Tagore-Revere & Reverse Vidyut Chakraborty

Many Indians do not evaluate in what extent a true Indian he was, the ideologues of internationalism did not even care to assess how he extends himself to internationality. Around the world his 150th birth anniversary was celebrated in 2011, now ahead is 2013, the centenary of first Nobel Prize in Asia is expected to be celebrated with much fan and fare. The next hundred years may his presence be alive. He shaped Bengali in his own hand and presented its worth to the world. Bengalis ranks the fifth in international language community.

With German intellectuals in 1926 A simple man, modest lifestyle , strong grip over his pen, feet on earth, eyes in space, at the old age fit to be called young, one who can foresee his verses (1400 B.S.) to be read after a century- every Bengali know him, respect him, worship him. 250 million of Bengali speaking persons (mainly inhabitants of entire Tripura and West Bengal partly Assam and Orissa and entire Bangladesh), they are born with Rabindra Sangeet (songs) and dies with it. There is not a single Bengali who can not memorize either a poem or a song of Rabindranath. My intention is to analyze and synthesize this great man in the context of international acceptance. Santiniketan (the Abode of Peace) was the brain child of Rabindranath Tagore (in Bengali it is Thakur). It is an admixture of Ancient Nalanda and Taxila and a bit of 1
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Cambridge. The nearby railway station had the look of Stratford.Rabindranth took the labour of unifying the wisdom of all Asian and Western countries. We start with the emotion of the Sino-Indian scholar Tan Yun San, who was a disciple and an assistant to the architecture of China Bhavan of Viswa Bharati University in Santiniketan. It was in April, 1941, Tagore was alive. Some interviewer asked Tan Yun San about the future of Santiniketan after Tagore.He replied his soul his ideal his works and his achievements will ever remain. Yes, he spoke the right thing. The world celebrated his 150th birth centenary in 2011. In Tagores life time there were bouquets of praises, to the contrary showers of adversities distressed him. It is natural in human society; proficiency and prominence always attract criticism. He courageously refused knighthood in 1906, albeit, he received honorary D.Litt. from Oxford University, a year before his demise. Then, Mr. Morris Gwyer, the Chief Justice of India, applauded to his extent on behalf of the university. Like the Britishers boast of its origin, Roman Cultural effect, like the Scottish is proud of its Celtic ancestry, Indians also chant the slokas (Stanza of verses) of Vedas and Upanishads (ancient Sanskrit verses), Rabindranath was not an exception. Some 350 Upanishads are known to exist but traditionally 108 Upanishads contained in the Muktikopanishad are considered most important.Rikveda contains 10 Upanishads, Sam Veda 16, Yajur Veda 50 and Atharva Veda contains 32 Upanishads. How ones life can be guided by the teachings of Upanishads which also comprises of Aranyaks. One can memorize one or two verses out of the huge volume on different subjects. But to live with Upanishads is ridiculous for any individual with modern scientific attitude. Some western author cast aspersions that Tagores writings are guided by the trash of Upanishad, but failed to mention the name of the very Upanishad. These verses were written after many a war was seen by the ancient scholars of Himalayan Civilization, war for food, war for woman, war for land, war for cowherds, war for principle that devastated the ages of civilization and the scholars worshipped the Food Land Water Sun Wind pointed out to the peaceful coexistence with the Mother Nature. One can search in these sacred books the ancient culture of Himalayan Civilization. Rabindranath Tagore respected the discoveries and inventions of the Western nation but decried its 2
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wrongful uses toward destruction of the world peace. The contemporary scientist Albert Einstein could share his view because he was a modern man with scientific attitude. He tried to his best to build up an Asian Community binding the mainstream culture of China Japan and India. His teachings can be treated as preaching and not mere writing something for fame only. Many scholars of his time failed to understand him and many did not. Going ahead he welcomed an union of East and West, which was to the contrary of Joseph Rudyard Kiplings view East is east, and West is west, and never the twain shall meet (The Ballad of East and West).D H Lawrence, at first look to his book, wrote to Otoline Morel in 1916- Miss Volkhovsky has lent me Tagore.I dont think, so much of the translations-they have some beauty. I think, in this novel of mine, is some of the same sort of feeling as in Tagore. He is very popular too, isnt he? That is hard to understand. Actually WB Yeats wrote a forward of Gitanjali (Offerings of Songs) and helped Tagore a lot. Yeats was happy up to the Tagores biography written with weak translation by Edward Thompson. As Tagore advanced further with other writings and earned fame amongst the world scholars, Yeats