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RABINDRANATH TAGORE

I'nutuyrapn uy duunslua

Hultlnail

>t^K^ K^/Z-A/ CtJyh.

llu^^

Uo^^-^yxsL,

I'l ICi

TAGORE ON HIS FIFTY-THIKD ISIKTHDAT

RABINDRANATH TAGORE The

Man

and His Poetry BY

BASANTA KOOMAR ROY WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HAMILTON W. MABIE

^ ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1915

CopytiEht, 1915

Bv DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

TH^

FAINT

MEMORY OF

MY MOTHER WHO

DIED IN ^

EARLY -CHILDHOOD, AND

MY GRANDMOTHER WHO NURTURED

ME,

THIS BOOK IS MOST LOVINGLY DEDICATED

PREFATORY NOTE For

the last thirty-five years Rabindranath

Tagore, India's greatest living poet, has been in the public eye in India for his poetic excellence, patriotic fervour

But

was only

and physical

in the

summer of 1912

great poet

was introduced

Irish poet

William Butler

lish

attractiveness.

that this

West by the Yeats. The Eng-

to the

papers and magazines were full of enthusi-

astic eulogies

Some of them even

on him.

de-

plored the decadence of poetry in the West, and

lauded the Hindu poet to the

skies as a

man

representing genuine poetical feeling.

In the autumn of the same year, Tagore

came

to America.

Unnoticed he came to

this

great country, and unnoticed he left in the

spring of 1913.

In the winter of the latter

year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for idealistic literature,

and he

at once gained

an un-

precedented international reputation as a poet. 7

PREFATORY NOTE

8 At

present he

nothing short of a literary sen-

sation throughout the world.

first

paper on Tagore was published in

July, 1913; and at the time of the

award

was

about the only article in English that gave an idea of the wonderful personality of the poet.

was quoted and translated in many

During

countries of the world. trips in different parts of

lecture

America, I have felt

the demand for a book on Tagore.

cumstances have encouraged

These

cir-

to publish the

present volume.

My personal

acquaintance with the poet and

his family has helped

ing tried

book.

this

a great deal in writ-

wherever possible,

have,

best to represent Tagore in his

words in

The

translations

At times

I have been

translation.

are not always literal.

own

obliged to translate the thought rather than the

words, just to avoid unpleasant phraseology.

Almost

all

lations;

the quotations in the book are trans-

and unless otherwise expressly

these have been

made by

stated,

the author.

thanks are due to Dr. Paul S. Reinsch,

PREFATORY NOTE

the present United States Minister to China,

and Professor Willard G. Bleyer of the University of Wisconsin,

write

first article

who encouraged me

on Tagore ; to Rathindra-

nath Tagore, the poet's only son

living,

and

Somendranath Burman, a devotee of Tagore,

for presenting

with books and pamphlets

that have been useful in preparing the present

volume.

must here thank the

editors of the

Yale Review, The Independent, The Open Court,

The

Bookman,

The

Book

News

Monthly, Harper's Weekly, and The Crafts-

man, for

their permission to use parts of

different articles

And

in their pages.

expressing

Company

on Tagore that

first

appeared

I take this opportunity of

gratitude

the

Macmillan

for their kind permission to

make

use

of certain poems and prose quotations from the following copyrighted books:

"The Gar-

dener," "Gitanjali," "Sadhana" and "Songs of

Kabir."

Basanta Koomar Roy.

New York February

12,

City, 1915'

—

CONTENTS CHAPTER I

III

V VI

Family Poet

— Early

Years

— Precocious

Romantic Youth

—Realistic Poems

—

Transformation -Practical Devotional Poems

—

VIII

Idealism

Silaidah

103

Tagore THE Feminist

116

As Poet of Indian Nationalism

—^Uni-

VERSALisM

VII

PAGE

131

Tagore and His Model School at BolPUR On Music 155 Tagore's Philosophical Message

IX Tagore and the Nobel

177

—His

Prize

Place in Bengali Literature Bibliography

.189 221

ILLUSTRATIONS Rabindranath Tagore, on

his Fifty-third

Birthday

Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

The Maharshi Debendranath Tagore,

the poet's

father

Rabindranath Tagore, age Thirty

Tagore

....

in Devotional Posture

One of Tagore's Devotional poems

90 120

in his

own

handwriting, in the original Bengali character

Tagore, at Fifty

146 182

Tagore at the home of Mrs. William Vaughn Moody, in Chicago 204

INTRODUCTION Tagore's poetry needed ground which

this

precisely

the back-

sympathetic sketch of his

childhood, education and activities brings before

Western

Nobel prize

As the

recipient of the

for Literature his

name gained a

readers.

sudden publicity in the West, and the lectual curiosity istics

one of the character-

of the time secured for the translations of

his books ing.

which

intel-

which began to appear a wide read-

Many

readers into whose hands

these

books came found them vague and elusive in thought,

and

as remote in

form from the ex-

perimental and agitated verse of the hour as the moonlight ecstasy of the nightingale from

a policeman's ever,

rattle.

who found

There were some, how-

in the Bengali poet the joy of

discovery, the refreshment that comes tact with another order of IS

mind.

from con-

INTRODUCTION

The

fluent transcriptions of Oriental thought

with which Edwin Arnold fed the desire for

new and life

strange interpretations of Nature

were comfortable adaptations of Eastern

ways of thought and speech and

and

taste ; they

made

Western habits

things easy for those

who

hunger and thirst for local colour, but they brought neither aid nor comfort to those who

wanted

to understand the ideas behind Oriental

imagery and

art.

These are precisely what Tagore gives

us, in

the forms of expression which have been shaped in the atmosphere generated

a modern

man

the genius of his race

these ideas.

whose prose and verse as distinct

and unob-

scured as if they had been written a thousand years ago.

For

this reason

a very impor-

tant figure in the coming together of the East

and West which promises

to be the

most dra-

matic and perhaps the most important event of this

century.

The

irritation

incident to the

establishment of closer relations between civil-

INTRODUCTION

isations as far apart as those of the Orient

and

Occident will give place to a clear recognition of the value of the achievements of both sections of the

and

world and of the

artistic,

resources, spiritual

supplied by diversity of tempera-

ment.

The

gains of this

new appraisement

services will come, not

integrity of

from any

what appear

of past

sacrifice

of the

to be conflicting ideals

in the endeavour to secure

harmony by com-

promise, but from a clear definition of those ideals.

are is

It will

probably appear that those ideals

complementary rather than antagonistic;

obvious that each section has over-empha-

sised the aspect of truth

to it;

which has appealed

and much of the divergence

will dis-

appear when each section understands more clearly the point of view of the other.

event, nothing will be gained differences;

much

In any

by blurring the

will be gained

by giving them

the sharpest definition.

must understand the East

are to

INTRODUCTION

and

deal justly and wisely with the delicate

already raised by more in-

difficult questions

Those questions will become

timate relations.

dangerous to the peace of the world unless sympathy, knowledge and imagination unite in the

endeavour to

set

them

at rest.

The West has

The habit of deal-

exploited the East too long.

ing with countries from the standpoint of business advantage does not conduce to an under-

As a

standing of those countries.

knows

less

about the

people than those

spirit

who

purposes of exploitation.

this spirit.

class

and character of a

live

among them

for

The door of under-

standing closes automatically

approached in

rule

when a people

And

dealing with a

people for the sake of the profit that can be

made out of them

inevitably breeds that sense

of superiority which

the source of arrogance

and assumption and makes normal and wholesome

relations

between races impossible.

Tagore's work

deeply rooted in the

Oriental religion and civilisation;

its

soil

imagery,

INTRODUCTION language and informing

spirit are unaffectedly

and therefore uncompromisingly Oriental. is

the

man

and most

of the Far East uttering the deepest

characteristic thought of that ancient

world with a sincerity so deep that we cannot miss his essential message to us, though

mands from

us the exercise of faculties which

have become almost atrophied by

He mal

makes no concession

disuse.

to our habit of for-

logic; to the literalism of phrase

have come to regard cerity

and

men who

de-

as the evidence of sin-

The Western

clear thinking.

are called

which we

upon

states-

to formulate a

Far

Eastern policy ought to be required to take an

examination in Tagore's "Sadhana" and "The

King of

the

Dark Chamber."

account of a living

man

can make any

claim to completeness or finality; but in the case of a writer so far

removed from our habits

of thought and ways of living as Tagore

stands in no need of explanation or apology.

For many readers Tagore

further

away than

INTRODUCTION

the writers of the i6th century; the distance in thought obscures the nearness in time.

distance this

strikingly brought out

This

by comparing

study of the Indian poet with Franklin's

"Autobiography" or Mills' "Autobiography."

The

scenery which forms the background of

these diverse biographies different than are the

not more radically

ways of thinking and the

habits of life they report.

It gives

one a kind

of shock to read what Tagore has to say about the condition of

women

in India in contrast

with their condition in Europe and in this coimtry.

It is

wholesome

have a generally

ac-

cepted view so unconcernedly disregarded, as if it

were too unintelligent to be challenged.

It revives the

hope of ultimate emancipation

from absorption

in material interests to read

of the activities of a terests

make no

expects

appeal.

Indian

his

man

whom

these in-

The American who

friend

awed by

the colossal scale of the "sky-scrapers" discovers that

oppressed rather than impressed

INTRODUCTION by them.

If he

civilisation

making an estimate of our

likely to

put them on the debit

side of the account; they retard rather than

advance spiritual progress.

This implied chal-

lenge to Western activities and immediate aims

runs through this study of a representative Oriental;

not belligerent;

lies

in the

presentation of ideas of life so different that

they compel a re-examination of the claims of

Western

The lies

civilisation.

service of a poet of Tagore's distinction

in his eloquent

and moving

and an attitude towards ise that,

life

faith in ideals

which make us

real-

without surrendering our fundamental

conception of the integrity of personality and the group of truths that flow from

way

it,

the East

has

much

and

richer interpretation of both divine

man

to teach us in the

of a broader

an4 hu-

personality; a psychology at once more

subtle

and more serviceable in the use of mind

and body; an intimacy with nature which will strike

a truer balance between meditation and

INTRODUCTION

and put behind efRciency a restraining

action,

idealism.

In the civilisation of the future East

and West

will secure a

life

of thought and the

harmony between the

life

of action.

This account of Tagore's tivities, his

interests

and

ac-

devotion to education and his meth-

ods of dealing with boys, his habits of work, his hopes for India, gives

Western readers an

intimate impression of a personality formed

Eastern ideas and conditions, and disclosing the richness

and beauty which flow from them and

As a poet

witness to their vitality and value.

Tagore needs no commentator save a willingness to see truth from the other side of the

world and to give the imagination place beside the critical faculty. is

elusive

its

rightful

His thought

and must be patiently pursued, and

his speech

saturated with symlbolism and

imagery; he cannot be read at full speed; he

must be waited upon and communed with.

But

much

he demands

to give;

much

it is

and what he has

because he has to give

pre-

INTRODUCTION cisely.what

we need

world and

in this over- worked

23 West-

this eager, impatient age.

Hamilton W. Mabie.

New

Tork, February j 1915.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

CHAPTER FAMILY

EARLY YEARS

Poetry

The

blessing the

first

on entering

When

PRECOCIOUS POET

a part of our daily

this

newly

world

of the

deed.

life in India.

bom baby

receives

couched in verse.

the growing child does anything im-

proper the mother recites a

him

little

poem

telling

unwelcome consequences of such a

When

the child goes to school, the

first

lessons after the alphabet are given in verse.

When

the

grown up boy

Sanskrit, one of the

his plastic

first

mind

takes

to learning

slokas to be impressed that,

"The two

great

blessings that hallow the horrors of this hard

world are tasting the sweet nectar of poetry

and keeping good company."

Most of the mat-

ters that this Sanskrit scholar has to learn are

written in verse

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the rules of grammar, the

aphorisms of metaphysics and 27

logic, the sciences

POETIC INDIA

of botany and medicine, astronomy, chemistry,

and physics

The Ramayana,

are all in verse.

the most widely read book in all India,

At marriage the young couple

verse.

by mantrams death the earth

it is

in verse;

united

and again when

after

human body is consigned to fire or the Hindu Muse of poetry that has

the last words to say. It

was

in such a country

and in a family

that has been in the very forefront of the intellectual renaissance that has

been going on

Bengal for more than one hundred years

that Rabindranath Tagore,

the

Winner of 1913, was born on

Nobel Prize

thf 6th of

May,

i86i.

In social and religious reform, in the revival of art and music, and in political and industrial nationalism,

the

Thakur,

Anglicized

into

Tagore, family has rendered conspicuous service;

and has thereby gained the high esteem

of the people pf India, especially of Bengal.

Among

the Tagores are counted

men

Pro-

HISTORIC TAGORE FAMILY

sonno Koomar Tagore, a landowner, a lawyer editor,

a writer on

subjects,

founder and

of great reputation, an

and educational

legal

president of the British Indian Association;

Raja 1^ Sourindra Mohun Tagore, undoubtedly one of the highest musical authorities in India, the founder of the Bengal

Music School

and the Bengal Academy of Music, and author of

many volumes on Hindu music and

musical

instruments; Abanindranath Tagore, a distin-

guished painter, and an undisputed leader in the

Hindu

art revival;

Maharaja Ramanath Ta-

gore, brother of our poet's grandfather, a political

leader and writer; Prince

Dwarakanath

Tagore, the grandfather of the poet, a landlord,

a founder of the Landholders' Society,

a philanthropist, and a social reformer, preeminently an agitator against suttee.

The most noteworthy tors

his

own

father,

of the poet's ances-

Debendranath Tagore, (great king) .

He did

not care to be decorated that way.

Instead

who was not a Maharaja

TAGORE'S FATHER

he was decorated by the people with the of Maharshi

(great sage).

title

Though Deben-

dranath was no intellectual peer of his master,

Raja

Ram Mohun

Roy, the father of

modem

India' yet in devotion to the cause of social

and

religious reform, in willingness to sacrifice

and

to suffer for a principle, he

none.

was second to

Son of a Prince, yet moved by a sense

of moral duty, for there was no legal or docu-

mentary

obligation, he refused to tell a single

untruthful 'no' and handed over his vast estate to his father's creditors, thus reducing himself

to the position of a pauper.

the people decorated

wonder that

him with the

title

Maharshi; and no wonder that the kind-hearted creditors,

moved by

bendranath,

the heroic honesty of

made a compromise and

property with the youthful

left

De-

some

seer.

Maharshi Debendranath Tagore was one of India's great^t_spiritual__leaderSL.-_His godli-

ness

was contagious.

of his came to

Once a

him and

sceptical friend

asked:

"You

talk of

THE MAHARSHI DEBEXDRANATH TAGOEE, THE poet's father

WHERE

GOD?

God, ever and again of God there that there

God

The Maharshi pointed his friend, ,

What

proof

at all?" at a light

"Do you know what

and asked

that is?"

"Light," was the reply.

"How

do you know that

there

a light

there?"

"I see it is

it; it is

and

there

needs no proof;

self-evident."

"So

the existence of God," replied the

Maharshi.

"I see

Him

me and

within

without

me, in everything and through everything, and it

needs no proof,

The Maharshi

it is

self-evident."

in his early

youth was very

luxury-loving, and he himself tells us in his

autobiography the story of his transformation;

and we quote Sen, because

it it

at length, as translated

by Mr.

has a striking parallelism with

the subsequent transformation of Rabindranath

"On

the night previous to the

day when

grandmother would expire by the River Ganges, I

was seated on a mat spread near the

tiled

FATHER'S VISION

hut; the full

moon had

risen

on the horizon and

At that

by me was the funeral ground.

time they were singing Kirtan songs around

grandmother. "

'When

When I shall reciting

leave this mortal

gentle breeze was carrying the soimd to

ears; suddenly at that

being I became an

what

was

my all

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

I .

funeral ground that

his

place.

I sat

appeared to

The

rich carpets

and joy which

old at that time

man from

seemed worthless and of no value to me.

perienced before.

mind.

a total abhorrence for

felt

fit

strange

For the time

entirely different

proper and

I felt a serenity

moment a

The mat on which

wealth.

and

body

O God?'

thy name,

emotion passed over

day come,

will that blessed

had never ex-

was only eighteen years .

the joy I felt on the

day overflowed

one can experience that joy by

head with

logical discussions.

soul.

filling

Who

says

THE FACE SUPERB there

no God?

...

existence.

The

reason of

of soul; as

my mind

Here

I could

the evidence of his

not sleep that night.

sleeplessness

was the

moonlight had spread

ecstasy

over

itself

for the whole of that night."

After the passing of this great soul Ananda

Mohun

Bose, the senior wrangler, said:

of Dwarakanath Tagore, and the

first

"Son

Secretary,

I believe, of the British Indian Association,

might have been a Maharaja long befoje

But he chose the die,

better part.

but the Maharshis live

this.

The Maharajas

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

live in the grateful

hearts of unborn generations."

doubt that

the Maharshi will live forever and inspire the

younger generations with the sublimity of his character.

Rabindranath was born the youngest in a family of seven brothers and three is

said that

If this

bom

sisters.

poets are generally handsome.

a true generalisation, Rabindranath

was no exception.

He has long been

famous in

India both for his poetry and his beauty.

In-

THE POET OF GALILEE

deed, his youthful portraits bear a striking re-

semblance to the best pictures of the poet of Galilee,

who

wrote not a single verse, but

who

hallowed the world with the majestic poetry of his life

hair J

and sayings.

his

bright,

broad,

black,

The Hindu unfurrowed

poet's flowing

forehead;

his

magnetic eyes, chiselled nose,

firm but gentle chin, delicate, sensitive hands,

keen sense of

his sweet voice, pleasant smile,

humour, and

man

make him a

of rare and charming personality.

look at him the

his innate refinement,

to notice the true

embodiment of

artist.

The

God-intoxicated father of our poet used

to travel a good deal;

and so could not take

personal care of the training of his children all

the time.

And

unfortunately, the rearing of

"Rabi," instead of falling into the hands of his

mother and the maids,

male

servants.

and were most the

fell,

They were

into those of the

terrible taskmasters,

cruel to the child.

work of watching the

simplify

child ward, they used

THE JOY OF BONDAGE to shut

him up

and very often

in a room,

punishing him, they would make a chalk inside the room and stir

out of the

child, the circle

circle.

kaleidoscopic

Fortunately for the

its

pond, flower-beds

movements of the

watch the

people, the ani-

The ducks playing

water and hunting for food; the people

and basking

ing fruits or flowers that he

with

circle

command him not

There he used

mals and the birds.

gossiping

used to be near a window which

looked into a garden with

and orchards.

in the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;some

in the sun, others pluck-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;were

so fascinating to him,

would even forget

the sorrows of his

solitary imprisonment.

Though he

thus occasionally enjoyed the ad-

vantages of neglect, the bondage

long for further freedom.

made

his heart

This veiled view of

things without whetted his growing appetite for

the ultimate union with nature, and through

nature with nature's God. passionate love for nature so the union

It intensified his

much

that

came about through freedom,

when it

was

3^ THE SEEDS OF MYSTICISM Nature took

perfect, and, so to say, mutual.

the child to her bosom, and he began to love

her with ravishing unrestraint. tensified the bliss of the

Separation in-

union of lovers.

This lonesome existence in the locked room naturally

made

the child pensive ;

and the seeds

of his subsequent mysticism were sown there.

In one of his

letters,

the poet refers to his early

days in a passage which

may

be translated as

follows \^^ "I but faintly remember the days of

early childhood.

But

in the mornings, every

do remember that

now and

then,

a kind

of unspeakable joy, without any cause, used to overflow to

full

heart.

The whole world seemed

of mysteries.

dig the earth with a

Every day, I used to

little

bamboo

stick, think-

ing that I might discover one of them.

All the

beauty, sweetness, and scent of this world, all the

movements of the people, the

street, the

noises in the

cry of the kites, the cocoanut trees

in the family garden, the

banyan

tree

by the

pond, the shadow on the water, the morning

THE MYSTERY OF

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

LIFE

perfume of the blossoms

all

make me

a dimly recognised

feel the presence of

being assuming so

many forms

these used to

just to keep

company."^ Again, in another place, he thus recalls his

childhood days: /^^Whenever I look back to

my childhood memory

days

this stands

and the world seemed

that the life

of mystery.

I felt

prominent in

full

and thought every day that

everywhere there was present something incomprehensible,

and there was no certainty of

ever meeting

Him

any

seemed that nature used to ask me:

'Tell

what

definite

close her

I have in

time.

my It

hands and hands.'

never dared to answer, for nothing was impos-

be found therc'^J

sible to

The

future poet

was then about six years old;

and one morning he saw one of brothers for the

and

first

his cousin

time.

elder

Satya going to school

begged to be sent with

them, but was refused the privilege. to cry

his

He began

and make everybody miserable.

His

SCHOOL DAYS

38 teacher at

home

lost his

temper and slapped him

sharply on the cheek and said will cry

crying

more not

now

"Some day you

go to school than you are

go to school."

