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Rabindranath Tagore - The Myriad Minded Man

Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe

May 9 marked the 145th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet, novelist musician and educator. Born on 9 May 1861, Tagore compiled a momentous body of work during a 60 year span of literary life from the age of eight until only hours before his death on 7 August 1941. His work comprises over 1000 poems, two dozen plays and playlets, eight novels, eight volumes of short stories, 2230 songs (including musical compositions), over 2500 paintings and volumes of prose on literary, social, religious, political and other topics. The complete works of Tagore have been compiled in to the 30 volume ‘Rabindra Rachanavali’. His influence on the Bengali ethos is perhaps greater than that of Shakespeare on the English-speaking world.

In addition to these original writings, Tagore translated most of his work from the original Bengali to English himself and undertook lecture-tours in Asia, America and Europe. He wrote the national anthems of India (‘Jana Gana Mana’) and Bangladesh (‘Aamaar Sonaar Banglaa’). Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. He also made an innovative and lasting contribution as an educationist by establishing ‘Santiniketan’ (Abode of Peace), an educational institute dedicated to freeing the creativity of human mind.

Tagore also had links to Sri Lanka through many students who received training at Santiniketan. He exerted influence on the Sri Lankan culture through the training of a generation of artists (Devar Suryasena, Surya Shankar Molligoda, Chitrasena, Ananda Samarakoon, Sunil Shantha, Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Shesha Palihakkara, Pani Bharatha and numerous others) who pioneered the creation of truly local music, dance, drama and art genres following his philosophy of expanding folk art within the classical, theoretical framework. He visited Sri Lanka a number of times, including the 1934 tour for a performance of his experimental play ‘Sapmochan’.

The Sri Lankan artists who received training at Santiniketan became part of the cultural revival leading up to the end of colonialism in (India and) Sri Lanka. Most of these artists who came from the Christian, westernised middle class of Sri Lanka were influenced to such an extent by the life and philosophy of Tagore that most of them decided to adopt proper Sinhala names upon returning to Sri Lanka. Some even re-embraced Buddhism. Artists such as Ananda Samarakone, Sunil Shantha, Chitrasena and Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra received the complete inner message of Tagore’s philosophy and created musical, dance and drama traditions based on the folk music of the Sri Lankan people while incorporating ingredients from the wider world of universal art.

There are numerous other lesser known Sri Lankans (such as this writer) whose musical education at Santiniketan led to a broader awakening of the consciousness and awareness of the rich south Asian cultures.

The life

Rabindranath Tagore was born the youngest of 14 children of ‘Maharishi’ Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Tagores (the anglicised version of the family name ‘Takur’- meaning Lord in Sanskrit) belonged to the ‘Pirali’ Brahmin sub-caste of the bewildering matrix of the Indian caste system. (The Pirali Brahmin caste is considered an ‘inferior’ caste to which Brahmins who are ‘contaminated’ by contact with non-Brahmins, especially the Muslims and the whites are relegated to).

The Tagores however, had become an immensely wealthy and prominent family in Calcutta due to the rewards of their association with the Raj in Bengal.

Rabindranath’s grandfather, Dwarkanath (1794-1846) was a Banian (a local broker and agent to the European merchants) who had accumulated an immense family fortune through collaboration with the Raj, and through unsavoury commercial activities ranging from money lending to opium cultivation. (In this regard, the Tagores were similar to the De Fonsekas, Bandaranaikes and Senanayakes of Sri Lanka, except that the wealth the Sri Lankan collaborators amassed was miniscule compared to that of the Tagores).

Dwarkanath Tagore was a partner of an agency house that managed huge zamindary estates spread across the territory that comprised today's West Bengal and Orissa states in India, and Bangladesh. He held large stakes in new enterprises that were tapping the rich coal seams of Bengal, ran tug boat services between Calcutta and the mouth of the Hooghly river and planted tea in Upper Assam. He was an acknowledged opium grower and exporter to China till the outbreak of the first Opium War in 1840. The Tagore family owned a steamer, the India, for family transport and built the palatial mansion the ‘Thakur Bari’, (6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Jorasanko) where Rabindranath was born (and died).

Calcutta in the late 1800s had become a metropole where traders from Western Countries were making a fortune (exploiting Indian natural resources and labour) and a vibrant Indian renaissance rooted in the midst of this gross colonial exploitation. The native population was divided (just as in Sri Lanka) in to those who readily imitated the European culture and those who maintained their traditional identity (incorporating some carefully selected western values). This second group led by Raj Ram Mohan Roy, was the seed of a local independence movement based on the philosophy of combining India’s vast strengths of intellectual and philosophical reserves with the advanced technologically base of the (British) west. Raj Ram Mohan Roy started the ‘Brahmo Samaj’ which aimed to cleanse Hindu society of ‘weak’ Hindu traditions such as Sati (widow burning) and the caste system. This movement later led by other prominent Bengalis such as Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya and Ramesh Chandra Dutta. Swami Vivekananda, Rishi Aurobindo and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were successors of this Bengali Renaissance, with others such as Surendranath-Bhupendranath and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das who advocated armed struggle as a means of liberation. By the time of Rabindranath’s birth, the Tagore family had become the patron of the “Brahmo Samaj’.

