Stories from Tagore

- By Rabindranath Tagore
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Bengali poet, philosopher and polymath (1861–1941) For the film, see Rabindranath Tagore (film). "Tagore" redirects here. For other uses, see Tagore (disambiguation). Rabindranath TagoreFRASNative nameরবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর (Bengali)BornRabindranath Tagore(1861-05-07)7 May 1861Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India(present-day Kolkata, West Bengal, India)Died7 August 1941(1941-08-07) (aged 80)Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India(present-day Kolkata, West Bengal, India)Pen nameBhanusimhaOccupationPoetnovelistwriterdramatistessayiststory-writerplaywrightcomposerphilosophersocial reformereducationistlinguistgrammarianpainterLanguageBengaliCitizenshipBritish India (1861–1941)PeriodBengali RenaissanceLiterary movementContextual ModernismNotable worksGitanjaliGhare-BaireBharoto Bhagyo BidhataGoraJana Gana ManaRabindra SangeetAmar Shonar Bangla(other works)Notable awardsNobel Prize in Literature 1913 Spouse Mrinalini Devi ​ ​(m. 1883; died 1902)​Children5, including Rathindranath TagoreRelativesTagore familySignature Rabindranath Tagore's voice Rabindranath Tagore singing Tabu Mone RekhoRecorded c. 1930–40 Rabindranath Tagore FRAS (/rəˈbɪndrənɑːt tæˈɡɔːr/ ⓘ; pronounced [roˈbindɾonatʰ ˈʈʰakuɾ];[1] 7 May 1861[2] – 7 August 1941[3]) was a Bengali polymath who was active as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter during the age of Bengal Renaissance.[4][5][6] He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful" poetry of Gitanjali,[7] he became in 1913 the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.[8] Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; where his elegant prose and magical poetry were widely popular in the Indian subcontinent.[9] He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Referred to as "the Bard of Bengal",[10][5][6] Tagore was known by sobriquets: Gurudeb, Kobiguru, and Biswokobi.[a] A Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Burdwan district[12] and Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old.[13] At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics.[14] By 1877 he graduated to his first short stories and dramas, published under his real name. As a humanist, universalist, internationalist, and ardent critic of nationalism,[15] he denounced the British Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy also endures in his founding of Visva-Bharati University.[16][17] Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla" .The Sri Lankan national anthem was also inspired by his work.[18] His Song "Banglar Mati Banglar Jol" has been adopted as the state anthem of West Bengal. Family history[edit] See also: Tagore family The name Tagore is the anglicised transliteration of Thakur.[19] The original surname of the Tagores was Kushari. They were Pirali Brahmin ('Pirali' historically carried a stigmatized and pejorative connotation)[20][21] who originally belonged to a village named Kush in the district named Burdwan in West Bengal. The biographer of Rabindranath Tagore, Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya wrote in the first volume of his book Rabindrajibani O Rabindra Sahitya Prabeshak that The Kusharis were the descendants of Deen Kushari, the son of Bhatta Narayana; Deen was granted a village named Kush (in Burdwan zilla) by Maharaja Kshitisura, he became its chief and came to be known as Kushari.[12] Life and events[edit] Early life: 1861–1878[edit] Main article: Early life of Rabindranath Tagore Young Tagore in London, 1879 The last two days a storm has been raging, similar to the description in my song—Jhauro jhauro borishe baridhara  [... amidst it] a hapless, homeless man drenched from top to toe standing on the roof of his steamer [...] the last two days I have been singing this song over and over [...] as a result the pelting sound of the intense rain, the wail of the wind, the sound of the heaving Gorai River, [...] have assumed a fresh life and found a new language and I have felt like a major actor in this new musical drama unfolding before me. — Letter to Indira Devi.[22] The youngest of 13 surviving children, Tagore (nicknamed "Rabi") was born on 7 May 1861 in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta,[23] the son of Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875).[b] Tagore and his wife Mrinalini Devi, 1883 Tagore was raised mostly by servants; his mother had died in his early childhood and his father travelled widely.[29] The Tagore family was at the forefront of the Bengal renaissance. They hosted the publication of literary magazines; theatre and recitals of Bengali and Western classical music featured there regularly. Tagore's father invited several professional Dhrupad musicians to stay in the house and teach Indian classical music to the children.[30] Tagore's oldest brother Dwijendranath was a philosopher and poet. Another brother, Satyendranath, was the first Indian appointed to the elite and formerly all-European Indian Civil Service. Yet another brother, Jyotirindranath, was a musician, composer, and playwright.[31] His sister Swarnakumari became a novelist.[32] Jyotirindranath's wife Kadambari Devi, slightly older than Tagore, was a dear friend and powerful influence. Her abrupt suicide in 1884, soon after he married, left him profoundly distraught for years.[33] Tagore largely avoided classroom schooling and preferred to roam the manor or nearby Bolpur and Panihati, which the family visited.[34][35] His brother Hemendranath tutored and physically conditioned him—by having him swim the Ganges or trek through hills, by gymnastics, and by practising judo and wrestling. He learned drawing, anatomy, geography and history, literature, mathematics, Sanskrit, and English—his least favourite subject.[36] Tagore loathed formal education—his scholarly travails at the local Presidency College spanned a single day. Years later he held that proper teaching does not explain things; proper teaching stokes curiosity.[37] After his upanayan (coming-of-age rite) at age eleven, Tagore and his father left Calcutta in February 1873 to tour India for several months, visiting his father's Santiniketan estate and Amritsar before reaching the Himalayan hill station of Dalhousie. There Tagore read biographies, studied history, astronomy, modern science, and Sanskrit, and examined the classical poetry of Kālidāsa.[38][39] During his 1-month stay at Amritsar in 1873 he was greatly influenced by melodious gurbani and Nanak bani being sung at Golden Temple for which both father and son were regular visitors. He writes in his My Reminiscences (1912):The golden temple of Amritsar comes back to me like a dream. Many a morning have I accompanied my father to this Gurudarbar of the Sikhs in the middle of the lake. There the sacred chanting resounds continually. My father, seated amidst the throng of worshippers, would sometimes add his voice to the hymn of praise, and finding a stranger joining in their devotions they would wax enthusiastically cordial, and we would return loaded with the sanctified offerings of sugar crystals and other sweets.[40] He wrote 6 poems relating to Sikhism and several articles in Bengali children's magazine about Sikhism.[41] Poems on Guru Gobind Singh: নিষ্ফল উপহার Nishfal-upahaar (1888, translated as "Futile Gift"), গুরু গোবিন্দ Guru Gobinda (1899) and শেষ শিক্ষা Shesh Shiksha (1899, translated as "Last Teachings")[41] Poem on Banda Bahadur: বন্দী বীর Bandi-bir (The Prisoner Warrior written in 1888 or 1898)[41] Poem on Bhai Torusingh: প্রার্থনাতীত দান (prarthonatit dan - Unsolicited gift) written in 1888 or 1898[41] Poem on Nehal Singh: নীহাল সিংহ (Nihal Singh) written in 1935.[41] Tagore returned to Jorosanko and completed a set of major works by 1877, one of them a long poem in the Maithili style of Vidyapati. As a joke, he claimed that these were the lost works of newly discovered 17th-century Vaiṣṇava poet Bhānusiṃha.[42] Regional experts accepted them as the lost works of the fictitious poet.[43] He debuted in the short-story genre in Bengali with "Bhikharini" ("The Beggar Woman").[44][45] Published in the same year, Sandhya Sangit (1882) includes the poem "Nirjharer Swapnabhanga" ("The Rousing of the Waterfall"). Shelaidaha: 1878–1901[edit] Tagore's house in Shilaidaha, Bangladesh Because Debendranath wanted his son to become a barrister, Tagore enrolled at a public school in Brighton, East Sussex, England in 1878.[22] He stayed for several months at a house that the Tagore family owned near Brighton and Hove, in Medina Villas; in 1877 his nephew and niece—Suren and Indira Devi, the children of Tagore's brother Satyendranath—were sent together with their mother, Tagore's sister-in-law, to live with him.[46] He briefly read law at University College London, but again left, opting instead for independent study of Shakespeare's plays Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra and the Religio Medici of Thomas Browne. Lively English, Irish, and Scottish folk tunes impressed Tagore, whose own tradition of Nidhubabu-authored kirtans and tappas and Brahmo hymnody was subdued.[22][47] In 1880 he returned to Bengal degree-less, resolving to reconcile European novelty with Brahmo traditions, taking the best from each.[48] After returning to Bengal, Tagore regularly published poems, stories, and novels. These had a profound impact within Bengal itself but received little national attention.[49] In 1883 he married 10-year-old[50] Mrinalini Devi, born Bhabatarini, 1873–1902 (this was a common practice at the time). They had five children, two of whom died in childhood.[51] Tagore family boat (bajra or budgerow), the "Padma". In 1890 Tagore began managing his vast ancestral estates in Shelaidaha (today a region of Bangladesh); he was joined there by his wife and children in 1898. Tagore released his Manasi poems (1890), among his best-known work.[52] As Zamindar Babu, Tagore criss-crossed the Padma River in command of the Padma, the luxurious family barge (also known as "budgerow"). He collected mostly token rents and blessed villagers who in turn honoured him with banquets—occasionally of dried rice and sour milk.[53] He met Gagan Harkara, through whom he became familiar with Baul Lalon Shah, whose folk songs greatly influenced Tagore.[54] Tagore worked to popularise Lalon's songs. The period 1891–1895, Tagore's Sadhana period, named after one of his magazines, was his most productive;[29] in these years he wrote more than half the stories of the three-volume, 84-story Galpaguchchha.[44] Its ironic and grave tales examined the voluptuous poverty of an idealised rural Bengal.[55] Santiniketan: 1901–1932[edit] Main article: Middle years of Rabindranath Tagore Tsinghua University, 1924 In 1901 Tagore moved to Santiniketan to found an ashram with a marble-floored prayer hall—The Mandir—an experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, a library.[56] There his wife and two of his children died. His father died in 1905. He received monthly payments as part of his inheritance and income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of his family's jewellery, his seaside bungalow in Puri, and a derisory 2,000 rupees in book royalties.[57] He gained Bengali and foreign readers alike; he published Naivedya (1901) and Kheya (1906) and translated poems into free verse. In 1912, Tagore translated his 1910 work Gitanjali into English. While on a trip to London, he shared these poems with admirers including William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound. London's India Society published the work in a limited edition, and the American magazine Poetry published a selection from Gitanjali.[58] In November 1913, Tagore learned he had won that year's Nobel Prize in Literature: the Swedish Academy appreciated the idealistic—and for Westerners—accessible nature of a small body of his translated material focused on the 1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings.[59] He was awarded a knighthood by King George V in the 1915 Birthday Honours, but Tagore renounced it after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.[60] Renouncing the knighthood, Tagore wrote in a letter addressed to Lord Chelmsford, the then British Viceroy of India, "The disproportionate severity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfortunate people and the methods of carrying them out, we are convinced, are without parallel in the history of civilised governments...The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of my countrymen."[61][62] In 1919, he was invited by the president and chairman of Anjuman-e-Islamia, Syed Abdul Majid to visit Sylhet for the first time. The event attracted over 5000 people.[63] In 1921, Tagore and agricultural economist Leonard Elmhirst set up the "Institute for Rural Reconstruction", later renamed Shriniketan or "Abode of Welfare", in Surul, a village near the ashram. With it, Tagore sought to moderate Gandhi's Swaraj protests, which he occasionally blamed for British India's perceived mental – and thus ultimately colonial – decline.[64] He sought aid from donors, officials, and scholars worldwide to "free village[s] from the shackles of helplessness and ignorance" by "vitalis[ing] knowledge".[65][66] In the early 1930s he targeted ambient "abnormal caste consciousness" and untouchability. He lectured against these, he penned Dalit heroes for his poems and his dramas, and he campaigned—successfully—to open Guruvayoor Temple to Dalits.[67][68] Twilight years: 1932–1941[edit] In Germany, 1931 Last picture of Rabindranath, 1941 Dutta and Robinson describe this phase of Tagore's life as being one of a "peripatetic litterateur". It affirmed his opinion that human divisions were shallow. During a May 1932 visit to a Bedouin encampment in the Iraqi desert, the tribal chief told him that "Our Prophet has said that a true Muslim is he by whose words and deeds not the least of his brother-men may ever come to any harm ..." Tagore confided in his diary: "I was startled into recognizing in his words the voice of essential humanity."[69] To the end Tagore scrutinized orthodoxy—and in 1934, he struck. That year, an earthquake hit Bihar and killed thousands. Gandhi hailed it as seismic karma, as divine retribution avenging the oppression of Dalits. Tagore rebuked him for his seemingly ignominious implications.[70] He mourned the perennial poverty of Calcutta and the socioeconomic decline of Bengal and detailed this newly plebeian aesthetics in an unrhymed hundred-line poem whose technique of searing double-vision foreshadowed Satyajit Ray's film Apur Sansar.[71][72] Fifteen new volumes appeared, among them prose-poem works Punashcha (1932), Shes Saptak (1935), and Patraput (1936). Experimentation continued in his prose-songs and dance-dramas— Chitra (1914), Shyama (1939), and Chandalika (1938)— and in his novels— Dui Bon (1933), Malancha (1934), and Char Adhyay (1934).[73] Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.  —Verse 292, Stray Birds, 1916. Tagore's remit expanded to science in his last years, as hinted in Visva-Parichay, a 1937 collection of essays. His respect for scientific laws and his exploration of biology, physics, and astronomy informed his poetry, which exhibited extensive naturalism and verisimilitude.[74] He wove the process of science, the narratives of scientists, into stories in Se (1937), Tin Sangi (1940), and Galpasalpa (1941). His last five years were marked by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained comatose and near death for a time. This was followed in late 1940 by a similar spell, from which he never recovered. Poetry from these valetudinary years is among his finest.[75][76] A period of prolonged agony ended with Tagore's death on 7 August 1941, aged 80.[23] He was in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko mansion in which he grew up.[77][78] The date is still mourned.[79] A. K. Sen, brother of the first chief election commissioner, received dictation from Tagore on 30 July 1941, a day before a scheduled operation: his last poem.[80] I'm lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth's last love. I will take life's final offering, I will take the human's last blessing. Today my sack is empty. I have given completely whatever I had to give. In return, if I receive anything—some love, some forgiveness—then I will take it with me when I step on the boat that crosses to the festival of the wordless end. Travels[edit] Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore, February 1940 Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world that dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization? — Interviewed by Einstein, 14 April 1930.[81] Rabindranath with Einstein in 1930 At the Iranian Majlis (parliament) in Tehran, Iran, 1932 Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore set foot in more than thirty countries on five continents.[82] In 1912, he took a sheaf of his translated works to England, where they gained attention from missionary and Gandhi protégé Charles F. Andrews, Irish poet William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, Thomas Sturge Moore, and others.[83] Yeats wrote the preface to the English translation of Gitanjali; Andrews joined Tagore at Santiniketan. In November 1912 Tagore began touring the United States[84] and the United Kingdom, staying in Butterton, Staffordshire with Andrews's clergymen friends.[85] From May 1916 until April 1917, he lectured in Japan[86] and the United States.[87] He denounced nationalism.[88] His essay "Nationalism in India" was scorned and praised; it was admired by Romain Rolland and other pacifists.[89] Shortly after returning home, the 63-year-old Tagore accepted an invitation from the Peruvian government. He travelled to Mexico. Each government pledged US$100,000 to his school to commemorate the visits.[90] A week after his 6 November 1924 arrival in Buenos Aires,[91] an ill Tagore shifted to the Villa Miralrío at the behest of Victoria Ocampo. He left for home in January 1925. In May 1926 Tagore reached Naples; the next day he met Mussolini in Rome.[92] Their warm rapport ended when Tagore pronounced upon Il Duce's fascist finesse.[93] He had earlier enthused: "[w]without any doubt he is a great personality. There is such a massive vigor in that head that it reminds one of Michael Angelo's chisel." A "fire-bath" of fascism was to have educed "the immortal soul of Italy ... clothed in quenchless light".[94] On 1 November 1926 Tagore arrived in Hungary and spent some time on the shore of Lake Balaton in the city of Balatonfüred, recovering from heart problems at a sanitarium. He planted a tree, and a bust statue was placed there in 1956 (a gift from the Indian government, the work of Rasithan Kashar, replaced by a newly gifted statue in 2005) and the lakeside promenade still bears his name since 1957.[95] On 14 July 1927, Tagore and two companions began a four-month tour of Southeast Asia. They visited Bali, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. The resultant travelogues compose Jatri (1929).[96] In early 1930 he left Bengal for a nearly year-long tour of Europe and the United States. Upon returning to Britain—and as his paintings were exhibited in Paris and London—he lodged at a Birmingham Quaker settlement. He wrote his Oxford Hibbert Lectures[c] and spoke at the annual London Quaker meet.[97] There, addressing relations between the British and the Indians – a topic he would tackle repeatedly over the next two years – Tagore spoke of a "dark chasm of aloofness".[98] He visited Aga Khan III, stayed at Dartington Hall, toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany from June to mid-September 1930, then went on into the Soviet Union.[99] In April 1932 Tagore, intrigued by the Persian mystic Hafez, was hosted by Reza Shah Pahlavi.[100][101] In his other travels, Tagore interacted with Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Thomas Mann, George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Romain Rolland.[102][103] Visits to Persia and Iraq (in 1932) and Sri Lanka (in 1933) composed Tagore's final foreign tour, and his dislike of communalism and nationalism only deepened.[69] Vice-president of India M. Hamid Ansari has said that Rabindranath Tagore heralded the cultural rapprochement between communities, societies and nations much before it became the liberal norm of conduct. Tagore was a man ahead of his time. He wrote in 1932, while on a visit to Iran, that "each country of Asia will solve its own historical problems according to its strength, nature and needs, but the lamp they will each carry on their path to progress will converge to illuminate the common ray of knowledge."[104] Works[edit] Main article: Works of Rabindranath Tagore Known mostly for his poetry, Tagore wrote novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. Of Tagore's prose, his short stories are perhaps the most highly regarded; he is indeed credited with originating the Bengali-language version of the genre. His works are frequently noted for their rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. Such stories mostly borrow from the lives of common people. Tagore's non-fiction grappled with history, linguistics, and spirituality. He wrote autobiographies. His travelogues, essays, and lectures were compiled into several volumes, including Europe Jatrir Patro (Letters from Europe) and Manusher Dhormo (The Religion of Man). His brief chat with Einstein, "Note on the Nature of Reality", is included as an appendix to the latter. On the occasion of Tagore's 150th birthday, an anthology (titled Kalanukromik Rabindra Rachanabali) of the total body of his works is currently being published in Bengali in chronological order. This includes all versions of each work and fills about eighty volumes.[105] In 2011, Harvard University Press collaborated with Visva-Bharati University to publish The Essential Tagore, the largest anthology of Tagore's works available in English; it was edited by Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarthy and marks the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth.[106] Drama[edit] Tagore performing the title role in Valmiki Pratibha (1881) with his niece Indira Devi as the goddess Lakshmi Tagore's experiences with drama began when he was sixteen, with his brother Jyotirindranath. He wrote his first original dramatic piece when he was twenty — Valmiki Pratibha which was shown at the Tagore's mansion. Tagore stated that his works sought to articulate "the play of feeling and not of action". In 1890 he wrote Visarjan (an adaptation of his novella Rajarshi), which has been regarded as his finest drama. In the original Bengali language, such works included intricate subplots and extended monologues. Later, Tagore's dramas used more philosophical and allegorical themes. The play Dak Ghar (The Post Office; 1912), describes the child Amal defying his stuffy and puerile confines by ultimately "fall[ing] asleep", hinting his physical death. A story with borderless appeal—gleaning rave reviews in Europe—Dak Ghar dealt with death as, in Tagore's words, "spiritual freedom" from "the world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds".[107][108] Another is Tagore's Chandalika (Untouchable Girl), which was modelled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda, the Gautama Buddha's disciple, asks a tribal girl for water.[109] In Raktakarabi ("Red" or "Blood Oleanders") is an allegorical struggle against a kleptocrat king who rules over the residents of Yaksha puri.[110] Chitrangada, Chandalika, and Shyama are other key plays that have dance-drama adaptations, which together are known as Rabindra Nritya Natya. Short stories[edit] Cover of the Sabuj Patra magazine, edited by Pramatha Chaudhuri Tagore began his career in short stories in 1877—when he was only sixteen—with "Bhikharini" ("The Beggar Woman").[111] With this, Tagore effectively invented the Bengali-language short story genre.