Before long, Master Tagore saw this proph-

For soon afterwards, when

ecy fulfilled.

his

turn came to go to school he was happy; but

when he was least.

in school he did not enjoy it in the

pass from one Jjondage to another

was too much

for

this

nature-loving child.

was transferred from the Oriental Semin-

ary to the

him

Norman

better.

School to see

that suited

There, too, history repeated

it-

self.

As Goethe did not

like his school

because his

fellow students were rough, so Tagore did not like the

Normal

School, for the students were

anything but pleasant to him, but more than that,

for

he could not learn to

whom

Tagore thus

like a certain teacher

he had a whole-hearted hatred. tells his story:

experience with one of

"I quite remember

teachers.

A BLOCKHEAD

was wOnt to use such harsh language that out of contempt I would never answer any of his All the year round I monopolised

questions.

and spoke not a word,

the last place in his class,

but thought within myself and sought to solve

many

great problems of

remember one

life.

How to defeat an enemy,

of them : I

had no weapons.

might train

The

lions, tigers,

fight, the victory

would be

even though

solution

was that

and dogs to easy.

start the

Thus one

year was spent, and at the annual examination

our papers were examined by Srijut Madhusu-

dan Bachaspati.

won

My teacher was furious and told the

the class.

authorities that partiality

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the highest grade in

a blockhead.

must have been shown

Then under

the direct

supervision of the superintendent of the school, I

was examined a second time, and that time,

too, I fortunately kept last in the class

at all.

him

my record."

Tagore did not

his guardians took

Bengal

like the school

him out and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;an

Academy

First or

sent

Anglo-Indian

LAUGHS AT ENGLISH

Though

school.

there

was no

special cause

of complaint against the students or the teachers,

still

it'

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;"a

was to him a school

prison

house," "a ghastly hospital."

Reluctantly attending school he was, at the

same time, studying at home biology, physiology,

geography,

geometry,

music, gymnastics, wrestling,

ature.

and English

liter-

was of

least

subjects English

all

His Bengali teacher

interest to him.

make Tagofe

best to

history, ph3rsics,

feel that the

guage was very charming. intensity, the teacher

tried his

English lan-

With melodramatic

would

recite

some of the

most sonorous passages from the famous English poets,

make

English verse.

the child feel the beauty of

But that excited nothing but the

mirth of the boy.

would go into

hysterics

with laughter, and his teacher would blush and give

reciting,

his pupil into

and with

it all

hope of turning

an English scholar.

And yet this

boy, forty years later, as the author of "Gitanjali,"

was to give to the world a new

style of

PAWRAY

JAL English prose, rich in superb in

its

rhythmic

singular simplicity, but

effect.

These studies in sciences and not, however, all that

literature

Tagore was doing.

were

His

best thoughts were engrossed in the development

of his

art.

had already

all-devouring

poetic

within himself

felt

The

impulse.

first

breath of poetry touched his childhood body

and mind when he was only

five years old.

After finishing the syllables he had just begun to learn words,

and very simple short

One morning he

sentences.

read two short sentences that

rhymed Jal pawray (water falls)

Pata nawray (leaves tremble) This mute waterfall and the imagined gentle

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

tremor of the leaves their

To is

their idea, their sound,

rhyme, gave the child an ecstatic

quote the poet's

own

account of

it:

thrill.

"This

the poetry of the primordial poet that touched

heart.

When

remember the inexplicable

LISP

42 joy I

felt

OF LEAVES

over those words at that time, I realise

why rhjmiing is

such an essential factor in verse-

making.

due to the fact that the words

do not end with the end of the sound. thrill survives their

the

rhyme

the mind.

The

import.

lingers in the ears

That whole day

Their

thrill

from

and vibrates

my heart

was leap-

ing with joy as water was spraying and the leaves were rustling in It

odd that

this

my inner consciousness."

sudden birth of poetry in

the childish soul sprang from a Bengali phrase

which

virtually the

same

Swinburne's

line,

"Lisp of leaves and ripple of rain."

Robert Browning's father, though a bank clerk,

was given

to versifying,

to take Robert in his study,

his lap

and

also

and he was wont

make

the child

sit

and teach him the words that rhymed,

show him the way

to the rhyme-world.

Tagore's father was one of the greatest poets that ever lived in the land of Kalidas (India's greatest poet of all ages) though he did not

write a single poem.

was a poet of

"elo-

THE BEGINNING The

quent silences."

silent poet did not, like

Browning's father, give

But

verse-making.

his son

was

any

the

lessons in

boy

poet's

nephew, Jyotiprokash, older than himself, that gave him the

One day

lesson in composing poems.

first

when Tagore was only seven

at noon,

years old, Jyotiprokash suddenly took the arm,

and led him

"You have

"How

into his study

to write

and said

poems."

can I do it?

do not know how,"

replied the future author of jali,"

him by

"Gan," "Gitan-

and "The Gardener."

"I shall teach you.

have been reading

Shakespeare's Hamlet, and though I poet, I feel

from your turn of mind

proper training, you original poet."

may become

not a

that,

with

a great and

pregnant prophecy indeed!

Jyotiprokash took paper and pencil and showed his

nephew the way

compose poems in cha-

turdas padee payar cTianda (verse of fourteen

This was the

first

of Rabindranath Tagore,

who

syllables).

lesson in poetry

has

now

to his

THE YOUNG FAWN

credit about

one hundred volumes of poems,

Here

dramas, essays, short-stories and novels.

what he himself says of

"Thus

far,

verse

experience:

this

was a thing only to be

seen

and

signs

of corrections or alterations, nay, not

read

the

printed

pages.

human

even a trace of the weakness of the

mind.

was even afraid

to think that such

a thing could be written by trying. I

realised

that

by patching

When

together a

words here and a few words there

few

turned

out to be payar chanda, and the whole thing

blossomed into a poem,

stood disillusioned

about the mysterious glory of composing verses. .

When fear once left me, who could stand my way? Through the courtesy of one of .

our clerks I secured a blank book with blue

paper in

own

it,

drew some uneven

lines

with

hand, and began to write poems in huge

letters.

As a young fawn

at the ,time of its

horn-growing strikes at anything and everything, so with the first consciousness of poetic

CHILDHOOD POEMS

power, I used to bother anybody and everybody

with

poesy.

proud of

Even my

all

was

childhood poems, and did every-

thing in his power, to

people

eldest brother

make

things miserable for

around us in his attempt to secure

listeners."

In the same normal school where the muchdisliked teacher taught, the embryonic poet

won

the friendship of another teacher, Sri jut Sat-

kowri Datta.

was

poetically inclined,

and

discovering the latent possibility of Rabindranath, he often gave

The

teacher

him

would

would write the

first

lessons in versification.

either suggest subjects, or

two

lines

and ask

of nine or ten to finish the stanza.

this

boy

For exam-

ple the teacher once wrote

"Rabi Karay jalatan achilaw sabai Barasha varasha dilaw ar vai nai."

The budding poet added: "Mingan din haway chilaw saroboray

Ekhan tahara sukhay

jalawkrira kawray."

"YES"

In other words, the teacher wrote:

"Everybody was harassed by the scorching rays of the

summer

now by

forted

The

sun, but they all are

the coming of the rainy season."

apt pupil completed this idea thus:

"The

fishes, all

emaciated, dragged on a mis-

erable existence in the

and

com-

pond; now they

feel fine

frolic in the water."

Just about this time, the hafs father returned

home

of India.

after a long absence in other parts

The Maharshi

poetic bent of the boy,

was not

blame for

at once perceived the

and

felt that the child

his dislike of schools,

and

he decided to train him in the school of nature.

So one day he

called the child to his

room on

home

at Jora-

the third floor of their palatial

sanko, Calcutta, and inquired to

go to the Himalayas for a

he would like

trip.

The boy

poet was jubilant and shouted the loudest "yes"

of his

life.

to the

To be out of school, and then

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;what

Himalayas

a chance!

Young

Tagore was glad to get out of school and be-

HE CLOSED yond the reach of

47 and

his teacher's care,

heart leaped with joy see the

HIS EYES

now

his

that he was about to

The Maharshi

mountain world.

or-

dered some excellent suits of clothes for him,

and feeling proud

in the

and a gold embroidered

new

clothes, stockings

satin cap, Rabindra-

nath, with his "blue" blank book and pencil, started for the Himalayas.

The

first

night out of Calcutta, as he was

being carried in a palanquin from the railway station to the

Bolpur Shanti Niketan (Peace

Cottage at Bolpur, his father's country meditation), he closed his eyes

all

home

the

way

for to

the bungalow, simply not to see the beauties of

nature by the faint light of the falling darkness, that

he might take keener delight in the

rich landscapes

under the morning

At Bolpur, Tagore's

light.

favourite study, as

had

been for some time, were the moral slokas of

Chanakya and the Ramayana. gether, in

open

air,

For hours

to-

he would read the Rama-

yana with deep emotion.

Now

he would sob

PRECOCIOUS BODY

over a sad story, and in a minute he would laugh

over something comic, and again he would thrill as he read of feats of strength or adventure.

emotional nature

Here he used

still

continues to be the same.

to play a

good deal with pebbles

and streams, yet he soon

filled the

"blue" blank

book, and felt exceedingly dignified

was able

to secure a

his childhood

sitting

when he

copy of Letts' diary to write

poems

hand he would

His

With

in.

feel like a poet

this

"book" in

and write poems

with his bare feet outstretched on the

green grass under a young cocoanut

tree,

and

the evenings sing devotional songs for his father.

The

precocious poet had a precocious body.

looked older than his years, and on their

way from Bolpur

to the

was the cause of a rather

Himalayas,

this fact

striking incident.

Be-

ing under twelve years of age Master Tagore

was

entitled to a half-rate ticket, but in a cer-

tain station the ticket collectors doubted his looks that

from

he could be tmder twelve and

referred the matter to the station master.

The

NEVER TELL

station master

came

LIES"

and

to investigate

he, too,

The

questioned the veracity of the Maharshi.

Maharshi at once handed over a note represent-

sum of money.

ing a large

In a minute the

station master brought the change to the train

and gave

The Maharshi

to the Maharshi.

took the silver rupees in his hands, and unhesitatingly threw

them

and said

less for

money."

"I never

all

on the stone platform

tell lies for

That

anything,

may

incident

much

help to

explain the noble pride and peculiar fineness

which characterise Rabindranath's works.

When

in the course of time the

the Himalayas, he

what

his heart

lovely colour

knew

boy reached

that he

was craving

for

had found

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a wealth of

and majestic form.

father introduced

him

Here

his

to the sylvan deities,

who, in their turn, unfolded to the boy poet a thousand mysteries of nature.

was not

only enthusiastic over the solemn grandeur of the Himalayas, but he was enthusiastic also be-

cause his father gave

him freedom of move-

LESSONS IN RESPONSIBILITY

ment, except to forbid him the ice-water bath

Tagore used to roam about

every morning.

from mountain to mountain, finding company in the rocks, trees, springs

and the unlimited

sky overhead, and also visualising the rocks and the trees of different forms into crouching lions

and veiled

brides, into

unclothed sanyasins. erly care of the

began to expand

During

panoplied soldiers and fact,

under the moth-

Himalayas the boy's mind

-as

does the water in a flood.

this period of absence

father not only taught

from home

him English,

his

Sanskrit,

Bengali, botany and astronomy, but also gave

him

lessons in responsibility.

gave an ex-

pensive gold watch to the boy to wind larly

and take care of

excellent care of the

it.

watch that

word of

had to be

But

displeasure,

handed over the repaired watch

The Maharshi gave him

regu-

The boy took such

sent to Calcutta for repairs very soon. father uttered not a

him

also his cash

his

and

again.

box and

taught him to keep accounts, and never re-

CHILDHOOD TRAINING

What Tagore

proached him for mistakes.

says

about the training he received from his farsighted father cators :

we commend

"Once

and edu-

to parents

in a while, with a stick in hand,

would rove from one mountain

to another, but

father never showed the least anxiety on

I noticed that

account.

have

do many things against

his

wish

had occasion

and

by way of

way of my

freedom.

never stood in the

liking.

to his last days he

could have easily punished

correction, but

he never did.

used to wait for the unfolding of the truth within me, for he

must learn

knew

that to accept truth one

also that if one travelled far still it,

He knew

to love it spontaneously.

away from

truth,

he might, some day, find his way back to

but

external

and

artificial

punishment

compelled one blindly to follow the supposed truth, the

way back

nally blocked. I

to the real truth

... He was

was

eter-

never afraid that

would make mistakes, he was never perturbed

at the prospect of

suffering through mis-

A TRUANT

52 takes.

used to hold

before me,

lojfty ideals

but he never lifted the rod of chastisement,"

When

in the

Himalayas, Rabindranath was

only a boy of eleven summers, and he had

al-

ready finished reading the most important books

The next

in Bengali.

and

now went

his love for her

When

worship of nature.

back to Calcutta,

year his mother died, to reinforce his

his father sent

his elder brothers at

him

home

re-

turned him to school again, against his repeated "After this trip," says Tagore,

remonstrances.

"to the Himalayas, school became all the more

But he outwitted

unbearable."

by playing

truant.

last

his

guardians

he was taken out of

school in disgust, and his eldest sister remarked in despair:

"We

make a mark

all

expected that Rabi would

in the world; but all our hopes

have been nipped in the bud by the waywardness of this

unsuccessful

boy

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and now he

man

Once out of

will

be the only

in the family."

school, he devoted his

to artistic pursuits,

and

whole time

at the age of fourteen

EXCELLENT ACTOR wrote

"Balmiki-Prativa"

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

53 drama

musical

which has been published at the beginning of his

book of songs,

entitled

"Gan."

its

presenta-

tion

Tagore took the prominent part of Balmiki

and

his niece Prativa took the part of the heroIt

ine.

Tagore it is

may

still

said

takes part in his school plays;

by dramatic

the stage, he est

be mentioned, by the way, that

and

had he chosen

critics that,

would have been one of the

great-

Bengali actors.

His guardians, not

satisfied

pursuit, decided to send

for the bar. consent.

him

London

The Maharshi gave

The

call of the

Rabindranath's departure once there, his

with his fruitless

spirit

to study

his unwilling

unknown hastened for

London.

But

again revolted against com-

pulsory study, and within a year he returned to his beloved Bengal.

CHAETER

REALISTIC POEMS

ROMANTIC YOUTH

Now a full-fledged young man of eighteen, brimming with the wine of youth, and emotipns ran

riot,

people, the

same

whether

was at a

did not take

cover that as he changed

know

loss to

him long

first,

hood mysticism returned to the mountains and

originally emanated.

stars,

to dis-

so the world

changed to keep in touch with him.

tic,

same

nature, the

was himself or the world that had

changed; and

flowers, the

see

yet everything looked

life;

different to him.

his passions

and he could only

The same

love and romance.

and

His boy-

forests

and

from where

was no more a mys-

but an uncompromising

realist.

And

for

a time he became an epicure and bgn-vivant;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fashionable dress

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the finest of silk robes

licibus dishes, ardent romances, love lyrics 54

de-

and

VAGARY OF YOUTH

literary productions, constituted his interests.

Tagorc himself makes a frank confession on

this

"At the dawn of

point in his Jiban Smriti:

youth, revolt against nature, so characteristic

of that time, also captured heart.

spiritual

current

thing apart.

flaming

hauteur-filled

had no connection with the usual

our

family.

was only adding

furnace

heart.

was

Tagore

was never

in-

Youth-

deed a purposeless vagary of youth." ful

was a

fuel to the

youthful

Byron,

but he drank deep of the wine of youth.

back

his

fiftieth

time of his

this

strong

flavour

life

twenty-three

and

year

life,

looking

wrote,

mysticism:

with a rather

"The period

between the age of sixteen and

was one of extreme wildness

irregularity.

when

Tagore,

at the

dawn

the demarcation between land

of creation

and water

was not pronounced, huge-bodied and

strange-

looking amphibious animals used to rove In the primitive forests full of branchless trees, so at

EXCESS OF LICENSE

56 the

dawn of youth my

and wonderful forms of

gigantic proportions,

chiaroscuro used to

inner longings assumed

roam

in the shade of

These

known, pathless, and endless wilderness. longings did not

know

the

know

an un-

themselves, nor did they

purpose of their existence.

reason of their not knowing themselves

The

was

re-

sponsible for their attempt, at every step, to imitate something else.

"As the attempt of a baby's teeth to express themselves causes the

fire

of fever in the entire

system of the baby, and the fever

allayed

only when the sharp teeth can bite and take revenge on eatable things, so before the passionate longings of the adolescent heart find ade-

quate expression, and establish relationship with the outer-world, they cause excruciating pain.

During that period the untruth of ing the pangs of to console itself

What thing

its

a poetic

things, feel-

separation from truth, used excess of license."

way

of expressing a simple

The poet has embodied

this idea in the

THE MUSK-DEER RUNS

poem, "The Gleaming Vision of Youth," which

own

has appeared in his

translation in

"The

Gardener" "I run as the musk-deer runs in the shadow of the forest,

The

night

with his

the night of

own perfume.

Mid-May,

the breeze

the breeze of the south.

I lose

mad

my way and

wander, I seek what I can-

not get, I get what I do not seek.

From my of

heart comes out and dances the image

my own desire.

The gleaming

vision

I try to clasp

firmly, it eludes

flits

on.

me and leads me

astray.

I seek

what

I cannot get, I get

what

do not

seek." * It

ning

was

mad

at this time

with

its

when

the "deer

own perfume,"

wrote such poems as "Despair of

"Lamentation of Joy."

The

* Copyright by

that Tagore

Hope" and

latter

translated thus

The Macmillan Company.

was run-

may

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

"With a long-drawn

sigh,

languorous eyes and said:

Joy opened

alone in

all

such a moon-kissed night,' and soon

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

am my own

thoughts bloomed in the song alone, I

have nobody to

alone, I

all

his

fearfully

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

all

all alone.'

"I approached

call

his

him and gently asked:

'Whom do you

expect to comfort you,

Joy?'

"Joy began to weep and said: " 'Love, Love, Love,

"Joy continued: to

existence

friend.'

would fain put an end

and re-incarnate myself

as sor-

row.'

'Why

this

" 'Why, I

body to "

call

wild desperation, Joy*?' I asked.

all alone, all alone, I

own.'

'Whom would you

be happy to

have no-

get,

whom

does your heart pant for, Joy?' I inquired.

"Again

tears glistened in his eyes

and he

said:

" 'Love, Love,

friend,

Love

alone.'

THE POET OF LOVE Tagore

and

a profound philosopher, a

patriotic leader,

59 spiritilaL-

historical investigator,

a singer and composer, an able editor (having successfully edited

four different magazines,

Sadhana, Bangadarshan, Bharati and Tattwabodhini), a far-sighted educator, and an ideal administrator, but he

Love flows from his

love.

a continuous

forms in itual,

its

all

heart,

the poet of

mind and

windings from the gross to the

from the known

to the

spir-

unknown, from the

interprets love in all

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

multiform expressions

soul

assuming different

stream,

finite to the infinite. its

above

the love of mother,

of son, husband, wife, lover, beloved, patriot, the Dionysian, the nature-drunk, frenzied.

Each and every one of

and the Godthese he por-

trays with his characteristic softness of touch

that recalls the lyrics of Theophile Gautier, and

with the exquisite

His

lyrics

felicity of Shelley

carry within

and Keats.

them emotions that

thrill,

enrapture and cause every fibre of a

human

being to ache with joy that almost stops

PREM

'6o

the throbbing of the heart and draws tears to the eyes.

Expression of love

so natural to

him

be-

cause of the fact that he has passed through all the phases of love and

Like the prose-

life.

poet Tolstoy, he has travelled from the worship

He un-

of the senses to the quiet of sainthood.

derstands the thrills of love, the romantic passion, the

gloom of disappointment, the depth of

despair, the profundity of quiet, realisation

"being,"

"bjiss" {sat, chit,

(jhe

realistic

shocked

many

who up

received

and the

ecstatic

"intelligence"

and

anandam).

love poems of Tagore's youth old-fashioned

them with

Hindu

disdain.

moralists,

They were

arms qgainst Rabindranath, thinking that

he was likely to demoralise the youths of India

by the sensuousness of his love poems and

songs.

They were

intro-

afraid that he

was going to

duce the romanticism of the West, of Byron

and

Shelley, in India,

classic severity

and to depart from the

of Indian literary treatment of

NO VULGARITY the

human

passions.

But

they, in their over-

zealousness to preserve for the youths of India the pleasures of Nirvanic bliss, forgot to take notice of the fact that in the writings of the

young poet there could not be like

foiuid anything

the coarse vulgarity of an earlier poet,

Bharat Chandra Rai Gunakar, who was widely read by the young Bengalees at that time. I

remember one day

house in India when self

in a students' boarding

was trying

to sing to

my-

one of Mr. Tagore's songs, some of the

young men that were present shouted

"What makes you

sing that nautch-song?"

When

was one of Rabi Babu's

told that

songs they were more than surprised and would

not believe

shown.

until

Then they

confessed that

the printed verses were

all

was

changed

their

mind and

quite proper to read or

sing anything that Rabi

Babu

wrote.

The

song in prose translation reads

"Hither,

beloved,

come

hither! step forth

"COME HITHER"

in this pleasure garden of

mine and

flowers

are blowing

where

see

beauty.

