family friend described them, were an “eccentric” bunch. Dinner was often eaten in silence, each of the Hawkings intently reading a book. The family car was an old London taxi, and their home in St. Albans was a three-story fixer-upper that never quite got fixed. The Hawkings also kept bees in the basement and made fireworks in the greenhouse.

In 1950, Stephen’s father took work as the head of the Division of Parasitology at the National Institute of Medical Research, and spent the winter months in Africa doing research. He wanted his eldest child to go into medicine, but from an early age Stephen showed a passion for science and the sky. That was evident to his mother, who, along with her children, often stretched out in the backyard on summer evenings to stare up at the stars. “Stephen always had a strong sense of wonder,” she remembered. “And I could see that the stars would draw him.”

Early in his academic life Stephen, while recognized as bright, was not an exceptional student. At one point in high school, his mother recalled, he was third from the bottom of his class. Instead, Stephen turned his mind loose on pursuits outside of school. He loved board games, and with a few close friends created new games of their own. At the age of 16 Stephen, along with several buddies, constructed a computer out of recycled parts for solving rudimentary mathematical equations.

He was also on the go a lot. “Always on the move,” said a family friend. “Hardly ever still.” With his sister Mary, Stephen, who loved to climb, devised different entry routes into the family home. He remained active even after he entered Oxford University at the age of 17. He loved to dance, and also took an interest in rowing, becoming one of the Oxford rowing team’s coxswain.

To his father’s chagrin, Hawking finally said no to medicine, instead expressing a desire to study mathematics. But since Oxford didn’t offer a mathematics degree, Hawking gravitated toward physics and, more specifically, cosmology.

By his own account, Hawking didn’t put much time into his studies. He would later calculate that he averaged about an hour a day focusing on school. And yet he didn’t really have to do much more than that. In 1962, he graduated with honors and moved on to Cambridge University for a Ph.D. in cosmology.

ALS Diagnosis
While Stephen first began to notice problems with his physical health at Oxford—on occasion he would trip and fall, or slur his speech— he didn’t look into the problem until 1963, during his first year at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept these minor symptoms to himself. But when his father took notice of the condition, he sent Stephen to see a doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college student made his home at a medical clinic, where he underwent a series of tests.

“They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X-rays, as they tilted the bed,” he said. “After all that, they didn’t tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an a-typical case.”

Eventually, however, doctors did inform the Hawkings about what was ailing their son: He was in the early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves that controled his muscles were shutting down. Doctors gave him two and a half years to live.

It was devastating news for Stephen and his family. A few events, however, prevented him from becoming completely despondent. The first of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going through, Stephen reflected later, his situation seemed more tolerable. Not long after he was released from the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going to be executed. He said this dream made him realize that there were still things to do with his life.

But the most significant change in his life was the fact that he was in love. At a New Year’s party in 1963, shortly before he had been diagnosed with ALS, Stephen Hawking met a young languages undergraduate named Jane Wilde. They were married in 1965.

In a sense, Hawking’s disease helped him become the noted scientist he is today. Before the diagnosis, Stephen Hawking hadn’t always focused on his studies. “I was bored with life before my illness,” he said. “There had not seemed to be anything worth doing.” With the sudden realization that he might not even live long enough to earn his Ph.D., Hawking poured himself into his work and research.

Research on Black Holes
Groundbreaking findings from another young cosmologist, Roger Penrose, about the fate of stars and the creation of black holes tapped into Hawking’s own fascination with how the universe began. This set him on a career course that reshaped the way the world thinks about black holes and the universe.

While physical control over his body diminished (he’d be forced to use a wheelchair by 1969), the effects of his disease started to slow down. In 1968, a year after the birth of his son Robert, Stephen Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge.

The next few years were a fruitful time for Hawking. A daughter, Lucy, was born to Stephen and Jane in 1969 (a third child, Timothy, arrived 10 years later), while Hawking continued with his research. He then published his first book, the highly technical The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (1975). He also teamed up with Penrose to expand upon his friend’s earlier work.

In 1974, Stephen Hawking’s research turned him into a celebrity within the scientific world when he showed that black holes aren’t the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were. In simple terms, Hawking demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. Hawking Radiation was born.

The announcement sent shock waves of excitement through the scientific world, and put Hawking on a path that’s been marked by honors, notoriety and distinguished titles. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 32, and later earned the prestigiousAlbert Einstein Award. In 1975 he journeyed to Rome, where he was honored with the Pius XI Gold Medal for Science from Pope Paul VI.

Teaching stints followed, too. One was at Caltech at Pasadena, California, where Hawking served as visiting professor for a year. Another was at Gonville & Caius College in Cambridge, England. In 1979, Hawking found himself back at Cambridge University, where he was named to one of teaching’s most renowned posts: the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. Dating back to 1663, the position has been held by just 14 other people, including Sir Isaac Newton.

A Brief History of Time
Hawking’s ever-expanding career was accompanied, however, by his ever-worsening physical state. By the mid-1970s, the Hawking family had taken in one of Stephen’s graduate students to help manage his care and work. He could still feed himself and get out of bed, but virtually everything else required assistance. In addition, his speech had become increasingly slurred, so that only those who knew him well could understand him. In 1985 he lost his voice for good following a tracheotomy. The resulting situation required 24-hour nursing care for the acclaimed physicist.

It also put in peril Hawking’s ability to do his work. The predicament caught the attention of a California computer programmer, who had developed a speaking program that could be directed by head or eye movement. The invention allowed Hawking to select words on a computer screen that were then passed through a speech synthesizer. At the time of its introduction, Hawking, who still had use of his fingers, selected his words with a handheld clicker. Today, with virtually all control of his body gone, Hawking directs the program through a cheek muscle attached to a sensor.

Through the program, and the help of assistants, Stephen Hawking has continued to write at a prolific rate. His work has included numerous scientific papers, of course, but also information for the non-scientific community.

In 1988 Hawking, a recipient of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, catapulted to international prominence with the publication of A Brief History of Time. The short, informative book became an account of cosmology for the masses. The work was an instant success, spending more than four years atop the London Sunday Times’ best-seller list. Since its publication, it has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages. But it also wasn’t as easy to understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking followed up his book with The Universe in a Nutshell, which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s big theories. Four years later, he authored the even more accessible A Briefer History of Time.

Together the books, along with Hawking’s own research and papers, articulate the physicist’s personal search for science’s Holy Grail: a single unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the small) to explain how the universe began. It’s this kind of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some big possibilities for humankind. He’s convinced that time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed colonize other planets in the future.

Space Travel and Further Fame
Hawking’s quest for big answers to big questions includes his own personal desire to travel into space. In 2007, at the age of 65, Hawking made an important step toward space travel. While visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he was given the opportunity to experience an environment without gravity. Over the course of two hours over the Atlantic, Hawking, a passenger on a modified Boeing 727, was freed from his wheelchair to experience bursts of weightlessness. Pictures of the freely floating physicist splashed across newspapers around the globe.

“The zero-G part was wonderful and the higher-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!” he said.

If there is such a thing as a rock-star scientist, Stephen Hawking embodies it. His forays into popular culture have included guest appearances on The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation a comedy spoof with comedian Jim Carrey on Late Night with Conan O’Brien,

and even a recorded voice-over on the Pink Floyd song “Keep Talking.” In 1992, Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris released a documentary about Hawking’s life, aptly titled A Brief History of Time.

Of course, as it is with any celebrity, fame has brought with it an interest in Stephen Hawking’s personal life. And there have been some news-making events. In 1990, Stephen left his wife Jane for one of his nurses, Elaine Mason. The two were married in 1995, and the marriage put a strain on Hawking’s relationship with his own children, who claimed Elaine closed off their father from them. In 2004, nurses looking after Hawking reported their suspicions to police that Elaine was physically abusing her husband. Hawking denied the allegations, and the police investigation was called off.

In 2006, however, Hawking and Elaine filed for divorce. In the years since, the physicist has apparently grown closer with his family. He’s reconciled with Jane, who has remarried, and published a science book for children with his daughter, Lucy.

Hawking’s health, of course, remains a constant concern—a worry that was heightened in early 2009 when he failed to appear at a conference in Arizona because of a chest infection. In April 2009, Hawking, who had already announced he was retiring after 30 years from the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, was rushed to the hospital for being what university officials described as “gravely ill.” It was later announced that he was expected to make a full recovery.

Hawking is scheduled to fly to the edge of space as one of Sir Richard Branson’s pioneer space tourists. He said when asked about the subject in 2007, “Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons... First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space.”

In September 2010, Stephen Hawking spoke against the idea that God could have created the universe in his book The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that belief in a creator could be compatible with modern scientific theories. His new work, however, concludes that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of the laws of physics and nothing more. “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” Hawking says. “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”

The Grand Design  is Hawking’s first major publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, Hawking sets out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton’s belief that the universe had to have been designed by God, simply because it could not have been born from chaos. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going, “ Hawking said.

Hawking made news in 2012 for two very different projects. It was revealed in early April that he had participated in a 2011 trial of a new headband-styled device called the iBrain. The device is designed to “read” the wearer’s thoughts by picking up “waves of electrical brain signals,” which are then interpreted by a special algorithm, according to an article in The New York Times. This device could be a revolutionary aid to Hawking and others with ALS.

Also around this time, Hawking showed off his humorous side on American television. He made a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory, a popular comedy about a group of young, geeky scientists. Playing himself, Hawking brings the theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) back to Earth after finding an error in his work. Hawking earned kudos for this lighthearted effort.

Month by Month Pregnancy Guide

Month by Month Pregnancy Guide

Discovering you are pregnant is a joyous occasion. For the next nine months, you will go through many changes. Although each woman's pregnancy is different, this month-by-month guide to pregnancy may help you plan for some of the changes that may occur.
Month One, Two, and Three
1. Month Four
2. Month Five
3. Month Six
4. Month Seven
5. Month Eight
6. Month Nine
7. Month One, Two, and Three

Your Body
By the end of the third month, you may have gained several pounds. You may be particularly tired due to hormonal changes. Plan to get extra rest, sneaking in naps when you can and slow down. You should feel more energetic by the end of the third month.

