CHAPTER -1 TAGORE: LIFE & WORKS LIFE Rabindranath Tagore, fourteenth child of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi, was bom on the 7* of May 1861 at Jorasanko in Calcutta. According to the Bengali calendar the date was the 25'*' of Vaishaka, 1268. The Tagore family was living very simply at the time of Rabindranath's birth. Rabindranath did not even have the care and attention of his mother, Sarada Devi, head of the large household. Rabindranath's care became the responsibility of the family servants. His movements were restricted by them to make their job easier. Very often Rabindranath would spend his hours shut alone in a room seated quietly by a window. The world outside grew more and more mysterious and strange to the child. Rabindranath was even deprived of his share of milk as the servant mismanaged to take a major share of it. But this servant indirectly contributed to Rabrindranath's development & growth as a literary artist, because when he read out parts of Ramayana and Mahabharata to the other servants, Rabindranath listened with keen interest. Cut off as he was from the grown-up world and the outside world, the world of his imagination become real to him. Insularity from the external world made Rabindranath's mind more sensitive to the workings of a child's mind. Listening to his elder brothers talk of school, made Rabindranath's heart yearn to go to school, but once there he realized that the closed room was nothing like the colourfiil world of imagination; going to school, he felt, was no better than being punished in a heartless prison. Rabi and the other children of the Tagore household studied various subjects, at the Normal School as well as at home, like the mother-tongue Bengali, Geometry, Arithmetic, History, Geography, Physics, Logic and Biology, They were also taught Drawing and Gymnastics, Anatomy and English. Even holidays and Sundays were not "wasted", Rabindranath and the other children were taught devotional songs and sometimes light popular songs too. Sometimes a science teacher came to show them simple experiments with the help of scientific apparatus. At the insistence of his father, Rabi joined a Eurasian school called the Bengal Academy. His father's company was something Rabi always sought, and so he was obviously overjoyed at the opportunity to go to the Himalayas with him for four whole months. The first break in their journey was at Bolpur, in the Birbhum district of Bengal where Rabi's father had built a house named Santiniketan. They also visited Amritsar on their way, from there they proceeded to Dalhousie in the Himalayas. On the 20*^ of September 1878, Rabindranath, 17 years old, sailed for England. He was put in a public school at Brighton and later admitted to the University at London. Here he studied English Literature. He spent about a year and a half in England. Back in India, he saw at close quarters Calcutta, Darjeeling, Maharashtra (Pune) & a part of South of India (Karwar in Kamataka). In 1883 Rabindranath, 22 yrs. old, was married to Mrinalini Devi. Barely six months after his wedding, Rabindranath's sister-in-law, Kadambari Devi committed suicide. For Rabi, her death was the tragic loss of a companion close from childhood. This was also the time when Rabindranath was introduced to the political, social and religious changes taking place so rapidly in India. His father gave him charge of the administration of the Brahmo Samaj. Towards the end of 1890, his father also entrusted him with the lull charge of the landed estates of the family. Rabi went to live at Shelaidah alone as his children were yet small; Bela, his eldest daughter was 4 & Rathindranath his eldest son was 2 years. At Shelaidah his acquaintance with the simple folk of the village deepened. Rabindranath won the hearts of his tenants, a fact which is clearly reflected in the fact that even in his old age, in 1937 he visited them at their request. At Shelaidah, he also developed keen interest in folk literature and folk music. In 1898, Mrinalini Devi left Calcutta and joined her husband at Shelaidah, taking with her their five children Bela, Rathi, Rani, Mira and Sami. A room in the manor house was turned into a school for them, this was in a way a foundation for the school at Santiniketan an important mile stone in the cause of humanitarian ideals. On the 22"** of December 1901, Rabi founded a school of his own and named it the Brahmacharya Ashram. He had to face many financial and administrative hardships to see the school flourish. This was also the time of personal tragedies for him; his wife Mrinalini Devi died in 1902, his second daughter Rani, 12 years old, died in 1903. 