“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action –
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali
Celebrating 163rd birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in 2024. Its difficult for a ordinary person like me to express a tribute to such a personality like Tagore. Still will bring into memory his work, his love for country, discuss some of his major works and remember him through his songs. Born in Jorasanko Thakur Bari on 7th May 1861 to Devendranath Thakur and Sarada Devi. Rabindranath was the fourteenth child of his parents. He had keen interest in various topics from childhood and was taught at home. He withdrew from formal schooling when he was around 14 years old. The rest of his education was carried out at home through his own personal efforts and with the help of tutors in various subjects. Tagore married when he was 23 to Mrinalini Devi.
Tagore moved to Santiniketan ashram in 1901, where he started a vision he had throughout his life, an experimental school based on traditional guru-shishya teaching methods from the Upanishads. A major place of education now in India with its undivided vision of Tagore being fulfilled. 1n 1921, Tagore established Viswa Bharati University and gave all his money from Nobel Prize and royalty money from his books to this University.
Tagore wrote in all literary genres, his main literary work is based on poetry. Some of his major works in poetry are Manasi (1890) , Sonar Tari (1894), Gitanjali (1910) , Gitimalya (1914) , and Balaka (1916). Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the most acclaimed of them, contains poems from other works besides its namesake. Tagore’s major plays are Raja (1910) , Dakghar (1912) , Achalayatan (1912) , Muktadhara (1922) , and Raktakaravi (1926) . He is the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) , and Yogayog (1929) . He also wrote many musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his collection of poems, Gitanjali. Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself. The publication of Gitanjali was followed by five major poetical works in English translation: The Gardener (1913), The Crescent Moon (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), Lover’s Gift and Crossing (1918), and The Fugitive and Other Poems (1919).
Tagore experimented in dramatic forms from his earliest musical and verse dramas in the 1880s, through social comedies and symbolic plays in prose. Well known writings are Valmiki Pratibha (1881), Kal-Mrigaya (1882), Prakritir Pratisodh (1884; published in English as Sanyasi in 1917), Mayar Khela (1888), Raja O Rani (1889; The King and the Queen, 1917), Visarjan (1890; Sacrifice, 1917), Chitrangada (1892; published in English as Chitra in 1913), and Malini (1896; English translation, 1917). The social comedies include Goday Galad (1892), Vaikunther Khata (1897), and Chirakumar Sabha (1926); and the notable symbolic plays in prose are Raja (1910; The King of the Dark Chamber, 1914), Dak-Ghar (1912; The Post Office, 1914), Phalguni (1916; The Cycle of Spring, 1917), Mukta-dhara (1922; The Waterfall, 1922), and Rakta-karavi (1924; Red Oleanders, 1925). Among the famous dance dramas are Chandalika (1933), Nrityanatya Chitrangada (1936), Chandalika Nrityanarya (1938), and Syama (1939).
He published more realistic novels like Choker Bali (1901), Naukadubi [(1903) and Gora (1910). His Shesher Kabita is a rare writing which can be termed as lyrical novel, with poems and rhythmic passages written by the main character (a poet).
The friendship between Rabindranath and Gandhiji was fascinating. Though different views in political aspect, their respect for each other was immense. Tagore always addressed Gandhiji as Mahatma and Gandhiji never forgot to address Rabindranath as Gurudev. These are the lessons we should acquire from a great personality of times.
In 1905, Viceroy Curzon decided to divide Bengal into two parts. This was a blaze in Tagore’s mind and he strongly protested against this decision. Tagore wrote many national songs and attended protest meetings. He initiated the Rakhibandhan ceremony, symbolizing the underlying unity of undivided Bengal. In 1919, following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tagore renounced his knighthood condemning the act.
Rabindranath Tagore resides in our heart through his songs, a genre which has gained reputation and is called Rabindra Sangeet. Tagore was an accomplished musician and painter, writing around 2,230 songs. He has also captured all elements of nature, festival and sadness, happiness and even death. Perhaps his greatest work is portrayed in the creation of the National Anthem “Jana Gana Mana” of India and Bangladesh’s Amar Sonaar Baanglaa. Tagore’s Golpoguchchho (Bunch of Stories) remains one of the most illustrated work in Bangla literature, providing subject matter for many successful films and theatrical plays.
We lost Kabiguru on 7 August 1941 (22 Shravan 1348) still marked as a day of sorrow throughout the world in remembrance through his songs, poems and other work.
Reference :
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1913/tagore/facts/
https://www.clearias.com/rabindranath-tagore/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rabindranath-tagore
https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/r/Rabindranath_Tagore.htm