You may need to urinate more frequently now. This is common during the first trimester of pregnancy, and again right before the baby is born.

For comfort, start wearing loosely fitting clothes.

See your practitioner by the second month to confirm your pregnancy. Regular check-ups will be scheduled for your prenatal care.

Your Diet

During the first three months you may feel queasy and sick. This is commonly called "morning sickness," but you may feel nauseous anytime during the day and night.

You can try several of these suggestions until you find the ones that work for you:
Eat a piece of bread or a few crackers before you get out of bed in the morning, or when you feel nauseated. Put them close to your bed the night before.
Get out of bed slowly. Avoid sudden movements.
Suck on a fresh lemon, or inhale the scent of a freshly cut lemon.
Eat small meals several times during the day so your stomach does not remain empty for long periods of time (Six small meals instead of three).
Eat high-protein meals (lean meats, vegetable proteins, beans, legumes), complex carbohydrate foods (crackers, breads, potatoes, rice) and fruit and fruit juices. Such foods help prevent low blood-sugar levels which can cause nausea.
Drink soups and other liquids between meals, rather than with meals.
Avoid greasy or fried foods. These foods are hard to digest and may cause nausea.
Even cooking such foods for others can cause nausea in some women.
Eat lightly seasoned foods and avoid spicy foods.
Sip soda water (no sodium carbonated water or ginger ale) when you feel nauseated. Try plain cola syrup.
Drink herbal teas such as spearmint, peppermint, raspberry leaf or ginger. Some herbs are contra-indicated for pregnancy.
Fresh air may help. Take a short walk or try sleeping with a window open.
While cooking, open windows or use the exhaust fan to get rid of odors.
Try cold foods such as popsicles or ice.


See Common Discomforts of Pregnancy for more information regarding morning sickness.

Common Discomforts of Pregnancy


Pregnancy is a time of both physical and emotional changes. Aside from the obvious changes in your body shape and the size of your uterus, shifts in hormonal levels and metabolism can contribute to various physical and emotional discomforts.

Although the pregnancy discomforts mentioned below are common, they are not experienced by all pregnant women and may not be a part of your pregnancy. It is important to remember:
You may need to try more than one remedy before you find one that works for you.
Good nutrition is especially important for a comfortable and healthy pregnancy. Eating well can minimize discomforts and help your body cope with the stress of daily life.
If you have a physical discomfort that is severe or does not go away, contact your health care provider.
If you have a chronic health condition, such as diabetes or asthma, it is very important that you see your health care provider throughout your pregnancy.

Backache
Breast Changes
Constipation
Difficulty Sleeping
Fatigue
Flat or Inverted Nipples
Headache
Heart Pounding
Heartburn or Intestinal Gas
Hemorrhoids
Light-Headedness/Dizziness
Mood Changes
Muscle Cramps
Nausea and Vomiting
Nosebleeds and Bleeding Gums
Pelvic Discomfort or Sciatica
Shortness of Breath
Skin Changes
Stretch Marks
Stuffy Nose/Food or Chemical Allergies
Swelling (Feet, Legs, Face and Hands)
Vaginal Discharge/Yeast Infections
Varicose Veins
Backache


Frequently, backaches occur as your increasing weight pulls your spine forward and shifts your center of gravity. See the section on "Pelvic Discomfort or Sciatica" for further details.

Prevention/Remedies
First, consider the possibility of backache as a symptom of pre-term labor. See the section on pre-term labor.
Practice good posture. Tuck your buttocks under and stand straight and tall. See the section on posture.
Always be careful when lifting objects. Bend your knees instead of bending over at the waist. Lift with your legs instead of your back.
Wear supportive shoes with low heels.
Exercise at least three times a week (swim, walk, stretch).
Join a prenatal exercise or yoga class. For information regarding prenatal exercise classes, call (415) 600-BABY or view our class listing.


The pelvic tilt exercise may be helpful in reducing discomfort. See section on prenatal exercises.
Consider wearing a maternity support belt to assist with alleviating some of the pressure. Also, maternity pants with a low, supportive waistband may be helpful.
Apply heat using warm bath soaks, warm wet towels, hot water bottle or heating pad.
Have a back massage.
Rest.
If the pain continues, ask your health care provider for a referral to a physical therapist.
Avoid medications. There are no medicines considered 100% safe for use during pregnancy. Aspirin and other painkillers such as ibuprofen may be potentially harmful. Ask your health care provider about medication to treat backache.

Breast Changes


In preparation for producing milk, your breasts will increase in size during pregnancy as your milk glands enlarge and there is an increase in fatty tissue. They may become tender and more sensitive and may tingle with temperature change or touch. As your blood supply increases, the blood vessels enlarge, bluish veins may appear on your breasts. The areola and nipple also darken and the Montgomery glands, the small pores around the areola, enlarge. Not all, but some women will notice in the last 3 months of pregnancy a substance leaking from the nipple. This is colostrum, which is produced before breast milk is. If you do not leak colostrum in the last part of pregnancy do not worry that you may not be able to produce breast milk.

If you do not have breast changes during pregnancy and you plan to breastfeed, other factors may be involved. If before becoming pregnant, you had breast surgery (i.e., biopsy reduction or implants), there are some special considerations.


Prevention/Remedies
Wear a supportive bra to ease the strain on your breasts and on your back muscles as your breasts become heavy. You may be more comfortable sleeping in a bra.
Wear disposable or washable breast pads if you are leaking colostrum.
Avoid soap on your areola and nipple, as this tends to try out the skin. Use warm water to keep the area clean.
If you are leaking, allow your breasts to air dry a few times a day and after a shower.
Cotton bras are preferable to those made of synthetic fabrics because cotton allows the skin to breathe. If you plan to nurse your baby, your nursing bras will probably be about one cup size larger than those you need in late pregnancy so purchase your nursing bras in your ninth month.
Nursing bras in a wide selection of sizes (32A - 461) and styles are available at Newborn Connections.

Constipation
During pregnancy, your digestive system slows down due to hormonal influences and your digestive organs are displaced due to the growing uterus. You may also become constipated from irregular eating habits, changes in environment, stress, and added calcium and iron in your diet. Some medicines, too little exercise and not enough fiber and liquids may also contribute to the problem. Constipation refers only to bowel movements that are hard in consistency or painful. Infrequent bowel movements are not unusual.

Prevention/Remedies 

Drink plenty of liquids, especially water (at least eight 8-ounce glasses daily).
Get more exercise, especially walking, for 1/2 hour a day.
Add high fiber foods to your diet. Eat raw or cooked fruits and vegetables, dried fruit (especially prunes), prune juice, bran (3 tablespoons daily), beans and whole grain products (such as whole wheat bread, brown rice and oatmeal).
Eat small, frequent meals and thoroughly chew your food.
Iron supplements can cause constipation. If you need to take iron supplements, take them with prune juice.
Avoid using any type of laxative other than bulk producing ones unless under the supervision of a health care provider.
Drink a glass of water before going to bed to help alleviate constipation.

Difficulty Sleeping

During pregnancy, some women have trouble falling or staying asleep. In the early months, difficulty sleeping may be a part of your body's adjustment to pregnancy. During the last few months, your increased size may make your normal sleeping position difficult, and the baby's kicking may awaken you during the night. Also, increased bladder pressure may cause you to wake up frequently during the night.

Prevention/Remedies
Exercise daily.
Take a warm, relaxing bath before bed.
Drink hot water with lemon or warm milk before going to bed. You may also try eating crackers or toast with a glass of milk before bed.
Reduce any noise or lighting which might keep you awake.
Avoid eating a big meal within two hours before going to bed.
Do childbirth preparation exercises such as deep breathing or other relaxation techniques.
Experiment to find the most comfortable sleeping positions. Lie on your side and place several pillows between your knees.
Starting at the 20th week of pregnancy, avoid sleeping on your back. The combined weight of your uterus and baby compress the major vessels which supply blood to the placenta and the lower part of your body. This could cause a decreased oxygen supply to your baby.
Book a massage through our Women's Health Resource Center.
Read a novel or other book of interest.
Avoid products that contain caffeine as they may keep you awake and may also be harmful to your baby.
Try to develop a regular sleeping schedule and routine. Try to include short rest periods during the day.
If you are unable to sleep, relax and don't worry. Sleeping patterns change in late pregnancy due to hormones. This can cause you to sleep for only 2 to 3 hours at a time, which is normal. Your wakefulness may be your body's way of preparing you for the upcoming changes in your life.
Avoid all sleeping medications. There are no safe medications to relieve sleeping difficulties during pregnancy. Some sleeping aid products contain multiple ingredients, some of which maybe harmful to your unborn baby.

Fatigue

Women often feel more tired than usual and need extra sleep during pregnancy. During the early months, fatigue is caused by natural hormonal changes as your body adjusts to pregnancy. During the last month or two, carrying the extra weight of the baby will be tiring. Fatigue is an important sign from your body that you need extra rest. Listen to your body , and do not push yourself!

Prevention/Remedies
Accept the fact that you need extra rest and pace your daily life accordingly.
Take naps when you feel tired. Sit down and put your feet up.
Try a rest break instead of a coffee break.
Eat small, well-balanced meals several times a day.
Exercise regularly. This will make you less, not more, tired.
Avoid taking on extra responsibilities during this time in your life.
Be sure to consume adequate calories, iron, and folic acid.
Avoid all medications for fatigue. There are no safe medicines you can take for fatigue during pregnancy.
Stimulants such as caffeine may be harmful.

If the suggestions offered above do not work for you, discuss your concerns with your health care provider. In some cases, fatigue maybe related to anemia.

Flat or Inverted Nipples


Most women with flat or inverted nipples successfully breastfeed. The nipple is the way the baby receives the milk, but it has nothing to do with the milk supply. If you plan on breastfeeding and have flat or inverted nipples, check with your health care provider or lactation specialist for recommendations, such as breast shells, that may help the nipple become more pronounced. Breast shells should not be used until the ninth month of pregnancy (approximately 36 weeks) as nipple stimulation may cause contractions and possible premature labor.