1904 brought the death of a teacher Satish Chandra Ray who was like a son to him. In the early part of 1905 Rabi's father passed away. 1907 brought the severest blow when Sami, Rabindranath's six year old son died of cholera. Undaunted and unbent by the severity of these blows, Rabindranath gave his entire attention now to the work of the school. After the age of 50, Rabindranath's health started deteriorating. The year 1912, Rabindranath visited England for improving his health. It was here that several English poets of the day were introduced to him; Yeats, the most important one among them. Praises were lavished on him for GITANJALI - his translation of his poems. The Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1913 to Rabindranath Tagore. It was the first time an Asian writer had been shown such an honour. The year 1918 again brought a tragic blow for Tagore; the death of Bela his eldest daughter. On the other hand his fame was rising rapidly. All over India and Europe Tagore became a household name known for his writings and above all for his ideas on humanism. On 23'*' December 1921, Rabindranath dedicated Viswa - Bharati (earlier known as the Brahmacharya Ashram) to the people of his country. In 1921, he completed his 60* year. As long as his health permitted he traveled tirelessly in his own country and in other lands. His condition took a turn for the worse in 1940 from which he was never to recover. He died on the 7* of August 1941. The passing away of the complex multi-dimensional creative genius has created a void in the literary firmament, which is hard to fill. WORKS Tagore's multi faceted creativity found expression through all possible literary genres: verse, fiction-short stories and novels, experimental plays, essays and over 2,000 songs; in his life span of 80 years. Early stage The earliest sparks of Tagore's creative genius can be traced back to his childhood. Rabi started scribbling poetry at the early age of 9 years. He composed his first heroic poem -THE DEFEAT OF PRITHVIRAJ - at the age of about 11 years. He made his first public debut as a poet on the 11* of February 1875. The poem he read out was later published in the Amrita Bazar Patrika and named THE GIFT OF THE HINDU MELA. When Rabi was 12 or 13 years old, he spent part of every day composing SWAPNA PRAY AN (The Dream Journey), each part read out to the whole family as soon as it was written. At the age of 15, his poem BANAPHUL (THE WILD FLOWER) appeared in a magazine called Jnanankur. His first prose writing, a critical essay also appeared in this magazine. In 1877, Rabi aged 16, appeared on stage in the role of Jyotindranath's (his brother) farce Alik Babu. Rabi wrote a critical study of Micheal Madhusudan Dutt's MEGHNAD BADH which was published in the first issue of Bharati, a magazine published from the Tagore household. He also wrote some padas in imitation of Vidyapati's padavali in Braja dialect. These padas supposedly written by Bhanu Sinha an old master of the padavali style, created quite a sensation in the literary circles, when published in the Bharati. Other writings of Rabindranath were also published in the Bharati; poems, stories, essays on foreign and native customs, studies of civilizations and literatures. At about the age of 20 years, his letters to Europe, PRABASIR PATRA (Letters of a Visitors to Europe) were published in Bharati. His first musical drama was a product of his study of Indian and European melody, it was VALMIKI PRATIBHA (The genius of Valmiki). At about the age of 20 yrs. he composed his SANDHYA SANGEET (Evening Songs)which were acclaimed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee the well-known writer of the times. About this time Rabi also started writing his first novel BAU THAKURNIR HAT (The Young Bride's Market). Middle Stage About the age of 21 years Tagore wrote a symbolic play PRAKRITIR PRATISODH (Nature's Revenge). Around 1884, Rabindranath wrote ironical verses, plays and essays attacking the false interpretations of Hinduism going on at that time. From the time he was married in 1883 to 1890, Tagore wrote stories, poems, plays, essays, and critical studies continuously. He wrote many plays during these years MAYAR KHELA (The Play of Illusion), RAJA O RANI (The King and The Queen) and VISARJAN (Sacrifice). The decade of the 1890's was also the most fertile decade of Tagore's short stories. A series of short stories, establishing the story form in Bengali literature, were published in GALPA GUCHCHHA when staying at Shelaidah. He described his visit to England in 1890 in EUROPE JATRIR DIARY (Diary of a Sojourner to England).