[112] The four years from 1891 to 1895 are known as Tagore's "Sadhana" period (named for one of Tagore's magazines). This period was among Tagore's most fecund, yielding more than half the stories contained in the three-volume Galpaguchchha, which itself is a collection of eighty-four stories.[111] Such stories usually showcase Tagore's reflections upon his surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, and on interesting mind puzzles (which Tagore was fond of testing his intellect with). Tagore typically associated his earliest stories (such as those of the "Sadhana" period) with an exuberance of vitality and spontaneity; these characteristics were intimately connected with Tagore's life in the common villages of, among others, Patisar, Shajadpur, and Shilaida while managing the Tagore family's vast landholdings.[111] There, he beheld the lives of India's poor and common people; Tagore thereby took to examining their lives with a penetrative depth and feeling that was singular in Indian literature up to that point.[113] In particular, such stories as "Kabuliwala" ("The Fruitseller from Kabul", published in 1892), "Kshudita Pashan" ("The Hungry Stones") (August 1895), and "Atithi" ("The Runaway", 1895) typified this analytic focus on the downtrodden.[114] Many of the other Galpaguchchha stories were written in Tagore's Sabuj Patra period from 1914 to 1917, also named after one of the magazines that Tagore edited and heavily contributed to.[111] Novels[edit] Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas, among them Chaturanga, Shesher Kobita, Char Odhay, and Noukadubi. Ghare Baire (The Home and the World)—through the lens of the idealistic zamindar protagonist Nikhil—excoriates rising Indian nationalism, terrorism, and religious zeal in the Swadeshi movement; a frank expression of Tagore's conflicted sentiments, it emerged from a 1914 bout of depression. The novel ends in Hindu-Muslim violence and Nikhil's—likely mortal—wounding.[115] Gora raises controversial questions regarding the Indian identity. As with Ghare Baire, matters of self-identity (jāti), personal freedom, and religion are developed in the context of a family story and love triangle.[116] In it an Irish boy orphaned in the Sepoy Mutiny is raised by Hindus as the titular gora—"whitey". Ignorant of his foreign origins, he chastises Hindu religious backsliders out of love for the indigenous Indians and solidarity with them against his hegemon-compatriots. He falls for a Brahmo girl, compelling his worried foster father to reveal his lost past and cease his nativist zeal. As a "true dialectic" advancing "arguments for and against strict traditionalism", it tackles the colonial conundrum by "portray[ing] the value of all positions within a particular frame [...] not only syncretism, not only liberal orthodoxy but the extremist reactionary traditionalism he defends by an appeal to what humans share." Among these Tagore highlights "identity [...] conceived of as dharma."[117] In Jogajog (Relationships), the heroine Kumudini—bound by the ideals of Śiva-Sati, exemplified by Dākshāyani—is torn between her pity for the sinking fortunes of her progressive and compassionate elder brother and his foil: her roué of a husband. Tagore flaunts his feminist leanings; pathos depicts the plight and ultimate demise of women trapped by pregnancy, duty, and family honor; he simultaneously trucks with Bengal's putrescent landed gentry.[118] The story revolves around the underlying rivalry between two families—the Chatterjees, aristocrats now on the decline (Biprodas) and the Ghosals (Madhusudan), representing new money and new arrogance. Kumudini, Biprodas' sister, is caught between the two as she is married off to Madhusudan. She had risen in an observant and sheltered traditional home, as had all her female relations. Others were uplifting: Shesher Kobita—translated twice as Last Poem and Farewell Song—is his most lyrical novel, with poems and rhythmic passages written by a poet protagonist. It contains elements of satire and postmodernism and has stock characters who gleefully attack the reputation of an old, outmoded, oppressively renowned poet who, incidentally, goes by a familiar name: "Rabindranath Tagore". Though his novels remain among the least-appreciated of his works, they have been given renewed attention via film adaptations by Ray and others: Chokher Bali and Ghare Baire are exemplary. In the first, Tagore inscribes Bengali society via its heroine: a rebellious widow who would live for herself alone. He pillories the custom of perpetual mourning on the part of widows, who were not allowed to remarry, who were consigned to seclusion and loneliness. Tagore wrote of it: "I have always regretted the ending".[citation needed] Poetry[edit] Title page of the 1913 Macmillan edition of Tagore's Gitanjali Part of a poem written by Tagore in Hungary, 1926 Internationally, Gitanjali (Bengali: গীতাঞ্জলি) is Tagore's best-known collection of poetry, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore was the first non-European to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature and the second non-European to receive a Nobel Prize after Theodore Roosevelt.[119] Besides Gitanjali, other notable works include Manasi, Sonar Tori ("Golden Boat"), Balaka ("Wild Geese" — the title being a metaphor for migrating souls)[120] Tagore's poetic style, which proceeds from a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-century Vaishnava poets, ranges from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic. He was influenced by the atavistic mysticism of Vyasa and other rishi-authors of the Upanishads, the Bhakti-Sufi mystic Kabir, and Ramprasad Sen.[121] Tagore's most innovative and mature poetry embodies his exposure to Bengali rural folk music, which included mystic Baul ballads such as those of the bard Lalon.[122][123] These, rediscovered and re-popularized by Tagore, resemble 19th-century Kartābhajā hymns that emphasize inward divinity and rebellion against bourgeois bhadralok religious and social orthodoxy.[124][125] During his Shelaidaha years, his poems took on a lyrical voice of the moner manush, the Bāuls' "man within the heart" and Tagore's "life force of his deep recesses", or meditating upon the jeevan devata—the demiurge or the "living God within".[22] This figure connected with divinity through appeal to nature and the emotional interplay of human drama. Such tools saw use in his Bhānusiṃha poems chronicling the Radha-Krishna romance, which was repeatedly revised over seventy years.[126][127] Later, with the development of new poetic ideas in Bengal – many originating from younger poets seeking to break with Tagore's style – Tagore absorbed new poetic concepts, which allowed him to further develop a unique identity. Examples of this include Africa and Camalia, which are among the better-known of his latter poems. Songs (Rabindra Sangeet)[edit] Tagore was a prolific composer with around 2,230 songs to his credit.[128] His songs are known as rabindrasangit ("Tagore Song"), which merges fluidly into his literature, most of which—poems or parts of novels, stories, or plays alike—were lyricized. Influenced by the thumri style of Hindustani music, they ran the entire gamut of human emotion, ranging from his early dirge-like Brahmo devotional hymns to quasi-erotic compositions.[129] They emulated the tonal color of classical ragas to varying extents. Some songs mimicked a given raga's melody and rhythm faithfully, others newly blended elements of different ragas.[130] Yet about nine-tenths of his work was not bhanga gaan, the body of tunes revamped with "fresh value" from select Western, Hindustani, Bengali folk and other regional flavors "external" to Tagore's own ancestral culture.[22] Rabindranath Tagore reciting Jana Gana Mana In 1971, Amar Shonar Bangla became the national anthem of Bangladesh. It was written – ironically – to protest the 1905 Partition of Bengal along communal lines: cutting off the Muslim-majority East Bengal from Hindu-dominated West Bengal was to avert a regional bloodbath. Tagore saw the partition as a cunning plan to stop the independence movement, and he aimed to rekindle Bengali unity and tar communalism. Jana Gana Mana was written in shadhu-bhasha, a Sanskritised form of Bengali,[131] and is the first of five stanzas of the Brahmo hymn Bharot Bhagyo Bidhata that Tagore composed. It was first sung in 1911 at a Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress[132] and was adopted in 1950 by the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of India as its national anthem. Sri Lanka's National Anthem was inspired by his work.[18] For Bengalis, the songs' appeal, stemming from the combination of emotive strength and beauty described as surpassing even Tagore's poetry, was such that the Modern Review observed that "[t]here is in Bengal no cultured home where Rabindranath's songs are not sung or at least attempted to be sung... Even illiterate villagers sing his songs".[133] Tagore influenced sitar maestro Vilayat Khan and sarodiyas Buddhadev Dasgupta and Amjad Ali Khan.[130] Art works[edit] Primitivism: a pastel-coloured rendition of a Malagan mask from northern New Ireland, Papua New GuineaTagore's Bengali-language initials, the letters র and ঠ, are worked into this "Ro-Tho" (of RAbindranath THAkur) wooden seal, stylistically similar to designs used in traditional Haida carvings from the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Tagore often embellished his manuscripts with such art.[134] At sixty, Tagore took up drawing and painting; successful exhibitions of his many works—which made a debut appearance in Paris upon encouragement by artists he met in the south of France[135]—were held throughout Europe. He was likely red, green color blind, resulting in works that exhibited strange color schemes and off-beat aesthetics. Tagore was influenced by numerous styles, including scrimshaw by the Malanggan people of northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Haida carvings from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and woodcuts by the German Max Pechstein.[134] His artist's eye for handwriting was revealed in the simple artistic and rhythmic leitmotifs embellishing the scribbles, cross-outs, and word layouts of his manuscripts. Some of Tagore's lyrics corresponded in a synesthetic sense with particular paintings.[22] Surrounded by several painters Rabindranath had always wanted to paint. Writing and music, playwriting and acting came to him naturally and almost without training, as it did to several others in his family, and in even greater measure. But painting eluded him. Yet he tried repeatedly to master the art and there are several references to this in his early letters and reminiscence. In 1900 for instance, when he was nearing forty and already a celebrated writer, he wrote to Jagadish Chandra Bose, "You will be surprised to hear that I am sitting with a sketchbook drawing. Needless to say, the pictures are not intended for any salon in Paris, they cause me not the least suspicion that the national gallery of any country will suddenly decide to raise taxes to acquire them. But, just as a mother lavishes most affection on her ugliest son, so I feel secretly drawn to the very skill that comes to me least easily." He also realized that he was using the eraser more than the pencil, and dissatisfied with the results he finally withdrew, deciding it was not for him to become a painter.[136] Face of a woman, inspired by Kadambari Devi.[137] Ink on paper. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi India's National Gallery of Modern Art lists 102 works by Tagore in its collections.[138][139] In 1937, Tagore's paintings were removed from Berlin's baroque Crown Prince Palace by the Nazi regime and five were included in the inventory of "degenerate art" compiled by the Nazis in 1941–1942.