Headache


The increased blood volume and hormonal changes of pregnancy may cause headaches. Nasal congestion, fatigue, eyestrain, anxiety or tension may also increase the frequency of headaches.

Prevention/Remedies
Try to determine what triggers your headaches (coffee, cigarette smoke, stuffy rooms, fluorescent lights, eye strain, etc.) and avoid them whenever possible.
Apply a cool, wet washcloth or ice pack to your forehead and the back of your neck. (A warm cloth works better for some people.)
Try to get plenty of sleep every night, and rest during the day when possible.
Try to eat something every 2 to 3 hours.
Drink plenty of liquids.
Take a warm shower or relaxing bath.
Massage your neck, shoulders, face and scalp, or ask a friend to give you a massage.
Try to find a quiet place and relax.
Get some fresh air; take a walk.
Use meditation, self hypnosis and relaxation techniques. See section on Relaxation.


If you are having headaches that are severe, frequent, long-lasting, or accompanied by blurred vision (spots, blurred, lights flashing,) or edema (swelling), it is important to contact your health care provider immediately. Avoid all headache medications until you have spoken to your health care provider. No painkiller is considered 100 percent safe. NEVER take Aspirin in pregnancy! Painkillers such as aspirin and ibuprofen may be harmful if taken during pregnancy. Aspirin taken in the last three months of pregnancy may increase the risk of bleeding in the mother.


Heart Pounding


Occasional heart palpitations are usually a normal response of your body to the extra blood volume, additional weight and energy expenditure of pregnancy.

Prevention/Remedies
When you feel your heart pounding, let go of tension throughout your body. Start at your head and relax each part of your body until you reach your toes. (see other relaxationtips).
Take slow, deep breaths.
Limit activities that require vigorous exertion.
If you feel your heart pounding frequently or irregularly, contact your health care provider.


Heartburn or Intestinal Gas

Pregnant women may get heartburn because the stomach muscles relax and food tends to back up. Sometimes, the stomach makes more acid during pregnancy. The growing baby, pressing against the stomach, can force acid upward causing heartburn.

Prevention/Remedies
Greasy, fried, or highly seasoned foods may produce heartburn. Determine which foods give you heartburn, and avoid them.
Avoid both coffee and cigarettes, as they irritate the stomach and make heartburn worse.
Avoid mint teas, as they can contribute to heartburn.
Eat several small meals a day, rather than three large meals.
To help coat your stomach and esophagus, try sipping water, milk, carbonated water or papaya juice. You can also try 1/2 tablespoon or yogurt, heavy cream, half and half or a small dish of plain ice cream.
Drink plenty of liquids, especially water (six to eight 8-ounce glasses daily).
Wear clothing that is loose around your waist.
Don't lie down directly after eating. When you do lie down to sleep or rest, use pillows to slightly raise your head.
Avoid acidic foods, such as citrus fruits, tomatoes, red peppers and chocolate, as they can cause heartburn.
To reduce heartburn, try the "flying exercise." While standing, raise and lower your arms quickly, bringing the backs of your hands together over your head. Repeat several times.
A leisurely walk reduces heartburn for some women; for others, sitting quietly and breathing deeply is helpful.
Antacids may bring relief from heart burn by reducing stomach acid. Consult with your health care provider before taking any antacids. Ask which ones are low in salt. Use antacids only occasionally as they contain minerals that may be harmful in large amounts.
Products such as baking soda or Rolaids are high in salt and should not be taken. Heartburn medications that contain aspirin (such as Alka-Seltzer) should NEVER be taken during pregnancy.


If none of these suggestions work for you, talk to your healthcare provider.


Hemorrhoids


Hemorrhoids are varicose veins in the rectal area caused by the increased blood volume and additional weight of pregnancy. They may itch or burn during bowel movements, and sometimes bleed slightly.

Prevention/Remedies
Since constipation can make hemorrhoids worse, try to avoid becoming constipated.
Use bulk-producing laxatives, however, check with your healthcare provider before taking them.
Avoid sitting on the toilet for long periods of time or straining while having bowel movements. Put your feet upon a stool to reduce straining.
Pads of witch hazel (for example, Tucks) may help relieve pain and itching. It can be very helpful to refrigerate the pads, as they may be more soothing when applied cold.
An ice pack applied to hemorrhoids may bring some relief. Avoid hemorrhoid medicines that contain local anesthetics that may be harmful to your unborn baby.
A 15 to 20 minute warm bath three or four times each day relieves hemorrhoid discomfort.
Do Kegel exercises regularly. See section on prenatal exercises.
Avoid using a "doughnut" to sit on as this decreases blood circulation.

Light-Headedness/Dizziness


Light-headedness and/or dizziness are normal when you get up quickly but may be caused by low blood pressure. These symptoms may also result from low blood sugar or too little iron in your blood (anemia).

Prevention/Remedies
Change positions slowly. Move from lying down to sitting, then wait a minute before trying to stand up.
Avoid standing for long periods of time.
Take frequent rest periods.
Eat healthful foods high in iron in frequent small amounts throughout the day.


If your health care provider determines that you are anemic, iron supplements or a change in diet may be recommended.

Mood Changes

Being pregnant can lead to many conflicting emotions and mood changes. Many women are subject to sudden bursts of emotion that can be due to several factors including fatigue, stress and hormonal changes.

Prevention/Remedies
Talk over your feelings and concerns with a trusted person. Consider joining a pregnancy support group. Call (415) 600-BABY for a referral.
Continue activities that you enjoy. This is a great time for you and your partner to spend time together before the baby arrives.
Take time to pamper yourself. Hair and nails often grow quickly during pregnancy. Experiment with a new haircut and have a manicure.
Exercise on a regular basis. You may find prenatal exercise classes valuable in providing support from other pregnant mothers. Call (415) 600-BABY for a referral.
Avoid becoming overly fatigued. Take naps on a regular basis whenever possible. Even a 15-minute rest break can be helpful.
Be sure your diet is healthy and you have an adequate daily intake of protein and iron.
Attend classes, read books, and watch videos on various aspects of pregnancy, childbirth preparation and newborn care. Knowing what to expect will help ease tension. VisitNewborn Connections for a class schedule and information about the lending library. Two books to consider reading are:
Excited, Exhausted, Expecting - The Emotional Life of Mothers-To-Be. Arlene Modica Matthews, The Berkeley Publishing Group, New York, NY, 1995.


Shouldn't I Be Happy? - Emotional Problems of Pregnant and Postpartum Women. Shaila Misri, M.D., The Free Press, New York, NY, 1995.


Muscle Cramps


Muscle cramps are common during pregnancy, but the cause is difficult to determine. Possible causes include a calcium imbalance, pointing your toes when you stretch, or decreased circulation in your legs.

Prevention/Remedies:
Be sure to include enough calcium (1,000 mg/day) in your diet. Dairy products are an excellent source (3-4 glasses of milk or the equivalent of dairy products). Non-dairy sources of calcium include tofu, dark-green, leafy vegetables, such as broccoli or bok choy, okra, and blackstrap molasses. A traditional Chinese practice of making soups from bones and one tablespoon of cider vinegar is another way of adding calcium to your diet.
Exercise to increase the circulation in your legs.
Elevate your legs as often as possible.
Keep your legs warm.
Take a warm bath before you go to bed.
Do not point your toes when you stretch. Instea flex your feet by pulling your toes toward you knees.
Avoid lying on your back as this can decrease the circulation to your legs.
Loosen the bedding at the foot of your bed.
Before going to bed, stretch your calf muscles. Try leg lunges:
Stand in a lunge position with one foot well in front of the other.
Keep your back leg straight with your heel flat on the floor.
Gradually bend your front leg at the knee and lean forward. You can use your arms for balance by placing your hands against a wall.
Hold for a few seconds and repeat.
Switch legs.


What to do when you are having a leg cramp:

Sit down; straighten your legs and flex your toes towards your nose. You can accomplish the same thing by sitting on the floor and having someone push down on your knees while pulling your toes towards your nose.
Massage the cramped muscles, although sometimes applying an ice pack is more effective.
When you are able, stand up and walk around.
Soak your cramped muscles in warm water or use a heating pad.
Avoid all medicines for leg cramps. There are no safe medicines you can take during pregnancy for leg cramps.

If the suggestions above do not work for you, consult your healthcare provider.

Nausea and Vomiting


Nausea sometimes occurs early in pregnancy and usually goes away after the third month. Although it's called "morning sickness," it can happen any time of the day or night or you may never experience nausea. Different remedies help different women. Try several of these suggestions until you find the ones that work for you.

Prevention/Remedies
Eat a piece of bread or a few crackers before you get out of bed in the morning, or when you feel nauseated. Put them close to your bed the night before.
Get out of bed slowly. Avoid sudden movements.
Suck on a fresh lemon, or inhale the scent of a freshly cut lemon.
Avoid an empty stomach by eating small meals several times during the day (six small meals instead of three larger meals).
Eat high-protein meals (lean meats, vegetable proteins, beans, legumes), complex carbohydrate foods (crackers, breads, potatoes, rice) and fruit and fruit juices. Such foods help prevent low blood-sugar levels which can cause nausea.
Drink soups and other liquids between meals, rather than with meals.
Avoid greasy or fried foods. These foods are hard to digest and may cause nausea. Even cooking such foods for others can cause nausea in some women. While cooking, open windows or use the exhaust fan to get rid of odors.
Eat lightly seasoned foods and avoid spicy foods.
Sip soda water (carbonated water or ginger ale) when you feel nauseated. Try plain cola syrup.
Fresh air may help. Take a short walk or try sleeping with a window open.
Drink spearmint, peppermint, red raspberry or ginger teas.
Try cold foods such as popsicles or ice.
Check with your health care provider regarding the use of vitamin B6 or alternative treatments such as acupressure, wrist bands, papaya tablets or ginger capsules. For more information regarding complementary therapies, visit theInstitute for Health and Healing.


Avoid any anti-nausea medicines which you can buy without a prescription. Some over-the-counter anti-nausea medications contain antihistamines that have been shown to cause birth defects in animals.


