TAGORE : A RENAISSANCE MAN
Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate poet, writer, philosopher was the ambassador of Indian culture to the rest of the world. With strong human instincts and deep love for his mother land and his countrymen Rabindranath Tagore, in the words of Amartya Sen was " a towering figure", being a "deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker".He is probably the most prominent figure in the cultural world of Indian subcontinent and the first Asian person to be awarded with the Nobel prize Even though he is mainly known as a poet, his multifaceted talent showered upon different branches of art, such as, novels, short stories, dramas, articles, essays, painting etc. And his songs, popularly known as Rabindrasangeet, have an eternal appeal and is permanently placed in the heart of not only Indians but the whole world. He was a social reformer, patriot and above all, a great humanitarian and philosopher. India and Bangladesh - the national anthems of these two countries are taken from his composition. Tagore was born on Tuesday, 7th May 1861 in a wealthy family in Kolkata (former name Calcutta) at the address of 6, Dwarakanath Thakur Lane, Calcutta.
He was the ninth son of Debenadranath and Sarada Devi. His grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore was a rich landlord and social reformer. Even though he was from a very wealthy family, in those days Jorasanko house ( Tagore house ) was a center of culture.
He was the ninth son of Debenadranath and Sarada Devi. His grandfather Dwarakanath Tagore was a rich landlord and social reformer. Even though he was from a very wealthy family, in those days Jorasanko house ( Tagore house ) was a center of culture.
He was first admitted into Oriental Seminary School. But he did not like the conventional education and started home study under several teachers. Later he went to Normal School, Bengal Academy and St Xaviers School, but all lasted for brief periods. At the age of 7 he wrote a rhyme. In 1874, his first published poem Abhilaash(Desire) was published anonymously in a magazine called Tattobodhi.
Apart from his writing works Tagore was regularly involved in nationalist movements .However his political view was complex , he opposed imperialism and supported Indian nationalists. His views have their first poetic release in Manast, mostly composed in his twenties. But two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear") and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favoured by Mahatma Gandhi. Evidence produced during the Hindu-German Conspiracy trial and later accounts affirm his awareness of the Ghadarite conspiracy, and stated that he sought the support of Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake and former Premier Ōkuma Shigenobu.Yet he lampooned the Swadeshi movement, denouncing it in "The Cult of the Charka", an acrid 1925 essay. He emphasized self-help and intellectual uplift of the masses as an alternative, stating that British imperialism was a "political symptom of our social disease", urging Indians to accept that "there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education". In 1901 he took the editorial charge of the magazine Bangadarshan and got actively involved with freedom fighting movement. He strongly protested Lord Curzon's decision to divide Bengal on the basis of religion. He wrote a number of national songs and attended protest meetings. He introduced the Rakhshabandhan ceremony , symbolizing the underlying unity in undivided Bengal. It was a matter of great shock for him when thousands of unarmed people were fired upon in Jalliawala Bagh ,Punjab . He wrote a historic letter to Lord Chelmsford repudiating his Knighthood in protest of the massacre.
For Rabindranath tagore , humanism was above any view ,thought or belief.Serving humanity was greatest job for ahuman being . And according to him the best way to serve humanity is to provide education to human beings because it is what that make humans different from other living beings.Tagore believed that "True knowledge is that which perceives the unity of all things in God." Tagore through his vast body of immortal literary works taught us that the universe is a manifestation of God, and that there is no unbridgeable gulf between our world and God's, and that God is the one who can provide the greatest love and joy.
Tagore had made the whole world awakened by his spiritual vision expressed in his poignant poems, as he himself said, is imbued "with the ancient spirit of India as revealed in our sacred texts and manifested in the life of today."
Swami Adiswarananda of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, in his preface to 'Tagore: "Rabindranath Tagore's philosophical and spiritual thoughts transcend all limits of language, culture, and nationality. In his writings, the poet and mystic takes us on a spiritual quest and gives us a glimpse of the infinite in the midst of the finite, unity at the heart of all diversity, and the Divine in all beings and things of the universe.
Tagore had a strong affinity with poor and oppressed people. He mourned the endemic poverty of Calcutta and the accelerating socioeconomic decline of Bengal, which he detailed in an unrhymed hundred-line poem whose technique of searing double-vision would foreshadow Satyajit Ray's film Apur Sansar. 1n 1921, established Viswabharati University. He gave all his money from Nobel Prize and royalty money from his books to this University.
Thus there is no denying that Rabindranath Tagore was one of the rarest diamonds produced from the belly of the mother earth. He was a real renaissance man who started a new era of love spirituality and humanity without any revolution.
In 1940 Oxford University arranged a special ceremony in Santiniketan to honor the poet with Doctorate Of Literature. Tagore passed away on 7th August, 1941 in his ancestral home in Calcutta, the house where he was born.