The Tagore clan did not have to ‘earn a living’ as most mortals are forced to, and they pursued academic and philosophical interests with most family members distinguishing themselves in different fields of creative expression. Rabindranath's oldest brother Dwijendranath Tagore was a philosopher and a poet. Brothers Gogonendra and Abanindra were among the foremost artists of India at the time. Yet another brother Jyotirindranath was a composer and a playwright. Among his sisters, Swarna Kumari Devi earned fame as a novelist. Another brother Satyendranath took a different path and became the first Indian member of the colonial Civil Service.

Rabindranath’s memoirs, ‘Jibansmrti’ (translated as My Reminiscences) suggest that his childhood was spent within the confines of the family estate in Jorasanko (a northern suburb of Calcutta). The sensory depravation of the outside world during his childhood seems to have given rise to the fertile, idealistic imagination about the outside world which he later expressed in his writings.

Tagore received early education from private tutors at home. His parents attempted to provide him with formal education at Kolkata's prestigious educational institutions such as the Oriental Seminary, Normal School (the institution established by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar) and at St Xavier's School. But in an early display of his disdain for the class room-bound education (which he considered to shackle the human mind), he dropped-out of school and forced the parents to provide him education at home. In 1878, Tagore was admitted to a public school at Brighton in England and later he enrolled at University College London. He left England after just over a year's stay, without completing the degree course.

In 1883 Tagore married Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri, (a child-bride of 11 years of age) with whom he later had two sons and three daughters.

Tagore’s personal life was touched by personal tragedy: he lost his mother at the tender age of seven and his sister-in-law (the child bride of his brother) and soul-mate committed suicide immediately after his own marriage. His wife, the favourite daughter and son died within the short span between 1902-1907.

His Works

Upon his return from England in 1890, Tagore took up full-time management of his family's estates at Shelidah, in what is now Bangladesh. During the productive decade between 1890 and 1900, Tagore authored many works and founded the new genre of Bengali writing: the short story. He wrote 59 short stories that dealt with Bengali rural life, some times laced with irony.

Tagore authored his first original dramatic piece ‘Valmiki Pratibha’ (The Genius of Valmiki) at twenty years of age. ‘Visarjan’ (The Sacrifice), which Tagore wrote in 1890, is considered his finest work of drama. Tagore's drama, in his own words, sought to ‘articulate the play of feeling and not of action’. His later works such as ‘Dakghar’ (Post Office), written in 1912, and ‘Chandalika’ (Untouchable Girl) were based on the Buddhist legend. ‘Nashtanir’ (Broken Nest) and other famous stories such as ‘Chocher Bali’ (Eyesore) were psychological dramas that explored themes of illicit love and forbidden relationships within families.

Tagore’s work however, is feted more in foreign lands than in his native India. The works of Tagore contemporary Sarat Chandra Chattophadhyay (1876-1938) in particular, were far more popular among the ordinary Bengalis than those of Tagore. (Our own Professor Sarachchandra, who bore a striking physical resemblance to this great writer, may have been influenced by him during his stay at Santiniketan). Some critics explain his popularity, in addition to the superiority of his work, on the basis of his humble origins compared to Tagore’s family origins ‘tainted’ with Indian blood.

Tagore's words were translated in to evocative images, with sensitivity, by the master film maker Satyajit Ray. Ray based a number of his memorable films on stories from Tagore’s Golpoguchchho (Bunch of Stories) including Samapti, Postmaster and Monihara, bundling them together as Teen Kanya (Three Daughters). Ray’s film ‘Charulata’ (The Lonely Wife), considered his best work, is based on ‘Nashtanir’. ‘Nashtanir’ is considered to be autobiographical and based on Tagore’s complex relationship with his sister-in-law, Kadambari Devi who came into the Tagore family as the child bride of elder brother Jyotirindranath. Rabindranath who was close to her in age became her playmate and companion ever since her marriage. Just four months after his wedding, on December 9, 1883, Kadambari Devi committed suicide. Ray’s depiction of the psychological drama involved, his use of the camera and movement in particular is considered a masterpiece in film making. Tagore's ‘Golpoguchchho’ (Bunch of Stories) furnished subject matter for a number of Satyajit Ray’s memorable films (including Samapti, Postmaster and Monihara, bundling them together as Teen Kanya (Three Daughters) on stories from Golpoguchchho.

Tagore was also an accomplished musician, and his most enduring legacy amongst Bengalis all over the world is ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ the music genre he created. The emotions associated with change of seasons, aesthetically pleasing aspects of Bengali landscape and the full spectrum of human emotions find their voice in Tagore songs. However, Tagores ‘disrespect’ for the rules of Hindustani Raga music drew the ire of the musical establishment. In Tagore’s view however, what is important in music is its capacity to create the ‘rasa-bhava-prakriya’ (yardstick for measuring the success of all visual and aural art as laid down in ‘Natyasastra’) and combining the basic features of raga with folk-music including the music of the Baul (the wandering minstrels of Bengal and Bhatiyali (songs of the boatmen of Bengal) and even western music, is acceptable subject to satisfying this criterion.