If the suggestions above do not work for you, contact your healthcare provider. If you are unable

Nosebleeds and Bleeding Gums

Nasal membranes become swollen due to the increased blood volume of pregnancy and may cause nosebleeds in some women. During pregnancy, an increased supply of hormones as well as the increase in your blood volume may cause tenderness, swelling and bleeding of your gums. A lack of Vitamin C in you diet may also contribute to this condition.

Prevention/Remedies:
During a nosebleed, lie down and apply pressure and cold compresses to your nose.
A higher level of humidity in your surroundings will help decrease the incidence of nosebleeds. Use a humidifier if the air in your home tends to be very dry.
Try a thin coating of petroleum jelly in each nostril, especially at bedtime.
Continue practicing good oral hygiene.
Check to see that you are getting enough Vitamin C from foods as this vitamin promotes strong tissues. However, avoid excessive vitamin supplementation. Consult with your health care provider for recommendations.

Pelvic Discomfort or Sciatica

During pregnancy, the pelvic joints relax in order to increase the size and flexibility of the pelvis in preparation for birth. This may cause pressure on the sciatic nerve, and may be felt as pain in the pelvic area, down the thigh and into the leg.

At times a discomfort known as "Round Ligament Pain" can take your breath away. You may be walking and suddenly feel a "knife stabbing" pain on one or both sides of your lower abdomen or groin or feel a spasm in your vagina or rectum. As quickly as it came on, it may go away. There are ligaments that hold the uterus in place. One is on both sides of the uterus and the third goes across the pelvic floor. As the uterus grows, these ligaments stretch like a rubber band. Any sudden movement or position change can cause them to spasm.

Prevention/Remedies:
A heating pad or hot water bottle may bring some relief.
Massage may be helpful.
Experiment with different positions to find the one that's most comfortable for you. Try sleeping on your side, with one leg forward supported on a pillow and the other back, as if you were running.
Use proper body mechanics when lifteng, bending and stretching during your pregnancy and following your delivery. See the posture section for suggestions.
The pelvic tilt may be helpful in reducing discomfort.
Consider wearing a maternity support belt to help alleviate some of the pressure.


If the suggestions above do not work for you, contact your helathcare provider. If you have abdominal pain and it continues or becomes stronger as time goes on, call your healthcare provider immediately. If you are unable to contact your provider, go to the hospital.


Shortness of Breath


Your growing uterus puts pressure on your internal organs and diaphragm, which leaves less room for your lungs to expand and leads to shortness of breath. Going up a flight of stairs is tough towards the end of pregnancy and you will find it harder to breathe. At night, it becomes harder to find a comfortable position without difficulty breathing.

Prevention/Remedies:
Hold your arms over your head. This raises your rib cage and temporarily gives you more breathing space.
Try sleeping with your head elevated by pillows.
Practice very slow deep breathing while relaxing. It will help you use your lung space to its greatest capacity.
Slow down when climbing stairs.


In the last few weeks of pregnancy, lightening occurs, which is when the baby drops into the pelvis. Once this happens, the pressure is off the diaphragm, your lungs will have more room and breathing becomes much easier.

Skin Changes

Due to hormonal changes, which occur during pregnancy, it is normal to have a brown coloring on your cheeks, nose and forehead, known as chloasma or "the mask of pregnancy". It is also normal for your nipples to become darker and to have a dark line on your abdomen from your navel down to your pubic bone called the linea nigra. Be reassured that the hormone that causes this increase in pigmentation and discoloration will decrease after your baby is born, and the spots will fade or disappear after delivery.

Some women will have a problem with acne or skin breakouts during pregnancy. Do not take any oral medications for this problem without your healthcare provider's advice.

Prevention/Remedies
Avoid sunburn, which may deepen skin coloring.
For acne or breakouts, wash your face as you normally would.

Stretch Marks

About 90% of pregnant women experience stretch marks. There is nothing you can put on your skin to prevent stretch marks. Stretch marks are a type of scar tissue which forms when the skin's normal elasticity is not sufficient to accommodate the stretching required during pregnancy. Excessive weight gain in pregnancy is the most common cause for stretch marks. Stretch marks occur most frequently on the abdomen, but some women also develop them on their thighs, and upper arms. Fair-haired women, blondes, and redheads tend to have very red looking stretch marks, and brunettes may get them as well. Although stretch marks may not disappear entirely after delivery, those that remain usually fade to a lighter, silvery color.

Prevention/Remedies
Ensure that your diet contains sufficient foods high in protein. This will help your skin stay healthy.
Keeping your skin soft and moisturized won't prevent stretch marks, but it may help minimize itching. Try a gentle massage with a moisturizing lotion.

Stuffy Nose/Food or Chemical AllergiesSometimes a stuffy nose and allergies occur during pregnancy even among women who have not experienced them before. Antihistamines, the usual remedy for watery eyes and a runny nose, may be harmful to your unborn baby

Prevention/Remedies
Try to determine what it is you are allergic to, and avoid it if possible.
Smoking or being in a smoke-filled room can make your allergies worse.
You may help clear a stuffy nose by breathing steam from a hot shower, a pot of boiling water (removed from the stove first) or a vaporizer. If you use a vaporizer, be sure to keep it clean to prevent bacteria and mold from growing. A cool mist humidifier may also bring relief.
Place warm, moist towels on your face to make it easier to cough and clear your chest. If you have a cold, try drinking hot soups.

Salt-water nose drops (made from 1/4 teaspoon of salt dissolved in 1 cup of warm water) may be helpful. Make a fresh solution each time you need to use the drops.
Use finger pressure or massage your sinuses (rub on the bony ridge above and under your eyebrows, under your eyes and down the sides of your nose).

Medications to Avoid

Avoid using nasal sprays or drops (except salt-water drops) because they work by shrinking blood vessels, and may affect your whole body and your baby.

Do not take cold or allergy medicines that contain antihistamines. Ask your healthcare provider if you are uncertain as to whether a product contains antihistamines.

Swelling (Feet, Legs, Face and Hands)

During pregnancy, it is normal to experience swelling of the feet, legs and hands that makes the skin feel tight. The amount of blood in your body increases about 40 percent. In addition, your body naturally holds water. Your heart needs to work harder to circulate this extra fluid. For about one out of three women, swelling of the hands and feet occurs during the last three months of pregnancy and is often greater during hot weather. Some swelling or puffiness is not unusual or serious, but it can be uncomfortable.

Prevention/Remedies
Eat foods high in protein, such as beans, cheese, fish, meat, poultry and tofu.
Try to avoid standing for long periods of time.
Drink the fresh juice of a lemon in a cup of warm water to help decrease fluid retention.
Rest two or three times a day with your legs elevated higher than your heart. Lie down with pillows under your calves and feet or on your left side.
Avoid wearing tight clothing such as pants, leotards and knee-high stockings. Varicose veins may be associated with swelling.
Exercise regularly by walking or swimming.
Avoid sitting with your legs crossed. Use a footstool when sitting and perform ankle circles whenever possible.
Check your fluid intake and drink when thirsty.


Note: Puffiness of the eyelids, face and fingers, if accompanied by high blood pressure, headaches, or blurred vision may be a sign of a more serious condition called Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH). Be aware of warning signals, and contact your health care provider immediately if you are having these symptoms or are concerned. PIH is a condition only related to pregnancy and requires medical attention.

 Medications to Avoid


There are no safe medications for swelling.
Diuretics or "water pills" can cause an imbalance in the salt and potassium levels in your body, and this can be dangerous for you and your baby.

Vaginal Discharge/Yeast Infections


Increased blood supply and hormones cause the vagina to increase its normal secretions and alter the chemistry (pH). This can create a more fertile setting for the common vaginal infection, monilia (yeast).

Prevention/Remedies
Wear skirts rather than slacks.
Wear 100% cotton underwear.
Avoid douching during pregnancy unless advised by your healthcare provider.
Call your healthcare provider if the discharge burns, itches, has an odor, or causes genital swelling.
Consider eating yogurt on a daily basis to increase the helpful bacteria in your system.

Medications to Avoid


Pregnancy limits the choice of medications that are safe to use to treat yeast infections. Be sure to check with your health care provider before using medication previously prescribed or over-the-counter remedies.

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins develop from weak areas in the walls of blood vessels and are due in part to heredity. The veins may swell in the leg and groin area. This is common during pregnancy and may be caused by the pressure and weight of the baby and uterus.

Prevention/Remedies
Exercise regularly. Walking and swimming are ideal for improving circulation.
Avoid clothing which binds or is tight, especially knee-high stockings. Tight clothing may decrease blood circulation in your legs.
Wear support hose when you plan on standing or walking for a long time. Put them on before you get out of bed in the morning. NOTE: Some health insurance policies may pay for support hose if you have a prescription. Check with your insurance provider.
Avoid standing or sitting in one place for long periods of time if possible. If you need to sit for a long time, get up occasionally and walk around. This is important during long automobile, airplane, train or bus trips.
Avoid sitting with your legs crossed, as this decreases the circulation in your legs.
Lie down with your feet elevated above the level of your heart several times during the day.
Wear shoes with well-padded soles and low heels to reduce stress on your legs from walking.
If exercise or movement is restricted during your pregnancy, consider isometric exercises which tone muscles and promote circulation.


Calcium is very important for both you and your baby's bones and teeth. An easy way to include calcium in your diet is to eat dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.

Eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, and bran cereal to avoid constipation.

Be sure to drink plenty of water.

Your Feelings
Talk to your partner about how you are feeling. Ask for help, especially if you are tired. During this time you may be feeling overweight and clumsy. Remember the extra weight is preparing your body for pregnancy and breastfeeding, not fat.

During pregnancy, it is common to have mood swings in your feelings about sex. It is not harmful to have sexual relations during pregnancy. But remember, it is very important to practice safe sex to protect you and your baby. Be sure to check with your healthcare provider about sexual activity during this time.

Read more about the First Trimester in our Healthwise Database.

Month Four

Your Body
You may notice you have more energy. Nausea and fatigue may stop. You may also notice that your belly will look larger because the baby has grown.

Your Diet
During pregnancy, your need for iron increases. To be sure you are getting enough iron, eat meats, leafy green vegetables, whole grain breads, dried fruits, and beans.