commented caustic against him. Was there any confusion in Yeats to count a poet as a philosopher or was it his jealous ego? The criticism was in such a length that Sir Valentine Chirol, a columnist of Guardian remarked that Gitanjali was actually written by WB Yeats. Then DH Lawrence commented-.this fraud of looking up to the East-this wretched worship of Tagore attitude-is disgusting. Russian author Vladimir Nabokov lectured saying why should we continue to mislead students by teaching them that Mann, Galsworthy, Faulkner, Tagore and Satre are great craftsman? Germany saluted Tagore as well as went against him too. Riner Maria Rike. Franz Kafka, ad nauseam, named him Gangeshofer the worthless writer. The major debate ran in India was based on the comments of a Stalinist German Marxist George Lukas who went arrogant on reading Tagores Ghare Baire (Home and the world).In this story book(1915) Rabindranath Tagore unmasked the ugly reality of politics in the name of nationalism in India, perhaps that is the real face of nationalism all over the world, which enraged Lukas as because he 3
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treated the negativity of nationalism as revisionism. Lukas remarked-It is difficult to assess wisdom in itself in the vacuum of pure theory (and within the walls of an elegant salon).But it will reveal itself the moment that it comes out with the claim to act as mens guide.Mr. Tagore has come out with that claim in this novel. As we noted, his wisdom was put at the intellectual service of the British police. He was annoyed with the impression of the great man whom German intellectuals have treated like a prophet. (Die rote Fahne,1922,Berlin Periodical). Nobel Laureate economist Dr. Amartya Sen, a student of Santiniketan, observed in his Tagore and his India to a great extent this Tagore was the Wests own creation, part of its tradition of message-seeking from the East, particularly from India, which-as Hegel put it- had existed for millennia in the imagination of the Europeans. What made these intellectuals flare up against Rabindranath! The Indian Philosophy, the racialism, the nativity, popularity among the whites, or misconception about Bengal and as a whole India? The answer is each and every one factor may probably be right. Added to, there was inappropriate translation from Bengali. He criticized his biographers translation saying where the Bengali language is concerned, if he(Edward Thompson) forgets that this language is mine, that much of it I have shaped with my own hands, then the only reason for it I can think of is that he is an Englishman and I a Bengali..on the other hand there is his utterly shallow acquaintance with our language, and on the other his profound contempt for our country.( Michael Collins in Sept14,2011-Misrepresentation of Rabindranath). Christianity was so dominating that it did not allow a non-Christian or anti Christian to reign over its cultural hegemony. Many Christian writers had to face adversity for thinking aloud about their humanitarian concept above the religion. A few war loving Marxist theoreticians could not affirm theirselves as the peace making force of the world, perhaps they were more Stalinist than Stalin. The crash in capital market (The Great Depression of 1929) found the war as a solution which gave birth of fascism, and in his Crisis of Civilization Rabindranath addressed fascism a menace to the civilization. There sprang forth the uprising of social democrats who also advocated socialism as well as nationalism. This dichotomy and pretension turned 4
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the behavior of nationalist and pseudo socialist into a fanatic fascist. Mussolini, Hitler, Tojo, Franco were the rulers who preached either nationalism or socialism. Later every one of them turned against socialism and democracy.Tagore was prima facie misled by the pet authors of the rulers of Italy Germany and Japan, but did not take much time for disillusion. He praised the Bolshevik Russia, commented adverse against Japans aggression on China, expressed condemnation of the massacre of Ethiopia by Fascist Italy, on first visit to Italy he praised a lot but knowing the reality from Charles Andrews he withdrew. He wrote to Noguchi refusing support to Japans invasion on China-You claim that Japans situation is unique, forgetting that military situations are always unique, and that pious warlords, convinced of peculiarly individual justification for their atrocities have never failed to arrange for special alliances with divinity fir annihilation and torture on a large scale. Regarding religion he was humanist even after devotion to Brahmo Samaj.There was a socio-religious upheaval in India to make it a secular nation, Ramakrishna Paramhansadev preached union of all religions, Swami Vivekananda followed his doctrine of religious humanism,Devendranath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen started with Brahmo discipline of pragmatism and later switched over to one Brahmanism and another to Chaitanyadevas Vaishnabism, Swami Dayanandas Arya Samaj came forward to reform of the Indian society. Ram Mohan Roy and Dwarka Nath Tagore, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay not only reformed Bengal with western touch, but the entire India. The politicians like Jawaharlal Nehru, an atheist, believed in casteless, religion less, socialist nation, Karamchand Gandhi believed in upgrading backward classes and coexistence of Hindus (non-Islamic) and Muslims (Islamic), and so many reforms in political economy and sociological economy were in the whirlwind in Indian context which built a composition that was universality of humanism which Tagore tried to justify in his lecture and writing. He let out his philosophy at the time when the international community went mad on war and toward fascism to rid of the crash and a newer idea (Leninism) has taken its root in Russia. Indian intellects were overshadowed with the prevalent Monarchy, 5
