Parashpathor or The Philosopher Stone is one of the intense poems written by Rabindranath Tagore—its lyrical sweep, its mellifluous
word music and its profundity of poetic vision make it one of Tagore's most recited poems in Bengali. The poem is about a man who is in search of a philosopher's stone. He is rummaging the pockets of nature trying to lay his hands on it. But he can't find it. He goes on searching. He keeps on
picking up stones anticipating that this might just work. And how's he figuring out that the stone's are not working? He is wearing big iron bangles (in ancient India men used to wear iron bangles—they were a part of their self-decor) and he is picking up stones, touching them to his bangles and watching out—whether they are turning to gold. But none of them works. Days pass, months run and years flap their wings and fly away. But this man can't find his philosopher's stone. One day he comes to a sea shore. Looks at the sea. Picks up pebbles from the shore and carries on with his search and throws the pebbles away. Suddenly his gaze falls on his bangles. He's stupefied. He finds that his bangles have turned to gold. Gold! He can't believe it. But which stone did this magic? He has thrown away all the pebbles without looking at them twice. He screams in despair: he had the philosopher's stone and he could not recognize it!