Rabindra Sangeet however, is so inextricably blended with the poetry of Bengali words that it is almost impossible to separate the mood from the words and the words from the tune, confining its true appreciation to the Bengali-speaker. Artists such as Punkaj Mallick, Hemant Kumar, Subinoy Roy, Kanika Bandyopadhye and Suchitra Mitra could give life to Tagore songs, painting vivid pictures in the listener’s mind, whereas renditions by ordinary mortals make them unremarkable.

At the age of 60, Tagore started to paint, holding successful art exhibitions in many European countries. Rabindranath transformed his lack of formal training into an advantage and opened new horizons in the use of line and colour. He was prolific in his paintings and sketches as he was in his writing, producing over 2500 within a decade. Over 1500 of his paintings are preserved at Viswa-Bharati, Santiniketan.

Tagore also created a new form of dance based on a variety of dance forms (including Kandyan dance) and ‘Abhinaya’ styles, founded on his melodies, lyrics and rhythms. Tagore staged his creations with the students of Viswa Bharati as performers. He refrained from prescribinge any particular rule or pattern of dance elements and advocated the artistic utilisation of power of the body as in Manipuri and Kandyan dance styles, separating it from the ritualistic aspects of dance.

His philosophy

Tagore expounded a vision of ‘Visvovod’ (universal human unity), which according to him was possible only when the East had discovered its soul and its separate identity. He saw western civilisation as lacking a moral centre (civilisation of ‘adharma’) in which, ‘man prospers, gains what appears desirable, conquers enemies, but perishes at the root. It both shoots out of and caters to the base instincts of the individual and has nothing to do with that innate spiritual power of humans’.

Much of Tagore's ideology comes from the teaching of the Upahishads. His most significant philosophical work ‘Sadhana: The Realization of Life’ (1913) echoes the fundamental Upanishadic idea of ‘a living God that expresses itself in the living objects of the world, including human beings’.

Tagore’s participation in the Indian independence struggle was governed by the same philosophy: he supported Gandhi’s struggle for independence but warned of the dangers of nationalism. Tagore advocated cultural diversity, while remaining interested and involved in one’s own culture and heritage. He wanted to assert India's right to be independent without denying the importance of what India could learn from abroad.

In the pamphlet ‘Crisis in Civilisation’, he advocated the need to distinguish between Western imperialism and Western civilisation. Tagore protested against the 1905 proposal of the Raj to divide the province of Bengal, a plan that was eventually withdrawn. He denounced the brutality of British rule in India, especially after the Amritsar massacre of April 1919, when 379 unarmed people were gunned down by the army, and two thousand more were wounded at a peaceful meeting. A month after the massacre, Tagore surrendered his knighthood to the Viceroy of India, four years after it was conferred upon him.

Although he is viewed by cynics as being pro-British, imperialist hypothesizer, it is also true that he himself had disowned his Grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore for his commercial outlook and more because he saw him as a colonialist lackey.

Santiniketan

Rabindranath Tagore's role in the innovation of educational ideas has been eclipsed by his fame as a poet. Writing of the rote-oriented Indian education system introduced by the British Raj, he once said: "We pass examinations, and shrivel up into clerks, lawyers and police inspectors, and we die young .... Once upon a time we were in possession of such a thing as our mind in India. It was living. It thought, it felt, it expressed itself. But it has been thrust aside, and we are made to tread the mill of passing examinations, not for learning anything, but for notifying that we are qualified for employment under organizations conducted in English. Our educated community is not a cultured community, but a community of qualified candidates."

In 1901 Tagore founded a school at Santiniketan, about 160 km northwest of Calcutta, on a seven acre plot of land bought by his father in the 1860s. He crystallised his views on education in the experimental school at Santiniketan, establishing the traditional Brahmacharya structure of the student living together with his Guru in a self-sustaining community. He selected the ancient Sanskrit verse, “Yatra visvam bhavatieka nidam”, meaning, "Where the whole world meets in a single nest" as its motto. Santiniketan became a university in 1921 and today the institution is known as Visva Bharati University ('India in the World"), a Central University under the Government of India.

Rabindranath also established at this time a full-fledged organisation for agricultural and rural development called Sriniketan in the village of Shurul, two miles away from Santiniketan. Schemes for developing animal husbandry, weaving, agriculture, and cottage industries were undertaken by this organisation. In addition, projects to improve the lot of the villagers such as a village library, hospital, cooperative bank, tube-well irrigation, and an industrial estate were adopted.

In 1940 a year before he died, he put a letter in Gandhi's hand, "Visva-Bharati is like a vessel which is carrying the cargo of my life's best treasure, and I hope it may claim special care from my countrymen for its preservation." His dream lives on in the form of Viswa Bharati.

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