Gentle

breathes the west wind, laden with the perfume

Here moonlight glimmers and

of the blossoms.

a silvery stream murmurs "Hither,

down

the forest ways.

O beloved, come hither

for

shall

unfold the depths of our hearts gleaning the

beauty of the immortal flowers ; and in consuming ecstasy weave garlands each for the other,

and watch the

stars until they

fade in the dawn.

"Beloved, in this joyous garden of ours shall ever dwell

and sing songs

in rapturous joy.

Here

shall our hearts thrill in the

life.

Yea, and the days and nights shall pass

as Visions of the

dream together

mystery of

Lord of Love, and we

shall

in a languor of everlasting de-

light."

Again, he sings thus, on the "Pensive Beloved."

"The young

girl

who

sits

the

window

alone has forgotten to garland the flowers for

"UNION" her beloved.

With her head resting on her hand

she seems entirely rapt, while about her the

blossoms

gathered

summer

the

neg-

lie

lected.

"For the breeze gently blows in to pering softly, caressingly, as she

window

fleet in the blue,

flutter in the forest;

soms

fall

she

unregardful.

"But

sits

the

in a solemn rapture.

"Xhe clouds

her, whis-

and the birds

and the odorous bakul

blos-

intermittently before her eyes, yet

in sweet repose she smiles, for

tender chords of her heart

stir

now

the

melodiously in

the shadowland of dreams."

And

again

listen

musings on the

his

"Union." "Beloved, every part of

the embrace of yours. its

own

restlessness,

being craves for

My heart is heavy with

and

yearns to repose on

your heart.

"My

eyes linger

on your

eyes,

and

lips

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MEMORABLE PERIOD

O my

long to faint upon yours,

beloved, even

unto the ecstasy of death.

"My

thirsty heart

unveilment of your

"My heart is I sit

crying bitterly for the

celestial

deep in the ocean of being, and

by the forbidding shore and moan

"But to-day, beloved, we teries

mys-

shall enter the .

entire being shall

eternal union in thine."

its

This period

forever.

of existence, our bosoms panting with

divine rapture; and thus find

form.

the period of

Sandhya Sangit

when Mr, Tagore was

ditions of his family, a period

from the

tra-

when he was

free

from the practice of writing poems on paper, for he

had been writing poems on a

slate.

wrote just as he liked and wiped his poems out

whenever he pleased.

He did not have to write

to please friends, but he wrote to please himself.

Let Mr. Tagore speak for himself: history of

life as

a poet,

this

"In the

period shall

ever remain most memorable to me.

From

the

A NOVEL STYLIST

standpoint of art the 'Sandhya Sangit'

may

be of exceptional value, for the poems in unripe.

not are

language and thought, metre and

Its

measure have not been able to express themselves adequately.

the fact that

Its

embodies

critic,

lies in

freed and un-

So, though not of

restrained thoughts.

value to the

paramount merit

any

the value of the pleasure

immeasurable to me."

Tagore was not only attacked for the

sen-

suous nature of his poems, but he was attacked as well as being a

poor and novel

stylist.

was mercilessly attacked for having introduced

Mr. Tagore

colloquialism in Bengali. to his critics thus:

"They were wont

replies

to call

a poet of broken metre and lisping lan-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

guage

all

nebulous.

Though

were very unpleasant to

these remarks

at that time, still

Truly

they

were

those

poems represented nothing of the cold

realities

not

without

of this world.

foundation.

was reared within

the walls of absolute restrictions in

early

"SIMPLE AS A SONG"

childhood, I

not at

all surprised that I

had

my muse with. "But the critics also characterised my style as a 'fashion' and a 'fad'. I am not at all

no better material

to entertain

willing to accept this criticism without a pro-

Those elderly men that have splendid

test.

eyesight often abuse the

young men for using

The contempt

the 'ornaments' of spectacles. for short-sightedness

easy to bear, but the

reproach of feigned short-sightedness seems to

be intolerable." Indeed, he has introduced metres,

ature

many

delicate

and new forms into Bengali poetic that

have added to

grace.

its

new

liter-

Dante, casting tradition to the winds, he has

dared to speak to the people in the language of the people; and as a result he that

men and women, and even

walks of

him day

life

readily.

are

all

so clear

children of all

can read or hear and understand

The young Bengali imitating

present-day poetry there

Tagore. is

to be

poets of to-

So in the found an im-

MEETS BANKIM print, quite often a very style.

There

poor one, of Tagore's

something about Tagore's style

and thought which permits a author in the

Tagore

first

line

unique in his

"something"

critic to detect

the

two of a poem.

own way, and

this

inimitable.

All of a sudden amid showers of adverse criticism

Tagore received, quite accidentally, an

inspiration,

an impetus that sustained

his spirit

and spurred him on to achieve higher heights

and nobler

flight in the

realm of poetry.

As the

meeting of Nietzsche with Wagner was a source of inspiration to the former and of pleasure to the latter; so the meeting of Rabindranath with

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya, all

the greatest of

Bengali novelists, was a source of inspiration

and encouragement

to the

pleasure to the novelist.

young

poet,

They met

and of

at a

wed-

ding party at the home of Romesh Chandra Dutt, the statesman, historian, and novelist.

Mr. Dutt,

do homage to the greatest

literary

genius of Bengal, put a garland of flowers

TAGORE GARLANDED

68 round

this prose poet's

immediately

corated Rabindranath with

land

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

due to him

Sangit' ?" ative,

^have

it,

oflE

and de-

saying, "This gar-

you read

Romesh Chandra

his

/Sandhya

replied in the neg-

but Bankim Chandra lauded to the skies

some of the poems praise

Chattopadhya

garland

the

took

neck.

in the book.

Such unstinted

from such a high source almost drew

tears of joy to the eyes of

made him

Rabindranath, and

forget all the pains of the darts of

unpleasant criticism from the general public.

This signal honour meant

much more

him

than the Nobel Prize means to him now.

Like other men, Tagore was created with a dual nature,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^part

sensuous and part spiritual.

His youthful mind was twin currents.

oscillating

Even though

between the

the sensuous

was

the uppermost for a time, the other never deserted

him

altogether.

There was always that

ineffable feeling of inherited spirituality.

two

tried to harmonise themselves

The

and the story

of the struggle between the sensuous and the

THE SENSUOUS spiritual within

sion in his

him found

the fullest expres-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;"The

most exquisite love poem

Beloved at Night and in the Morning," which in our translation necessarily loses

much

its

original beauty.

we were

"Last night

seated in a pleasure

garden in enchanting surroundings. ness of the night

The

dark-

was blanched with moon-

beams, and a soft wind robbed the flowers of their fragrance.

"I held before your

mouth

of the wine of youth.

You

and slowly took the cup

the

brimming cup

looked at

eyes

your hand, and yotir

kiss-charged lips blossomed into a faint but elo-

quent smile and sipped the cup of youth's wine;

and we both were intoxicated with "I took off your veil with

love.

hands, trem-

bling with an ecstatic nervousness, and then

placed your dear hands, tender as the lotus leaves, next to

my heart.

Your

eyes were half

THE SPIRITUAL

you spoke

closed with the languor of love and

not a word.

unbound your hair and slowly

hid your radiant face within

"Beloved!

my heart.

In the moon-kissed night, with

smiling consent, you submitted to

all

the tyran-

nies of our first union of love."

"In

this peaceful

and fragrant after your

air,

morning mellowed by pure

you dressed

I see

morning bath,

along the lonely Ganges.

hanging from your flowers

left

with the other.

flower-basket

hand I

you pluck

hear the distant

morning music of the temple, in fragrant morning

in white

you walk swan-like

this

pure and

the lonely river Ganges.

"Goddess a fresh vermilion line illumines the !

parting of your hair,

adorns your left wrist. figured

and a sanka bracelet Oh, in what a

form you appear to

this

trans-

morning!

Last night you were the sweet-heart of

GODDESS DIVINE

pleasure garden, and this morning you appear as

my "In

goddess divine. this

pure and fragrant morning by the

lonely river Ganges, I look at you froiA afar

with

my head bowed in

reverent awe."

CHAPTER TRANSFORMATION

III

PRACTICAL IDEALISM

DEVOTIONAL POEMS

Tagore did

not, howevefj

have to struggle very

long to attain the highest truth.

time was

ripe, the

When

came of

illumination

the

itself

one morning, and the Divine Beloved revealed himself quite unexpectedly and in a singular

way.

The

came

illumination

as it did to his

father or to St. Francis of Assisi,

may lish:

be told in the poet's "It

was morning,

own I

and the story

beautiful Eng-

was watching the

sunrise in Free School street.

veil

was sud-

denly drawn, and everything I saw became luminous.

The whole

scene

music, one marvellous rhythm.

was one perfect

The houses

the street, the children playing, all seemed part

of one luminous whole

The

vision

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

inexpressibly glorious.

went on for seven or eight days. 72

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; THE AWAKENING Every

one, even those

who bored me, seemed

to lose their outer barrier of personality; I

was

full of gladness, full

and every

person

of love, for every thing.

tiniest

morning in the Free School the

first

and

things that gave

street

have tried to explain

I have felt ever since that this

to explain the fulness of

That

was one of

the inner vision, it

life

and

life,

my poems. my goal in

in its beauty,

as perfection."

The whole day from

taneously perhaps, gore.

his

poem flowed out

spon-

discovered

This,

the most significant

The poem

Nirjharer

(Fountain Awakened from

its

self.

work of Ta-

Sapna Bhanga

Dream) though

not technically of the highest order, yet in its

rugged beauty and in the revelation of

the inner emotions of the poet on that historic

day,

a masterpiece.

nificant in that it throws light

ment of

the poetry

also

sig-

on the develop-

and personality of Tagore.

In reading the following striking passages from

THE WORLD TREMBLES

74 it,

"Rabi"

one should remember that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

name

shortened form of the poet's

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the

^means "the

sun": "I do not

know how my

life after all these

years could have such an awakening to-day.

Neither do I

know how

morning the

in the

true rays of the sun (Rabi) could have en-

tered

heart or the music of the morning

bird could have penetrated into the very depth

of the darkness of

heart's core.

"Now that my whole being is once awakened, I cannot control the desires heart. its

and longings of

Look! the whole world

very foundation, the

hills

are falling in confusion;

trembling to

and the mountains

and the foam-crested

waves are swelling in anger as

if to tear

out

the heart of this earth to wreak vengeance for its restricted liberty.

terously jubilant

The

ocean, rendered bois-

by the touch of the rays of

the morning sun, desires to engulf the world in its

pursuit for self-fulfilment.

THE OCEAN

CALLS!

••••

"Oh, cruel Providence! why hast Thou put even oceans under restraint?" •

—

around me.

all

flowers in will

—

shower tenderness

With

dishevelled hair and

the liberated I

dim the

shall

hands, and with a radiance that

sun, I shall be borne

on the wings

of rainbows and travel from mountain to mountain

and from planet

sume the form of

to planet; or I shall as-

and thus flow from one

rivers

my message, my song. inexplicable has happened, my

country to another to sing

"Something whole being

aching with an awakening, and

I hear at a distance the call of the Great Ocean.

Yes,

it calls! it calls!

And

yet,

and yet

—

these walls around

the Great

at this

me!

Ocean

calls!

moment, why

Still

all

heart hears

the call that says:

" 'Who wishes to come?

come?

Who

Those that wish to come

wishes to

after break-

ing the stone walls of bondage, after bedewing the hard world with love, after washing the

76 forests into

new

COME"

green, after setting the flowers

abloom; after comforting the broken heart of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the world with the last breath of your life

then any soul wishes to enter

then

life,

come, come.' "I come, I

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;where

come

His country?

He, and where

I do not care, I shall pour forth

the last drop of the water of

world, and

life in this

I shall sing tender songs;

and

anxiety-stricken heart shall mingle its life with

the

Thus

of the distant Ocean.

life

song

shall end.

"But bondage again, bondage

What

a terrible prison

is this

all

aroimd

Let blows

me fall

upon blows and thus break, break the prison; for the

morning birds have sung a strange song

and the

true rays of the sun

have entered

heart to-day."

In the

original, this

poem has something of

the Miltonic force which

usually so lacking

in the writings of Tagore, but which invig-

REUNION

orates the writings of the poets like

Madhusu-

dan Datta, Nabin Chandra Sen and Dwijendra Lai Roy.

Though Tagore's subsequent Himalayas it

the

failed to emphasise the vision,

still

was not altogether

formed his entire

him.

lost in

life as

visit

It trans-

did the vision on the

banks of the Ganges transform the father.

was a change, a

man, a deeper

When cooled a

crisis, yes,

Tagore came out of

valescence.

thinker,

little,

and a universal

ardour of the

the

life

of his

a con-

a better poet.

new awakening

Tagore graphically recorded the

history of this period of his life in his

poem

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

"The Reunion" "Mother nature

my childhood days I used

to play in thy affectionate lap

Then something happened and and strayed

farthest

enter and lose ness of

and be happy. I

away from

my way in

went astray you, only to

the boundless wilder-

youthful heart.

There

sun,

REUNION

78 no moon, no is

planet,

and certainly no

stars.

enveloped in Cimmerian darkness, and con-

fusion

the order of the place;

and

therein I

was the only benighted wayfarer. "I left you behind, dear nature ! and entered

many days

the wilderness to spend many,

discomfort and unrest.

"But now, a

way

shown me the

single bird has

out of the wilderness to the shore of the

endless ocean of bliss.

"The the

flowers blossom, the birds fly again,

sky

resonant with the music of the

The waves

spheres.

all sides as the

"The them

of life rise and fall on

sunbeams dance on them.

gentle breeze blows

all sides,

and

light smiles

and the boundless sky watches over

all.

I look again all around

to see

the marvellous manifestation of nature.

"Some come near me, some

call

and others want to play with me. others sing;

some come, others

panorama of

inexpressible joy!

'friend,'

Some

go, oh,

smile,

what a

IMPOSING MUSIC

"I understand quite well, mother nature, that after such a long time

you have again

dis-

That is why you me in your affectionate embrace, and

covered me, your lost child.

have taken

have begun to sing your imposing music,

harmony and melody.

is why the gentle me and embraces me

zephyr rushes towards repeatedly; that

why

the sky in

head; that

why

beckoning

itself

the clouds from the eas-

tern gate of the horizon gaze intently; that, again,

exuber-

its

ance of joy showers the very morning

rich in

That

why

face so

the entire universe

again and again to hide

head in her bosom, hers alone."

Whenever they natural, the

Prince

and

all

experience anything super-

Hindus

are

Gautama heard that

wont

to turn ascetic.

the call, left the world

held for him, became an

ascetic,

and afterwards the Buddha; Chaitanya Dev heard the

call, left his

child to gain salvation

dear mother, wife and

by renouncing the world.

CLINGS TO THE ?ut

Rabindranath heard the

the world

WORLD call

and clung to

closely than ever,

tachment for the world ripened into for

and

his at-

selfless

love

oppressed and suffering millions of

the

\ famine-stricken

India.

sings

Gitan-

iali:

Jeliverance I feel the

not for

in renunciation.

embrace of freedom in a thousand

bonds of delight.

Thou

ever pourest for

the fresh draught

of thy wine of various colours and fragrance, filling this

earthen vessel to the brim.

world will light

its

hundred

different

lamps with thy flame and place them before the altar of thy temple.

No,

The

I will never shut the doors of

delights of sight

my senses.

and hearing and touch

will hear thy delight.

my illusions will bum into illuminaof joy, and all my desires ripen into fruits

Yes, tion

all

of love." * â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

The Macmillan Company.

"THEY ARE GOD" The tion

contrast between the idea of renuncia-

and the non-dualistic philosophy he most

exquisitely brings out in a

poem which he

thus

translates:

"At

midnight

would-be

the

ascetic

an-'

nounced 'This

the time to give

my home

Ah, who has held

seek for God.

and

so long

in delusion here?''

God

whispered,

'I',

but the ears of the

man

were stopped.

With a baby

asleep at her breast lay his

wife, peacefully sleeping

on one

side of the

bed.

The man

me so The

said,

'Who

are ye that have fooled

long?' voice said again, 'They are God,' but

he heard

not.

The baby

cried out in its dream, nestling

close to its mother.

God commanded, home,' but

still

'Stop, fool, leave not thy

he heard not.

WALT WHITMAN

God

'Why

sighed and complained,

servant wander to

Compare with

does

seek me, forsaking me?' " *

Walt Whit-

this these lines of

man, the American Vedantist: I

have said that the soul

not more than the

body.

And

have said that the body

not more than

the soul.

And

nothing, not God,

greater to one than

one's self is."

So instead of being an

came a pragmatist,

for

ascetic

Tagore be-

he held, as he holds

to-

day, that the "greater cannot be great with-

out the small, the expression of the

infinite is

finite,

eration without love.

only the fullest

and that there

Wherever love

dwells the Infinite within the finite."

Henry James Tagore

says of

with

meeting point of in other words, â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

lib-

there

What

Browning may be said of appropriateness:

God and man is,

love.

"The Love,

for the poet, the supreme

The Macmillan Company.

LOVE

SUBLIME

principle both of morality

once for

and

83 Love,

religion.

solves that contradiction between

all,

them, which, both in theory and in practice, has embarrassed the world for so

Love

man; a

many

the sublimest conception attainable life

inspired

it is

is,

at the

and the very ated by love tions it

may

therefore,

same moment, man's moral

essence of is

ideal,

A life

Godhood.

actu-

divine, whatever other limita-

Such

have.

glory of this emotion,

when

the perfection and it

has been trans-

lated into a self-conscious motive

and become

the energy of an intelligent will, that

him who owns

the most perfect

form of goodness he can conceive; love

ages.

it lifts

to the sublimest heights of

being.

" 'For the loving

worm

within

its

clod.

God

Were

diviner than a loveless

Amid

his world, I will dare to say.'

Holding that the soul pression in

work well done,

finds its fullest -exfor, as

Carlyle says

WORK

"All true work

Sadhana:

"It

RELIGION

religion,"

he thus writes in

only when

we wholly submit

fully gain the joy

to the bonds of truth that

of freedom. that

bound

truly strung,

And how?

As does

to the harp.

When

when

there

the string the harp

not the slightest lax-

ity in the strength of the bond, then only does

music result; and the string transcending self in its

melody

freedom.

It is because it is

and this

finds at every chord its true

on the one

bound by such hard

can find range of freedom in music on the other." * fast rules

Compare

this

work on

varied to love

and

great thing, I

Now

filment

know

am is

side that it

with what he wrote about

twenty years ago in a

it-

letter:

"The more

hands, the more I learn

That work was a

respect work.

knew only

as a copy-book

realising in life that

in his work.

things

maxim.

man's true

ful-

through work that

and people, and stand face

face with the world of action. * Copyright by

I take

I have landed

The Macmillan Company.

NO TIME FOR SORROW in that realm where

they live far apart.

men

meet, even though

realising in life the

vast liberality of the sphere of action and with it

the union of

fulness.

man

mutual help-

in a chain of

The superb grandeur

of work

is this

that for the sake of duty one has to sacrifice his

personal joys and sorrows.

remember one

day while I was living at Sajadpur our butler was

late in getting to his

and

work

in the

rebuked him for that.

morning

saluted

usual and said in a mournful accent

'My

eight-

year-old daughter died last night'; and he at

once began his morning duty. field

of duty there

What good would time?

not even time for sorrow.

do even

If duty can take one's

Maya and

lead

him onward

of thought, good and well.

"In

this

In the hard

we had

mind away from

to a higher plane .

world a bridge of hard stone

ing over joys and sorrows, and over

arch-

the ex-

press train of duty loaded with myriads of

and women

are following

the

its

men

iron rail .with

LOVE THIS WORLD" Except at appointed

sta-

never stops anywhere for anybody.

lightning rapidity. tions, it

the cruelty of duty lies the terrible consolatipn

of man."

His

father,

Debendranath

Maharshi

the

Tagore, was busy solving the problems of the

next wotIA, but the poet Tagore,

all

through

his life of varied experiences, has striven to help

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

evolve this world to the status of heaven unite heaven

and

earth.

loves the world

as passionately as a miser loves

money.

even doubts the ability of heaven to supply the blessings of life

which

her children with. for the world:

that it

with

all

its

and

wonder

the blessings

How

thus expresses his love

"Oh, how I love

lying so quietly!

plains, noise I often

dear earth provides

this

trees

flowers,

world

hugging

rivers

and

mornings and evenings.

heaven

I feel like

and

quiet,

this

itself

could give us

are enjoying in this world.

could heaven give us anything like

this,

human

mak-

the treasure of such

beings in the

DAUGHTER OF DIVINITY ing, so full of tenderness,

weakness and love?

"This earth-mother of ours has carried us

and presented us with her

in her arms,

fields

full of golden crops, her affectionate rivers and rivulets, her

and

homesteads, where smiles of joy

tears of sorrow

fectly lovely.

"Oh, how

mingle to make them per-

I love this

world!