Read more about the Second Trimester in our Healthwise Database.

Month Five

Your Body
Changes in your circulation require you to stand and move regularly. Continue to do this throughout the remainder of your pregnancy.

Your breasts may begin to secrete a yellowish fluid called colostrum in preparation for breastfeeding and you may begin to feel the baby move during this month.

Your Diet
Be sure to include food rich in Vitamin C in your diet. Your body does not store Vitamin C, so it is important to get a fresh supply every day. Good sources of Vitamin C are oranges, broccoli, and tomatoes.

Choosing a Doctor for your Baby
One thing you must think about before your admission to the hospital is who will take care of the baby after the delivery. This is a good time in your pregnancy to start looking for a physician for your baby if you do not already have one chosen. Talk to your friends and ask whom they use for their children and if they are happy with them. Many pediatricians and family care physicians will set appointments with you so that you can interview them. It is a good idea to try and select one that is close to where you live!

Month Six

Your Body
You may gain 3-4 pounds this month. Your feet may swell during the latter stages of pregnancy. Putting your feet up may help reduce any ankle swelling that may occur. Shop for wide, comfortable shoes, preferably with a flat heel.

Your Diet
You may crave certain foods or find other foods intolerable. If this happens, try to find substitutes that will provide the right nutrients.

Hospital Pre-Registration
If you have not already pre-registered at the hospital you will be delivering at, this is a good time to do so. You can find out how to do so by discussing it with your healthcare provider or calling the hospital directly.


Month Seven


Your Body
You may gain 3-4 pounds this month. You may tire more easily. Again, ask for help. If you work, try to work shorter hours or a more flexible schedule if possible. Rest when you can.

Your Feelings
Mood swings and increased irritability are common during the last three months of pregnancy. Be sure to discuss your feelings with your partner.

Begin childbirth preparation classes with your partner. These classes will offer useful information on labor and birth, and what to expect.

Read more about the Third Trimester in our Healthwise Database.


Month Eight


Your Body
You may gain 3-4 pounds this month. Increases in frequency of urination, backaches, anxiety, heartburn, and shortness of breath occur at this time. Shop for larger maternity clothes, if necessary. You will be growing quite a bit these last few weeks.

Your Diet
What you eat is still important. If you have trouble sleeping, try drinking something warm and lying on your side with pillows to support your body. Taking a warm shower before bed also helps to relax you and make you sleepy.


Month Nine


Your Body
You may gain 3-4 pounds this month. Your stomach may change shape as the baby begins to position itself for birth. It may be easier to breathe now, but you may have to urinate more often.

Get plenty of rest!

Make arrangements for your hospital stay. Keep important phone numbers and papers close by. Pack your bag for the hospital, and plan how you will get there at different times of the day or night. Make sure you have everything you will need when you come home from the hospital such as food and diapers.

SUPER MOON

Biography of Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.

A Pirali Brahmin from Kolkata, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At age sixteen, he cheekily released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. He graduated to his first short stories and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist, universalist internationalist, and strident anti-nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated for independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy endures also in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. He composed two national anthems: the Republic of India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

Early Life: 1861–1878

The youngest of thirteen surviving children, Tagore was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta to parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875).ε[›] Tagore family patriarchs were the Brahmo founders of the Adi Dharm faith. The loyalist "Prince" Dwarkanath Tagore, who employed European estate managers and visited with Victoria and other royalty, was his paternal grandfather; Dwarkanath's ancestors were from the Bangladeshi village of Pithabhog. Debendranath had formulated the Brahmoist philosophies espoused by his friend Ram Mohan Roy, and became focal in Brahmo society after Roy's death.

"Rabi" was raised mostly by servants; his mother had died in his early childhood and his father travelled widely. His home hosted the publication of literary magazines; theatre and recitals of both Bengali and Western classical music featured there regularly, as the Jorasanko Tagores were the center of a large and art-loving social group. Tagore's oldest brother Dwijendranath was a respected philosopher and poet. Another brother, Satyendranath, was the first Indian appointed to the elite and formerly all-European Indian Civil Service. Yet another brother, Jyotirindranath, was a musician, composer, and playwright. His sister Swarnakumari became a novelist. Jyotirindranath's wife Kadambari, slightly older than Tagore, was a dear friend and powerful influence. Her abrupt suicide in 1884 left him for years profoundly distraught.

Tagore largely avoided classroom schooling and preferred to roam the manor or nearby Bolpur and Panihati, idylls which the family visited. His brother Hemendranath tutored and physically conditioned him—by having him swim the Ganges or trek through hills, by gymnastics, and by practicing judo and wrestling. He learned drawing, anatomy, geography and history, literature, mathematics, Sanskrit, and English—his least favorite subject. Tagore loathed formal education—his scholarly travails at the local Presidency College spanned a single day. Years later he held that proper teaching does not explain things; proper teaching stokes curiosity:

“[It] knock[s] at the doors of the mind. If any boy is asked to give an account of what is awakened in him by such knocking, he will probably say something silly. For what happens within is much bigger than what comes out in words. Those who pin their faith on university examinations as the test of education take no account of this.

After he underwent an upanayan initiation at age eleven, he and his father left Calcutta in February 1873 for a months-long tour of the Raj. They visited his father's Santiniketan estate and rested in Amritsar en route to the Himalayan Dhauladhars, their destination being the remote hill station at Dalhousie. Along the way, Tagore read biographies; his father tutored him in history, astronomy, and Sanskrit declensions. He read biographies of Benjamin Franklin among other figures; they discussed Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; and they examined the poetry of Kālidāsa. In mid-April they reached the station, and at 2,300 metres (7,546 ft) they settled into a house that sat atop Bakrota Hill. Tagore was taken aback by the region's deep green gorges, alpine forests, and mossy streams and waterfalls. They stayed there for several months and adopted a regime of study and privation that included daily twilight baths taken in icy water.
He returned to Jorosanko and completed a set of major works by 1877, one of them a long poem in the Maithili style of Vidyapati; they were published pseudonymously. Regional experts accepted them as the lost works of Bhānusiṃha, a newly discoveredζ[›] 17th-century Vaiṣṇava poet. He debuted the short-story genre in Bengali with "Bhikharini" ("The Beggar Woman"), and his Sandhya Sangit (1882) includes the famous poem "Nirjharer Swapnabhanga" ("The Rousing of the Waterfall"). Servants subjected him to an almost ludic regimentation in a phase he dryly reviled as the "servocracy". His head was water-dunked—to quiet him. He irked his servants by refusing food; he was confined to chalk circles in parody of Sita's forest trial in the Ramayana; and he was regaled with the heroic criminal exploits of Bengal's outlaw-dacoits. Because the Jorasanko manor was in an area of north Calcutta rife with poverty and prostitution, he was forbidden to leave it for any purpose other than traveling to school. He thus became preoccupied with the world outside and with nature. Of his 1873 visit to Santiniketan, he wrote:
“What I could not see did not take me long to get over—what I did see was quite enough. There was no servant rule, and the only ring which encircled me was the blue of the horizon, drawn around these solitudes by their presiding goddess. Within this I was free to move about as I chose.

Shelaidaha: 1878–1901 

 Debendranath wanted his son to become a barrister; thus, in 1878, Tagore enrolled at a public school in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He stayed for several months at a house that the Tagore family owned near Brighton and Hove, in Medina Villas; in 1877 his nephew and niece—Suren and Indira Devi, the children of Tagore's brother Satyendranath—were sent together with their mother, Tagore's sister-in-law, to live with him. He briefly read law at University College London, but again left school. He opted instead for independent study of Shakespeare, Religio Medici, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra. Lively English, Irish, and Scottish folk tunes impressed Tagore, whose own tradition of Nidhubabu-authored kirtans and tappas and Brahmo hymnody was subdued. In 1880 he returned to Bengal degree-less, resolving to reconcile European novelty with Brahmo traditions, taking the best from each. In 1883 he married Mrinalini Devi, born Bhabatarini, 1873–1902; they had five children, two of whom died in childhood.
In 1890 Tagore began managing his vast ancestral estates in Shelaidaha (today a region of Bangladesh); he was joined by his wife and children in 1898. Tagore released his Manasi poems (1890), among his best-known work. As Zamindar Babu, Tagore criss-crossed the riverine holdings in command of the Padma, the luxurious family barge. He collected mostly token rents and blessed villagers who in turn honoured him with banquets—occasionally of dried rice and sour milk. He met Gagan Harkara, through whom he became familiar with Lalon, whose folk songs greatly influenced Tagore. Tagore worked to popularise Lalon's songs. The period 1891–1895, Tagore's Sadhana period, named after one of Tagore's magazines, was his most productive; in these years he wrote more than half the stories of the three-volume, 84-story Galpaguchchha.Its ironic and grave tales examined the voluptuous poverty of an idealised rural Bengal.

Santiniketan: 1901–1932

In 1901 Tagore moved to Santiniketan to found an ashram with a marble-floored prayer hall—The Mandir—an experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, a library. There his wife and two of his children died. His father died in 1905. He received monthly payments as part of his inheritance and income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of his family's jewelry, his seaside bungalow in Puri, and a derisory 2,000 in book royalties. He gained Bengali and foreign readers alike; he published Naivedya (1901) and Kheya (1906) and translated poems into free verse. In November 1913, Tagore learned he had won that year's Nobel Prize in Literature: the Swedish Academy appreciated the idealistic—and for Westerners—accessible nature of a small body of his translated material focussed on the 1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings. In 1915, the British Crown granted Tagore a knighthood. He renounced it after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
In 1921, Tagore and agricultural economist Leonard Elmhirst set up the "Institute for Rural Reconstruction", later renamed Shriniketan or "Abode of Welfare", in Surul, a village near the ashram. With it, Tagore sought to moderate Gandhi's Swaraj protests, which he occasionally blamed for British India's perceived mental—and thus ultimately colonial—decline. He sought aid from donors, officials, and scholars worldwide to "free village[s] from the shackles of helplessness and ignorance" by "vitalis[ing] knowledge". In the early 1930s he targeted ambient "abnormal caste consciousness" and untouchability. He lectured against these, he penned Dalit heroes for his poems and his dramas, and he campaigned—successfully—to open Guruvayoor Temple to Dalits.

