Vol 24 No. 2/2010 ISSN 0970 5074 IndiaVOL 24 NO. 2/2010 Perspectives Six zoomorphic forms in a line, exhibited in Paris, 1930 Editor Navdeep Suri Guest Editor Udaya Narayana Singh Director, Rabindra Bhavana, Visva-Bharati Assistant Editor Neelu Rohra India Perspectives is published in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu. Views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and not necessarily of India Perspectives. All original articles, other than reprints published in India Perspectives, may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement. Editorial contributions and letters should be addressed to the Editor, India Perspectives, 140 ‘A’ Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001. Telephones: +91-11-23389471, 23388873, Fax: +91-11-23385549 E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.meaindia.nic.in For obtaining a copy of India Perspectives, please contact the Indian Diplomatic Mission in your country. This edition is published for the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi by Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary, Public Diplomacy Division. Designed and printed by Ajanta Offset & Packagings Ltd., Delhi-110052. (1861-1941) Editorial In this Special Issue we pay tribute to one of India’s greatest sons As a philosopher, Tagore sought to balance his passion for – Rabindranath Tagore. As the world gets ready to celebrate India’s freedom struggle with his belief in universal humanism the 150th year of Tagore, India Perspectives takes the lead in and his apprehensions about the excesses of nationalism. He putting together a collection of essays that will give our readers could relinquish his knighthood to protest against the barbarism a unique insight into the myriad facets of this truly remarkable of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. And personality. During the course of an eventful life spanning eight he could, as Prof. Amartya Sen points out in his essay, critique decades from 1861 to 1941, Tagore won international acclaim Mahatma Gandhi’s Swadeshi campaign and his advocacy of the as a playwright, poet, song writer, novelist, educator, philosopher spinning wheel or charkha. and humanist. Always positive and oriented towards action, he gives us much Tagore wrote his fi rst drama opera – Valmiki Pratibha – when to refl ect. “I have become my own version of an optimist. If I he was barely twenty. He went on to write over 2000 songs and can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door – create Rabindra-sangeet as an important genre of Bengali music or I’ll make a door. Something terrifi c will come no matter how that is named after the poet himself. He translated a selection of dark the present,” he once said. For me, though, here’s the his own poems, Gitanjali, from Bengali to English and became thought that almost invariably brings a smile to the face: “I slept the fi rst Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913. His short stories and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was and novels occupy a place of their own in Bengali literature. service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” And he is probably the only poet to have composed the national We are grateful to Visva-Bharti University and in particular to anthems of two countries: Amar Shonar Bangla for Bangladesh Prof. Udaya Narayana Singh for joining me as the co-editor and Jana Gana Mana for India. At the age of 60, he turned his of this issue. In addition to the articles illuminating key facets attention to painting and managed to produce a remarkable of Tagore’s personality, Visva-Bharti have also provided us oeuvre during the twilight years of his life. with rare photographs that have been painstakingly restored As an educationist, he emphasized the notion of complete to provide a visual delight. The fact that several of these and holistic education and established the Visva-Bharati photographs are being published for the fi rst time makes this in Santiniketan as an institution where “the illusion of issue a true collectors’ edition. For Tagore, anything less would geographical barriers disappear from at least one place in be unthinkable. India.” The ‘world poet’ traveled widely, winning friends and As always, we look forward to our readers’ feedback and admirers as he traversed thirty countries across fi ve continents. comments. As Tan Chung says in his essay, “The Chinese have always liked Tagore’s writings and songs for the richness of love, hope, harmony and the humanness. A ‘Tagore Fever’ was created in China in the 1920s, especially in the wake of his 1924 visit. We Navdeep Suri see another rage of ‘Tagore Fever’ surging in China with the universal celebration of the 150th birth anniversary…” own trajectory of working for his own country, his own times Tagore and for his own