I see

on her

forehead the furrows of pathos, and she seems to whisper in

ear:

T am

the daughter of

Divinity, but I have not his power; I love, but I

cannot protect; I can begin but never com-

plete; I give birth, but cannot rescue

hands of death.'

from the

This helplessness,

this

im-

potency, this incompleteness, and this consuming anxiety inseparable from love

make me

jealous of heaven, and I love the world all the

more."

And

again, he thus speaks of his

in-

timate relationship with the world "This world :

always new to me.

friends

who have

I feel as if

are like

loved each other through

PRIMORDIAL PAST

many

births

and

Our

re-births.

deep-seated and far-reaching,

friendship

I well

those days of the primordial past,

remember

when

this

head from above

new-bom

earth

the deep

and began to worship the young sun

overhead, and energy,

came

in exuberance of this earth's

into this

new

planet as a budding

There was no other animate thing in the

tree.

entire world. like

first lifted its

The

vast ocean

was

a love-frenzied mother, every

restless

and,

now and

then

was wont to devour the whole body of the newly-born earth-babe with a passionate embrace,

then, used to drink the sun's rays

heart's content,

and

a baby,

whole body laughed in joy, but knew not why;

and

a tree with a thousand

suckle at the breast of this

mother. side

roots,

used to

dear earth-

My internal joy blossomed to the out-

world as flowers and

foliage.

The shadow

of the clouds in the sky used to touch these flowers

and the buds with the gentle touch of

a loving friend.

Many

a time after that, in

"SHE LOVES ME" new

ages, I

When we

have been incarnated on

two look

this earth.

at each other, the faithful

memories of the dim past crowd our minds.

me many

She loves

has so

sons

her son, but

now

that she

and daughters she cannot

bestow her entire time and affection on me alone, as she used to

do when I was the only child

in the family; but I

still kiss

her feet and em-

brace her as ever."

That

why he

loves to "plunge in quietness,

as the music of the river, the gentle breeze of

the evening, the splendour of the starry firma-

ment help

his fancy to

weave garlands of raptu-

rous joy, and he thus spends hours together,

wrapped within himself rather

lost in the uni-

verse."

the time of the vision which helped

him

to find himself, Tagore was. about thirty years old.

With

the change in the

tone of his poems.

Now,

man, changed the

filled

to the

brim

with the love of God, and looking upon this universe

the

visible

expression of God's

YEATS

go love,

he touches nothing, he writes nothing, that

he does not saturate with the thought of divine love, of spiritual life,

and of

The

stars in heaven,

trees

sun, the

moon, the

eternal beauty.

and the

and flowers on earth speak a language of

love for the Supreme Being whose handiwork

William Butler Yeats speaks of the

they are.

spirituality of the songs in the Gitanjali in these

words:

"In

all his

poems

theme the love of God. :

there

When

one single

I tried to find

anything western which might compare with the works of Tagore, I thought of 'The Imitation of Christ,' like, is

by Thomas a Kempis.

yet between the work of the two

a world of difference.

imagery.

there

Thomas a Kempis

was obsessed by the thought of terrible

men

It is

sin;

he wrote in

Mr. Tagore has

little

thought of sin as a child playing with a top.

His poems have

stirred

my blood as nothing has

for years." It

began.

after this that his career as a true artist

Things of permanent nature began to

KABIXDKAXATH

TAGOllE,

AGE THIRTY.

SONGS OF DEVOTION pour out from spontaneity.

mind and pen with

his

His Brabmo Sangits

perfect

(religious

songs) became deeper in thought and more uni-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;songs

that every morning,

versal in character

noon and night draw

tears

many

are songs not so

devotees.

sing as to feel.

They

Many

from the eyes of

a soul

much

suffused with

devotional emotion by reciting a single passage

from any one of them. the most popular of his

"My God! why

To translate three from Brahmo

songs

my benumbed

does

soul

grovel in the dust all the time, and not awake to the fullest consciousness of

"Myriads of watchful

its

potentiality?

stars are

in the dark-blue of the night.

sweet,

wide awake

The

and flowers blow fragrant

birds sing

in the forest,

how the moon smiles in joy. And yet, and yet, why does not thy grace dawn upon my soul? why do I not see your face lit with love

and

divine?

FLEETING GLANCE

"I receive the unsolicited love of mother the blessings of a

home

by the

svi^eetened

and

pres-

You are ever near me in so and still why does my soul crave

ence of dear ones.

many

forms,

to stray far

away from

you*?"

"I can see you just once in a while.

Why

do the

can I not see you

all

the time?

clouds of passions and idle desires in

heart

obscure the full view of your face divine?

"When

I catch a fleeting glance of you, I

tremble lest I lose you again; but

—

strange

—and

this is

my sorrow you pass away instantly,

even as you appeared,

like the lightning.

"Tell me, Beloved, what can I do to keep you

permanently before

eyes, for

to hold

you

how

.in

"If you so

—

eyes

^yes,

can I have so

just before

much

love as

heart?

command,

I will sacrifice every-

thing for the sake of your blessed self."

THE POLAR STAR

III

"I have

made you

the polar star of

my way in

ence, never again can I lose

age of

the voy-

go you are always there to

shower your beneficence

my mind,

Your

around me.

all

ever present before

almost lose for a

exist-

life.

"Wherever

face

mind's eyes.

if I lose sight

of you even

moment.

"Whenever

just a glance of

heart

about to go astray,

you makes

it feel

ashamed of

itself."

the

religious

songs

Tagore reaches the summit of spiritual genius,

and

it is

rate here at least one or

songs have

but the

Gitanjali,

his lyric

and

necessary to incorpo-

two of them.

moved not only

warm

the

These

the heart of Yeats,

hearts of the people of chilly

Sweden, and has given the Bengalee poet the status of a

world poet.

These songs from a

RAINY JULY

"heathen" poet are to-day being read in Christian lands in

Sunday

from

pulpits,

schools,

and by

Without placing writings of

and sung by children artists in concerts.

these

Dante and

St.

poems above the

John of the

Cross,

Shelley and Swinburne, Wordsworth, Milton,

and the whole gamut of poets of insular and

woman novmay safely be

continental Europe, as an English elist

has been pleased to do,

asserted that the lyrics of the Gitanjali are

some

of the rarest treasures of poetic and mystic erature of the world.

poems.

In the

first

lit-

Here follow two of such he thus addresses

God

as a

passer-by

"In the deep shadows of the rainy July, with secret steps, thou walkest, silent as night, elud-

ing all watchers.

"To-day the morning has closed its less

eyes, heed-

of the insistent calls of the loud east wind,

and a thick

veil has

been drawn over the ever-

wakeful blue sky.

"The woodlands have hushed

their songs,

and

THOU ART THE SKY doors are

all

Thou

shut at every house.

art the

solitary wayfarer in this deserted street.

only friend,

best beloved, the gates are

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;do

open in

Oh,

house

not pass by like a

dream." * In the second he dwells on the mysteries of the final

home

"Thou

of the soul

art the sky

and thou

art the nest as

well.

thou beautiful, there in the nest

it is

thy

love that encloses the soul with colours and

sounds and odours.

"There comes the morning with the golden basket in her right hand bearing the wreath of beauty, silently to crown the earth.

"And

there comes the evening over the lonely

meadows

deserted

herds, through trackless

paths, carrying cool draughts of peace in her

golden pitcher from the western ocean of

"But

there,

where spreads the

the soul to take her flight â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

in,

infinite

rest.

sky for

reigns the stainless

The Macmillan Company.

BRAHMO SOMAJ

There

white radiance.

no day nor night, nor

â&#x20AC;˘form nor colour, and never, never a word." *

Though Tagore's in

religious songs are superb

form and thought, yet

must be confessed

that they are not the religious songs of the

The masses have no compre-

masses of Bengal. hension of the

Brahmo Somaj

Unitarians of Hindusthan.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the religious

It is the songs of

Ramprosad, the Kirtans of the Vaishnavas, and the padabalis of the Vaishnava poets, that the masses as nothing else can do.

move

The masses

of Bengal sing of Radha, Krishna, and Kali.

Just

"You"

or "Thee" or

have any tangible people at large. ligious

"Brahma" does not

on the minds of the

effect

One might

sing Tagore's re-

songs to a Bengali farmer, either a

Vaishnava or shakta, but he would listen unmoved; and might even ask the singer to stop if

he happened to detect

The orthodox hatred Hindu mythology * Copytight by

to be a

Brahmo

song.

Brahmo

disregard for

very intense.

But a song

for

The Macmillan Company.

DINESH SEN on Radha, or Krishna or Kali

will send

The popular mind

into ecstasies.

the abstract. It

wants

visible

him

seeks to shun

imagery of God.

cannot love what even the imagination of

poets cannot comprehend.

Dinesh Chandra Sen Bengali literature

how

tells

us in his book on

once he heard a seventy-

year-old Vaishnava devotee sing the following

song of Chandi Das

"Dark

the night

and thick are the

How could you, my beloved,

clouds.

come by the path

in such a night?

There in the garden, I

see

him standing

the rain.

My heart breaks at the sight thereof." "I say to you,

of mine,

my maidens,

for

many

virtues

love has graciously come here to

meet me.

"Within the house are the sister-in-law

elders,

and

very cruel; I could not immedi-

ately run out to

meet him.

HINDU DEVOTEE

caused him by beckoning him to come

"When would and

I see

set fire to

sees

infamy on

head

sake;

and he

only sorry,

sad."

"While the old man was

suddenly heard his voice become

choked with more.

earnestly he loves me, fain

house.

Mr. Sen says: singing,

takes as happiness all the troubles he

has suffered for if

how

I bear the load of

"He

I not

what anguish and pain have

"Alas,

tears,

his

and he could nbt proceed any

coming

to himself after this dis-

play of feeling, I asked him the cause of his

tears. said,

said

described

was the song.

an ordinary

where could be the pathos in

The

love-affair, it

tion:

an old

explained that he did not consider

ordinary love-song.

Here

and

that gave occa-

sion for such an outburst of feeling in

man? "He

song, I

his

interpreta-

THE NIGHT" 99 am full of sins. My soul covered with "DARK

In deep distress I beckoned

darkness.

come

The

me.

found him waiting for It cannot be

house.

come

God

merciful

Him

came.

at the gate of

any pleasure to

to a great sinner like me,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Him

the path

to is

foul,

but by supreme good fortune the merciful

God

took

The world

it.

door open for Him.

I live in has left

Relations and friends

laugh, or even are hostile, but remembering His great mercy his house

what can a sinner

and

all,

court any abuse of the world,

and turn a Sanyasin! mercy choked

and

voice

The thought

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Oh, dark

thick are the clouds,

beloved,

do, except desert

how

come by the path?

of his

the night,

could you,

But he exposes

himself to the rain because in order to help the " sinner He is ready to suffer.'

And

again,

stories of love

are

shown

the different songs telling the

between Radha and Krishna as

in the following quotation

Sen's book,

move

the masses

from Mr.

PLEASANT REVENGE

loo

"Krishna comes in the guise of a womanphysician and touches her hand to feel the pulse.

comes as a magician and the

women

of the

village assemble behind the screens to witness

His labours are rewarded by one

his feats.

stolen glance of Radha's face.

comes to

her as a barber-wife and obtains a minute's interview ; as a nun, and on the pretext of giving

a blessing, whispers a word of love to her.

Radha

also goes to

meet him in disguise of a

shepherd boy."

Whether

the orthodox Bengalees admire

gore's religious

poems or

Ta-

not, it admits of

doubt that they are superb in their transparent

Now

beauty.

a chance presented itself to the

poet to take a pleasant revenge on his father.

Many

years before this the Maharshi read one

of the boyhood religious songs of his son and laughed. years.

Tagore remembered that

all

these

All of a sudden, the Maharshi called

Rabindranath to the city where he was residing

GOD

EVERYWHERE

loi

at that time, just to hear a particular song,

freshly composed,

When

asked,

from the mouth of

its

young Tagore began to

author.

sing:

"Nawyawn tomarah payna dekhitay, Tumi rawyacho nawyawnay nawyawnay! Hridawai tomarah payna

janitay,

Hridaway rawyacho gopawnay !"

The

etc.

song, in part, translates as follows:

"My eyes cannot see you, yet you are always before my eyes. My mind cannot comprehend you, yet in silence you ence

all

make me

your pres-

the time.

"Like that of a madman, hither

feel

my mind

rushes

and yon, charged with the worldly long-

ings of

heart.

But

I can see your loving

eyes ever keeping watchful vigilance

on me

sleep or in dream.

"The

friendless

and the forlorn can always

feel sure of yourself,

the homeless

and of your

love.

Even

vagabond has the consolation of

THE

102

FIRST "NOBEL PRIZE"

having his home in the one you have built for us

all."

know

you

that I cannot live without you, for

are the life of

The more I get of more I know about

life.

you, the more I want; the you, the less I

"But

know

of you.

that in age after age

recurring births you will always stand for there

meâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^you

by me;

nothing to stand between you and

and

The song

and

I are one,"

over, the

Maharshi said with a

nificant tremor in his voice:

sig-

"Unfortimately

for the country, our English rulers do not appreciate or encourage our arts, our- industries

and our

culture, but here is

nition of your genius is

superb."

And

find a check for for a

by your father; the song

the old

The

slip of paper.

man handed him

poet-singer opened

first

a to

500 rupees (about $165.00)

poem of twenty-four

Tagore's

an humble recog-

lines.

This was

"Nobel Prize" for poetry.

CHAPTER

AT SILAIDAH

DwijENDRANATH Tagore, of Rabindranath,

the eldest brother

a philosopher.

has no

He,

idea of business or the business world.

however, was sent to manage the country estate

of the Maharshi.

sooner

had he reached

his place of business

than he noticed the pov-

erty of the farmers,

many

him and

whom came

The

told the story of their sorrow.

philosopher-manager was moved, and he at once telegraphed to his father to send the poor farmers.

money

to help

The Maharshi thought

that

a good manager should manage things from within in such a

way that

things

factory to both the zamindar So, the philosopher

and the

satis-

rayat.

was called back, and the

Maharshi decided to send

whom

would be

his youngest son,

he trained to keep accounts during his 103

THE PADMA

104

boyhood

Himalayas, to take charge

trip to the

of the management of the family Zamindary in

Bengal

villages.

and for

offer,

years, off

with

branches in closest

its

nature.

different

studied,

observed,

loved and caressed nature in

two

poet accepted the

and on, lived in a house-

Padma and

boat on the touch

The young

all its aspects.

from Silaidah, he thus

letters

plainly speaks of his life in the house-boat and

of his love for the "I

Padma

River:

am in my house-boat now.

Here

am the

supreme master of myself and of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

The boat

Here

comfortable.

fancies according to

write as

place

much

plunge diffused

legs

old dressing-gown

as I like.

on a

the

patterns, read

I sit

table,

Truly,

very dearly,

mesticated.

I feel like riding

caressingly on

my and

and take a mental

Padma River patting

on a chair and

and

sky-embroidered

lazy days.

^it

weave

I think as I like,

my own

time.

it is

its

light-

love

this

so wild, so undo-

its

neck.

back and

...

I no

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; NATURE more

like to take

a part before the footlights of

the stage of publicity.

duty in

insignificant,

The

things

I rather feel like doing

amid

silent solitude

parent days that

105

we have

here.

these trans-

Here man

but nature great and imposing. see

around us are of such a na-

ture that one cannot create to-day,

mend to-mor-

row and throw them

after.

off the

day

things stand permanent, amidst birth action and inaction, change

"When

come

upon man

These

and death,

and changelessness.

to the countryside I

as anything separate

do not look

from nature.

many

Just as rivers flow by through

strange

lands, similarly the current of humanity, too,

incessantly following

its

zig-zag path through

dense forests, lonely meadows, and crowded cities,

always accompanied by

It is not quite right to

may for

come,

man,

man may

too, is

make

its

divine music.

the river sing,

go, but I

'Man

go on forever'

going on forever with his thou-

sand branches and

tributaries.

end attached to the root of

birth,

has his one

and the other

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MELODY OF NATURE

io6

to the ocean of death

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^both

enveloped in the

mysterious darkness; and between these two

extremes

And

labour and love."

lie life,

again,

Tagore writes

on a journey on the Padma, I she,

"Before entering feel

nervous

lest

on account of constant company, look unat-

tractive to river, all

ness.

But the moment

me.

I float

on the

my apprehensions vanish into nothing-

The

kul kul noise of the ripples, the

gentle tremor of the boat, the light-bathed sky, the vast expanse of soft blue water, the fresh foliage of trees along the banks of the river

an ensemble of colour, music, dance and beauty lend radiance to the superb melody of nature. All these awaken a keen interest and a deep delight in

mind."

The profound

influence of this daughter of

the Ganges and the vast plains that stretch

away from

its

banks,

reflected in all his sub-

Here he imbibed the

sequent writings.

which made him

spirit

clothe his "golden Bengal" in

idealistic garb,

and gave him a deeper sense

ON THE GORAI

107

of the presence of the Infinite in the basic ties

In one of his

life.

of his love for Bengal ing

he thus speaks

"Every day

after tak-

evening bath I take a long walk along

Then

the river. boat,

letters

reali-

and

lie

down

make

flat

a bed on

my back in

jolly

the silent

darkness of the evening, and ask myself

'Shall

I again be able to be born under such starry

skies? to lie

Shall I ever again in another

down

this

way on

may

ferent environments altogether.

always

never have a chance to enjoy

such an evening again.

mind

be able

a jolly boat on the river

Gorai in our "golden Bengal'"?' afraid that I

life,

may

and with a

may

be born in difdifferent turn of

get such an evening,

may not lie so affectionately on my breast, covering me with her dark dishevelled hair. But I am afraid most of all that For there, I shall I may be born in Europe. not be able to lie down this way with my whole body and soul looking upward. There I may but the evening

have to drudge

in a factory, in a

bank or

in a

"GOLDEN BENGAL"

io8

As the

parliament.

made of hard

cities are

to be

made

so the

fit

human

for

European

streets in the

stone, brick

and mortar,

commerce and transportation,

heart becomes hardened and best

In the hard pavement of

suited for business.

their heart there is not the slightest

opening for

a tender tendril, or a single blade of useless

Everything

grass to grow.

I think that in

strong.

made bare and

comparison to that,

this

kind of fanciful, lazy, sky-filled and self-searching

mind Wnot a

worthy."

Thus Tagore Bengal"

jot the less glorious or praise-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;"Golden

sings his superb song

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;which

being sung with renewed

fervour ever since the inauguration of the nationalist

movement

"I love you,

and your

air

new

in India

my golden

Bengal, for your sky

always play on the harp of

heart.

"In the spring, your mango groves breathe forth the

maddening perfume of the

blossfflns.

"GOLDEN BENGAL" and

in the

autumn your harvest

fields smile

Mother darling!

in the bliss of fruition.

how

109

inexpressibly sweet

your love which has

clothed the banks of rivers, and the shades of trees in such

a superb

sounds sweeter in are sanctified lips.

attire.

Mother, nothing

ears than the

by the touch of the breath of your

And my

eyes begin to float in tears

I notice the least trace of pathos I have enjoyed

house,

woods that

on your

when face.

my childhood days in your play-

and now

I feel fortunate

whenever

touch a particle of your dust.

"At dusk when the lamps homes, I leave

your loving lap.

toils

are

in the

and games, and rush to

In the village where cattle

graze gently in the fields on the ferry,

lit

where birds sing joyously on

way trees

to the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

trees

that cast their shadows to soothe the burning

heat of the day, and where the courtyards are radiant with the sheaves of harvested

pass the days of

life,

rice,

feeling fraternal with

your cowherds and peasants.

HEALS THE SICK

"Mother, reverence bows

lowed by the dust of your

my head

to be hal-

which

feet,

hold

more precious than the dust of diamonds and emeralds; and I ing of

prepared to make an

have at thy

all I

This

offer-

feet."

the Bengali counterpart of,

"I love thy rocks and

rills,

Thy woods and templed

My heart with rapture Like that above,"

hills.

thrills.

etc.

In the farming communities, he came in touch with the

illiterate

but intelligent, high-

thinking and devout Indian peasants, and was inspired tional

their simplicity of spirit

idealism.

In return, he looked after

their material needs,

and administered

"tempered with mercy." ness,

and devo-

justice

To help them in sick-

he privately took up the study of harmless

homeopathy, and at .any hour of the day or night would visit the sick and give medicine.

SOCIALISM But

111

the tax-created poverty and absolute help-

made him uneasy

lessness of the farmers

waking hours and haunted him Tagore thus expresses

his

They

were babies of mother

in his dreams.

sorrow for the farmer

"I feel a heart-felt sorrow

Indian farmers.

in his

when

I look at the

are so helpless, as if they

They

earth.

suffer

from

hunger unless she feeds them with her own hands.

When her breast is dry, if

they get a

little

to eat, they forget all about

their past sorrows in a

actly

they just cry; and again

know whether

moment.

the socialist's

the distribution of wealth

But

demand

lessly unfortunate.

for

possible or not.

if it is absolutely impracticable,

laws must be exceedingly

do not ex-

cruel,

then God's

and men hope-

If sorrow has to remain in

this world, let it stay,

but there must be some

glimpses of possibilities by which the higher

nature of

man may

strive

and hope for the

amelioration of such conditions.

very cruel theory

who

claim that

They it is

state a

a dream

to think of the possibility of distributing the

MERCY

112 bare necessaries of that

life

amongst mankind, and

some men are predestined to starve without

any way out of

It is a cruel theory to say

it.

the least."