[140] Politics[edit] Main article: Political views of Rabindranath Tagore Tagore hosts Gandhi and wife Kasturba at Santiniketan in 1940. Tagore opposed imperialism and supported Indian nationalists,[141][142][143] and these views were first revealed in Manast, which was mostly composed in his twenties.[52] Evidence produced during the Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial and latter accounts affirm his awareness of the Ghadarites and stated that he sought the support of Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake and former Premier Ōkuma Shigenobu.[144] Yet he lampooned the Swadeshi movement; he rebuked it in The Cult of the Charkha, an acrid 1925 essay.[145] According to Amartya Sen, Tagore rebelled against strongly nationalist forms of the independence movement, and he wanted to assert India's right to be independent without denying the importance of what India could learn from abroad.[146] He urged the masses to avoid victimology and instead seek self-help and education, and he saw the presence of British administration as a "political symptom of our social disease". He maintained that, even for those at the extremes of poverty, "there can be no question of blind revolution"; preferable to it was a "steady and purposeful education".[147][148] So I repeat we never can have a true view of man unless we have a love for him. Civilisation must be judged and prized, not by the amount of power it has developed, but by how much it has evolved and given expression to, by its laws and institutions, the love of humanity. — Sādhanā: The Realisation of Life, 1916.[149] Such views enraged many. He escaped assassination—and only narrowly—by Indian expatriates during his stay in a San Francisco hotel in late 1916; the plot failed when his would-be assassins fell into an argument.[150] Tagore wrote songs lionizing the Indian independence movement.[151] Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo" ("Where the Mind is Without Fear") and "Ekla Chalo Re" ("If They Answer Not to Thy Call, Walk Alone"), gained mass appeal, with the latter favored by Gandhi.[152] Though somewhat critical of Gandhian activism,[153] Tagore was key in resolving a Gandhi–Ambedkar dispute involving separate electorates for untouchables, thereby mooting at least one of Gandhi's fasts "unto death".[154][155] Repudiation of knighthood[edit] See also: List of people who have declined a British honour § Renouncing an honour Tagore renounced his knighthood in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. In the repudiation letter to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, he wrote[156] The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part, wish to stand, shorn, of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings. Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati[edit] Kala Bhavan (Institute of Fine Arts), Santiniketan, India Tagore despised rote classroom schooling, as shown in his short story, "The Parrot's Training", wherein a bird is caged and force-fed textbook pages—to death.[157][158] Visiting Santa Barbara in 1917, Tagore conceived a new type of university: he sought to "make Santiniketan the connecting thread between India and the world [and] a world center for the study of humanity somewhere beyond the limits of nation and geography."[150] The school, which he named Visva-Bharati,[d] had its foundation stone laid on 24 December 1918 and was inaugurated precisely three years later.[159] Tagore employed a brahmacharya system: gurus gave pupils personal guidance—emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Teaching was often done under trees. He staffed the school, he contributed his Nobel Prize monies,[160] and his duties as steward-mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy: mornings he taught classes; afternoons and evenings he wrote the students' textbooks.[161] He fundraised widely for the school in Europe and the United States between 1919 and 1921.[162] Theft of Nobel Prize[edit] On 25 March 2004, Tagore's Nobel Prize was stolen from the safety vault of the Visva-Bharati University, along with several other of his belongings.[163] On 7 December 2004, the Swedish Academy decided to present two replicas of Tagore's Nobel Prize, one made of gold and the other made of bronze, to the Visva-Bharati University.[164] It inspired the fictional film Nobel Chor. In 2016, a baul singer named Pradip Bauri, accused of sheltering the thieves, was arrested.[165][166] Impact and legacy[edit] See also: List of things named after Rabindranath Tagore Bust of Rabindranath in Tagore promenade, Balatonfüred, Hungary Rabindranath Tagore statue in Dublin, Ireland Every year, many events pay tribute to Tagore: Kabipranam, his birth anniversary, is celebrated by groups scattered across the globe; the annual Tagore Festival held in Urbana, Illinois (US); Rabindra Path Parikrama walking pilgrimages from Kolkata to Santiniketan; and recitals of his poetry, which are held on important anniversaries.[84][167][168] Bengali culture is fraught with this legacy: from language and arts to history and politics. Amartya Sen deemed Tagore a "towering figure", a "deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker".[168][146] Tagore's Bengali originals—the 1939 Rabīndra Rachanāvalī—is canonized as one of his nation's greatest cultural treasures, and he was roped into a reasonably humble role: "the greatest poet India has produced".[169] Tagore was renowned throughout much of Europe, North America, and East Asia. He co-founded Dartington Hall School, a progressive coeducational institution;[170] in Japan, he influenced such figures as Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata.[171] In colonial Vietnam Tagore was a guide for the restless spirit of the radical writer and publicist Nguyen An Ninh[172] Tagore's works were widely translated into English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European languages by Czech Indologist Vincenc Lesný,[173] French Nobel laureate André Gide, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova,[174] former Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit,[175] and others. In the United States, Tagore's lecturing circuits, particularly those of 1916–1917, were widely attended and wildly acclaimed. Some controversies[e] involving Tagore, possibly fictive, trashed his popularity and sales in Japan and North America after the late 1920s, concluding with his "near total eclipse" outside Bengal.[9] Yet a latent reverence of Tagore was discovered by an astonished Salman Rushdie during a trip to Nicaragua.[181] By way of translations, Tagore influenced Chileans Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral; Mexican writer Octavio Paz; and Spaniards José Ortega y Gasset, Zenobia Camprubí, and Juan Ramón Jiménez. In the period 1914–1922, the Jiménez-Camprubí pair produced twenty-two Spanish translations of Tagore's English corpus; they heavily revised The Crescent Moon and other key titles. In these years, Jiménez developed "naked poetry".[182] Ortega y Gasset wrote that "Tagore's wide appeal [owes to how] he speaks of longings for perfection that we all have [...] Tagore awakens a dormant sense of childish wonder, and he saturates the air with all kinds of enchanting promises for the reader, who [...] pays little attention to the deeper import of Oriental mysticism". Tagore's works circulated in free editions around 1920—alongside those of Plato, Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and Tolstoy. Tagore was deemed over-rated by some. Graham Greene doubted that "anyone but Mr. Yeats can still take his poems very seriously." Several prominent Western admirers—including Pound and, to a lesser extent, even Yeats—criticized Tagore's work. Yeats, unimpressed with his English translations, railed against that "Damn Tagore [...] We got out three good books, Sturge Moore and I, and then, because he thought it more important to see and know English than to be a great poet, he brought out sentimental rubbish and wrecked his reputation. Tagore does not know English, no Indian knows English."[9][183] William Radice, who "English[ed]" his poems, asked: "What is their place in world literature?"[184] He saw him as "kind of counter-cultur[al]", bearing "a new kind of classicism" that would heal the "collapsed romantic confusion and chaos of the 20th century."[183][185] The translated Tagore was "almost nonsensical",[186] and subpar English offerings reduced his trans-national appeal: Anyone who knows Tagore's poems in their original Bengali cannot feel satisfied with any of the translations (made with or without Yeats's help). Even the translations of his prose works suffer, to some extent, from distortion. E.M. Forster noted [of] The Home and the World [that] '[t]he theme is so beautiful,' but the charms have 'vanished in translation,' or perhaps 'in an experiment that has not quite come off.'— Amartya Sen, "Tagore and His India".[9] Museums[edit] Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Kolkata; the room in which Tagore died in 1941.There are eight Tagore museums, three in India and five in Bangladesh: Rabindra Bharati Museum, at Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Kolkata, India Tagore Memorial Museum, at Shilaidaha Kuthibadi, Shilaidaha, Bangladesh Rabindra Memorial Museum at Shahzadpur Kachharibari, Shahzadpur, Bangladesh Rabindra Bhavan Museum, in Santiniketan, India Rabindra Museum, in Mungpoo, near Kalimpong, India Patisar Rabindra Kacharibari, Patisar, Atrai, Naogaon, Bangladesh Pithavoge Rabindra Memorial Complex, Pithavoge, Rupsha, Khulna, Bangladesh Rabindra Complex, Dakkhindihi village, Phultala Upazila, Khulna, Bangladesh Jorasanko Thakur Bari (Bengali: House of the Thakurs; anglicised to Tagore) in Jorasanko, north of Kolkata, is the ancestral home of the Tagore family. It is currently located on the Rabindra Bharati University campus at 6/4 Dwarakanath Tagore Lane[187] Jorasanko, Kolkata 700007.[188] It is the house in which Tagore was born, and also the place where he spent most of his childhood and where he died on 7 August 1941. List of works[edit] Main articles: List of works by Rabindranath Tagore and Adaptations of works of Rabindranath Tagore in film and television Further information: Rabindranath Tagore filmography Who are you, reader, reading my poems a hundred years hence? I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds. Open your doors and look abroad. From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before. In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring morning, sending its glad voice across an hundred years. The Gardener, 1915[189] The SNLTR hosts the 1415 BE edition of Tagore's complete Bengali works. Tagore Web also hosts an edition of Tagore's works, including annotated songs. Translations are found at Project Gutenberg and Wikisource. More sources are below. Original[edit] Original poetry in Bengali Bengali title Transliterated title Translated title Year ভানুসিংহ ঠাকুরের পদাবলী Bhānusiṃha Ṭhākurer Paḍāvalī Songs of Bhānusiṃha Ṭhākur 1884 মানসী Manasi The Ideal One 1890 সোনার তরী Sonar Tari The Golden Boat 1894 গীতাঞ্জলি Gitanjali Song Offerings 1910 গীতিমাল্য Gitimalya Wreath of Songs 1914 বলাকা Balaka The Flight of Cranes 1916 Original dramas in Bengali Bengali title Transliterated title Translated title Year বাল্মিকী প্রতিভা Valmiki-Pratibha The Genius of Valmiki 1881 কালমৃগয়া Kal-Mrigaya The Fatal Hunt 1882 মায়ার খেলা Mayar Khela The Play of Illusions 1888 বিসর্জন Visarjan The Sacrifice 1890 চিত্রাঙ্গদা Chitrangada Chitrangada 1892 রাজা Raja The King of the Dark Chamber 1910 ডাকঘর Dak Ghar The Post Office 1912 অচলায়তন Achalayatan The Immovable 1912 মুক্তধারা Muktadhara The Waterfall 1922 রক্তকরবী Raktakarabi Red Oleanders 1926 চণ্ডালিকা Chandalika The Untouchable Girl 1933 Original fiction in Bengali Bengali title Transliterated title Translated title Year নষ্টনীড় Nastanirh The Broken Nest 1901 গোরা Gora Fair-Faced 1910 ঘরে বাইরে Ghare Baire The Home and the World 1916 যোগাযোগ Yogayog Crosscurrents 1929 Original nonfiction in Bengali Bengali title Transliterated title Translated title Year জীবনস্মৃতি Jivansmriti My Reminiscences 1912 ছেলেবেলা Chhelebela My Boyhood Days 1940 Works in English Title Year Thought Relics 1921[original 1] Translated[edit] English translations Year Work 1914 Chitra[text 1] 1922 Creative Unity[text 2] 1913 The Crescent Moon[text 3] 1917 The Cycle of Spring[text 4] 1928 Fireflies 1916 Fruit-Gathering[text 5] 1916 The Fugitive[text 6] 1913 The Gardener[text 7] 1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings[text 8] 1920 Glimpses of Bengal[text 9] 1921 The Home and the World[text 10] 1916 The Hungry Stones[text 11] 1991 I Won't Let you Go: Selected Poems 1914 The King of the Dark Chamber[text 12] 2012 Letters from an Expatriate in Europe 2003 The Lover of God 1918 Mashi[text 13] 1928 My Boyhood Days 1917 My Reminiscences[text 14] 1917 Nationalism 1914 The Post Office[text 15] 1913 Sadhana: The Realisation of Life[text 16] 1997 Selected Letters 1994 Selected Poems 1991 Selected Short Stories 1915 Songs of Kabir[text 17] 1916 The Spirit of Japan[text 18] 1918 Stories from Tagore[text 19] 1916 Stray Birds[text 20] 1913 Vocation[190] 1921 The Wreck In popular culture[edit] Rabindranath Tagore is a 1961 Indian documentary film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, released during the birth centenary of Tagore. It was produced by the Government of India's Films Division. Serbian composer Darinka Simic-Mitrovic used Tagore's text for her song cycle Gradinar in 1962.