Twilight Years: 1932–1941
Tagore's life as a "peripatetic litterateur" affirmed his opinion that human divisions were shallow. During a May 1932 visit to a Bedouin encampment in the Iraqi desert, the tribal chief told him that "Our prophet has said that a true Muslim is he by whose words and deeds not the least of his brother-men may ever come to any harm ..." Tagore confided in his diary: "I was startled into recognizing in his words the voice of essential humanity." To the end Tagore scrutinised orthodoxy—and in 1934, he struck. That year, an earthquake hit Bihar and killed thousands. Gandhi hailed it as seismic karma, as divine retribution avenging the oppression of Dalits. Tagore rebuked him for his seemingly ignominious inferences. He mourned the perennial poverty of Calcutta and the socioeconomic decline of Bengal. He detailed these newly plebeian aesthetics in an unrhymed hundred-line poem whose technique of searing double-vision foreshadowed Satyajit Ray's film Apur Sansar. Fifteen new volumes appeared, among them prose-poem works Punashcha (1932), Shes Saptak (1935), and Patraput (1936). Experimentation continued in his prose-songs and dance-dramas: Chitra (1914), Shyama (1939), and Chandalika (1938); and in his novels: Dui Bon (1933), Malancha (1934), and Char Adhyay (1934).

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

—Verse 292, Stray Birds, 1916.
Tagore's remit expanded to science in his last years, as hinted in Visva-Parichay, 1937 collection of essays. His respect for scientific laws and his exploration of biology, physics, and astronomy informed his poetry, which exhibited extensive naturalism and verisimilitude. He wove the process of science, the narratives of scientists, into stories in Se (1937), Tin Sangi (1940), and Galpasalpa (1941). His last five years were marked by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained comatose and near death for a time. This was followed in late 1940 by a similar spell. He never recovered. Poetry from these valetudinary years is among his finest. A period of prolonged agony ended with Tagore's death on 7 August 1941, aged eighty; he was in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko mansion he was raised in. The date is still mourned. A. K. Sen, brother of the first chief election commissioner, received dictation from Tagore on 30 July 1941, a day prior to a scheduled operation: his last poem.
“I'm lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth's last love. I will take life's final offering, I will take the human's last blessing. Today my sack is empty. I have given completely whatever I had to give. In return if I receive anything—some love, some forgiveness—then I will take it with me when I step on the boat that crosses to the festival of the wordless end."

Travels
Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore set foot in more than thirty countries on five continents. In 1912, he took a sheaf of his translated works to England, where they gained attention from missionary and Gandhi protégé Charles F. Andrews, Irish poet William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, Thomas Sturge Moore, and others. Yeats wrote the preface to the English translation of Gitanjali; Andrews joined Tagore at Santiniketan. In November 1912 Tagore began touring the United States and the United Kingdom, staying in Butterton, Staffordshire with Andrews's clergymen friends. From May 1916 until April 1917, he lectured in Japan and the United States. He denounced nationalism. His essay "Nationalism in India" was scorned and praised; it was admired by Romain Rolland and other pacifists.
"Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world which dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization?

“”

— Interviewed by Einstein, 14 April 1930.

Shortly after returning home the 63-year-old Tagore accepted an invitation from the Peruvian government. He travelled to Mexico. Each government pledged US$100,000 to his school to commemorate the visits. A week after his 6 November 1924 arrival in Buenos Aires, an ill Tagore shifted to the Villa Miralrío at the behest of Victoria Ocampo. He left for home in January 1925. In May 1926 Tagore reached Naples; the next day he met Mussolini in Rome. Their warm rapport ended when Tagore pronounced upon Il Duce's fascist finesse. He had earlier enthused: "[w]ithout any doubt he is a great personality. There is such a massive vigour in that head that it reminds one of Michael Angelo’s chisel." A "fire-bath" of fascism was to have educed "the immortal soul of Italy ... clothed in quenchless light".
On 14 July 1927 Tagore and two companions began a four-month tour of Southeast Asia. They visited Bali, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. The resultant travelogues compose Jatri (1929). In early 1930 he left Bengal for a nearly year-long tour of Europe and the United States. Upon returning to Britain—and as his paintings exhibited in Paris and London—he lodged at a Birmingham Quaker settlement. He wrote his Oxford Hibbert Lecturesι[›] and spoke at the annual London Quaker meet. There, addressing relations between the British and the Indians—a topic he would tackle repeatedly over the next two years—Tagore spoke of a "dark chasm of aloofness". He visited Aga Khan III, stayed at Dartington Hall, toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany from June to mid-September 1930, then went on into the Soviet Union. In April 1932 Tagore, intrigued by the Persian mystic Hafez, was hosted by Reza Shah Pahlavi. In his other travels, Tagore interacted with Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Thomas Mann, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Romain Rolland. Visits to Persia and Iraq (in 1932) and Sri Lanka (in 1933) composed Tagore's final foreign tour, and his dislike of communalism and nationalism only deepened.

Works

Known mostly for his poetry, Tagore wrote novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. Of Tagore's prose, his short stories are perhaps most highly regarded; he is indeed credited with originating the Bengali-language version of the genre. His works are frequently noted for their rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. Such stories mostly borrow from deceptively simple subject matter: commoners. Tagore's non-fiction grappled with history, linguistics, and spirituality. He wrote autobiographies. His travelogues, essays, and lectures were compiled into several volumes, including Europe Jatrir Patro (Letters from Europe) and Manusher Dhormo (The Religion of Man). His brief chat with Einstein, "Note on the Nature of Reality", is included as an appendix to the latter. On the occasion of Tagore's 150th birthday an anthology (titled Kalanukromik Rabindra Rachanabali) of the total body of his works is currently being published in Bengali in chronological order. This includes all versions of each work and fills about eighty volumes. In 2011, Harvard University Press collaborated with Visva-Bharati University to publish The Essential Tagore, the largest anthology of Tagore's works available in English; it was edited by Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarthy and marks the 150th anniversary of Tagore’s birth.

Music and Art
Tagore composed 2,230 songs and was a prolific painter. His songs compose rabindrasangit ("Tagore Song"), which merges fluidly into his literature, most of which—poems or parts of novels, stories, or plays alike—were lyricised. Influenced by the thumri style of Hindustani music, they ran the entire gamut of human emotion, ranging from his early dirge-like Brahmo devotional hymns to quasi-erotic compositions. They emulated the tonal color of classical ragas to varying extents. Some songs mimicked a given raga's melody and rhythm faithfully; others newly blended elements of different ragas. Yet about nine-tenths of his work was not bhanga gaan, the body of tunes revamped with "fresh value" from select Western, Hindustani, Bengali folk and other regional flavours "external" to Tagore's own ancestral culture. Scholars have attempted to gauge the emotive force and range of Hindustani ragas:
“[...] the pathos of the purabi raga reminded Tagore of the evening tears of a lonely widow, while kanara was the confused realization of a nocturnal wanderer who had lost his way. In bhupali he seemed to hear a voice in the wind saying 'stop and come hither'.Paraj conveyed to him the deep slumber that overtook one at night’s end. ”

—Reba Som, Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song.
Tagore influenced sitar maestro Vilayat Khan and sarodiyas Buddhadev Dasgupta and Amjad Ali Khan. His songs are widely popular and undergird the Bengali ethos to an extent perhaps rivaling Shakespeare's impact on the English-speaking world. It is said that his songs are the outcome of five centuries of Bengali literary churning and communal yearning. Dhan Gopal Mukerji has said that these songs transcend the mundane to the aesthetic and express all ranges and categories of human emotion. The poet gave voice to all—big or small, rich or poor. The poor Ganges boatman and the rich landlord air their emotions in them. They birthed a distinctive school of music whose practitioners can be fiercely traditional: novel interpretations have drawn severe censure in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.
For Bengalis, the songs' appeal, stemming from the combination of emotive strength and beauty described as surpassing even Tagore's poetry, was such that the Modern Review observed that "[t]here is in Bengal no cultured home where Rabindranath's songs are not sung or at least attempted to be sung ... Even illiterate villagers sing his songs". Arthur Strangways of The Observer introduced non-Bengalis to rabindrasangit in The Music of Hindostan, calling it a "vehicle of a personality ... [that] go behind this or that system of music to that beauty of sound which all systems put out their hands to seize."
In 1971, Amar Shonar Bangla became the national anthem of Bangladesh. It was written—ironically—to protest the 1905 Partition of Bengal along communal lines: lopping Muslim-majority East Bengal from Hindu-dominated West Bengal was to avert a regional bloodbath. Tagore saw the partition as a ploy to upend the independence movement, and he aimed to rekindle Bengali unity and tar communalism. Jana Gana Mana was written in shadhu-bhasha, a Sanskritised register of Bengali, and is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn that Tagore composed. It was first sung in 1911 at a Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress and was adopted in 1950 by the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of India as its national anthem.
At sixty, Tagore took up drawing and painting; successful exhibitions of his many works—which made a debut appearance in Paris upon encouragement by artists he met in the south of France—were held throughout Europe. He was likely red-green color blind, resulting in works that exhibited strange colour schemes and off-beat aesthetics. Tagore was influenced by scrimshaw from northern New Ireland, Haida carvings from British Columbia, and woodcuts by Max Pechstein. His artist's eye for his handwriting were revealed in the simple artistic and rhythmic leitmotifs embellishing the scribbles, cross-outs, and word layouts of his manuscripts. Some of Tagore's lyrics corresponded in a synesthetic sense with particular paintings.