In a

letter written

on July

house-boat, he says:

"There

The rayats

home unripe

boats.

The

are carrying

I hear their sighs

rice fields

were

aster befell them.

hope that there

all

from

4, 1893,

and

his

a flood here.

rice in their

tales of sorrow.

but ripe when

this dis-

The unhappy farmers only

may be

a few good grains in the

sheaves.

"In the work of the universe, mercy there

must be somewhere, otherwise how could we get it?

But

it is

pretty difficult to locate

it.

The

complaints of thousands of innocent and unfortunate tribunal.

the river petition

men and women are reaching no high The rain is falling just as it pleases,

flowing just as

and secure

redress

wishes,

no one can

from nature.

have to console our minds by saying that the problem

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

beyond comprehension

^but

we have

;

THE PROBLEM OF to realise just the

EVIL

same that there

113

mercy and

justice in inscrutable laws of Providence."

Twenty

summer of 1913,

years later, in the

lecturing in

London on

the Problem of Evil,

Tagore thus offered a solution to the riddle of evil in the

world

"We

exaggerate the impor-

tance of evil by imagining

Could we

at a standstill.

collect the statistics of the

immense

amount of death and putrefaction happening every us.

moment

But

evil is ever

calculable immensity

moving; with

and

living beings.

air

and we

find that the

remain sweet and pure for

All statistics consist of our at-

tempts to represent statically what

and

all its in-

it does not effectually clog

the current of our life; earth, water,

would appal

in this earth, they

in the process things

in motion

assume a weight in our

mind which they have not

reality.

Within us we have a hope which always walks in front of our present

narrow experience;

the undying faith in the infinite in us;

it is

will

never accept any of our disabilities as a perma-

JOY IN TROUBLE

114 nent fact; dares to

God.

limit to

that

man

it sets

assert

into good;

"Man's freedom

its

ment

own

its

cannot stand and give bat-

indefinitely, it

troubles, but

evil has to pass on, it has

would sink deep and cut

into the very roots of existence.

for

If the least evil could stop any-

tle to the All.

where

scope;

has oneness with

highway and rob

For the

possessions.

grow

own

Evil cannot altogether arrest the

course of life on the

its

it is

realise that

never in being saved

the freedom to take trouble

good, to

in his joy.

make can be

the trouble an ele-

made

so only

our individual self

when

not the

highest meaning of our being, that in us

we have

the world-man

who

immortal,

afraid of death or sufferings,

upon pain

who has is

who

as only the other side of joy.

realised this

not

and who looks

knows that it is pain which

our true wealth as imperfect beings,

made

and has

us great and worthy to take our seat with

the Perfect." * â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

The Macmillan Company.

DISPLEASES

THE BRITISH

115

Amidst the joys and sorrows of the farmers, Tagore so re-organised the enced the

officers

estate,

and so

influ-

with a healthy moral tone that

corruption soon became a thing of the past.

few years ago one of the

officers

of the Tagore

estate accepted a bribe of one rupee (thirty-five

and soon

cents),

after he felt so repentant, that

he voluntarily made a confession of

was

his act,

and

Tagore's endeavours to

readily forgiven.

made him and he so won

uplift the condition of the farmers

very popular with the people,

their hearts that the British magistrate of the district

about

grew

it,

jealous,

and began

suspicious

to harass

and nervous

him

in various

ways, as Lord Hardinge, the present Viceroy of India,

and

his lieutenants harassed

him about

three years ago for employing a certain patriotic

young poet in

his

school

a teacher.

Silaidah Tagore wrote most of his short stories

and the bulk of

his poems.

CHAPTER V TAGORE THE FEMINIST

Raja Ram Mohun Roy, India, introduced

Well versed

the father of

modem

an age of reform in India.

in the literature of the

East and of

the West, he strove to unite the cultural life of

both for mutual benefit.

With

his towering

genius he handled the social, political, religious

and

literary life

By lectures, and

with the hand of a master.

newspapers, and pamphlets, debates

discussions he infused a

especially

Bengal.

new

Even

years after his death, the social

life in India,

to-day,

and

eighty

religious re-

formers are working to carry out his plans. his death, he left a unique

lectual descendant,

worker as his

intel-

Debendranath Tagore, the

father of Rabindranath.

Beside the help of

men like Keshubchandra Sen, ii6

Shibanath Shastri,

SEX EQUALITY

117

Mozoomdar and Rajnarayan

jProtapchandra

Bose, Debendranath found one of his best supporters

and workers

in the person of his

est son Rabindranath.

young-

Rabindranath, with his

keen insight into sociological problems, wielded his

pen and

his

tongue for

and

social, religious

political reform.

One of

the very

attention to

the

women

first

things that he gave his

was the elevation of the

He never woman. He has

of India by education.

believed in the inferiority of

always believed in what Comte says: sex has

status of

"Each

what the other has not; each completes

the other and

completed by the other; they

are in nothing alike,

and the happiness and per-

fection of both depends

ceiving from the other

on each asking and

re-

what the other only can

give."

Long nist

before the advent of the

modern femi-

movement Tagore was a staunch

Even though he ditional

woman

feminist.

does not believe in uncon-

suffrage ; he thinks that if

men

WOMAN'S LIFE

ii8

women would not have to vote at all. But when men cannot govern well, it is justified that women should claim The strong the vote and even fight for it. did their duty in

politics,

feminist flavour of the following translation

from one of years

his letters written

ago,

more than twenty "After due

worth attention:

thought, I have come to the conclusion that in

the

ness

that

There

life

man

there

characterises

the

not

the

a cbntinuity of unity in woman's lan-

The

guage, dress, deportment and duty. cause of this

no revolution, civilisation

far

no change,

no transformation of

ideals of

have led women away from

path of continuity.

They have,

served, loved, comforted

The

chief

that nature through centuries has

fixed their realm of activity.

else.

woman.

life

ful-

skill

all

their

along,

and have done nothing

and beauty of these functions

have charmingly mingled in their form, in their language and in their carriage.

Their sphere

of activity and their nature have blended one

MAN

DEFECTIVE

into the other as flower

and

its

119

perfume.

So,

nothing but harmony prevails in them.

"There life

a great deal of unevenness in the

The marks

of man.

their

passage

through various changes and functions are noticeable in their

form and nature.

mal elevation of the forehead,

The

abnor-

the ugly protrud-

ing of the nose, the ungraceful development of

common things in men, but not in Had man followed the same course

the jaws are

women. all

through ages, had, he been trained to perform

the same function, then there might have

mould

for

grown

men, and a harmony might have

evolved between his nature and function. that case, they

would not have had

to think

struggle so hard to perform their duty.

and

Every-

thing would have gone on very smoothly and beautifully.

Then

they would have developed

a nature, and their minds could not have been tossed

away from

the path of duty at the least

possible provocation.

"Mother nature has moulded women

in a

WOMAN

120

Man

cast.

PERFECT

has no such original

so he has

tie,

not evolved to his fulness around a central

His

idea.

tions

diverse,

untamed passions and emo-

have stood in the way of his harmonious

development.

As the bondage of metres

the

cause of the beauty of poetry, so the bondage of the metre -of fixed law

the cause of the all-

Man

round fulness and beauty of woman. like

unconnected and uncouth prose, without

That

any harmony or beauty. have

always flower

poetry,

compared

and

Woman,

like the

ture,

connected,

woman

man

why with

poets song,

and have never

river;

thought of comparing

with any of these.

most beautiful things in nawell-developed

well-restrained.

doubt,

and

irrelevant

thought and no academic discussion can break the

rhythm of a woman's

life.

Woman

perfect."

The in the

mated

relative status of

woman

West has been a

constant theme of ani-

discussion.

The

in the East

and

Christian missionary.

)Pbntu'rmpli by Frank Wolcott

TAGORE IN DEVOTIONAL POSTURE

EAST

VS.

WEST

121

with his profound ignorance of the

Hindu

social organism, sees

spirit

nothing but abject

misery in the lot of the Hindu woman.

The

orthodox Hindu on the other hand, with his equally

profound

ignorance

world, looks upon the lot of the as nothing short of blissful. his practical

the

Hindu woman

But Tagore, with

knowledge of both the

good and bad

realises that there is

position of

woman

societies,

and

in both,

that proper education will cure the

strengthen the good.

outside

and

ills

Thus he speaks of

in the Orient

the

and the Occi-

dent:

"Judging from outside, tion as is

European

being

Woman

civilisation progresses,

rendered

increasingly

woman

unhappy.

acts in society as the centripetal force

does in the planets. etal force of less to

I feel that in propor-

But

Europe

woman's energy

this centrip-

proving

fruit-

counterbalance the centrifugal force of

the distracted society. in distant nooks

Men

are seeking shelter

and corners of the

earth,

men

A LONG WAIT

122

who

bowed down by

are

for existence which

the criishing struggle

partly due to wants arti-

In Europe

ficially created.

man is getting to be

quite unwilling to burden himself with a family,

consequently woman's family obligations are decreasing.

The

fair

maid has

to wait long for

a groom, and the wife has to suffer from lovesickness while her

husband

away

to earn a

The grown up

livelihood for the family.

son

does not hesitate the least to leave his mother's

home.

Even though her

nature are opposed to

it,

training, tradition

yet

and

woman in the West

has to go out and work and struggle for existence.

"This discord in

harmony,

social

the principal reason

why woman

fighting for equal rights with

male characters

many

in the

man.

West

The

fe-

of the plays of Ibsen

show impatience with the fairs,

I think, is

existing state of af-

while the male characters support them.

This leads one to think of the inconsistent position

woman

in the present-day

European

SUPPORTS MILITANCY for

man

There

society.

woman, and

123

loath to build a

same time

at the

home

stubborn

in refusing her equal rights to enter the arena of

fruitful work.

ber of

women

may seem

the

first

thought, the

in the Nihilistic armies of Russia

appalling, but mature reflection con-

vinces one of the fact that the time for militancy in the

"Strength

women

about ripe

of Europe.

the watch-word of European so-

There

ciety of to-day.

That

weak, male or female.

no place for the is

why women

getting ashamed of their femininity,

and

striving to prove their strength, both of

and of mind. "It

num-

are are

body

impossible for a

woman in an European

family to attain to the varied perfections which a

woman

can in a Hindu home.

reason that

it is

deemed

sour,

and she

for this

Her

heart

finds consolation in nurs-

ing puppies or in doing 'charity' or

to be a grave misfor-

tune to be a spinster in England.

becomes

'social'

work.

the milk from the breast of the mother of a

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; HOMES ARE DISAPPEARING

ii24

artificially

pumped out

in health, so the

milk of ten-

babe has to be

still-born

to keep the mother

derness from an European spinster's heart has to be artificially

pumped out

for charity organ-

isations; but it fails to contribute to the irmate

satisfaction of her soul.

afraid that the present-day civilisation

of Europe

zone in

its social

of luxuries

home

that

life.

most

The super-abundance

smothering the soul of the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a thing

that

essential for the healthy

human

home

the very abode of love, tender-

and beneficence

ness

the

imperceptibly extending the arid

is,

above

all,

development of

In Europe homes are disap-

heart.

pearing and hotels are increasing in number.

When we

notice that

horses, dogs,

bling,

women's

men

are

happy with

their

guns and pipes and clubs for gam-

feel

quite

lives are

safe

conclude that

being gradually broken up.

Heretofore the male bees used to gather honey outside

and

store

bee ruled supreme.

in the hive,

Now

where the queen

the bee prefers to

THE BEE HIVE rent a cell

may

drink

and

live

125

himself, so that he alone

the honey in the evening, which

all

he gathers during the day time. the queen-bee

Consequently

obliged to come out in the

world of competition to gather honey, so that she

may

She has not yet been able to get

live.

accustomed to the changed conditions of

and

The

society.

buzzing.

"Such,

woman

result

and

uneasiness

short,

in the

West.

the present status of

And when

philanthropists shed crocodile

'wretched condition of the feel mortified at such a

especially

life

when

the English

over the

tears

women

of India,' I

waste of sympathy,

such a rare thing with

Englishmen.

"Our women make our homes sweetness, tenderness quite

and

love.

happy with our household

smile with .

goddesses,

and they themselves have never told us of 'miserable condition.'

Why

are

their

then should the

meddlers from beyond the seas feel so bad about

126

FISH PHILANTHROPISTS women? People in imagining too much as to what

the imagined sorrows of our

make mistakes would make

others

happy or unhappy.

chance, the fishes were to pists, their

If per-

become philanthro-

tender hearts would find satisfaction

only in drowning the entire

human

race in the

depths of water.

"No doubt when an

English lady sees the

small rooms with crude furniture and old fash-

ioned pictures in the zenana, she at once concludes that

women.

men have made

But she

forgets that

gether the same way. kin and Mill;

Hindu

all live to-

read Spencer, Rus-

edit niagazines

we squat on a

books, but

slaves of

and write

mattress on the floor,

and we use an earthen oil-lamp for study.

buy jewels money,

for our wives

and

sleep

inside

warm

mosquito net, and on

when we have a

We the

string-tied

nights fan ourselves

with a palm-leaf fan.

"We

have no sofas or highly upholstered

chairs, yet

we do not

feel miserable for

not hay-

WOMAN But

ing them.

at the

127

same time we are quite

The

capable of loving and being loved.

people love furniture, entertainments and

luxuries of life so

them do not if

west-

much

that

many amongst and

care to have wives or husbands,

married, positively no children.

With

them,

comfort takes precedence of love, whereas love

and home It

supreme things in our

are the

for this that quite often

comforts, so that

we have

life.

to sacrifice

we may enjoy home

and

life

love."

So Tagore

sings

on the Hindu

"Woman"

the

;

song in translation reads

"The

strifes

and

struggles of the battle

Come, beauteous woman, come

are over.

wash me

and the

clean, to heal

bless

wounds, to comfort

with your soothing presence.

Come, beauteous woman, come with your golden pitcher.

"The day

in the

the crowd and built

mart

over.

have

left

cottage in the village.

BLISSFUL

128

WOMAN

Come, noble woman, come with a

and a vermilion to bless

line

celestial smile

on the parting of your

hair,

Come,

and grace the lonesome home.

noble woman, come with your jar of sacred water.

"The sun

shines sultry at noon,

known wayfarer ful

Come,

at our door.

woman, come with your

and an un-

pitcher of nectar

and with the pure music of your bridal to

blissful

bracelet,

unknown

guest.

woman, come with your

pitcher

welcome and

Come,

bliss-

bless

the

of nectar.

"The night

dark,

and the home

is quiet.

Come, devout woman, come dressed in white with the

sacrificial

water,

and in dishevelled

hair light the candle at the altar;

and then open

the gates of your heart in secret prayer.

devout

woman, come with your

Come,

sacrificial

water.

"Now,

the time

for parting

at hand.

Come, loving woman, come with your

tears.

Let your tearful look shower blessing on

ON LOVE way away from

129

Let the anxious touch

here.

of your blessed hand hallow the last

earthly

woman, come with your

And on Tagore has

Come,

existence.

the

"woman's

all,"

"I believe that to love

this to say:

to worship the mysterious one.

unconsciously.

rect

sorrowful

tears."

which

love,

moments

Only we do

Every kind of love

outcome of a universal force that

express itself through the

human

heart.

the ditries to

Love

the temporary realisation of that bliss which

at the very root of the universe.

love has no meaning.

Otherwise

In the physical world

the all-pervading attraction of gravitation attracts the large

in the

and the small

realm of the

attraction of joy. traction that

spirit, there is

The

in the heart of nature plays

an universal

virtue of this at-

perceive beauty in nature

love within ourselves. is

Similarly,

alike.

and

limitless bliss that

on our

hearts.

look upon the love in our hearts independ-

CHITRA

13ÂŠ

ently of the love in the universe

meaningless.

Love

becomes

bliss."

Tagore's philosophy of feminism as embodied in the realistically idealistic poetic

"Chitra"

may seem

cal feminists of the

that the plot in the

drama

too radical even to the radi-

West.

And

it is

curious

taken in toto from an episode

Mahabharata, the Hindu epic that dates

back to 2000 years before the Christian

era.

CHAPTER

AS POET OF INDIAN NATIONALISM

UNIVERSALISM

Once him a

a Bengali friend of the Maharshi wrote letter in English,

the letter in reply.

and he simply returned

Why

should a Bengali

write letters to a Bengali in English?

was nationalism.

Tagore was taught to love

India and Indian culture.

he was

This

In his early boyhood

initiated into the tenets of Indian na-

tionalism

by men

Rajnarayan Bose and In

Jyotirindranath Tagore.

secret, as

tells

us himself, they used- to meet behind "closed doors,

and talk

means of the tion of India.

in whispers" about the

industrial

and

ways and

political regenera-

cultivate the spirit of brav-

ery Tagore used to go out on hunting trips, at

times subjecting himself to invited hardships. 131

NATIONALISM

132

He He

wrote poems on patriotism and

self-sacrifice.

worked with enthusiasm when

his brother

Jyotirindranath started a steamship line be-

tween Khulna and Barisal to compete with an

English company.

went out lecturing on

the need of organisations to preach the gospel of nationalism.

As a young man he

realised the

truth of the statement that "Nations are de-

stroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting,

and music are destroyed or

flourish."

Abanindranath Tagore took charge of art vival

Tagore

India,

that

re-

and Raja Sowrindramohun music.

Rabindranath

took

upon himself the task of regenerating India by poetry. It has rightly

been said that Tagore

poet of Indian nationalism.

For

the

by a natural

disaster all of Tagore's thoughtful essays, pro-

found philosophical

dissertations, learned his-

torical interpretations, ries,

soul-stirring short sto-

powerfully allegorical dramas, carefully

wrought novels, and exquisite books of ballads

NATIONAL SONGS and

lyrics are destroyed forever

of this earth;

still

as long as

133

from the face

men

live in India

he will be remembered as one of India's greatest poets, for they could never forget the message

His songs have made

of his national songs.

such an indelible mark on the

life

of the na-

tion that they will continue to shower their

beneficent influence as long as the will endure. to

Imagination

comprehend,

itself

and language

adequacy to express, the

name of India is

at a loss

feels

its

in-^

real usefulness of his

patriotic songs in the up-hill task of nation

building in India. ical agitators

The

and the

editorial writers are

Philippics of the polit-

diatribes of the caustic

mere pin-pricks when com-

pared with the majestic sweep of the patrioticfire

songs of our poet.

lashing

the

little

These deep appeals are

ripples

into

mountainous

waves of unalloyed nationalism that

in the

India of to-day are dashing against and engulfing the rocks of selfishness and provincialism

and thus helping to form a mighty, homogene-

NATIONAL SONGS

134

ous nation out of a multitude of conflicting interests.

Unlike in the West where the epic and lyric feeling does

did

oral

not penetrate into the masses

when poetry was tradition,

sun darts

transmitted

patriotic

poems

are

In the morning when the

sung everywhere. rising

his

still

its

rays of liquid gold

we hear

sung in the bathing ghats and

his songs being

in sankirtan parties that go about in the street to ice

wake people up from of

God and

noon-tide,

banyan

sleep to join at the serv-

Motherland.

At scorching

under the shade of the spreading

trees in lonely

maidans when the shep-

herds play the King, they sing the same songs to themselves, to the birds cattle in the fields.

dian landscape

And

on the again,

trees

and the

when

the In-

bathed by the vermilion rays

of the setting sun, and as the boatmen go

down

the river or as the village peasants flock

home-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;they

ward

all

Rabindranath.

sing

They

the

national

songs

are sung in the national

SOFT APPEALS congresses

135

and conferences, they are sung by

the athletes in the gymnasiums, the princes in their palaces, the beggars in their begging excursions,

and the washermen in the dhobi khanas;

yes, they are

sung at weddings and at times of

religious ceremony.

There are

who

critics

claim that Tagore's

national songs are too gentle, too effeminate, to suit the present requirements of India.

true that he has not the

fire

Hem

It is

Chandra

Bandopadhya, nor the masculine force of Nabin

Chandra Sen or Dwijendra Lai Roy.

also true that he appeals to the softer emotions,

and they to the

sterner,

that the latter also

and

cannot be denied

needed in India.

Apart

from the unique importance of the "Bande-

mataram" of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya; the "Sleep no

More" of

padhya, the "Banga

Hem

Chandra Bando-

Amar Janani Amar"

Dwijendra Lai Roy, and some of the stanzas of "Pallashir Judho"

(The Battle of Pallasy)

of Nabin Chandra Sen are mighty factors in the

AWAKE, ARISE!

136 present

crisis

Yet, in spite of

in India.

all, it

must be acknowledged by those who know anything about the imaginative and speculative nature of the Hindu, that of the

"Awake,

arise,

oppressor's

who

else

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

conquer and dash to earth the

rod,"

struggling, she

two sentiments

and "Your motherland suffering,

she

but a dutiful son can assuage the

rows of the mother !"