[191] In 1969, American composer E. Anne Schwerdtfeger was commissioned to compose Two Pieces, a work for women's chorus based on text by Tagore.[192] In Sukanta Roy's Bengali film Chhelebela (2002) Jisshu Sengupta portrayed Tagore.[193] In Bandana Mukhopadhyay's Bengali film Chirosakha He (2007) Sayandip Bhattacharya played Tagore.[194] In Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali documentary film Jeevan Smriti (2011) Samadarshi Dutta played Tagore.[195] In Suman Ghosh's Bengali film Kadambari (2015) Parambrata Chatterjee portrayed Tagore.[196] See also[edit] List of Indian writers Kazi Nazrul Islam Rabindra Jayanti Rabindra Puraskar Tagore family An Artist in Life — biography by Niharranjan Ray Taptapadi Timeline of Rabindranath Tagore Music of Bengal References[edit] Gordon Square, LondonGandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai Notes ^ Gurudev translates as "divine mentor", Bishokobi translates as "poet of the world" and Kobiguru translates as "great poet".[11]  ^ Tagore was born at No. 6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Jorasanko – the address of the main mansion (the Jorasanko Thakurbari) inhabited by the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore clan, which had earlier suffered an acrimonious split. Jorasanko was located in the Bengali section of Calcutta, near Chitpur Road.[24][25] Dwarkanath Tagore was his paternal grandfather.[26] Debendranath had formulated the Brahmoist philosophies espoused by his friend Ram Mohan Roy, and became focal in Brahmo society after Roy's death.[27][28] ^ On the "idea of the humanity of our God, or the divinity of Man the Eternal". ^ Etymology of "Visva-Bharati": from the Sanskrit for "world" or "universe" and the name of a Rigvedic goddess ("Bharati") associated with Saraswati, the Hindu patron of learning.[159] "Visva-Bharati" also translates as "India in the World". ^ Tagore was no stranger to controversy: his dealings with Indian nationalists Subhas Chandra Bose[9] and Rash Behari Bose,[176] his yen for Soviet Communism,[177][178] and papers confiscated from Indian nationalists in New York allegedly implicating Tagore in a plot to overthrow the Raj via German funds.[179] These destroyed Tagore's image—and book sales—in the United States.[176] His relations with and ambivalent opinion of Mussolini revolted many;[94] close friend Romain Rolland despaired that "[h]e is abdicating his role as moral guide of the independent spirits of Europe and India".[180] Citations ^ "How to pronounce রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর". forvo.com. ^ 25 Baisakh 1268(Bangabda) ^ 21 Shravan 1368(Bangabda) ^ Lubet, Alex (17 October 2016). "Tagore, not Dylan: The first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize for literature was actually Indian". Quartz India. Retrieved 17 August 2022. "Anita Desai and Andrew Robinson – The Modern Resonance of Rabindranath Tagore". On Being. Retrieved 30 July 2019. ^ a b Stern, Robert W. (2001). Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia: Dominant Classes and Political Outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-275-97041-3. ^ a b Newman, Henry (1921). The Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. p. 252. I have also found that Bombay is India, Satara is India, Bangalore is India, Madras is India, Delhi, Lahore, the Khyber, Lucknow, Calcutta, Cuttack, Shillong, etc., are all India. ^ The Nobel Foundation. ^ O'Connell 2008. ^ a b c d e Sen 1997. ^ "Work of Rabindranath Tagore celebrated in London". BBC News. Retrieved 15 July 2015. ^ Sil 2005. ^ a b * Tagore, Rathindranath (December 1978). On the edges of time (New ed.). Greenwood Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-313-20760-0. Mukherjee, Mani Shankar (May 2010). "Timeless Genius". Pravasi Bharatiya: 89, 90. Thompson, Edward (1948). Rabindranath Tagore : Poet And Dramatist. Oxford University Press. p. 13. ^ Tagore 1984, p. xii. ^ Thompson 1926, pp. 27–28; Dasgupta 1993, p. 20. ^ "Nationalism is a Great Menace" Tagore and Nationalism, by Radhakrishnan M. and Roychowdhury D. from Hogan, P. C.; Pandit, L. (2003), Rabindranath Tagore: Universality and Tradition, pp 29–40 ^ "Visva-Bharti-Facts and Figures at a Glance". Archived from the original on 23 May 2007. ^ Datta 2002, p. 2; Kripalani 2005a, pp. 6–8; Kripalani 2005b, pp. 2–3; Thompson 1926, p. 12. ^ a b * de Silva, K. M.; Wriggins, Howard (1988). J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka: a Political Biography – Volume One: The First Fifty Years. University of Hawaii Press. p. 368. ISBN 0-8248-1183-6. "Man of the series: Nobel laureate Tagore". The Times of India. Times News Network. 3 April 2011. "How Tagore inspired Sri Lanka's national anthem". IBN Live. 8 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. ^ Nasrin, Mithun B.; Wurff, W. A. M. Van Der (2015). Colloquial Bengali. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-317-30613-9. ^ Ahmad, Zarin (14 June 2018). Delhi's Meatscapes: Muslim Butchers in a Transforming Mega-City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-909538-4. ^ Fraser, Bashabi (15 September 2019). Rabindranath Tagore. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-178-8. ^ a b c d e f Ghosh 2011. ^ a b "Rabindranath Tagore – Facts". Nobel Foundation. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 34. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 37. ^ The News Today 2011. ^ Roy 1977, pp. 28–30. ^ Tagore 1997b, pp. 8–9. ^ a b Thompson 1926, p. 20. ^ Som 2010, p. 16. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 10. ^ Sree, S. Prasanna (2003). Woman in the novels of Shashi Deshpande : a study (1st ed.). New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 81-7625-381-2. Retrieved 12 April 2016. ^ Paul, S. K. (1 January 2006). The Complete Poems of Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali: Texts and Critical Evaluation. Sarup & Sons. p. 2. ISBN 978-81-7625-660-5. Retrieved 12 April 2016. ^ Thompson 1926, pp. 21–24. ^ Das 2009. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 48–49. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 50. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 55–56. ^ Tagore, Stewart & Twichell 2003, p. 91. ^ "A journey with my Father". My Reminiscences. ^ a b c d e Dev, Amiya (2014). "Tagore and Sikhism". Mainstream Weekly. ^ Tagore, Stewart & Twichell 2003, p. 3. ^ Tagore, Stewart & Twichell 2003, p. 3. ^ a b Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 45. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 265. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 68. ^ Thompson 1926, p. 31. ^ Tagore 1997b, pp. 11–12. ^ Guha, Ramachandra (2011). Makers of Modern India. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University. p. 171. ^ Dutta, Krishna; Robinson, Andrew (1997). Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-521-59018-1. Retrieved 27 April 2016. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 373. ^ a b Scott 2009, p. 10. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 109–111. ^ Chowdury, A. A. (1992), Lalon Shah, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Bangla Academy, ISBN 984-07-2597-1 ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 109. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 133. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 139–140. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore". Poetry Foundation. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022. ^ Hjärne 1913. ^ Anil Sethi; Guha; Khullar; Nair; Prasad; Anwar; Singh; Mohapatra, eds. (2014). "The Rowlatt Satyagraha". Our Pasts: Volume 3, Part 2 (History text book) (Revised 2014 ed.). India: NCERT. p. 148. ISBN 978-81-7450-838-6. ^ "Letter from Rabindranath Tagore to Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India". Digital Anthropology Resources for Teaching, Columbia University and the London School of Economics. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2018. ^ "Tagore renounced his Knighthood in protest for Jalianwalla Bagh mass killing". The Times of India. 13 April 2011. ^ Mortada, Syed Ahmed. "When Tagore came to Sylhet". ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 239–240. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 242. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 308–309. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 303. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 309. ^ a b Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 317. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 312–313. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 335–338. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 342. ^ "A 100 years ago, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for poetry. But his novels are more enduring". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 September 2019. ^ Tagore & Radice 2004, p. 28. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 338. ^ Indo-Asian News Service 2005. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 367. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 363. ^ The Daily Star 2009. ^ Sigi 2006, p. 89. ^ Tagore 1930, pp. 222–225. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 374–376. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 178–179. ^ a b University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 1–2. ^ Nathan, Richard (12 March 2021). "Changing Nations: The Japanese Girl With a Book". Red Circle Authors. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 206. ^ Hogan & Pandit 2003, pp. 56–58. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 182. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 253. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 256. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 267. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 270–271. ^ a b Kundu 2009. ^ "The Tagore Connection". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 5 May 2022. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 1. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 289–292. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 303–304. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 292–293. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 2. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 315. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 99. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, pp. 100–103. ^ "Vice President speaks on Rabindranath Tagore". Newkerala.com. 8 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. 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ISBN 978-81-321-1084-2. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 94. ^ a b Dasgupta 2001. ^ "10 things to know about Indian national Anthem". Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021. ^ Chatterjee, Monish R. (13 August 2003). "Tagore and Jana Gana Mana". countercurrents.org. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 359. ^ a b Dyson 2001. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 222. ^ R. Siva Kumar (2011) The Last Harvest: Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore. ^ Som 2010, pp. 144–145. ^ "National Gallery of Modern Art – Mumbai:Virtual Galleries". Retrieved 23 October 2017. ^ "National Gallery of Modern Art:Collections". Retrieved 23 October 2017. ^ "Rabindranath Tagore: When Hitler purged India Nobel laureate's paintings". BBC News. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 127. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 210. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 304. ^ Brown 1948, p. 306. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 261. ^ a b Sen, Amartya. "Tagore And His India". countercurrents.org. Retrieved 1 January 2021. ^ Tagore 1997b, pp. 239–240. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 181. ^ Tagore 1916, p. 111. ^ a b Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 204. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 215–216. ^ Chakraborty & Bhattacharya 2001, p. 157. ^ Mehta 1999. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 306–307. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 339. ^ "Tagore renounced his Knighthood in protest for Jalianwalla Bagh mass killing". The Times of India. Mumbai. 13 April 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2012. ^ Tagore 1997b, p. 267. ^ Tagore & Pal 2004. ^ a b Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 220. ^ Roy 1977, p. 175. ^ Tagore & Chakravarty 1961, p. 27. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 221. ^ "Tagore's Nobel Prize stolen". The Times of India. The Times Group. 25 March 2004. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013. ^ "Sweden to present India replicas of Tagore's Nobel". The Times of India. The Times Group. 7 December 2004. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013. ^ "Tagore's Nobel medal theft: Baul singer arrested". The Times of India. Retrieved 31 March 2019. ^ "Tagore's Nobel Medal Theft: Folk Singer Arrested From Bengal". News18. Retrieved 31 March 2019. ^ Chakrabarti 2001. ^ a b Hatcher 2001. ^ Kämpchen 2003. ^ Farrell 2000, p. 162. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 202. ^ Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution, p. 76-82 ^ Cameron 2006. ^ Sen 2006, p. 90. ^ Kinzer 2006. ^ a b Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 214. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 297. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 214–215. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 212. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 273. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, p. 255. ^ Dutta & Robinson 1995, pp. 254–255. ^ a b Bhattacharya 2001. ^ Tagore & Radice 2004, p. 26. ^ Tagore & Radice 2004, pp. 26–31. ^ Tagore & Radice 2004, pp. 18–19. ^ "Rabindra Bharti Museum (Jorasanko Thakurbari)". Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. ^ "Tagore House (Jorasanko Thakurbari) – Kolkata". wikimapia.org. ^ Tagore & Ray 2007, p. 104. ^ Vocation, Ratna Sagar, 2007, p. 64, ISBN 978-81-8332-175-4 ^ Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (US). ISBN 978-0-9617485-2-4. ^ Heinrich, Adel (1991). Organ and harpsichord music by women composers : an annotated catalog. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-38790-6. OCLC 650307517. ^ "Chhelebela will capture the poet's childhood". rediff.com. Retrieved 12 April 2020. ^ "Tagore or touch-him-not". The Times of India. 13 July 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2020. ^ "Celebrating Tagore". The Hindu. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2020. ^ Banerjee, Kathakali (12 January 2017). "Kadambari explores Tagore and his sis-in-law's relationship responsibly". Times of India. Retrieved 12 April 2020. Bibliography[edit] Primary[edit] Anthologies Tagore, Rabindranath (1952), Collected Poems and Plays of Rabindranath Tagore, Macmillan Publishing (published January 1952), ISBN 978-0-02-615920-3 Tagore, Rabindranath (1984), Some Songs and Poems from Rabindranath Tagore, East-West Publications, ISBN 978-0-85692-055-4 Tagore, Rabindranath (2011), Alam, F.; Chakravarty, R. (eds.), The Essential Tagore, Harvard University Press (published 15 April 2011), p. 323, ISBN 978-0-674-05790-6 Tagore, Rabindranath (1961), Chakravarty, A. (ed.), A Tagore Reader, Beacon Press (published 1 June 1961), ISBN 978-0-8070-5971-5 Tagore, Rabindranath (1997a), Dutta, K.; Robinson, A. (eds.), Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore, Cambridge University Press (published 28 June 1997), ISBN 978-0-521-59018-1 Tagore, Rabindranath (1997b), Dutta, K.; Robinson, A. (eds.), Rabindranath Tagore: An Anthology, Saint Martin's Press (published November 1997), ISBN 978-0-312-16973-2 Tagore, Rabindranath (2007), Ray, M. K. (ed.), The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, vol. 1, Atlantic Publishing (published 10 June 2007), ISBN 978-81-269-0664-2 Originals Tagore, Rabindranath (1916), Sādhanā: The Realisation of Life, Macmillan Tagore, Rabindranath (1930), The Religion of Man, Macmillan Translations Tagore, Rabindranath (1914), The Post Office, translated by Mukerjea, D., London: Macmillan Tagore, Rabindranath (2004), "The Parrot's Tale", Parabaas, translated by Pal, P. B. (published 1 December 2004) Tagore, Rabindranath (1995), Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Poems, translated by Radice, W. (1st ed.), London: Penguin (published 1 June 1995), ISBN 978-0-14-018366-5 Tagore, Rabindranath (2004), Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems, translated by Radice, W, Angel Books (published 28 December 2004), ISBN 978-0-946162-66-6 Tagore, Rabindranath (2003), Rabindranath Tagore: Lover of God, Lannan Literary Selections, translated by Stewart, T. K.; Twichell, C., Copper Canyon Press (published 1 November 2003), ISBN 978-1-55659-196-9 Secondary[edit] Articles Bhattacharya, S. (2001), "Translating Tagore", The Hindu, Chennai, India (published 2 September 2001), archived from the original on 1 November 2003, retrieved 9 September 2011 Brown, G. T. (1948), "The Hindu Conspiracy: 1914–1917", The Pacific Historical Review, 17 (3), University of California Press (published August 1948): 299–310, doi:10.2307/3634258, ISSN 0030-8684, JSTOR 3634258 Cameron, R. (2006), "Exhibition of Bengali Film Posters Opens in Prague", Radio Prague (published 31 March 2006), retrieved 29 September 2011 Chakrabarti, I. (2001), "A People's Poet or a Literary Deity?", Parabaas (published 15 July 2001), retrieved 17 September 2011 Das, S. (2009), "Tagore's Garden of Eden", The Telegraph, Calcutta, India (published 2 August 2009), archived from the original on 3 March 2010, retrieved 29 September 2011 Dasgupta, A. (2001), "Rabindra-Sangeet as a Resource for Indian Classical Bandishes", Parabaas (published 15 July 2001), retrieved 17 September 2011 Dyson, K. K. (2001), "Rabindranath Tagore and His World of Colours", Parabaas (published 15 July 2001), retrieved 26 November 2009 Ghosh, B. (2011), "Inside the World of Tagore's Music", Parabaas (published August 2011), retrieved 17 September 2011 Harvey, J. (1999), In Quest of Spirit: Thoughts on Music, University of California Press, archived from the original on 6 May 2001, retrieved 10 September 2011 Hatcher, B. A. (2001), "Aji Hote Satabarsha Pare: What Tagore Says to Us a Century Later", Parabaas (published 15 July 2001), retrieved 28 September 2011 Hjärne, H. (1913), The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913: Rabindranath Tagore—Award Ceremony Speech, Nobel Foundation (published 10 December 1913), retrieved 17 September 2011 Jha, N. (1994), "Rabindranath Tagore" (PDF), PROSPECTS: The Quarterly Review of Education, 24 (3/4), Paris: UNESCO: International Bureau of Education: 603–19, doi:10.1007/BF02195291, S2CID 144526531, archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2011, retrieved 30 August 2011 Kämpchen, M. (2003), "Rabindranath Tagore in Germany", Parabaas (published 25 July 2003), retrieved 28 September 2011 Kinzer, S. (2006), "Bülent Ecevit, Who Turned Turkey Toward the West, Dies", The New York Times (published 5 November 2006), retrieved 28 September 2011 Kundu, K. (2009), "Mussolini and Tagore", Parabaas (published 7 May 2009), retrieved 17 September 2011 Mehta, S. (1999), "The First Asian Nobel Laureate", Time (published 23 August 1999), archived from the original on 10 February 2001, retrieved 30 August 2011 Meyer, L. (2004), "Tagore in The Netherlands", Parabaas (published 15 July 2004), retrieved 30 August 2011 Mukherjee, M. (2004), "Yogayog ("Nexus") by Rabindranath Tagore: A Book Review", Parabaas (published 25 March 2004), retrieved 29 September 2011 Pandey, J. M. (2011), "Original Rabindranath Tagore Scripts in Print Soon", The Times of India (published 8 August 2011), archived from the original on 24 September 2012, retrieved 1 September 2011 O'Connell, K. M. (2008), "Red Oleanders (Raktakarabi) by Rabindranath Tagore—A New Translation and Adaptation: Two Reviews", Parabaas (published December 2008), retrieved 28 September 2011 Radice, W. (2003), "Tagore's Poetic Greatness", Parabaas (published 7 May 2003), retrieved 30 August 2011 Sen, A. (1997), "Tagore and His India", The New York Review of Books, retrieved 30 August 2011 Sil, N. P. (2005), "Devotio Humana: Rabindranath's Love Poems Revisited", Parabaas (published 15 February 2005), retrieved 13 August 2009 Books Ray, Niharranjan (1967). An Artist in Life. University of Kerala. Ayyub, A. S. (1980), Tagore's Quest, Papyrus Chakraborty, S. K.; Bhattacharya, P. (2001), Leadership and Power: Ethical Explorations, Oxford University Press (published 16 August 2001), ISBN 978-0-19-565591-9 Dasgupta, T. (1993), Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis, Abhinav Publications (published 1 October 1993), ISBN 978-81-7017-302-1 Datta, P. K. (2002), Rabindranath Tagore's The Home and the World: A Critical Companion (1st ed.), Permanent Black (published 1 December 2002), ISBN 978-81-7824-046-6 Dutta, K.; Robinson, A. (1995), Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man, Saint Martin's Press (published December 1995), ISBN 978-0-312-14030-4 Farrell, G. (2000), Indian Music and the West, Clarendon Paperbacks Series (3 ed.), Oxford University Press (published 9 March 2000), ISBN 978-0-19-816717-4 Hogan, P. C. (2000), Colonialism and Cultural Identity: Crises of Tradition in the Anglophone Literatures of India, Africa, and the Caribbean, State University of New York Press (published 27 January 2000), ISBN 978-0-7914-4460-3 Hogan, P. C.; Pandit, L. (2003), Rabindranath Tagore: Universality and Tradition, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (published May 2003), ISBN 978-0-8386-3980-1 Kripalani, K. (2005), Dwarkanath Tagore: A Forgotten Pioneer—A Life, National Book Trust of India, ISBN 978-81-237-3488-0 Kripalani, K. (2005), Tagore—A Life, National Book Trust of India, ISBN 978-81-237-1959-7 Lago, M. (1977), Rabindranath Tagore, Boston: Twayne Publishers (published April 1977), ISBN 978-0-8057-6242-6 Lifton, B. J.; Wiesel, E. (1997), The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak, St. Martin's Griffin (published 15 April 1997), ISBN 978-0-312-15560-5 Prasad, A. N.; Sarkar, B. (2008), Critical Response To Indian Poetry in English, Sarup and Sons, ISBN 978-81-7625-825-8 Ray, M. K. (2007), Studies on Rabindranath Tagore, vol. 1, Atlantic (published 1 October 2007), ISBN 978-81-269-0308-5, retrieved 16 September 2011 Roy, B. K. (1977), Rabindranath Tagore: The Man and His Poetry, Folcroft Library Editions, ISBN 978-0-8414-7330-0 Scott, J. (2009), Bengali Flower: 50 Selected