Theatre
At sixteen, Tagore led his brother Jyotirindranath's adaptation of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. At twenty he wrote his first drama-opera: Valmiki Pratibha (The Genius of Valmiki). In it the pandit Valmiki overcomes his sins, is blessed by Saraswati, and compiles the Rāmāyana. Through it Tagore explores a wide range of dramatic styles and emotions, including usage of revamped kirtans and adaptation of traditional English and Irish folk melodies as drinking songs. Another play, Dak Ghar (The Post Office), describes the child Amal defying his stuffy and puerile confines by ultimately "fall[ing] asleep", hinting his physical death. A story with borderless appeal—gleaning rave reviews in Europe—Dak Ghar dealt with death as, in Tagore's words, "spiritual freedom" from "the world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds". In the Nazi-besieged Warsaw Ghetto, Polish doctor-educator Janusz Korczak had orphans in his care stage The Post Office in July 1942.In The King of Children, biographer Betty Jean Lifton suspected that Korczak, agonising over whether one should determine when and how to die, was easing the children into accepting death. In mid-October, the Nazis sent them to Treblinka.
[I]n days long gone by [...] I can see [...] the King's postman coming down the hillside alone, a lantern in his left hand and on his back a bag of letters climbing down for ever so long, for days and nights, and where at the foot of the mountain the waterfall becomes a stream he takes to the footpath on the bank and walks on through the rye; then comes the sugarcane field and he disappears into the narrow lane cutting through the tall stems of sugarcanes; then he reaches the open meadow where the cricket chirps and where there is not a single man to be seen, only the snipe wagging their tails and poking at the mud with their bills. I can feel him coming nearer and nearer and my heart becomes glad.

— Amal in The Post Office, 1914.

“[...] but the meaning is less intellectual, more emotional and simple. The deliverance sought and won by the dying child is the same deliverance which rose before his imagination, [...] when once in the early dawn he heard, amid the noise of a crowd returning from some festival, this line out of an old village song, "Ferryman, take me to the other shore of the river." It may come at any moment of life, though the child discovers it in death, for it always comes at the moment when the "I", seeking no longer for gains that cannot be "assimilated with its spirit", is able to say, "All my work is thine" [...].”

—W. B. Yeats, Preface, The Post Office, 1914.
His other works fuse lyrical flow and emotional rhythm into a tight focus on a core idea, a break from prior Bengali drama. Tagore sought "the play of feeling and not of action". In 1890 he released what is regarded as his finest drama: Visarjan (Sacrifice). It is an adaptation of Rajarshi, an earlier novella of his. "A forthright denunciation of a meaningless [and] cruel superstitious rite[s]", the Bengali originals feature intricate subplots and prolonged monologues that give play to historical events in seventeenth-century Udaipur. The devout Maharaja of Tripura is pitted against the wicked head priest Raghupati. His latter dramas were more philosophical and allegorical in nature; these included Dak Ghar. Another is Tagore's Chandalika (Untouchable Girl), which was modeled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda, the Gautama Buddha's disciple, asks a tribal girl for water.
In Raktakarabi ("Red" or "Blood Oleanders"), a kleptocrat rules over the residents of Yakshapuri. He and his retainers exploits his subjects—who are benumbed by alcohol and numbered like inventory—by forcing them to mine gold for him. The naive maiden-heroine Nandini rallies her subject-compatriots to defeat the greed of the realm's sardar class—with the morally roused king's belated help. Skirting the "good-vs-evil" trope, the work pits a vital and joyous lèse majesté against the monotonous fealty of the king's varletry, giving rise to an allegorical struggle akin to that found in Animal Farm or Gulliver's Travels. The original, though prized in Bengal, long failed to spawn a "free and comprehensible" translation, and its archaic and sonorous didacticism failed to attract interest from abroad. Chitrangada, Chandalika, and Shyama are other key plays that have dance-drama adaptations, which together are known as Rabindra Nritya Natya.

Novels
Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas, among them Chaturanga, Shesher Kobita, Char Odhay, and Noukadubi. Ghare Baire (The Home and the World)—through the lens of the idealistic zamindar protagonist Nikhil—repudiates the frog-march of nativism, terrorism, and religious querulousness popular among segments of the Swadeshi movement. A frank expression of Tagore's conflicted sentiments, it was conceived of during a 1914 bout of depression. The novel ends in grody Hindu-Muslim interplay and Nikhil's likely death from a head wound.
Gora, nominated by many Bengali critics as his finest tale, raises controversies regarding connate identity and its ultimate fungibility. As with Ghare Baire matters of self-identity (jāti), personal freedom, and religion are lividly vivisected in a context of family and romance. In it an Irish boy orphaned in the Sepoy Mutiny is raised by Hindus as the titular gora—"whitey". Ignorant of his foreign origins, he chastises Hindu religious backsliders out of love for the indigenous Indians and solidarity with them against his hegemon-compatriots. He falls for a Brahmo girl, compelling his worried foster father to reveal his lost past and cease his nativist zeal. As a "true dialectic" advancing "arguments for and against strict traditionalism", it tackles the colonial conundrum by "portray[ing] the value of all positions within a particular frame [...] not only syncretism, not only liberal orthodoxy, but the extremest reactionary traditionalism he defends by an appeal to what humans share." Among these Tagore highlights "identity [...] conceived of as dharma."
In Jogajog (Relationships), the heroine Kumudini—bound by the ideals of Śiva-Sati, exemplified by Dākshāyani—is torn between her pity for the sinking fortunes of her progressive and compassionate elder brother and his foil: her roue of a husband. Tagore flaunts his feminist leanings; pathos depicts the plight and ultimate demise of women trapped by pregnancy, duty, and family honour; he simultaneously trucks with Bengal's putrescent landed gentry. The story revolves around the underlying rivalry between two families—the Chatterjees, aristocrats now on the decline (Biprodas) and the Ghosals (Madhusudan), representing new money and new arrogance. Kumudini, Biprodas' sister, is caught between the two as she is married off to Madhusudan. She had risen in an observant and sheltered traditional home, as had all her female relations.
Others were uplifting: Shesher Kobita—translated twice as Last Poem and Farewell Song—is his most lyrical novel, with poems and rhythmic passages written by a poet protagonist. It contains elements of satire and postmodernism and has stock characters who gleefully attack the reputation of an old, outmoded, oppressively renowned poet who, incidentally, goes by a familiar name: "Rabindranath Tagore". Though his novels remain among the least-appreciated of his works, they have been given renewed attention via film adaptations by Ray and others: Chokher Bali and Ghare Baire are exemplary. In the first, Tagore inscribes Bengali society via its heroine: a rebellious widow who would live for herself alone. He pillories the custom of perpetual mourning on the part of widows, who were not allowed to remarry, who were consigned to seclusion and loneliness. Tagore wrote of it: "I have always regretted the ending".

Stories
Tagore's three-volume Galpaguchchha comprises eighty-four stories that reflect upon the author's surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, and on mind puzzles. Tagore associated his earliest stories, such as those of the "Sadhana" period, with an exuberance of vitality and spontaneity; these traits were cultivated by zamindar Tagore’s life in Patisar, Shajadpur, Shelaidaha, and other villages. Seeing the common and the poor, he examined their lives with a depth and feeling singular in Indian literature up to that point. In "The Fruitseller from Kabul", Tagore speaks in first person as a town dweller and novelist imputing exotic perquisites to an Afghan seller. He channels the lucubrative lust of those mired in the blasé, nidorous, and sudorific morass of subcontinental city life: for distant vistas. "There were autumn mornings, the time of year when kings of old went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. At the very name of another country, my heart would go out to it [...] I would fall to weaving a network of dreams: the mountains, the glens, the forest [...]."
The Golpoguchchho (Bunch of Stories) was written in Tagore's Sabuj Patra period, which lasted from 1914 to 1917 and was named for another of his magazines. These yarns are celebrated fare in Bengali fiction and are commonly used as plot fodder by Bengali film and theatre. The Ray film Charulata echoed the controversial Tagore novella Nastanirh (The Broken Nest). In Atithi, which was made into another film, the little Brahmin boy Tarapada shares a boat ride with a village zamindar. The boy relates his flight from home and his subsequent wanderings. Taking pity, the elder adopts him; he fixes the boy to marry his own daughter. The night before his wedding, Tarapada runs off—again. Strir Patra (The Wife's Letter) is an early treatise in female emancipation. Mrinal is wife to a Bengali middle class man: prissy, preening, and patriarchal. Travelling alone she writes a letter, which comprehends the story. She details the pettiness of a life spent entreating his viraginous virility; she ultimately gives up married life, proclaiming, Amio bachbo. Ei bachlum: "And I shall live. Here, I live."
Haimanti assails Hindu arranged marriage and spotlights their often dismal domesticity, the hypocrisies plaguing the Indian middle classes, and how Haimanti, a young woman, due to her insufferable sensitivity and free spirit, foredid herself. In the last passage Tagore blasts the reification of Sita's self-immolation attempt; she had meant to appease her consort Rama's doubts of her chastity. Musalmani Didi eyes recrudescent Hindu-Muslim tensions and, in many ways, embodies the essence of Tagore's humanism. The somewhat auto-referential Darpaharan describes a fey young man who harbours literary ambitions. Though he loves his wife, he wishes to stifle her literary career, deeming it unfeminine. In youth Tagore likely agreed with him. Darpaharan depicts the final humbling of the man as he ultimately acknowledges his wife's talents. As do many other Tagore stories, Jibito o Mrito equips Bengalis with a ubiquitous epigram: Kadombini moriya proman korilo she more nai—"Kadombini died, thereby proving that she hadn't."

Poetry
Tagore's poetic style, which proceeds from a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-century Vaishnava poets, ranges from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic. He was influenced by the atavistic mysticism of Vyasa and other rishi-authors of the Upanishads, the Bhakti-Sufi mystic Kabir, and Ramprasad Sen. Tagore's most innovative and mature poetry embodies his exposure to Bengali rural folk music, which included mystic Baul ballads such as those of the bard Lalon. These, rediscovered and repopularised by Tagore, resemble 19th-century Kartābhajā hymns that emphasise inward divinity and rebellion against bourgeois bhadralok religious and social orthodoxy. During his Shelaidaha years, his poems took on a lyrical voice of the moner manush, the Bāuls' "man within the heart" and Tagore's “life force of his deep recesses", or meditating upon the jeevan devata—the demiurge or the "living God within". This figure connected with divinity through appeal to nature and the emotional interplay of human drama. Such tools saw use in his Bhānusiṃha poems chronicling the Radha-Krishna romance, which were repeatedly revised over the course of seventy years.
Tagore reacted to the halfhearted uptake of modernist and realist techniques in Bengali literature by writing matching experimental works in the 1930s. These include Africa and Camalia, among the better known of his latter poems. He occasionally wrote poems using Shadhu Bhasha, a Sanskritised dialect of Bengali; he later adopted a more popular dialect known as Cholti Bhasha. Other works include Manasi, Sonar Tori (Golden Boat), Balaka (Wild Geese, a name redolent of migrating souls), and Purobi. Sonar Tori's most famous poem, dealing with the fleeting endurance of life and achievement, goes by the same name; hauntingly it ends: Shunno nodir tire rohinu poŗi / Jaha chhilo loe gêlo shonar tori—"all I had achieved was carried off on the golden boat—only I was left behind." Gitanjali (গীতাঞ্জলি) is Tagore's best-known collection internationally, earning him his Nobel.

