That was the dream of Rabindranath
Tagore, the poet, story writer, playwright, novelist and painter, whom India
produced in the twentieth century. He was born in 1861 in Calcutta in a rich Zamindari family. But his father Debendranath Tagore, gave up this wealthy life to become
a spiritual leader, joining Ram Mohan Roy’s Brahmo Dharma, without breaking
from Hinduism, but eschewing idol worship and other such rituals.
Into this atmosphere, free from
tradition and modern, but with roots firmly fixed in his country’s culture, was
born Rabindranath Tagore (Tagore for short). He was educated at home by private
tutors. But he was under the control of servants who took care of the children,
‘servocracy,’ as he would call those days of his childhood!
His father had bought a piece of land
at Bolpur, a dry and deserted area with a view to build an ashram, where people
of all caste and creed can come and worship the Creator God, the Father, the
Formless, and meditate. He built a garden-house there in 1863 and called it
Santiniketan, "The Abode of Peace.".
Tagore visited Santiniketan with his
father, when he was just twelve years old, after he had lost his mother. He
roamed the countryside free, giving full expression to his creative talents. He
has been taken out of servants’ rule to be on his own, a little ‘man!’ When
sent to school, he disliked it so much that he dropped out of it! Very soon he
would be writing poems and editing the Bengali literary journal run by his
elder brother.
Tagore visited England for the first
time along with one of his brothers in 1878 and underwent education there. There he
started to write his first drama. On return from England in 1881, he wrote a
series of poems and got them published. His goal in life became, ‘to express
the fullness of life, in its beauty, as perfection.’[1]
In 1883, Tagore was married to Mrinalini,
a young girl and had 5 children, but unfortunately almost all of them died
except one boy and a girl. His wife died in 1902; his younger daughter died in 1903; His youngest boy died in 1907; eldest daughter died in 1918; only his youngest daughter,
Mira and the elder boy Rathi lived. His only grandson, son of Mira, died in 1932. Tagore
had a nervous breakdown in 1915, but continued to be busy with his work and
creative activities. It is sad to see Tagore left no direct descendents.
He took charge of the family’s
Zamindari in East Bengal and Orissa in 1890 and in his travels from village to
village came face to face with the poverty, ignorance, helplessness and superstitions
of the village people. He wanted to help them to become self-reliant.
In 1901, Tagore moved to Santiniketan
with his small family. Same year his father had started a small school there.
The aim was to make education indigenous and not a slavish copy of Western style
of education. His school was on the model of ancient Indian guru-sishya (Teacher-student) hermitage. There were just five students and five teachers!
Tagore was very definite that we in
India should not borrow Europe’s history, but follow our own destiny. West
concentrated on money and power, but in India our destiny was spiritual power
and we need to concentrate on it, he opined.
‘Gitanjali,’
“Songs of Offerings,” was written by Tagore between 1907 and 1910. He
translated Gitanjali to English and took it with him when he went to England in
1912. He gave them to his English friend and painter William Rothenstein, who passed
on the poems to the English poet of fame W.B. Yeats to read.
Struck by the beauty of the poems, Yeats read them out to a circle of his literary and artistic friends in
London and got a selection of it published in 1912. Nobel prize for literature
came searching for Tagore by 1913.
After the award of the Nobel prize,
Tagore became known internationally and was invited to various countries, USA,
UK, Europe, Japan and so on, and he began to travel abroad extensively, giving
lectures. As he was accepted by the people of the West and showered with love
and admiration, the idea of setting a centre for East-West fellowship in
Santiniketan arose in his mind. He would henceforth work for that dream of his.
Tagore refused to get involved with
nationalism and the freedom struggle that were sweeping through the country
that time. He was more worried about the social inequality prevailing in India
and wanted the injustices like caste and untouchability to be removed before we
can think of political freedom.
Though after Jallian wallah Bagh massacre
of the innocent civilians in Amritsar in 1919, Tagore returned his knighthood
which he had accepted from the British government in 1915, he couldn’t see the
significance of ‘charka,’ the spinning wheel of Gandhi as a national symbol of
emancipation.
In 1918 Tagore established
Visva-Bharati, a university at Santiniketan, for fellowship of the East and the
West and study of different cultures. His motto was “where the whole world meets in
one nest.” He raised funds for installing this centre by his foreign lectures.
He invited foreign professors to come and take classes in Santiniketan.
Thus Santiniketan, a small town near
Bolpur, in Birbhum district of West Bengal in India became a centre of cultural
exchange and study. After independence in 1951, it was raised to the level of a
full-fledged university. It has some 500 academic staff and 6500 students. I had the privilege of visiting this university in March
2017 along with my friend Ms. Mira Pande.
Rabindra Bhavan
The stained glass mandir or
temple, a prayer hall constructed by his father in 1863 is still standing tall.
Tagore’s family house, Rabindra Bhavan has been converted into a Museum where
his personal items and life in pictures have been depicted. 
Mira and me in front of the Mandir
Higher secondary school and hostel for
girl students are in the spread out places in the campus. A huge play ground is
available for students. Most of the classes are held in open air under trees.
Central library is situated in the campus, so also the large spread of
Convocation ground. Sculptures adorn the Kala Bhavan.
Convocation Ground
Courses are offered in Chinese, Fine
Art, Rural Reconstruction, Agriculture, Dance and drama and Music, crafts and
Design, and philosophy. The goal is not to thrust information down the throat
of the students, but to enable the students to live their life in harmony with
all existence, blending the methods of the East and the West.
Where Tagore lived in his last days
We saw a thriving Amar Kutir, a rural
cooperative showroom, selling articles of cottage industries made in and around
the University, pottery, leatherwork, batik print and wood work. Spring and
Winter festivals are held annually.
Amartya Sen's father's house in Santiniketan
Once in a lifetime, a great soul like
this is born in a country and India was fortunate to have Tagore in the 20th
century.
Tagore and an old printing machine
I am grateful to God for that gift to my country.
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