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Feudalism, Caste Hatred and Class-Consciousness; they did not pay heed to the worlds economic debacle that was replenished by Indian produces and products and minerals siphoned at cheaper cost of labour and wages. To notice the cumulative effect of economic wretchedness of Bengal only. one can go back to 1853 and can imagine the disastrous phenomenon after 1900 and then one should consider the efficacy of various types of socio-political movements in India. During the depression of 1830-1840, Bengal saw an industrious genius; he was credited with introduction of steam engine technology and modern corporate forms in India. He was Rabindranath Tagores grandfather, the founder of Tagore legacy in Bengal; he had business interests in coal mining, tea gardens, insurance companies, banking, joint stock companies, silk, indigo, newspapers, landed estates and ocean going ships. In his corporate vision he sought interracial cooperation in business. He also dreamed of an industrialized India to attain a status of equal partner in Commonwealth of Nations.
Karl Marx wrote in 1853, From 1818 to 1836 the export of twist from Great Britain to India rose in the proportion of 1 to 5,200. In 1824 the export of British muslins to India hardly amounted to 1,000,000 yards, while in 1837 it surpassed 64,000,000 of yards. But at the same time the population of Dacca decreased from 150,000 inhabitants to 20,000. This decline of Indian towns celebrated for their fabrics was by no means the worst consequence. British steam and science uprooted, over the whole surface of Hindostan, the union between agriculture and manufacturing industry."[Source: MECW Volume 12, p. 125; Written: June 10, 1853; First published: in the New-York Daily Tribune, June 25, 1853].

Rabindranath was neither a politician nor an economist nor a religious messiah; he was a saviour of humanity with his mighty pen in hand. Universal humanism was the rationale that attracted so many scholars of the world to the side of Tagore.But the gospel of Peace failed flat in the war zone. He wrote that the female serpents were exhaling venom all around where the polite tune of peace would seem to be failed and farce(Naginira charidike felitechhe bisakto niswas santir lolit bani sonaibe byartho porihas ). In 1920 there was criticism on Tagore in Oxford, reported Yeats, and the Oxford University on August 7, 1940, offered him Honorary D.Litt. although he refused British honour (Knighthood) in 1919 protesting against the Jalianwala Bag massacre. The very few did it. He had the guts to say in presence of Franklin Roosevelt, the 6
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then governor of New York - The age belongs to the West and humanity must be grateful to you for your science. But you have exploited those who are helpless and humiliated those who are unfortunate with this gift. A great portion of the world suffers from your civilization. (Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson-Rabindranath Tagore an anthology/p300-331) In 1952, Nobel Laureate Albert Schweitzer, remarked-This completely noble and harmonious thinker (Tagore, the Goethe of India,) belongs not only to his people but to humanity. In 1961, American Nobel Laureate, Pearl Buck, wrote to Dr. Radha krishnan-In a very real sense, he was a world poet. The Guardians Ian Jack in May7,2011, wrote a column - ..but Tagores neglect is extraordinaryShakespeare and Dickens dont come into picture; the popularity of Burns in Scotland 100 years ago may be his nearest equivalent in Britain. Tagore is indebted to Burns to take up the Scottish tunes from AULD LANG SYNE, FLOW GENTLY AND SWEET AFTON etc. In fact there was not a single poet in the world whose contribution to chant the national anthem of four nations-India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Prof. Mohammed A.Quayum of Malaysian Islamic University observedTagore believed in interactive, dialogic world, given to a deep sense of sympathy, generosity and mutuality, and in which nations would not be parochial, xenophobic and centripetal, or guided by mere selfishness.( Imagining One World). Rabindranath Tagore had dreamt of the free universe, in his words : 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 from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards 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. 7
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