Poems from India and Bangladesh (published 4 July 2009), ISBN 978-1-4486-3931-1 Sen, A. (2006), The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture, and Identity (1st ed.), Picador (published 5 September 2006), ISBN 978-0-312-42602-6 Sigi, R. (2006), Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore—A Biography, Diamond Books (published 1 October 2006), ISBN 978-81-89182-90-8 Sinha, S. (2015), The Dialectic of God: The Theosophical Views Of Tagore and Gandhi, Partridge Publishing India, ISBN 978-1-4828-4748-2 Som, R. (2010), Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song, Viking (published 26 May 2010), ISBN 978-0-670-08248-3, OL 23720201M Thompson, E. (1926), Rabindranath Tagore: Poet and Dramatist, Pierides Press, ISBN 978-1-4067-8927-0 Urban, H. B. (2001), Songs of Ecstasy: Tantric and Devotional Songs from Colonial Bengal, Oxford University Press (published 22 November 2001), ISBN 978-0-19-513901-3 Other "68th Death Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore", The Daily Star, Dhaka (published 7 August 2009), 2009, retrieved 29 September 2011 "Recitation of Tagore's Poetry of Death", Hindustan Times, 2005 "Archeologists Track Down Tagore's Ancestral Home in Khulna", The News Today (published 28 April 2011), 2011, archived from the original on 28 March 2012, retrieved 9 September 2011 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913, The Nobel Foundation, retrieved 14 August 2009 History of the Tagore Festival, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Tagore Festival Committee, archived from the original on 13 June 2015, retrieved 29 November 2009 Texts[edit] Original ^ Thought Relics, Internet Sacred Text Archive Translated ^ Chitra at Project Gutenberg ^ Creative Unity at Project Gutenberg ^ The Crescent Moon at Project Gutenberg ^ The Cycle of Spring at Project Gutenberg ^ Fruit-Gathering at Project Gutenberg ^ The Fugitive at Project Gutenberg ^ The Gardener at Project Gutenberg ^ Gitanjali at Project Gutenberg ^ Glimpses of Bengal at Project Gutenberg ^ The Home and the World at Project Gutenberg ^ The Hungry Stones at Project Gutenberg ^ The King of the Dark Chamber at Project Gutenberg ^ Mashi at Project Gutenberg ^ My Reminiscences at Project Gutenberg ^ The Post Office at Project Gutenberg ^ Sadhana: The Realisation of Life at Project Gutenberg ^ Songs of Kabir at Project Gutenberg ^ The Spirit of Japan at Project Gutenberg ^ Stories from Tagore at Project Gutenberg ^ Stray Birds at Project Gutenberg Further reading[edit] Abu Zakaria, G., ed. (2011). Rabindranath Tagore—Wanderer zwischen Welten. Klemm and Oelschläger. ISBN 978-3-86281-018-5. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011. Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (2011). Rabindranath Tagore: an interpretation. New Delhi: Viking, Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-670-08455-5. Chaudhuri, A., ed. (2004). The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature (1st ed.). Vintage (published 9 November 2004). ISBN 978-0-375-71300-2. Deutsch, A.; Robinson, A., eds. (1989). The Art of Rabindranath Tagore (1st ed.). Monthly Review Press (published August 1989). ISBN 978-0-233-98359-2. Shamsud Doulah, A. B. M. (2016). Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and the British Raj: Some Untold Stories. Partridge Publishing Singapore. ISBN 978-1-4828-6403-8. Sinha, Satya (2015). The Dialectic of God: The Theosophical Views Of Tagore and Gandhi. Partridge Publishing India. ISBN 978-1-4828-4748-2. External links[edit] Rabindranath Tagore at Wikipedia's sister projects Media from CommonsQuotations from WikiquoteTexts from WikisourceResources from WikiversityData from Wikidata Library resources about Rabindranath Tagore Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries By Rabindranath Tagore Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries Rabindranath Tagore at the Encyclopædia Britannica Rabindranath Tagore at IMDb  School of Wisdom Newspaper clippings about Rabindranath Tagore in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW Analyses Ezra Pound: "Rabindranath Tagore", The Fortnightly Review, March 1913 Mary Lago Collection, University of Missouri Audiobooks Works by Rabindranath Tagore at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Texts Works by Rabindranath Tagore in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Bichitra: Online Tagore Variorum Works by Rabindranath Tagore at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Rabindranath Tagore at Internet Archive Talks South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) Portals: Biography India Literature Poetry Music Art Theatre Society vteRabindranath TagoreLife Early life Middle years Political views Works (list)Novels Nastanirh (1901) Chokher Bali (1902-1903) Noukadubi (1906) Gora (1909) Ghare Baire (1916) Chaturanga (1916) Jogajog (1929) Shesher Kabita (1929) Char Adhyay (1934) Stories Hungry Stones Kabuliwala Poetry Sandhya Sangeet (1881) Prabhat Sangeet (1883) Bhanusimha Thakurer Padabali (1884) Sonar Tori (1894) Gitanjali (1910) Song Offerings (1912) Poemsand songs Rabindra Sangeet Gitabitan Amar Sonar Bangla Birpurush Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata Jana Gana Mana Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo Dui Bigha Jomi Ekla Chalo Re Jete Nahi Dibo Vocation Plays Valmiki-Pratibha (1888) Raja (1910) The Post Office (1912) Chitra (1913) Others Rabindra Nritya Natya The Religion of Man The Cult of the Charkha Songs of Kabir Natir Puja The Essential Tagore Adaptations Balidan Kabuliwala Dak Ghar Charulata Ghare Baire Rabindranath Tagore Teen Kanya Jogajog Stories by Rabindranath Tagore Robi Thakurer Golpo Landmarks Jorasanko Thakur Bari Shantiniketan Shahjadpur Kachharibari Shilaidaha Rabindra Kuthibari Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Sadan Rabindra Tirtha Visva-Bharati University Family Tagore family Dwarkanath Ramanath Debendranath Mrinalini Devi Rathindranath Pratima Related Adi Brahmo Samaj Rabindra Jayanti The Last Harvest: Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore book Rabindra Chitravali Tagore sculpture controversy Articles related to Rabindranath Tagore vteTagore family1st generation Darpanarayan Tagore Nilmoni Tagore Dwarkanath Tagore Gopi Mohan Tagore Hara Kumar Tagore Prasanna Kumar Tagore Ramanath Tagore 2nd generation Girindranath Tagore Debendranath Tagore Gnanendramohan Tagore Jatindramohan Tagore Sourindra Mohun Tagore 3rd generation Ganendranath Tagore Gunendranath Tagore Dwijendranath Tagore Satyendranath Tagore Hemendranath Tagore Jyotirindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore Swarnakumari Devi Prodyot Coomar Tagore Jnanadanandini Devi Kadambari Devi Mrinalini Devi 4th generation Gaganendranath Tagore Abanindranath Tagore Indira Devi Chaudhurani Lakshminath Bezbaroa Pragyasundari Devi Pramatha Chaudhuri Purnima Devi Sarala Devi Chaudhurani Surendranath Tagore Rathindranath Tagore Pratima Devi 5th generation Kanakendranath Tagore Dinendranath Tagore Saumyendranath Tagore Amiya Tagore Asit Kumar Haldar Krishna Kripalani Kunwar Jyoti Prasada 6th generation Gitindranath Tagore Devika Rani Himanshu Rai Jitendra Prasada Jayendra Prasada Jaya Prasada Krishna Roy 7th generation Sharmila Tagore Jayesh Prasada Jivesh Prasada Jinesh Prasada Jitin Prasada Saranindranath Tagore 8th generation Jagrit Prasada Jaidev Prasada Jayaditya Prasada Janmejay Prasada Saba Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan Soha Ali Khan 9th generation Sara Ali Khan vteLaureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature1901–1920 1901: Sully Prudhomme 1902: Theodor Mommsen 1903: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1904: Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray 1905: Henryk Sienkiewicz 1906: Giosuè Carducci 1907: Rudyard Kipling 1908: Rudolf Eucken 1909: Selma Lagerlöf 1910: Paul Heyse 1911: Maurice Maeterlinck 1912: Gerhart Hauptmann 1913: Rabindranath Tagore 1914 1915: Romain Rolland 1916: Verner von Heidenstam 1917: Karl Gjellerup / Henrik Pontoppidan 1918 1919: Carl Spitteler 1920: Knut Hamsun 1921–1940 1921: Anatole France 1922: Jacinto Benavente 1923: W. B. Yeats 1924: Władysław Reymont 1925: George Bernard Shaw 1926: Grazia Deledda 1927: Henri Bergson 1928: Sigrid Undset 1929: Thomas Mann 1930: Sinclair Lewis 1931: Erik Axel Karlfeldt (posthumously) 1932: John Galsworthy 1933: Ivan Bunin 1934: Luigi Pirandello 1935 1936: Eugene O'Neill 1937: Roger Martin du Gard 1938: Pearl S. Buck 1939: Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1940 1941–1960 1941 1942 1943 1944: Johannes V. Jensen 1945: Gabriela Mistral 1946: Hermann Hesse 1947: André Gide 1948: T. S. Eliot 1949: William Faulkner 1950: Bertrand Russell 1951: Pär Lagerkvist 1952: François Mauriac 1953: Winston Churchill 1954: Ernest Hemingway 1955: Halldór Laxness 1956: Juan Ramón Jiménez 1957: Albert Camus 1958: Boris Pasternak 1959: Salvatore Quasimodo 1960: Saint-John Perse 1961–1980 1961: Ivo Andrić 1962: John Steinbeck 1963: Giorgos Seferis 1964: Jean-Paul Sartre (declined award) 1965: Mikhail Sholokhov 1966: Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs 1967: Miguel Ángel Asturias 1968: Yasunari Kawabata 1969: Samuel Beckett 1970: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971: Pablo Neruda 1972: Heinrich Böll 1973: Patrick White 1974: Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson 1975: Eugenio Montale 1976: Saul Bellow 1977: Vicente Aleixandre 1978: Isaac Bashevis Singer 1979: Odysseas Elytis 1980: Czesław Miłosz 1981–2000 1981: Elias Canetti 1982: Gabriel García Márquez 1983: William Golding 1984: Jaroslav Seifert 1985: Claude Simon 1986: Wole Soyinka 1987: Joseph Brodsky 1988: Naguib Mahfouz 1989: Camilo José Cela 1990: Octavio Paz 1991: Nadine Gordimer 1992: Derek Walcott 1993: Toni Morrison 1994: Kenzaburō Ōe 1995: Seamus Heaney 1996: Wisława Szymborska 1997: Dario Fo 1998: José Saramago 1999: Günter Grass 2000: Gao Xingjian 2001–2020 2001: V. S. Naipaul 2002: Imre Kertész 2003: J. M. Coetzee 2004: Elfriede Jelinek 2005: Harold Pinter 2006: Orhan Pamuk 2007: Doris Lessing 2008: J. M. G. Le Clézio 2009: Herta Müller 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa 2011: Tomas Tranströmer 2012: Mo Yan 2013: Alice Munro 2014: Patrick Modiano 2015: Svetlana Alexievich 2016: Bob Dylan 2017: Kazuo Ishiguro 2018: Olga Tokarczuk 2019: Peter Handke 2020: Louise Glück 2021–present 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah 2022: Annie Ernaux 2023: Jon Fosse 2024: to be announced vte1913 Nobel Prize laureatesChemistry Alfred Werner (Switzerland) Literature (1913) Rabindranath Tagore (India) Peace Henri La Fontaine (Belgium) Physics Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (Netherlands) Physiology or Medicine Charles Richet (France) Nobel Prize recipients 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 vteKolkata topicsHistory Bengali Renaissance Black Hole of Calcutta Bhurshut Calcutta flag Dihi Panchannagram Direct Action Day Dutch Bengal Gobindapur History of Kolkata Presidency division Job Charnock Kalighat–Falta Railway Kalikata Robert Clive Sabarna Roy Choudhury Siege of Calcutta Sutanuti State Archaeological Museum Warren Hastings Battle of Biderra/Chinsurah Nabakrishna Deb Rabindranath Tagore Localities Kolkata metropolitan area Neighbourhoods list Streets (list) Buildings Belvedere Estate Indian Museum Jorasanko Thakur Bari Calcutta High Court Currency Building Bankshall Court Marble Palace National Library of India Netaji Bhawan Raj Bhavan, Kolkata Sabarna Sangrahashala Shaheed Minar Victoria Memorial St. Paul's Cathedral Metcalfe Hall Writers' Building Metropolitan Building Grand Hotel Shobhabazar Rajbari Esplanade Mansions Highrises Chatterjee International Center South City Tata Centre Industry House Everest House Jeevan Sudha Government of India Building Hiland Park The 42 Urbana Uniworld City EducationSecondary Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy B. 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Stories from Tagore