Song VII of Gitanjali:

আমার এ গান ছেড়েছে তার

সকল অলংকার

তোমার কাছে রাখে নি আর

সাজের অহংকার।

অলংকার যে মাঝে প'ড়ে

মিলনেতে আড়াল করে,

তোমার কথা ঢাকে যে তার

মুখর ঝংকার।

তোমার কাছে খাটে না মোর

কবির গরব করা-

মহাকবি, তোমার পায়ে

দিতে চাই যে ধরা।

জীবন লয়ে যতন করি

যদি সরল বাঁশি গড়ি,

আপন সুরে দিবে ভরি

সকল ছিদ্র তার।
Amar e gan chheŗechhe tar shôkol ôlongkar

Tomar kachhe rakhe ni ar shajer ôhongkar

Ôlongkar je majhe pôŗe milônete aŗal kôre,

Tomar kôtha đhake je tar mukhôro jhôngkar.

Tomar kachhe khaţe na mor kobir gôrbo kôra,

Môhakobi, tomar paee dite chai je dhôra.

Jibon loe jôton kori jodi shôrol bãshi goŗi,

Apon shure dibe bhori sôkol chhidro

Tagore's free-verse translation:

“
My song has put off her adornments.

She has no pride of dress and decoration.

Ornaments would mar our union; they would come

between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.

My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight.

O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet.

Only let me make my life simple and straight,

like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.

”

"Klanti" (ক্লান্তি; "Weariness"):

ক্লান্তি আমার ক্ষমা করো প্রভু,

পথে যদি পিছিয়ে পড়ি কভু॥

এই-যে হিয়া থরোথরো কাঁপে আজি এমনতরো

এই বেদনা ক্ষমা করো, ক্ষমা করো, ক্ষমা করো প্রভু॥

এই দীনতা ক্ষমা করো প্রভু,

পিছন-পানে তাকাই যদি কভু।

দিনের তাপে রৌদ্রজ্বালায় শুকায় মালা পূজার থালায়,

সেই ম্লানতা ক্ষমা করো, ক্ষমা করো, ক্ষমা করো প্রভু॥

Klanti amar khôma kôro probhu,

Pôthe jodi pichhie poŗi kobhu.

Ei je hia thôro thôro kãpe aji êmontôro,

Ei bedona khôma kôro khôma kôro probhu.

Ei dinota khôma kôro probhu,

Pichhon-pane takai jodi kobhu.

Diner tape roudrojalae shukae mala pujar thalae,

Shei mlanota khôma kôro khôma kôro, probhu.

Gloss by Tagore scholar Reba Som:

“

Forgive me my weariness O Lord

Should I ever lag behind

For this heart that this day trembles so

And for this pain, forgive me, forgive me, O Lord

For this weakness, forgive me O Lord,

If perchance I cast a look behind

And in the day's heat and under the burning sun

The garland on the platter of offering wilts,

For its dull pallor, forgive me, forgive me O Lord.

”
Tagore's poetry has been set to music by composers: Arthur Shepherd's triptych for soprano and string quartet, Alexander Zemlinsky's famous Lyric Symphony, Josef Bohuslav Foerster's cycle of love songs, Leoš Janáček's famous chorus "Potulný šílenec" ("The Wandering Madman") for soprano, tenor, baritone, and male chorus—JW 4/43—inspired by Tagore's 1922 lecture in Czechoslovakia which Janáček attended, and Garry Schyman's "Praan", an adaptation of Tagore's poem "Stream of Life" from Gitanjali. The latter was composed and recorded with vocals by Palbasha Siddique to accompany Internet celebrity Matt Harding's 2008 viral video. In 1917 his words were translated adeptly and set to music by Anglo-Dutch composer Richard Hageman to produce a highly regarded art song: "Do Not Go, My Love". The second movement of Jonathan Harvey's "One Evening" (1994) sets an excerpt beginning "As I was watching the sunrise ..." from a letter of Tagore's, this composer having previously chosen a text by the poet for his piece "Song Offerings" (1985).

Politics
Tagore's political thought was tortured. He opposed imperialism and supported Indian nationalists, and these views were first revealed in Manast, which was mostly composed in his twenties. Evidence produced during the Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial and latter accounts affirm his awareness of the Ghadarites, and stated that he sought the support of Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake and former Premier Ōkuma Shigenobu. Yet he lampooned the Swadeshi movement; he rebuked it in "The Cult of the Charka", an acrid 1925 essay. He urged the masses to avoid victimology and instead seek self-help and education, and he saw the presence of British administration as a "political symptom of our social disease". He maintained that, even for those at the extremes of poverty, "there can be no question of blind revolution"; preferable to it was a "steady and purposeful education".
Such views enraged many. He escaped assassination—and only narrowly—by Indian expatriates during his stay in a San Francisco hotel in late 1916; the plot failed when his would-be assassins fell into argument. Yet Tagore renounced his knighthood and wrote songs lionising the Indian independence movement. Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear") and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favoured by Gandhi. Though somewhat critical of Gandhian activism, Tagore was key in resolving a Gandhi–Ambedkar dispute involving separate electorates for untouchables, thereby mooting at least one of Gandhi's fasts "unto death".
Tagore despised rote classroom schooling: in "The Parrot's Training", a bird is caged and force-fed textbook pages—to death.Tagore, visiting Santa Barbara in 1917, conceived a new type of university: he sought to "make Santiniketan the connecting thread between India and the world [and] a world center for the study of humanity somewhere beyond the limits of nation and geography." The school, which he named Visva-Bharati,η[›] had its foundation stone laid on 24 December 1918 and was inaugurated precisely three years later. Tagore employed a brahmacharya system: gurus gave pupils personal guidance—emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Teaching was often done under trees. He staffed the school, he contributed his Nobel Prize monies, and his duties as steward-mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy: mornings he taught classes; afternoons and evenings he wrote the students' textbooks. He fundraised widely for the school in Europe and the United States between 1919 and 1921.

Impact
Every year, many events pay tribute to Tagore: Kabipranam, his birth anniversary, is celebrated by groups scattered across the globe; the annual Tagore Festival held in Urbana, Illinois; Rabindra Path Parikrama walking pilgrimages from Calcutta to Santiniketan; and recitals of his poetry, which are held on important anniversaries. Bengali culture is fraught with this legacy: from language and arts to history and politics. Amartya Sen scantly deemed Tagore a "towering figure", a "deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker". Tagore's Bengali originals—the 1939 Rabīndra Rachanāvalī—is canonised as one of his nation's greatest cultural treasures, and he was roped into a reasonably humble role: "the greatest poet India has produced".
Tagore was renowned throughout much of Europe, North America, and East Asia. He co-founded Dartington Hall School, a progressive coeducational institution; in Japan, he influenced such figures as Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata. Tagore's works were widely translated into English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European languages by Czech indologist Vincenc Lesný, French Nobel laureate André Gide, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, former Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, and others. In the United States, Tagore's lecturing circuits, particularly those of 1916–1917, were widely attended and wildly acclaimed. Some controversiesθ[›] involving Tagore, possibly fictive, trashed his popularity and sales in Japan and North America after the late 1920s, concluding with his "near total eclipse" outside Bengal. Yet a latent reverence of Tagore was discovered by an astonished Salman Rushdie during a trip to Nicaragua.
By way of translations, Tagore influenced Chileans Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral; Mexican writer Octavio Paz; and Spaniards José Ortega y Gasset, Zenobia Camprubí, and Juan Ramón Jiménez. In the period 1914–1922, the Jiménez-Camprubí pair produced twenty-two Spanish translations of Tagore's English corpus; they heavily revised the The Crescent Moon and other key titles. In these years, Jiménez developed "naked poetry". Ortega y Gasset wrote that "Tagore's wide appeal [owes to how] he speaks of longings for perfection that we all have [...] Tagore awakens a dormant sense of childish wonder, and he saturates the air with all kinds of enchanting promises for the reader, who [...] pays little attention to the deeper import of Oriental mysticism". Tagore's works circulated in free editions around 1920—alongside those of Plato, Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and Tolstoy.
Tagore was deemed overrated by some. Graham Greene doubted that "anyone but Mr. Yeats can still take his poems very seriously." Several prominent Western admirers—including Pound and, to a lesser extent, even Yeats—criticised Tagore's work. Yeats, unimpressed with his English translations, railed against that "Damn Tagore [...] We got out three good books, Sturge Moore and I, and then, because he thought it more important to know English than to be a great poet, he brought out sentimental rubbish and wrecked his reputation. Tagore does not know English, no Indian knows English." William Radice, who "English[ed]" his poems, asked: "What is their place in world literature?" He saw him as "kind of counter-cultur[al]," bearing "a new kind of classicism" that would heal the "collapsed romantic confusion and chaos of the 20th [c]entury." The translated Tagore was "almost nonsensical", and subpar English offerings reduced his trans-national appeal:
“[...] anyone who knows Tagore's poems in their original Bengali cannot feel satisfied with any of the translations (made with or without Yeats's help). Even the translations of his prose works suffer, to some extent, from distortion. E.M. Forster noted [of] The Home and the World [that] "[t]he theme is so beautiful," but the charms have "vanished in translation," or perhaps "in an experiment that has not quite come off."  

Song sung by Rabindranath Tagore himself

 Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.