Hindu soul more

starving, sor-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the latter appeals to the

strongly and has a

more endur-

Rabindranath decidedly follows

ing influence. the latter path.

idealises the

motherland,

he speaks of her in a thousand different ways, arousing in the hearts of his readers as different

many

shades of passionate emotion.

speaks of her waving rice

fields,

her smiling

blossoms, perfumed flowers, singing birds, talk-

ing streams,

and inspiring mountains, noisy

bazars, sweet homes, her granaries,

grounds clothes

full

them

of dear all

little

and her play-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and

children

with the hallowing love of the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; CONSECRATION Bharat Mata,

motherland

Over and above

India.

teristic insight into

as she

that,

Hindu

137 is

called in

with his charac-

traits

and tempera-

ments, he gives some of his best national songs

a touch of colloquialism and the cadences of

Baul

and

Both of to

these

Hindu

ture.

in a

the

Rarnprasadi

songs.

religious

have peculiar tunes that appeal

higher emotions and devotional na-

Incessantly he pleads the cause of India

hundred

different ways,

inimitable style.

Thus he

and always

in his

sings of Consecra-

tion:

"To Thee, my motherland,

my body, for thee I consecrate my life for thee my eyes will weep; and in thy praise my Muse will I dedicate ;

sing.

"Though less, still

arms are helpless and power-

they will do the deeds that can only

serve thy cause;

with disgrace,

and though

still it

sword

rusty

shall sever thy chains of

bondage, sweet mother of mine."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; GOD SLUMBERS NOT

138

When

Lord Curzon and Lord Minto, as

India's Viceroys, were trying to strangle the

in Bengal

by the Russian

nationalist

spirit

methods of

partition, suppression, deportation

without a

trial,

or strangulation on the gallows,

Tagore's songs kept up the spirit of the patriots.

young men

His songs

inspire our

to sacrifice

and to

One of

young Emmets

the

to suffer

die smiling for the

and

"Mother."

of India died singing

the following song-message of Tagore, begin-

ning:

"Bharsha na charish Kabhu

Jagay achen Jagat-prabhu,"

Here

etc., etc.

the song in translation:

"Brother, do not be discouraged for

God

slum-

bers not nor sleeps.

The

tighter the knot, the shorter will be your

period of bondage.

The louder the growl,

the sooner you will

from your lethargic

sleep.

wake

"FOLLOW THE GLEAM" The harder

139

the stroke of oppression, the sooner

their flag will kiss the ground.

Do not be discouraged, brother, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps."

And

again

when young

themselves deserted on friends, relations, alas!

patriots of India find

all

when

sides,

even their

own

their

parents

disown them for the crime of patriotism, they find a

mine of inspiration in the song, "Follow

the Gleam."

"If nobody responds to your

call,

then follow

the path all alone, all alone; if every one afraid and

nobody wants

O, you unfortunate of

your own

porrow;

to speak to you, then,

speak to yourself the story if

while travelling in the

wilderness, everybody deserts you and turns

against you,

mind them

not,

but trample the

thorns and bathe your feet with your

and go

all

yourself.

own blood,

If again in the stormy

night you do not find a single soul to hold the light for you,

and they

all close

their doors

RAKHI SONG

140 against

you,

with the

forlorn

faint-hearted,

a rib out of your side and light

patriot, but take it

not

of lightning, and then follow the

fire

gleam, follow the gleam."

Tagore wants

his people to follow the gleam,

because he wants to see Mother India elevated to a high pinnacle of glory

and

success

from

her present state of national degradation and chronic poverty.

So he

two prayers for

his country.

thus in his

own

the following

oflfers

The poems

translation:

"Let the earth and the water, the fruits

air

country be

full,

forests

and the

God.

and

fields

country be sweet,

Let the homes and marts, the of

read

God.

Let the promises and hopes, the deeds and

words of Let the

lives

ters

my country be

true,

Grod.

and hearts of the sons and daugh-

of my country be one,

my God."

;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

HEAVEN OF FREEDOM And

a nobler prayer

"Where is

the

mind

141

still

without fear and the head

held high;

Where knowledge Where

free

the world has not been broken

into

fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where work comes

out from the depth of

truth;

Where

tireless

striving

stretches

the

arms

towards perfection

Where its

the clear stream of reason has not lost

way

into the dreary desert of dead

habit;

Where

the

mind

led forward

by Thee

into

ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom,

my And

Father, let

country awake." *

he thus urges

heaven of freedom to

all to

help to attain this

"Friends, there

dream any more, the time

â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

not time

for united action

The Macmillan Company.

"GIVE

142

YOUR

LIVES"

has come" ; "if you expect to live and to com-

mand

respect in this world,

first

be prepared to

give your lives for your Mother."

Love, pathos, encouragement, and the of

sacrifice inspire his patriotic

them

there

spirit

poems, but in

not even a suggestion of anger,

jealousy or hatred for anybody in the world. It is in this that

tionalist of

his

differs

from the radical na-

The

"blood and iron."

radical in

morbid hatred for the British and

in his at-

tempt to drive them out of India after keeping their bags

and baggages,

ance which

loses

much

of the bal-

So he

needed for clear thinking.

always looks outside, and in the process forgets to take cognisance of the internal causes which

give rise to political diseases.

doctor

a poor

who would only apply soothing ointment

on the skin of a small-pox

patient.

"But," retorts the radical, "if outside atmosphere

and

environment

cause

the

troubles that result in a disease,

you

internal

may

the patient, but he will be subjected to

cure

again.

NO MORE BEGGING If this one patient dies, let

him

143 but purify

die,

more may

the environment that a thousand live."

"Yes, you are right," replies Tagore, "but the inside

matter

not healthy

how pure

will breed disease,

the outside

may

be.

But

one with you when you want to rely on

yourself

reforms both internal

for

and ex-

ternal."

The "moderate"

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the constitutional agitators

of India expect to secure

all

kinds of reforms by

petitioning the government.

along been opposed to

So he

all

of mendi-

this "policy

Beggars, he thinks, do not deserve

cancy."

much.

Tagore has

Kicks and

cuffs are their best reward.

sings

"Mother, should you send your children as beggars to the doors of strangers, who, at the sight of begging bowls, begin to hate

stones at

them

In one of his

by saying:

and throw

contempt?"

essays,

"Some of

he elaborates

this idea

us think that

when we

SELF-HELP

144

get all the reforms from the government, shall be fully contented

when one

the situation

and the other only It

fire.

Fat can never extin-

the nature of the beggar to ask

when he

increases

the

gets

what he wants.

dissatisfaction

the

This

beggar.

the attainment of an ideal does not de-

pend on our own of others,

it is

efforts,

but upon the charity

injurious to us,

advantageous to the giver. if

no founda-

side asks all the time,

gives.

for more,

When

There cannot be any end to

tion to this fact.

guish

and there

we can

and becomes

... So

dis-

I say that

give our motherland the most,

we can

get from the government the utmost; our claim to receive increases in proportion as

ready to give.

...

help.

faith .

"What

are

I will never accept that

we have no hope but have

in the begging bowl.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

country

respect

self-

a pity that

fifteen millions of

human

(three

hundred and

beings) shall not be

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; INDIA'S

DUTY own

able to bear the burden of our

Has

come

145

to this that foreigners

country!

from beyond

the seas shall give us alms as food, drink and clothing,

and we should only complain and cry

if the doles

actly

of charity do not happen to be ex-

what we would

them

us must bear the burden of our all the time.

be?

No,

Each and every one of

never, that cannot be.

and that

This

own mother

our duty and this

our glory."

the British domination of India Tagore

"One

has this to say:

section of the

race cannot be permanently strong

another section of

its

by depriving

inherent rights.

Dharma

(righteousness) depends on adjustment. the adjustment gins to decline.

human

When

dislocated, righteousness be-

The

British are getting strong

the possession of the Indian Empire, and if

they wish to render India weak, then this onesided advantage can not last long. to defeat its

own

purpose.

It is

bound

The weakness

ENGLAND'S AVARICE

146

disarmed, famine-stricken and poverty-ridden

India will be the cause of the destruction of the British Empire.

"But very few people can take a broad view

The

of political outlook.

vision of a people

becomes dimmed by cupidity.

If the avaricious

British politicians begin to ponder over the impossible task of holding India in subjection forever, then

he would at the same time begin to

forget the

means of holding India for a long

time.

ity, it is

hold India forever

an impossibil-

Even

against the law of the universe.

the tree has to part with

its

The

fruits.

at-

tempt to retain India tied by the chain of slavery only loosens the knot

period of possible retention."

and shortens the In the conclud-

ing sentences of his splendid essay on

"The

Sit-

uation and the Prescription," written about ten years ago, Tagore thus sums

of Indian nationalism couragement, nism.

up the philosophy

"We

do not want en-

shall gain strength

by antago-

Let none fan us into sleep again,

let

none

'^'^ ??vr

,.._^3\yf^\xr^^^'s^

'7'>ri)

-SO

3^0

ONE OF TAGORe's DEVOTIONAL POEMS IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING, IN THE ORIGINAL BENGALI CHARACTER.

"OPPRESSION," "INSULT" increase the dose of the

—luxury and comfort ful aspect of the

opium of our

Godhead

our national liberation.

and 'Want'

servitude

—

are not for us is

147

the fear-

the easiest

way

for

'Oppression,' 'Insult,'

are the three great lashes which

We can never attain our goal

arouse the inert.

by being patted on

the back or

by any policy

of mendicancy."

Some may uphold, and

others

may condemn,

the philosophy of Tagore's nationalism, but

none can doubt

his sincerity of purpose.

second to none in patriotic fervour.

down upon

his

Critics look

abrupt retirement, at the time of

the worst persecutions, from active politics, and call

him a

"turn-coat."

Hindu

student in

America once told the author: "I don't care to see Tagore's face, I wouldn't go across the street to

meet him.

Indian goods,

Even an

who has been

false charges,

illiterate dealer in

sent to prison under

moral coward, who swallowed

and then went

—

superior to the great poet

into retirement."

his

own words

SWADESHI SOMAJ

148

But

those that

know him

know

author does,

as intimately as the

full well that love of

God

and love of the motherland are the two dominant notes of his

companion, and India stant thought.

the subject

God

life.

his constant

the object of his con-

After talking with the poet on

and reading

his writings,

feel that

the true explanation of his retirement from active

and

direct political

propagandism

den in the following passages from deshi

Somaj"

there where

Hurt a nation mortally.

The

at that point

and you wound

power

Europe

paralysed.

so long

it is

dis-

for this reason that politics

such a vital issue with the Europeans. dia, if the society

life

focussed the public good.

If the political

"Swa-

heart of a

disorganised then the entire national life organised.

hid-

located in different

parts of their social organism.

nation

his

"The

(Indian Society)":

force of different nations

lies

In In-

hurt, then the entire nation

That accoimts

for the fact that

we have not concerned

ourselves with

DHARMA political right as

we have

to preserve our social

In Europe charity,

freedom.

149

and edu-

religion,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

cation are all in the hands of the state

country they

rest

in our

on the sense of public duty.

So Europeans take

special care of the state,

The Europeans

of Dhartna.

and

are always

anxious to keep the state wide awake.

Receiv-

ing our education in English schools, most of us have

come

to think that to attack the gov-

ernment, without any reference to existing conditions, is the first

duty of the Indian

They do not understand ters

that

patriots.

by applying

blis-

on other persons' bodies one cannot cure

himself of his disease."

Again, in a letter written in the winter of

1913 from Urbana,

111.,

present problem of India shall never be able to

privileges unless

fit

"The

Tagore says: is

not political.

ourselves for higher

we can do away with

the nar-

rowness of our mind and the weakness of our character.

ference

All the poison of ignorance, indif-

and disunion that

are in the very mar-

"OUR FIRST DUTY"

ISO

row of our

our fullest development. these.

way of

society are standing in the

Our warfare

with

have to train ourselves to extend

our vision from the family and from the village to wider circles.

have to eradicate the

hedges of effete customs and plough our social soil for

higher purposes than mere truck garden-

ing.

"Let us

first

liberate our society

from the

tyranny of hide-bound customs and dedicate to a spirit of liberality. It

was to "plough the

the Indian "society

This

our

social soil"

first

and

duty."

to liberate

from hide-bound customs"

through enlightenment that he walked out of the spot-light and went into retirement, not to

spend his days in idleness but to make

men

for

the service of the motherland.

Tagore ist,

tive of

more than a mere Indian national-

a universal nationalist

world-wide humanity.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

representa-

His universal-

ism has reached the very height of perfection.

He,

as a twentieth century idealist, believes in

UNIVERSALISM the unity of the

human

ness of

its diversity.

nations

race

151

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;unity

in the rich-

Humanity.

He holds that above all He holds also that the

presence of the national, the racial, the creedal

and the continental elements and tion in

human

their co-opera-

society are essential for the har-

monious development of the universal; just the presence

and the co-operation of the

distinct

organs of the body are essential for the normal

development of the man. mission of the rose

lies

thinks that as the

in the unfolding of the

petals which implies distinctness, so the rose of

humanity

perfect only

when

and the nations have evolved

the diverse races their perfected

distinct characteristics, but all attached to the

stem of humanity by the bond of love. is

the reason

the

why

West have

That

he believes that the East and

their special lives to live,

and

their special missions to fulfil, but that their final goal is the same.

not, as

sensible

That

man any

in the cynic charlatanism of

why he

does

longer does, believe

HOLY WEDLOCK

152

"Oh, East

East,

and West

West, and never

the twain shall meet."

Thus he spoke

in a

banquet in London where

the master minds of Great Britain

and

Ire-

land gathered to welcome him in their midst: "I have learned that, though our tongues are different

and our habits

tom our hearts

dissimilar, at the bot-

The monsoon

are one.

generated on the banks of the Nile,

clouds, fertilise

the far distant shores of the Ganges; ideas

have to find a

cross

from East

Western shores to

welcome in men's hearts and

promise.

East

forbid that

East and

should be

may

fulfil their

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;God

West is West otherwiseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^but

the

twain must meet in amity, peace and mutual understanding; their meeting will be

more fruitful because of must lead both

to holy

all

the

their differences; it

wedlock before the com-

mon altar of Humanity." The

story of his love for the universal, for

things both great and small, he describes in the

following

poem

"THE SMALL"

153

"The myriads of human

beings that inhabit

heart and find un-

the globe of ours enter

speakable joy in each other's company, there lovers enter

and look at each

other,

stand and laugh in merriment. full to the

find the it.

and children

heart

brim with transcendent joy, and

world without a single human soul in

How

can

have entered into

Exactly in the same strain he writes

his

empty.

is all

be otherwise when

Oh, all

know.

hearth"

dainty

little

poemâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; "The Small," which,

poet's prose translation,

'What

in the

as follows

there but the sky,

Sun, which can

hold thine image? I

dream of

thee,

but to serve thee I never can

hope,'

The dewdrop wept and

T am

said;

too small to take thee unto me, great lord.

And

thus

my life

is all tears.'

"HERE

154 "

THY FOOTSTOOL"

illumine the limitless skyi

Yet I can yield myself up to Thus

said the sun

a tiny drop of dew,'

and smiled;

T will be a speck of sparkle and fill you, And your tiny life will be a smiling orb.' " And

again his

humanism

finds perfect expres-

sion in the following song of Gitanjali

"Here

thy footstool and there

where

live the poorest,

and

rest

thy feet

lowliest,

and

lost.

When

bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest I try to

and

lost.

Pride can never approach to where thou walkest in the clothes of the

poorest,

and

lowliest,

humble among

and

the

lost.

My heart can never find its way to where thou keepest

company with

among

the poorest, the lowliest,

the companionless

lost." * â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by The Macmillan Company.

and the

CHAPTER

VII

TAGORE AND HIS MODEL SCHOOL AT BOLPUR

ON MUSIC

Long

before Tagore ultimately cut off his con-

nection with active politics in 1907, a change

was dawning

inner

his

consciousness,

change that demanded a fuller tional

And

regeneration.

sacrifice for

came

na-

after reconnoitring

the entire field of politics, economics, ology, he

and

soci-

to the conclusion that if there

was a panacea for

all of India's evils it

cation, liberal education full of

was edu-

freedom and

loveâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;-an education that would develop not only intellect

and morals,

but

than

that,

Referring to the preva-

spiritual personality.

lent system of education

from which Tagore

much, and so successfully revolted,

suffered so

he says:

"Education

ditions that

make

imparted under con-

infliction

iSS

on young boys

BRAHMO VIDYALAY

156

innocent of any crime that makes them deserve the punishment.

own

ends by

its

process as easy the

Let not education defeat

methods, but make the whole

and natural

as possible, as also

To make

painful."

least

its

this

possible,

Tagore decided to open a school at Bolpur.

The Maharshi gave to the scheme.

for

it,

his unconditional approval

When once his conscience spoke

neither debt nor adverse public criticism

The

could daunt the spirit of Tagore.

was accordingly four children.

started in 1902 with three or

Tagore's son was in the

his

Brahmo Vidyalay may

own words:

first

Tagore's idea in opening

batch of students. this

school

"To

best be expressed in

revive the spirit of our

ancient system of education I decided to found a school where the students could feel that there

was a higher and a nobler thing practical efficiency well.

meant

rama and is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

in life than

was to know

to banish luxury

life itself

from the ash-

to rear boys in robust simplicity.

for this that there are neither classes nor

CHILDREN AND PLANTS Our

benches in our schbol.

mats under

trees

157

children spread

and study there; and they

One

as simple a life as possible.

live

of the princi-

pal reasons for establishing this school in a vast plain was to take

But more than

that, I

away from

far

wanted

grow with the plants;

there

harmony of growth between

much

children do not see

to see the children

would thus

exist a

In the

both.

cities

They

trees.

are

Walls do not grow.

confined within the walls.

The dead weight

city life.

of stones and bricks crush the

natural buoyancy of child nature.

"I do not get the best kind of boys in the

The

school.

settlement.

cannot

public look

upon

Mostly those

manage

are

sent

this as

whom here."

a penal

their parents

And

still,

under the love and guidance of Tagore and

his

co-workers, the boys get ready for the matriculation

owned

or controlled

six

years,

whereas, in the schools

by the British-Indian gov-

ernment they take eight years for the same preparation.

ROUTINE

158

The that

day's routine

quite different

followed in any

Academy of

excepting the Gurukul

The

Somaj.

own

beds,

and

all

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; "who the Lord of the Universe is

in medicine

fire;

and

inside

outside,

out

the

imposing

put on white

in the

After

The

trees,

and

The

fetch

rice,

milk

school begins at their

for seats, spread

literature,

they

sit

history,

individual

them under the

and without any books begin

lessons

Only

mat

down for inand prayer. Then they

silk robes

or any other light food.

7:30.

The

join

washing,

take breakfast of luchi, halua, puffed

pieces of

wood

and in food; who

wake up and

chorus.

students

sing-

who pervades and perme-

trees

dividual meditation

in praise of

ates the universe with his living spirit."

birds

Arya

They make

come

hymns

ing songs and chanting

and in

the

students and the teachers get

with the morning bell_at 4:30. their

from any

other residential school,

their class

or geography.

at times of experimental sciences they re-

SMALL CLASSES

159

pair to the physical or chemical laboratories.

The

lessons are given orally, as the sun shines,

the breeze conveys the sweet odour of flowers,

and the

leaves rustle to supply the music.

teacher

allowed to have more than ten stu-

At times only one makes up

dents in a class.

And

class.

advanced

and he may have

his

Calcutta

By a special

University,

Bolpur School

may

mathematics with

students in the final year in the

so to speak.

in English

with the senior boys of the high

his English

school,

the classes are not definitely fixed.

So a student who have

may

the

grammar

school,

arrangement with the

from the

students

appear in the matriculation

examination of that university.

10:30,

i.e.,

after three hours' intensive

study, the classes disperse as appropriate songs

are sung.

Soon

after

the students

teachers go to take their daily bath.

and the

Some go

to the stream, in the rainy season, to swim, others

gather

older boys

near

the

draw water

wells,

where

the

for the younger chil-

NO PUNISHMENT

i6o dren,

give

them

their bath

a mother would.

boys bathe.

hymns

After

Bathing over,

God and

in praise of

dishes,

dairy

1 1

the

this,

the

boys

older

chant

Ashram Janani

The second meal

(Mother-Hermitage). served at about

and dress them

Boiled

130.

vegetable

rice,

pure butter and milk from the school

make up

Then

meal.

this

the boys study

books or magazines in the library, or study their

own till

lessons or spend the time just as they like

school time.

again under the

At two trees.

the classes assemble

In the class the teachers

are not allowed to use canes nor inflict

any kind

of corporal punishment.

The

school closes at about four.

The boys

then take a light lunch and rush to the play-

grounds to play football,

cricket,

hockey, tennis,

hadu-gudu, or other games as the case

In games, as in

studies, the

Bolpur boys

In football, they have defeated college teams.

same.

may

many

be.

excel.

Calcutta

In cricket they have done the

In military

drill

they can vie with the

SPARTAN TRAINING best drilled boys in

many

161

military academies.

temper the boys in heat and cold they are

made

to run for miles in hot days

and

are accus-

dodge no showers when

it is

cold.

tomed

times they are out walking twenty miles at a

This Spartan training has made the

stretch.