When the girl was given the name of Subhashini, who could have guessed that she would prove dumb? Her two elder sisters were Sukeshini and Suhasini, and for the sake of uniformity her father named his youngest girl Subhashini. She was called Subha for short.
Her two elder sisters had been married with the usual cost and difficulty, and now the youngest daughter lay like a silent weight upon the heart of her parents. All the world seemed to think that, because she did not speak, therefore she did not feel; it discussed her future and its own anxiety freely in her presence. She had understood from her earliest childhood that God had sent her like a curse to her father's house, so she withdrew herself from ordinary people and tried to live apart. If only they would all forget her she felt she could endure it. But who can forget pain? Night and day her parents' minds were aching on her account. Especially her mother looked upon her as a deformity in herself. To a mother a daughter is a more closely intimate part of herself than a son can be; and a fault in her is a source of personal shame. Banikantha, Subha's father, loved her rather better than his other daughters; her mother regarded her with aversion as a stain upon her own body.
If Subha lacked speech, she did not lack a pair of large dark eyes, shaded with long lashes; and her lips trembled like a leaf in response to any thought that rose in her mind. When we express our thought in words, the medium is not found easily. There must be a process of translation, which is often inexact, and then we fall into error. But black eyes need no translating; the mind itself throws a shadow upon them. In them thought opens or shuts, shines forth or goes out in darkness, hangs steadfast like the setting moon or like the swift and restless lightning illumines all quarters of the sky. They who from birth have had no other speech than the trembling of their lips learn a language of the eyes, endless in expression, deep as the sea, clear as the heavens, wherein play dawn and sunset, light and shadow. The dumb have a lonely grandeur like Nature's own. Wherefore the other children almost dreaded Subha and never played with her. She was silent and companionless as noontide.
The hamlet where she lived was Chandipur. Its river, small for a river of Bengal, kept to its narrow bounds like a daughter of the middle class. This busy streak of water never overflowed its banks, but went about its duties as though it were a member of every family in the villages beside it. On either side were houses and banks shaded with trees. So stepping from her queenly throne, the river-goddess became a garden deity of each home, and forgetful of herself performed her task of endless benediction with swift and cheerful foot.
Banikantha's house looked out upon the stream. Every hut and stack in the place could be seen by the passing boatmen. I know not if amid these signs of worldly wealth any one noticed the little girl who, when her work was done, stole away to the waterside and sat there. But here Nature fulfilled her want of speech and spoke for her. The murmur of the brook, the voice of the village folk, the songs of the boatmen, the crying of the birds and rustle of trees mingled and were one with the trembling of her heart. They became one vast wave of sound which beat upon her restless soul. This murmur and movement of Nature were the dumb girl's language; that speech of the dark eyes, which the long lashes shaded, was the language of the world about her. From the trees, where the cicalas chirped, to the quiet stars there was nothing but signs and gestures, weeping and sighing. And in the deep mid-noon, when the boatmen and fisher-folk had gone to their dinner, when the villagers slept and birds were still, when the ferry-boats were idle, when the great busy world paused in its toil and became suddenly a lonely, awful giant, then beneath the vast impressive heavens there were only dumb Nature and a dumb girl, sitting very silent,-one under the spreading sunlight, the other where a small tree cast its shadow.
But Subha was not altogether without friends. In the stall were two cows, Sarbbashi and Panguli. They had never heard their names from her lips, but they knew her footfall. Though she had no words, she murmured lovingly and they understood her gentle murmuring better than all speech. When she fondled them or scolded or coaxed them, they understood her better than men could do. Subha would come to the shed and throw her arms round Sarbbashi's neck; she would rub her cheek against her friend's, and Panguli would turn her great kind eyes and lick her face. The girl paid them three regular visits every day and others that were irregular. Whenever she heard any words that hurt her, she would come to these dumb friends out of due time. It was as though they guessed her anguish of spirit from her quiet look of sadness. Coming close to her, they would rub their horns softly against her arms, and in dumb, puzzled fashion try to comfort her. Besides these two, there were goats and a kitten; but Subha had not the same equality of friendship with them, though they showed the same attachment. Every time it got a chance, night or day, the kitten would jump into her lap, and settle down to slumber, and show its appreciation of an aid to sleep as Subha drew her soft fingers over its neck and back.
Subha had a comrade also among the higher animals, and it is hard to say what were the girl's relations with him; for he could speak, and his gift of speech left them without any common language. He was the youngest boy of the Gosains, Pratap by name, an idle fellow. After long effort, his parents had abandoned the hope that he would ever make his living. Now losels have this advantage, that, though their own folk disapprove of them, they are generally popular with every one else. Having no work to chain them, they become public property. Just as every town needs an open space where all may breathe, so a village needs two or three gentlemen of leisure, who can give time to all; then, if we are lazy and want a companion, one is to hand.
Pratap's chief ambition was to catch fish. He managed to waste a lot of time this way, and might be seen almost any afternoon so employed. It was thus most often that he met Subha. Whatever he was about, he liked a companion; and, when one is catching fish, a silent companion is best of all. Pratap respected Subha for her taciturnity, and, as every one called her Subha, he showed his affection by calling her Su. Subha used to sit beneath a tamarind, and Pratap, a little distance off, would cast his line. Pratap took with him a small allowance of betel, and Subha prepared it for him. And I think that, sitting and gazing a long while, she desired ardently to bring some great help to Pratap, to be of real aid, to prove by any means that she was not a useless burden to the world. But there was nothing to do. Then she turned to the Creator in prayer for some rare power, that by an astonishing miracle she might startle Pratap into exclaiming: "My! I never dreamt our Su could have done this!"
Only think, if Subha had been a water nymph, she might have risen slowly from the river, bringing the gem of a snake's crown to the landing-place. Then Pratap, leaving his paltry fishing, might dive into the lower world, and see there, on a golden bed in a palace of silver, whom else but dumb little Su, Banikantha's child? Yes, our Su, the only daughter of the king of that shining city of jewels! But that might not be, it was impossible. Not that anything is really impossible, but Su had been born, not into the royal house of Patalpur, but into Banikantha's family, and she knew no means of astonishing the Gosains' boy.
Gradually she grew up. Gradually she began to find herself. A new inexpressible consciousness like a tide from the central places of the sea, when the moon is full, swept through her. She saw herself, questioned herself, but no answer came that she could understand. Once upon a time, late on a night of full moon, she slowly opened her door and peeped out timidly. Nature, herself at full moon, like lonely Subha, was looking down on the sleeping earth. Her strong young life beat within her; joy and sadness filled her being to its brim; she reached the limits even of her own illimitable loneliness, nay, passed beyond them. Her heart was heavy, and she could not speak. At the skirts of this silent troubled Mother there stood a silent troubled girl.
The thought of her marriage filled her parents with an anxious care. People blamed them, and even talked of making them outcasts. Banikantha was well off; they had fish-curry twice daily; and consequently he did not lack enemies. Then the women interfered, and Bani went away for a few days. Presently he returned and said: "We must go to Calcutta." They got ready to go to this strange country. Subha's heart was heavy with tears, like a mist-wrapt dawn. With a vague fear that had been gathering for days, she dogged her father and mother like a dumb animal. With her large eyes wide open, she scanned their faces as though she wished to learn something. But not a word did they vouchsafe. One afternoon in the midst of all this, as Pratap was fishing, he laughed: "So then, Su, they have caught your bridegroom, and you are going to be married! Mind you don't forget me altogether!" Then he turned his mind again to his fish. As a stricken doe looks in the hunter's face, asking in silent agony: "What have I done to you?" so Subha looked at Pratap. That day she sat no longer beneath her tree. Banikantha, having finished his nap, was smoking in his bedroom when Subha dropped down at his feet and burst out weeping as she gazed towards him. Banikantha tried to comfort her, and his cheek grew wet with tears.
It was settled that on the morrow they should go to Calcutta. Subha went to the cow-shed to bid farewell to her childhood's comrades. She fed them with her hand; she clasped their necks; she looked into their faces, and tears fell fast from the eyes which spoke for her. That night was the tenth of the moon. Subha left her room, and flung herself down on her grassy couch beside her dear river. It was as if she threw her arms about Earth, her strong silent mother, and tried to say: "Do not let me leave you, mother. Put your arms about me, as I have put mine about you, and hold me fast." One day in a house in Calcutta, Subha's mother dressed her up with great care. She imprisoned her hair, knotting it up in laces, she hung her about with ornaments, and did her best to kill her natural beauty. Subha's eyes filled with tears. Her mother, fearing they would grow swollen with weeping, scolded her harshly, but the tears disregarded the scolding. The bridegroom came with a friend to inspect the bride. Her parents were dizzy with anxiety and fear when they saw the god arrive to select the beast for his sacrifice. Behind the stage, the mother called her instructions aloud, and increased her daughter's weeping twofold, before she sent her into the examiner's presence. The great man, after scanning her a long time, observed: "Not so bad."
He took special note of her tears, and thought she must have a tender heart. He put it to her credit in the account, arguing that the heart, which to-day was distressed at leaving her parents, would presently prove a useful possession. Like the oyster's pearls, the child's tears only increased her value, and he made no other comment.
The almanac was consulted, and the marriage took place on an auspicious day. Having delivered over their dumb girl into another's hands, Subha's parents returned home. Thank God! Their caste in this and their safety in the next world were assured! The bridegroom's work lay in the west, and shortly after the marriage he took his wife thither.
In less than ten days every one knew that the bride was dumb! At least, if any one did not, it was not her fault, for she deceived no one. Her eyes told them everything, though no one understood her. She looked on every hand, she found no speech, she missed the faces, familiar from birth, of those who had understood a dumb girl's language. In her silent heart there sounded an endless, voiceless weeping, which only the Searcher of Hearts could hear.

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Word Lists:

Taciturnity :

Illimitable : without limits or an end

Scold : remonstrate with or rebuke (someone) angrily

Almanac : an annual calendar containing important dates and statistical information such as astronomical data and tide tables.

Hamlet : a small settlement, generally one smaller than a village.

Benediction : the utterance or bestowing of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service

Auspicious : conducive to success; favorable

Paltry : (of an amount) small or meager

Uniformity : the quality or state of being uniform

Scan : look at all parts of (something) carefully in order to detect some feature

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Additional Information:

Rating: B Words in the Passage: 2240 Unique Words: 790 Sentences: 124
Noun: 543 Conjunction: 215 Adverb: 136 Interjection: 1
Adjective: 176 Pronoun: 275 Verb: 391 Preposition: 238
Letter Count: 9,732 Sentiment: Positive / Positive / Positive Tone: Conversational Difficult Words: 424
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