mother tongue – Bangla, or Bengali that holds in the 21st century together two nations, India and Bangladesh. He knew that after the dark comes light, as he said: “Clouds come fl oating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” Whereas reason and logic have an important place in Tagore’s scheme of things, the inner strength and the belief in one’s own self and an intuitive knowledge are of equal importance. Tagore had once said: “A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.” How true it is in the context of creating a space for fi ner elements in one’s life as well as in one’s learning processes. Creative writing, meaningful performances, imaginative art, and soulful music have a major role to play in shaping the human mind as much as tools, technology and tangible instruments such as earthly riches. At a time when the world celebrates the onset of the 150th year of Rabindranath Tagore between May 2010 and 2011, it was he face of the world is changing, and as time passes, the thought appropriate to pay a tribute to this great son of India changes are visible with a lot of disturbing images. But who made us proud. We have, therefore, put together a special Teach time one feels an element of doom and despair, issue in his honour with close to two dozen essays together one’s faith is rekindled to see that there are thinkers and doers with extremely important and rare visuals – from photographs like Tagore who fi rmly believed that ultimately the truth and to images of his paintings. Some of these essays have been beauty would prevail. It is not surprising to see Einstein sharing published earlier – mostly in Visva-Bharati publications, the same beliefs as the doyen of Indian literature, Rabindranath but most of them have been written for this edition. We are Tagore (1861-1941). Einstein said: ‘The ideals which have hopeful that the offerings we are making will be received lighted my way, and time after time have given me new well by the international readership of India Perspectives, courage to face life cheerfully have been kindness, beauty, and and this issue will be a collector’s item which would be truth.” The progress of mankind is crucially dependent on this remembered and discussed for a long time. We are thankful realisation. In exchanges with Einstein, Tagore had commented: to the authors as well as to Visva-Bharati in general, and to “The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an the staff of the archives of Rabindra Bhavana, in particular. infi nite idea which once realised makes all movements full of We take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the meaning and joy. But if we detach its movements from that Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs for their ultimate idea, if we do not see the infi nite rest and only see the interest and cooperation in putting this issue together. infi nite motion, then existence appears to us a monstrous evil, impetuously rushing towards an unending aimlessness.” No Udaya Narayana Singh amount of personal loss could make Tagore deviate from his Santiniketan; March 2010 INDIA PERSPECTIVES VOL 24 NO. 2/2010 2 INDIA PERSPECTIVES VOL 24 NO. 2/2010 3 Winged Surprises: Tagore and Lyrics and Melodies of Rural Reconstruction Tagore UMA DASGUPTA 86 LADLY MUKHOPADHYAY 6 Tagore and his Times: The Poet’s School The Idea of Asia SUPRIYO TAGORE 12 SUGATA BOSE 90 Tagore, Gitanjali Tagore: ❝ and the Nobel Prize The Scientist in Tagore The Golden Bridge between NILANJAN BANERJEE 20 PARTHA GHOSE 46 Great Civilizations of In common with thousands of his countrymen India and China I owe much to one who by his poetic genius and Tagore: TAN CHUNG 96 singular purity of life has raised India in the The Seer and Interpreter ERNEST RHYS 50 Tagore’s Visit estimation of the world. But I owe also more. and its Impact on Did he not harbour in Santiniketan the inmates China’s Literary World of my Ashram who had preceded me from YIN XINAN 101 South Africa? The other ties and memories are too Man at the Centre of sacred to bear mention in public tribute. Universe: Tagore’s Ideas on Complete Education ❞ UDAYA NARAYANA SINGH 104 Rabindranath Tagore Tagore and M.K. Gandhi as a Painter Sabarmati, Ahmedabad Technical Education SANJOY KUMAR MALLIK 26 The Wayfaring Poet B.N. PATNAIK 110 AMRIT SEN 52 In Search of a Equal Music: New Language for Tagore with Gandhi at Santiniketan Infl uence of Tagore on other Theatre Tagore’s Religion Painters ABHIJIT SEN SABUJKOLI SEN 60 38 INA PURI 116 Gandhi and Tagore Tagore: AMARTYA SEN 66 From the 21st Century Perspective Touched by Tagore ILKE ANGELA MARÉCHAL 122 MARTIN KÄMPCHEN 70 ‘Blessed am I that I am born to this land’: Tagore’s Swadeshi Samaj: A Biographical sketch Debates on Nationalism of Tagore BIKASH CHAKRAVARTY 76 PURBA BANERJEE 127 Rabindranath’s Role in Women’s Emancipation KATHLEEN M.