Bolpur boys perfect in health.

The wretched

condition of the health of Bengali students

deplored on

But Tagore has shown

all sides.

what can be accomplished by tion to,

ideal.

Unless

sick,

care

and devo-

boys are never

allowed to use shoes or stockings, nay not

even in the winter.

Bolpur

course the winter at

very mild and lasts only for two

months.

Many

older boys, inspired

the life of

Tagore, deprive themselves of the games, but

run to the neighbouring

villages,

where the San-

tal tribes live in crudest superstitions

and

able unsanitary conditions, to do good

depressed brothers and

on entering a

sisters.

piti-

to their

These students

village pretend to begin a game,

SOCIAL SERVICE

i62

and crowds of the Santals gather round.

The

boys stop their game and begin to preach to the

The

populace.

latter

respond quickly, for these

young Hindu missionaries from Bolpur do not go with any sense of superiority, or preach one

form of

religion or decry others,

but they go

with a feeling of brotherhood, a sense of equality

which Tagore always inculcates in his school.

These simple people are in many ways more truly civilised than the people living in the

complex London.

New

civilisation of

York, Paris, or

In this spirit of "give and take" the

Santals are approached.

The

now started day and night schools children.

most

students have for the Santal

In case of sickness they nurse them as

they would the members of their

The Bolpur boys

own

family.

are so unselfishly devoted to

the cause that even

on hot summer days they do

not hesitate to work as a

common coolie, without

any remuneration, to build a cottage for a Santal in need.

the wish of

Tagore that his boys should

ASVINI combine in with the tic

KUMAR DATTA

163

life

the spiritual tendencies of India

spirit

of social service so characteris-

of Western society.

course,

many

years

befbre the establishment of Bolpur School, the

same idea

acted' through Asvini

noted

the

Barisal,

school

what

who and

is still

the Poor."

Kumar

and

philanthropist

Datta,

educator

established in connection with his

Brojomohun

college,

known

They

Institution,

as the "Little Brothers of

are doing splendid

work

Barisal.

Games

over, the brahmacharins

take full baths or

wash themselves clean and put

their white silk dhotis,

thirty minutes in prayer

the evening meal

pur have to be

(students)

and spend about

and meditation.

Then

The meals

at Bol-

served.

strictly vegetarian;

such was the

wish of the Maharshi that none should be

lowed to use wine,

itieat

at Bolpur, nor should

any

al-

or indecent language religious controversy

be allowed to disturb the divine harmony of the Shantiniketan.

After the evening meal, the .

HE LOVES MUSIC

i64

students and the teachers engage themselves in various intellectual entertainments.

Contrary to the custom prevalent in India,

Tagore teaches music

to the students.

music and believes in

its

influence.

uplifting

He loves

and ennobling

has some definite ideas on the

comparative merits and demerits of Indian and occidental music, which

we cannot help

rating here in translation

incorpo-

by way of parenthesis

"In India our best thoughts," says Tagore, "are engrossed in the devotion to song, and

have to overcome the

difficulties

mainly

song; in Europe devotion to voice concern,

in the

their first

and they perform most complicatedly

wonderful feats with

it.

appreciative audi-

ence in India are content to listen to the beauty

of the song alone; but in Europe they listen to the singing of the song.

"I hold that the provinces of Western and

Eastern music are distinctly separate

They do

not lead through the same gates into the same

chambers of the heart.

European music

is,

ROMANTIC MUSIC it

165

were, strangely entwined with the actualities so

life,

becomes easy to connect the

air of

song with the multiform experiences of

life.

An attempt to do the same with our music would be fatuous and the result most unwelcome.

"Our music day

transcends the precincts of every-

so there

life,

to be

found so much of ten-

derness and indifference to worldly joys and sor-

rows

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

as if it

the innermost

ordained to reveal the story of

and inexplicable mystery that sur-

rounds the soul of

man and

That mystery world with

its

of the universe.

very quiet and solitary

bowers of delight for lovers and hermit-

ages for worshippers of God, but there vision

"It

made

no pro-

for the world-wrapped pragmatists.

would be impertinent on

part to say

that I have been able to enter into the very heart

of European music; but I must confess that

judging as a layman pression

on only one

romantic.

has

made a profound im-

side of

nature.

It is

hard to explain what the word

romantic really means, but broadly speaking.

INDIA'S

i66 it

MUSIC and exuber-

represents the spirit of variety

ance,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the spirit of the dashing waves of the

ocean of

the spirit of the reflection of light

life,

and shade over things that are tion.

And

romantic

there

it is

is still

in incessant

mo-

another aspect of the

that of vastness which reflects the

calm blue sky, suggesting the presence of the infinite in the

dim, distant horizon.

that I have failed to express

certain, nevertheless, that every

idea,

it is

but

it is

time I listen to

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

western music I think within myself mantic,

may

'it is

exquisitely romantic, indeed.'

ro-

practically translates the various experiences of

human

life into

musical notes.

cannot be

denied that there are attempts in our music

towards the achievement of the same thing, but they have not yet ripened into robust fruition.

Our songs

sing of the starlit night

ant glow of the gold-embroidered also sing of the universal felt in rainy July,

of the spring in

its

and the

dawn;

radi-

as they

pangs of separation

and the consuming ecstasy youth.

MUSIC "Our music

SPEECHLESS

167

from the European in

differs

being a single strain of melody, not the harmony of various voices and instruments.

have numerous

scales,

Also

and the melodies written

in each scale are appropriate to a certain range

For example, certain

of emotions.

ways sung

airs are al-

in the morning, others at twilight,

others at night; so that their strains are associ-

ated in our minds with those hours.

"In the same is

way

a certain range of melodies

consecrated to the emotion of love, another to

that of heroic valour, another to repose, and so on.

"Music, on the whole, words. glory.

Why

servient to

then music

not dependent on

majestically grand in

should

words? is

So the

the better

it is

when words

When

its best.

less there is

inexpressible

WhaX-Wqrds_fail to witih perfect

of verbosity in a song,

for the song itself.

end."

own

condescend to be sub-

convey to hurnan_mind_musi(Mioes.

^^e.

its

Music^begins

SHISHU

i68

The music when

classes assemble in the evenings,

singing and playing on different instru-

ments are taught with enthusiasm, and sult the class

Bolpur School has turned out some

singers

classes

as a re-

and players.

seasonal

The dramatic

clubs

plays

astronomical

The dramatic

go out star-gazing.

rehearse

The

first-

clubs

by Tagore.

written

must produce every year at

least

two

boys,

and takes part in the plays to add to the

Tagore himself

plays.

the

trains

dignity of the occasion.

At night

the boys also edit their newspapers,

They

of which they have four in the school. are all written

The

by hand, and

best paper

children

by hand.

the Shishu, conducted

between six and

poems and even

illustrated

ten.

They

literary criticisms.

write

The

Bol-

pur students read and make summary of important articles in the magazines of

America for day's

England and

The

different Calcutta monthlies.

work ends when the students go

between nine and

ten.

bed

ALL ALONE Tagore himself gets

up with

the

169

lives alone in a house.

morning bell, sometimes before,

and takes his morning bath, goes on the roof and loses himself in meditation for hours at a time.

own meals

In this house he quite often cooks his

an "economic cooker."

much.

Boiled

rice,

does not eat

boiled potatoes, cauliflow-

ers or beans,

enough of butter are

cares to eat.

He is

He the

that he

not fond of milk or sweets.

takes long walks for exercise

gardening.

all

and

fond of

Plain living and high thinking

key-note

his

life

Bolpur.

preaches to the boys and the teachers twice a

week is

in the temple.

His love for the children

At times one of them

of an idealistic nature.

will steal into his

move

his

head to and fro

over a poem. exclaiming,

"Yes,

room and watch him smile and

One

"That's

my child,

as he writes or thinks

such boy startled him by

how

poets are

When did you come into Once a boy of

six

mad men do." worse than mad men. the

the

room?"

summers was playing with

BURDEN OF POETRY

170

All

Tagore's beard as he lay in the poet's lap.

"Gurudev, you

of a sudden the child said:

many poems, why

write so

how

to write

"My poetry

don't you teach

poems?" burden of

child," replied Tagore, "the

exceedingly heavy, I feel smothered at

I don't

times.

want

burden you with

it."

"All right," said the child gravely, "I shall

poems myself.

learn to write like

They

all

seem to

your poems, even though you are burdened

That boy

little."

now about

ten years old,

and he has written some beautiful poems

He is a constant contributor to

gali.

Ben-

the school

papers.

In other schools the teacher

The

terror.

But

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

There are boys,

There

an object of

students are afraid to go near him.

in Bolpur the teacher

friends,

older

in all

and

and the students are younger

brothers.

about twenty teachers for 190

and there are no places assigned to them. is

no head-master.

ers select

Every year the teach-

one from amongst them as their leader.

MANAGEMENT The present

leader,

171

Nepal Chandra Roy, a good

friend of the author, has been elected for the last

three

teachers

years

as "our school."

They

all feel

the

that they

own

owns them

the school, or that the school

Tagore,

consecutively.

and the students speak of the school

all.

teach students leadership and self-govern-

ment, the internal management of the school left to the students.

Every Tuesday the

dents elect a captain for a week. chief magistrate. leader.

The

behaviour in

Every house

stu-

the

elects its

own

leaders take note of acts of mis-

class or outside.

The

cases are not

brought before Tagore or before the teachers, but before the students' court, which evening on appointed days.

The

sits in

the

prosecuted

student defends himself or engages a brother

student to defend him.

If he

found guilty

the judge asks the convicted to choose his

punishment.

The punishment

own

generally in

the form of depriving oneself of games for a

day or

so,

or to do some extra work to keep

OBSERVATION

172

the houses and

Unkind

the gardens clean.

words, like corporal punishment, are

strictly-

prohibited in the school.

Besides the spiritual training the entire system

of education tion

planned to develop the imagina-

and the faculty of observation in the

stu-

dents; whereas in other schools all over India,

cramming

Here boys

are

most systematically encouraged.

made

to observe a single insect,

or a single flower from birth to death.

Tagore

publishes these interesting observations in his

own magazine,

To watch

Tattvjabodhini Patrika.

the daily life of the Bolpur boys

Here a few boys

exceedingly fascinating.

and

talking poetry

group

literature;

watching the growth of an

of a plant; a third group birds

there

and

the

animals;

If perchance

the bereaved

are

another

insect, or

busy feeding the fourth

nursing

the flower bushes as if they were their brothers.

own

a boy passes away,

family at Bolpur would raise

monument of

bricks,

bricks

that

are

ce-

PATRIOTISM merited with frolic

173

Like fawns these boys

tears.

about in their new home full of love and

Many

saturated with freedom.

pupilÂ§ refuse, at vacation, to go parents,

may

of Tagore's

home

to their

be the parents that punished these

boys to make them good, while others

who go

home, are anxious to return to Bolpur before the vacation expires.

This no doubt

attraction of love

which Tagore uses to make

due to the

the children good and happy.

The

thought, the culture

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

atmosphere at Bolpur, are nationalistic

and

universal.

in fact, the entire

all

Indian; truly

And as most of the

students are from Eastern Bengal, patriotism

plays a prominent part in the school. teachers

and students

otic fervour.

tellectual

The

are saturated with patri-

Though

isolated in a kind of in-

and geographical

oasis, still the stu-

dents are wide awake and are in touch with all the world movements. reader.

Tagore

a voracious

Every month he buys many books on

literature, philosophy, economics, politics, soci-

HIRALAL SEN

174

ology and history. presents

them

reads them all and then

where the

to the school library

boys and the teachers read them.

There are

be found books on feminism, socialism, and even single-tax

does

Tagore and

not escape

theories

on the

schools in India, sities,

his students.

no particular system of

the

attention

himself

political or

students, as

and even

inflicts

economic

done in other

American imiver-

but asks them to read on

all sides

and

then decide for themselves.

This kind of tolerance and the patriotic nature of the school have

made the British-Indian

governmentplace this school on the "black

About

list."

three years ago Sir Lancelot Hare, the

then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, circular letters to the

government

their children out of that school,

not to send their children there.

issued

officers to

take

and asking them It

was appar-

ently done because Tagore employed in his school a teacher.

young

patriotic poet, Hiralal Sen, as a

Sen was forced out of the school by

MEN OR MACHINE?

175

the government] but Tagore employed his

own

The

estate at a higher salary.

him

govern-

ment, to gain control of the school, offered a

monthly allowance.

But though the school was

never in a sound financial condition, Tagore detecting the motive of such kindness, flatly

refused any financial help from the British-

Indian

government.

Nobel Prize money ties

Tagore has

to the school,

given

and the

the

royal-

books has been consecrated for the

his

same purpose. Just a few days before his departure from

America,

course

Mr.

of a conversation,

Tagore said to the present writer: "There are

many

home who do not

realise the far-reach-

my school

ing and deep-seated influence of

you know how, every

many men,

year, I

;

but

turning out so

whereas in the government schools

they turn out mostly machines."

Whether

the

educational institutions of both the East and the

West should

turn out

just operators of machines

men is

or machines or

one of the gravest

SIMPLE LIFE

176

problems of the world that needs immediate solution.

Tagore

idealistic

way.

trying to solve

it in

his

own

Since settling at Bolpur, Tagore's lyric genius

has reached

height in "Gitanjali" and his

its

mysticism, in his in

translation

Chamber."

home

drama "Raja," now published

"The King of the Dark

Here,

fourteen

miles

from the

of Chandidas, and fifteen miles from that

of Joydev, (two of India's greatest poets), he lives a life of unalloyed simplicity, thinking ex-

poems and

plays, loving

and the birds

in the woods.

alted thoughts, writing

children in the school

Thus he spends stant

his days in his quiet spot, in con-

communion with

the Godhead,

and

radiat-

ing calmness all around his modern hermitage.

CHAPTER

VIII

tagore's philosophical message

The spiritual ideak embodied in Tagore's poetical

and prose writings are the

Hindu

philosophy.

The Hindu

truths

essentially

of a philosophical turn of mind.

Through

ages

meditation

lems of

life

deepest

the

prob-

and death he has developed a

tem of metaphysical philosophy that has ited

fore the

well-informed

scholars of distinction.

Lecturing be-

from

Cambridge university in 1882, the

Professor to India

elic-

many

admiration

Western

sys-

Max

and

its

late

Mviller paid a high compliment

thought, saying

"If I were to

look over the whole world to find out the country most richly

endowed with

all the

wealth,

power, and beauty that nature can bestow

some parts a very paradise on earth point to India.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

If I were asked under 177

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^in

I should

what sky

PEERLESS INDIA

178 the

human mind its

has most fully developed some

choicest gifts, has

most deeply pondered

on the greatest problems of solutions of

some of them which well deserve the

who have

attention even of those

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and Kant

and has foimd

life,

studied Plato

And

I should point to India.

were to ask myself from what literature we, here In Europe,

we who have been nurtured

al-

most exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and

Romans, and of one Semetic

may draw

that corrective which

in order to

make our

truly

human, a

inner life

more comprehensive, more

race, the Jewish,

life,

most wanted

perfect,

universal, in fact

not for this

but a transfigured and eternal

life only,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;again

life

should point to India."

The climax of Hindu thought

the

Vedanta (end of knowledge) philosophy of the Upanishads.

Victor

Cousin,

the

eminent

French historian of philosophy, thus said in

1828 in Paris

"When we

read with attention

the poetical and philosophical

monuments of the

UPANISHADS East, above

all,

179

those of India which are begin-

ning to spread in Europe, we discover there

many a truth, and truths so profound, and which make such a results at

contrast with the meanness of the

which the European genius has some-

times stopped, that

are constrained to

bend

and

the knee before the philosophy of the East, to see in this cradle of the

human

race the na-

And

land of the highest philosophy."

tive

again, Schopenhauer speaks of the

philosophy as follows: there

no study so

"In the whole world

beneficial

Upanishads.

as that of the

same Hindu

and so elevating It has

been the

solace of

death."

"If these words of Schopenhauer's,"

life, it

adds Professor

will be the solace of

Max Muller,

"required any en-

dorsement, I should willingly give sult of

my own

as the re-

many

philosophies

and

religions.

"If philosophy for a

experience during a long life

devoted to the study of

many

happy

meant

to be a preparation

death, or Euthanasia, I

know

of no

WORDSWORTH

i8o

better preparation for

VS.

TAGORE

than the Vedanta Phi-

losophy." It is of this philosophy of the

Upanishads

that Tagore sings in his philosophical poems,

and

writes in his exquisite essays in "Sadhana."

It deals

with the oneness of the universe

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the

fundamental unity in the diversity of the phe-

nomenal world, and the divinity of

Wordsworth is

intense,

all.

a wonderful nature-poet.

but at times vague in his thoughts of

the spiritual in nature. singular in

world

His famous "Ode"

its poetical charm, but it depicts the

as if it

was made of woe.

that "there hath past earth," that "our birth

thinks

away a glory from is

the

but a sleep and for-

getting," that "the shades of prison-house begin

to close

upon the growing Boy."

after the completion of this

Ten

years

"Ode," Wordsworth

wrote his "Invocation to the Earth," and there, too,

he addresses her as "the doleful mother of

mankind." Tagore's philosophy

altogether difiEerent.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

TAGORE'S "ODE" To him

the world

an undying verse.

bliss

full of

i8i

joy and love, and

dances throughout the uni-

Sorrows there are in

this world,

are like the flitting clouds of Indian

but they

autumn

clouds that intensify the glory of the moon.

In another chapter of

this

book also we have

dealt with Tagore's views on the earth and his

'philosophy of work.

Here we can not but

translate his wonderful

"Ode

to the Earth,"

take another peep into his philosophy of love and action.

The "Ode"

and life,

reads thus in

translation

"O my most

enchanting Earth-Mother,

how

of ten I have lovingly looked at you, and sung

my heart in unalloyed happiness After diffusing the essence of my being into thy own out of

self,

you have incessantly whirled round the

tant stars through eternity. grass blades have

And your

grown on me,

blossomed in profusion and

trees

dis-

tender

flowers have

have show-

ered their fruits and flowers on me, yes, on me. So, sitting alone

the River

Padma

I can

TAGORE'S "ODE"

i82

easily feel, yes I

to germinate;

how

feel,

how

grass seeds thrill

the elixir of life

the flowers

being perjoyfully

bloom from beautiful stems; how

and creepers vibrate with joy

trees

how

ennially supplied to your heart]

at the touch

of the youthful rays of the sun, even as babies are

happy when they are

tired of nursing

their mothers' breast.

"That

the reason

autumn moon

fall

why when

the rays of the

on the golden harvest

and when the cocoanut leaves dance feel a

fields,

in joy that I

kind of nervous joyousness, and think of

the time

when my mind pervaded

the water,

the earth, the foliage in the woods and the blue

The

of the sky. to call

me a

And from mos

entire universe seems silently

thousand times to come to its bosom.

the wonderful playhouse of the cos-

I hear the faint, but familiar

voice of

my plajrmates

of old.

Earth-Mother, do take

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a heart whence emanates

heart

and joyous

back to your

life in

a thou-

sand different forms, and where songs are being

FhotogTaiili by Frank Woleott

TAGOllE AT FIFTY

VEDANTA sung in a thousand

different notes,

are being danced in as

mind

183

many

and dances

ways, and where

ever thoughtful, and you stand self-

and

effulgent

all-beneficial."

Tagore, no doubt, believes with William

Blake that soul"

;

"Man

but he goes a step further, and unlike his

father,

who was

the

Adaita

has no body distinct from his

Vedanta that

God, but

a dualist {Daitabadi), believes

(Monistic)

this

made

Once a Hindu disciple

but

it is

"Look

God

the

not only made by

as well.

philosopher thus taught his

"The world

made

"How

world

doctrine

God

not only made by God,

as well."

can that be?" inquired the pupil. at the spider," replied the teacher,

"who with threads of

the utmost intelligence draws the its

wonderful net out of

its

own

body."

Some of that the

the

God

Western theologians "related

of the Hindus was a large black

spider sitting in the centre of the universe,

and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; SADHANA

i84

creating the world

from It

its is

by drawing it out like threads

own body."

from such misunderstandings that there

has developed a gulf between the East and the

West.

Philosophy, like science,

knows neither East nor West.

universal.

It transcends

In this respect Tagore

all

physical limitations.

his lucid elucidations of

complex metaphysi-

cal problems in the essays of

"Sadhana," has

rendered an invaluable service to humanity.

The

style

simple and direct.

There

The

tempt at metaphysical pedantry. loyed elegance of style, loftiness of

its

at-

unal-

thought,

would

and the sublimity of

its

have equally

Emerson, Browning and

Meredith.

thrilled

subject-matter

And Bacon would have been

jeal-

ous of the succinct potency of these essays essays that deal with the realisation of life

love and right action.

Anandadhyeva other words:

Khalvimani

"From

jayante.

the everlasting joy

objects have their birth."

In all

"This joy," says

JOY Tagore in

EVERYWHERE

his essay

"whose other name

185

on "Realisation in Love,"

must by

love,

nature have duality for

its

very

When

realisation.

the singer has his inspiration he makes himself

him

into two; he has within hearer,

his other self as the

and the outside audience

merely an ex-

The

tension of this other self of his. seeks his

own other self in his beloved.

joy that creates realise

separation,

through obstacles the union.

"Want love

this

of love

lover is

the

in order to .

a degree of callousness; for

the perfection of consciousness.

We do

not love because we do not comprehend, or rather love.

we do not comprehend because we do not For love

erything around us. it is

truth;

it is

the ultimate It

not a mere sentiment;

the joy that

at the root of all

the white light of pure con-

creation.

sciousness

that emanates from

And

joy

meaning of ev-

everywhere;

Brahma. in

the earth's

green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky; in the reckless exuberance of spring; in

SUPREME LOVER

i86

the severe abstinence of grey winter; in the liv-

ing flesh that animates our bodily frame; in the perfect poise of the

human figure,

noble and up-

right; in living; in the exercise of all our ers; in the acquisition of

knowledge; in fighting

ÂŤvils; in dying for gains .

Joy

pow-

we never can

share,

the realisation of the truth of one-

ness, the oneness of

our soul with the world and

the world-soul with the supreme lover." *

"From

love the world is born,

tained, towards love it moves,

enters."

by love it is

sus-

and into love

This truth of the Upanishads, Tagore

further develops in his essays on "Realisation in Action."

"We

must remember," says Ta-

gore, "that as joy expresses itself in law, so the

soul finds

its

freedom

in action.

joy can not find freedom within

wants external freeing itself

had

The

action.

from

its

been otherwise

voluntary work.

own it

â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

man is ever its

activity;

could not have done any

The more a man

makes actual what was

because

itself that it

soul of

folds

acts

and

latent in him, the nearer

The Macmillan Company.

FREEDOM

187

Hoes he bring the distant Yet-to-be. actualisation

man

and yet more

distinct,

In that

ever making himself more

and seeing himself

clearly

under newer and newer aspects in the midst of his varied activities, in the state, in society.

This vision makes for freedom.

"Freedom ness.

There

not in darkness, nor in vague-

no bondage

It is to escape

obscurity.

so fearful as that of

from

this obscurity

that the seed struggles to sprout, the

som.

rid itself of this

vagueness that the ideas in our

bud

to blos-

envelop of

mind

are con-

stantly seeking opportunities to an outward

form.

In the same

our soul, in order to

from the mist of

release itself

come out

way

into the open,

indistinctness

continually creating

for itself fresh fields of action, triving

new

and

busy con-

'forms of activity, even such as are

not needful for the purpose of

And why? wants to see

Because

its

earthly

wants freedom.

itself, to realise itself."

life.

This message of love and of right action has a â&#x20AC;˘ Copyright by

The Macmillan Company.

HARMONY NEEDED

i88

special significance at a time

Europe

tions of

are at

when

many

war seeking each

na-

other's

These fighting nations are prac-

destruction.

tising civilised cannibalism

with a vengeance.

Christian brotherhood, humanitarian ideals, and the vision of universal peace have been cast to

the winds.

Hatred, jealousy and distrust seem

to be the order of the day.

philosophy of seers like

life as

Tagore

Here the

pacifist

by her

inculcated in India

may

render a great service for

shaping the destiny of the nations and the races of the world.

Too much meditation and meta-

physical speculations have ruined India; and

too

much

materialism shall be the undoing of

the nations of the West. the

harmony between

two would bring about an

affairs:

The message

of the

ideal state of

war and the mes-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

sage of Tagore will help this cause

which,

when

fructified, will

peace, eternal prosperity

earth.

cause

bring permanent

and unalloyed

liberty

CHAPTER IX TAGORE AND THE NOBEL PRIZE

HIS PLACE IN

BENGALI LITERATURE It was in one of those January (1913) days

when

the sun, defeated at the hands of tiny

drops of befogged water, hides

and leaves the world

weep

its

for

face in its

shame

own

folly

that I stood in the presence of the poet Rabin-

dranath Tagore in the city of Urbana,

where

his son

was

in school to learn

modem

After exchange of saluta-

methods of farming. tions

111.,

sat in his cosy parlours

and

at once

plunged into a conversation.

"How

do you

"Very

well.

sunshine even

when

zero,

and the

like the !

country?" I asked.

the sunshine, the beautiful

the thermometer goes below

reflection of sun's rays

snow, I love

all.

on the white

In England

enjoy the blessings of such days. 189

we cannot To-day

it is

AMERICAN CULTURE

190

exceedingly gloomy here, but I feel sure that

to-morrow will bring one more of those enchanted American days." ture

Mr. Tagore's face was

"How do you "They

like the

Talking about nalit

as with a halo.

people?" I inquired.

are all right in their

They

own way.

are unrivalled business men, splendid organisers

and

agriculturists,

there

culture, they lack that innate refine-

ment which countries.

and matchless engineers, but

characterises the people of older

I wish they

had more culture even

though agriculture suffered a

Tagore in a rather pathetic

"But you know,"

I said,

little,"

said

Mr.

tone.

"America

such a

vast country the cultured people are scattered all over.

They

are not fdcussed in one place as

in Paris, Berlin or

not met

London.

And then you have

many people worth meeting,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

line of interest

^you ^re living in

along your

Urbana,

Illi-

nois."

After talking about various national prob-

lems of India, I said

"I have

come

all

the

way

BENGALI BOMBS from Chicago

191

to see you, of course, but princi-

pally to entreat you to translate more of your

works, so that the Western world

may

appreci-

ate the beauty of our Bengali literature.

gal

not

at large

Ben-

'bomb' and 'sedition' as the world

all

made

to understand

by the English

papers."

"Yes, I his eyes

my jali,

Mr. Tagore,

were looking at the carpet, "more of

works.

translating," said

first

really glad to see that Gitan-

book

in English, has

been so well

received."

"I have another idea," I said, "in requesting

you to

translate

when known,

more of your works.

I feel absolutely certain that

you

win the Nobel Prize for

will sooner or later

poetry.

It is this

No other man in India or Asia has won

that laurel.

It will

not only give India an

international status, but will be a step forward for international brotherhood

"Are the Asiatics quired Mr. Tagore.

and world peace."

eligible for the prize?" in-

PREJUDICE

192

"Yes, most decidedly

so,

and you must win

it," I said.

"When Kipling could get that prize, I am not prepared to say whether I deserve

But you know the prejudice against the Asiatics.

then

why it

or not.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the prejudice

If Asiatics are eligible

has not our Dr. Jagadis Chandra

Bose, India's greatest scientist of received

modem

times,

yet?" said Mr. Tagore in an indig-

nant way as his luminous eyes flashed.

"As for prejudice,"

and the British

I replied, "the

are the worst sinners.

tinental Europeans have

the smaller but

Americans

The

con-

no such prejudice, and

more humane powers

Nor-

way, Sweden and Denmark, on account of the tyraimy of the larger powers have a special sjTupathy for the oppressed nations of Asia.

And you may

rest assured that

Prize Committee comes to quality

when

know

and beauty of your

the

Nobel

of the inherent

writings, they will

not hesitate a second to honour themselves by

"TOO IMAGINATIVE" Now

honouring you.

our

first

193

(^)

duty

make

them know about you."

"You seem

to be bent," said the poet as a

faint smile flashed on his lips,

the

Nobel

gest

Prize.

to me.

You

"on awarding

are the

All right,

if I

first

get

man

it,

to sug-

I shall at

once start an industrial department in connection with

school at Bolpur."

laughed and continued

"We

Mr. Tagore

are getting to be

too imaginative this afternoon."

And we

all

laughed.

Within ten months of

this conversation

Mr.

Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for poetry.

Not only

India, or Asia, but the whole world

has reason to rejoice over the award of the Nobel Prize for "idealistic literature" to Rabindra-

"The award,"

nath Tagore.

to use the

of an American writer, "will spur the

West said

to inquire

and have

to the

West

what the men of

to say.

as the

words

men of the

the East have

It will interpret the

East

East has never before been

THE GREAT DISCOVERY

194

interpreted.

It thus

becomes a

historic event, a

turning point in the understanding of one hemisphere

dawn

of a

the other."

new

It also inaugurates the

era of friendliness between the

East and the West, so long at odds on account of the age-long struggle for material supremacy

and

territorial

The mutual

aggrandisement.

appreciation of the literature, arts and ideals of

and the West

the East

will dispel the dark

clouds of international animosity and help bring that day

when

international peace

and

interna-

tional good-will will reign

supreme on earth.

If the goal of world peace

believe

must

be, then

the path of cultural

ever reached, as

will be reached

concourse between the

Orient and the Occident, that will lead to the realisation of the

human

fundamental unity of the

race.

When

the

West

discovers the East,

and the

East discovers the West humanity will discover itself

will

automatically.

come

Then

the

to "break the walls,"

illumination

and

this

world

? will be

195

"one luminous whole," "one perfect

music."

"For many centuries

no such poet and

musician has appeared in India."

agant language

This extrav-

used by an English missionary

admirer of Tagore in a leading English review.

This statement

some harsh

elicited

from the Bengalees.

criticism

remember that when

that passage was read before a group of edu-

cated young Bengalees in America they became furious.

One

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;nit."

second said:

"Was

can fashion:

of them shouted in true Ameri-

there ever a greater

poet in Bengal than Madhusudan Datta?

'Meghnath Badh KahycH

still

His

stands unrivalled

as a piece of poetic composition."

A lows call

third literary Bengali :

"Yes, Rabi

him our

Babu

commented

as fol-

a great poet, but to

greatest poet in

many

centuries

to betray one's ignorance of Bengali literature. If

Mr. Tagore had ever attempted

found books

to write pro-

like 'Raibatak' or 'Kurukshetra^ of

196

Nabin Chandra Sen,

would have

his lyric brain

burst before finishing even one canto of either.

There are no such books in Bengali

literature."

A devotee of Dwijendra Lai Roy, Tagore's rival poet

and dramatist, remarked

sarcastically:

"Rabi Babu knows well how to begin a poem, but he cannot even keep up a high standard of

As a dramatist he

excellence in a single lyric. is

a failure, and

Roy.

His love

nowhere near Dwijendra Lai

lyrics are

poor imitations of the

poems of our Vaishnava poets of philosophy

old,

and

his

the philosophy of the Upanishads.

Let the Europeans and the Americans rave over

But

Tagore.

there

nothing

new

for us in his

writings."

In the corner was seated an admirer of Rabi

Babu.

was hurt

to the core,

but most

quietly asked the critics:

"Has

there ever been another literary

Bengal, besides Mr. Tagore,

such heights of excellence in

who

all

man

has reached

the subjects like

â&#x20AC;˘

COQUETTE

197

poetry, drama, essays and novels'?

of these, can you

Yes, in

all

name one?"

For a minute or so you could have heard a

Not

pin drop.

was nothing

a word was uttered.

to say, for

no other

There

man

literary

Bengal has done so well in so many things.

Even

the most adverse critics of Tagore are

bound

to admit that he has adorned every de-

partment of Bengali ent genius.

literature

his transcend-

Though one cannot but admire

the

fecundity and versatility of Tagore's genius,

cannot be denied just the same, that he has, like Ruskin, dabbled with too written too much.

making love with art.

The

many

things,

He himself pleads all the different

and has

guilty of

branches of

passage in which he makes a frank

confession on the subject, translates:

like a coquettish

please all her lovers, and

lady that wants to is

afraid to lose a

do not want to disappoint any of

single one.

the Muses.

But that

increases the work,

and in

POETRY ABOVE ALL

198

the long run I cannot master one fully

...

pletely.

kinds of

art.

and com-

have a voracious appetite for

When

that I ought to stick to

compose songs,

all

I feel

When I am engaged

it.

in writing a play I get so intoxicated with the

subject that I begin to feel that I should devote

my whole life in this pursuit; and again, when I join in the crusade against early marriage

and

illiteracy, I feel that the art

of social reform

ought to be the noblest work in

life.

even paint, but for painting I

"But poetry life

times I

too old.

the favourite theme of

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

whatever I do

edit the

Sadhana or

manage Zamindary, the moment I begin to write poems

I discover

self.

I at once realise that I

life,

false,

myself and enter into

consciously or

but that

my own

am in my element. unconsciously I may play

utterly impossible with

Once a friend asked Mr. Tagore his opinion on early The poet was at that time suffering from rheumatism in his waist. So he replied: "Suffice it to say for the time being that if anybody wants to marry early let him do so, but let nobody suffer from rheumatism." ^

marriage.

TAGORE'S PROSE

199

Muse.

In poems the deep truth of

my life finds

its final

lodgment."

"I find," says Tagore in another place, "infinitely

more pleasure

in writing a single

poem

than in writing a thousand prose pieces.

verse-writing thought assumes a definite form,

and

it is

easy to handle

manipulate,

it is

so cumbrous.

one poem a day, ness."

And

Prose

it.

hard to

If I can write

can pass

days in happi-

yet, Tagore's prose is declared

many whose opinions deserve

attention, to be his

best contribution to Bengali literature.

It is

claimed that in his prose writings Tagore thoughtful,

Once a

more natural and more

visitor at

original.

Bolpur told Tagore that

his

prose was far superior in intrinsic value and originality

his

poetic

gore answered in silence.

Ta-

compositions.

course silence did

not mean the acceptance df the statement.

Tagore does not

like to hear that.

not

necessary to agree with this school of thought to

say that Tagore's prose

simply superb in the

"GORA"

200 grandeur of

its

thought and subtlety of

He has

position.

prose which

Its

com-

added a fragrance to Bengali

at once rich

and

As the

rare.

father of "short stories" in Bengali he has given

us a treasure which sition to

would be a cherished

As an

any language.

essayist,

acqui-

As the author of "Gora," a novel,

unsurpassed.

he has ranked himself as one of our best novel-

His

ists.

letters are perfect pieces

of prose-

poems. Like Milton and Matthew Arnold, had he written not a single poem,

would have ranked him

still

his prose writings

as one of the brightest

luminaries in the firmament of Bengali letters.

What Swinburne says of the poetry may as well be said style:

style of Rossetti's

of Tagore's prose

"It has the fullest fervour

of impulse, and the impulse

harmony and

perfection.

always towards

It has the inimitable

note of instinct, and the instinct

and

right.

force

and

...

all

and fluency

always high

It has all the grace of perfect

the force of perfect grace."

OTHER CELEBRITIES Whatever may be genius of Tagore,

201

said about the towering

cannot, however, be gain-

said that as a poet of love

and

intellectual descendant of the

life,

a direct

Vaishnava poets

of the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries, and as a poet of mysticism of the Rishis of the

Upanishads who lived between 2000 and 1000 years

before

the

Christian

era,

and of the

mystic poets like Kabir and Ramprosad.

Bengali literature

may

well be proud of the

blank verse of Mahusudan Datta and Nabin

Chandra Sen, the novels of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya, the essays of Akshoy Koomar Datta, the dramas of Girish Chandra Ghose,

Dwijendra Lai Roy, and Khirode Chandra Bidyabinode, and the crystalline lyrics of Rabin-

dranath Tagore; but the love Vaishnavas,

the

Krishna

-literature

cult,

its

of the rarest

treasure.

The

different stages of love are thus divided

into five

main

divisions

"Purba Raga, the dawn of love; Dautya,

CHANDI DAS

202

message of love; Abhisara, secret going-forth;

Sambhog-Milan,

union

physical

Mathur,

final separation,

union of

spirit.

lovers;

and Bhava-sanmilan,

"In Bhaktiratnakara 360 different kinds of the finer emotions of a lover's heart are minutelyclassified.

Each of

of songs attached to

these groups has hundreds it

by way of

illustration."

Chandi Das thus wrote about the love between Radha and Krishna in the beginning of the fifteenth century.

Sen

translates the passage as follows

"Among men

such love was never heard of

Their hearts are

before.

Mr. Dinesh Chandra

their very nature.

bound

They

to each other

are in each other's

presence, yet they weep, fearing a parting.

one

absent from the other for half a second,

they both feel the pangs of death. fish dies

they

when dragged from

Just as a

the water, so do

parted from one another.

"You

say that the sun loves the

lily dies in the frost,

lily,

but the

but the sun lives on hap-

RADHA AND KRISHNA You

pily.

say the bird chataka and the clouds

are lovers, but the clouds

do not give a drop of

The

water to the bird before their time.

and the

bee,

said, adore

it is

come

the bee does not

each other, but

There

so different.

Chandi Das,

foolish to describe

the bird charoka as a lover of the is

flower

to the flower, the flower

does not go to the bee.

status

203

compare

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

moon

their

nothing, says

to this love of

Radha

and Krishna."

And

when

again,

the separation

came about

between Radha and Krishna and the former felt that she

was about

to die

from the pangs

of separation the poet Govinda Das (1537-

1612) makes her sing: "Let

body

after death be reduced to the

earth of those paths which will be touched the

beautiful

melted

into

feet

the

Krishna.

water of

When

the

Let tank

where

I shall

have expired,

spirit live as the lustre

of the mirror

Krishna bathes. let

which Krishna

sees his face.

let

me be

A JOKE

204

turned into a gentle breeze for the fan with

Whenever Krishna

which he cools himself.

moves

like a

new-born cloud,

may

become the

sky behind, to fomi the background of his beautiful form."

Rabindranath used to read these Vaishnava poets from his

with the poems.

spirit of

boyhood and was saturated

elarly

Vaishnava devotional love

the age of eighteen he wrote

some

most beautiful poems (padabali) after these poets.

Tagore

tells

us of an interesting anec-

The

dote about these poems.

story reads thus

in translation:

"I once told a friend of mine thaf going

through different books and manuscripts in our

Brahmo Somaj

library I

had discovered and

copied some poems by a hitherto

unknown

Vaishnava poet, Vanusingh by name; and I read the poems to him.

and

said:

My friend was startled

must have that manuscript.

Even

Chandi Das and Vidyapati could not write such poems.

want

to give

Akshay Babu for

o o

O ^H [^ ^ V ^ *. t-

A W

fc,

<A v;

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

VAISHNAVA INFLUENCE

205

publication along with our other ancient

liter-

ary treasures.'

"Then

script that such

poems could never have been

written by Chandi

were from

my own original manu-

proved from

Das

my own

or Vidyapati, for they

pen.

friend assumed

a serious attitude and gravely said

'These are

not very bad.'

Tagore thus speaks of the Vaishnava* poets on his boat

life

The

moving now.

influence of the

and work:

shore

"Our

on our

left.

the rich green verdure of the rice fields has

stooped, motherlike, the deep blue of the thick

and moist intervals.

of the

clouds. I

Jamuna

Thunder

lies

Gur-Gur

reminded of the description

in the rainy season as given

Many

the Vaishnava poets.

remind

roars

phases of nature

of the poets of old; the cause of this

in the fact that the beauty of nature

empty beauty

for

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

therein lies hidden the

eternal playfulness of a mysterious heart,

here resides limitless Brindabana.

Those that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; QUITE ORIGINAL

2o6

have entered into the very heart of the Vaish-

nava poems, hear

their echoes as I do, in the

voices of nature."

Even though

in the

poems of Tagore the love

fervour of the Vaishnava poets fades a

little,

yet they assume a newer and a nobler colour in

"There

their universality of application.

new under

nothing

who can

create

new

the sun" ideas

cloak the old in ever

from

this standpoint

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

;

but he

artist

and new imageries

new

forms.

Judging

^Tagore, with all his in-

debtedness to the poets of the Krishna cult,

yet an original poet of the highest rank.

And

in his philosophy of the

Sadhana

though the basic principles of the Upanishads are

known even

to the children of India

Tagore has modernized them, and made complicated problems as clear as crystal.

In his devotional and mystic poems and .songs,

Tagore

combines

the

simplicity

Ramprosad of the eighteenth century with Kabir, the mystic poet of the fifteenth century.

RAMPROSAD Ramprosad sang Hindi.

garet E.

Noble

ally,

and Kabir in

Bengali

the simplicity of

207

Ramprosad, Mar-

(Sister Nivedita) enthusiastic-

"No

but truly, says:

flattery could touch

a nature so unapproachable in

simplicity.

its

For in these writings we have, perhaps alone literature, the spectacle of a great poet,

genius child.

William Blake is

in his glori-

things,

But

have points of kin-

to such a radiant white it

would be impossible Years do noth-

to find a perfect counterpart.

ing to spoil his quality.

self-confidence

now

by no

and Whitman

heart of childlikeness,-

him a

is,

his splendid

common

ship with him.

and Blake

Robert Burns, in

indifference to rank, fication of

in our poetry strikes the

nearest his,

means, his peer,

child he

whose

spent in realising the emotions of a

note that

give

grave,

now

They only and

Like a

gay, sometimes pet-

ulant, sometimes despairing. all this is purposeless.

poise.

serve to

But

in the child

In Ramprosad there

a deep intensity of purpose.

Every sentence

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

SONG OF RAMPROSAD

2o8

he has uttered his

In Mr. Sen's translation he thus

Mother."

sings one of his

"No more

designed to sing the glory of