Arhon Jana
Among the modern thinkers of the Indian subcontinent Tagore is undoubtedly the most widely known to Western intellectuals. The reason is obvious: he himself translated his exquisite thought into English just as other writers or poets rendered it in divers tongues.
The award to him of the nobel prize in 1913 A.D. was probably of little importance in the west, but for the oriental intelligentsia its effect was considerable. It was not Tagore—the poet of the East or of Asia, of India or of Bengal—who was honored, but rather a regional literature which, although the most developed among its Indian contemporaries, remained unnoticed by the world until this dramatic recognition of its maturity.
Rabindranath, the Poet of the World, naturally drew his inspirations from its old literature, from its religious and folk songs and Vedic literature and Upanishads, but he also remained assiduously aware of the modern Western thought.
The innumerable writings and paintings of Tagore have never failed to astonish people all around the world. His prose writings such as the memorable short stories in ‘Galpagucchha’ (Collections of Stories), novels like ‘Gora’, ‘Chokher-Bali’ (Eyesore), ‘Ghore-Baire’ (The Home and The World), ‘Shesher Kabita’ (The Last Poems) are epochal events in Bengali literature.
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Deriving inspiration from Tagore, littérateur Sharatchandra Chatterji was to give a new orientation to the craft of fiction writing. He said in a letter, written to Rabindranath Tagore, dated 11th Poush, 1338, ‘‘Our admiration for you knows no bounds. …The subtle essence and beauty of the soul, the goodness and richness of your literature have been fully developed and enchanted the world. In that strange and beautiful light of your creation, I have become deeply and truly aware of my own heart.’’†
Among others who gave new directions to Bengali prose literature, a few important names may be mentioned: Pramatha Chowdhury, Bibhutibhusan Bondopadhyaya, Rajshekhar Basu, Banaphul, Tarashankar, Annada Shankar Ray, Manik Bandopadhyaya, and Kazi Abdul Wadud.
Let us return to Tagore. This time let us observe the mystery-world of his poetry. All Tagore’s life constituted an immense creative effort to communicate his most sublime intuitions to the world. The manifold variety and profound depth of his poetic universe are so remarkable that it seemed he was ‘‘redeeming the debt of the world’’, a world which induced all the anguish and ecstasy of creation. It is not enough to have read ‘Gitanjali’ (Song Offerings) or ‘Balaka’ (The Swan) to understand this mysterious world; it is also necessary to read the poems that reflect the different phases of his poetic career.
In addition to his personal experience and the association of his great father Debendranath, who had a profound understanding of the Persian mysticism, it is the influence of the Upanishads which left the decisive imprint upon his poetic
vision—his love of nature, search for truth and for humanity; to him these are nothing but characteristic signs of the Infinite.
This quest for the Infinite, as revealed in the
Upanishads—Beatitude reposes in the Infinite, not in the Finite. It is astonishing to discover that Tagore’s patriotism, under the influence of the Upanishads, was frequently at variance with public opinion. His predecessor Bankimchandra said:
Do not forget that love of one’s countrymen ranks above all religion.
His words found place in Rabindranath in the following way:
Build high the throne of your nation
But remember it is not higher than truth
If you really love your country,
You must not rise above it,
Not place your country above humanity.
In his last years Rabindranath understood that with all his philosophical pretentions and poetic illusions he was inhabiting an ivory power and suddenly felt the need to draw closer to plebeian reality. Now he wrote:
Sweet is the earth, sweet the dust of it,
I’ve taken it in my heart,
This great hymn
Is the precept of my life.
Day after day, I’ve received
The gift of the truth,
And its sweetness has no end.
Or,
On the shores of Rupnarayan
I awoke
And I realized the world
Is not a dream.
I beheld my image
In letters of blood.
And I came to know myself
Through profound wounds
And through countless sufferings…²
Altough Balaka had been written in a new style and published before the First World War. Tagore realised that all he had written before then was highly conventional. Thus, with the changing situation, he started writing prose-poems on unconventional but quotidian subjects. This new direction Tagore gave to Bengali poetry by his later writings served as a model for the young writers.
The rebel poet of Bengal, Kazi Nazrul Islam, was greatly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore. Just like a sleeping volcano rises from its slumber, he erupted into wakefulness in the then Bengali literature with his simple, but powerful language. The new literary fashion reached its height with the advent of Nazrul Islam, who accomplished a synthesis between the revolutionary tradition of Islam and the cult of Shakta (worship of the god of power), which was absent in Tagore. Yet, with the true generosity of genius, he acclaimed young Nazrul. The new awareness which he reflected quickly gained the attentive respect of the young writers. Thus he expressed himself in the famous poem ‘Vidrohi’ (The Rebel):
I am a rebel, a hothead,
I do what my heart desires,
Good, bad, true or false
I grapple with satan himself
I welcome death with a song…
I am the rebel, weary of struggle
Still I will not rest till the day
The aggressor’s sword be sheathed
In the field of battle
And the cries of the oppressed
No longer rend the air, etc.
In addition to a great number of poetic works, short stories and journalistic writings, Nazrul composed more than three thousand songs which are still extremely popular among the Bengalees.
Two post-Tagore poets, Jivanananda Das and Buddhadeva Bose derived their first inspiration from Nazrul, who, again, as I told, was inspired by Tagore. The genius of Tagore, in fact, offered an insuperable challenge to the young writers of the thirties (the names that have already been mentioned), yet thanks to the example of Nazrul and to the new poetic creations of Tagore, they finally articulated a mature poetic idiom which is still in vogue. Western symbolism certainly has occupied a prominent place in the new poetry. Bishnu Dey, Sudhin Dutt and Samar Sen are names indissolubly linked with this movement. Alongside, Amiya Chakravarty in the tradition of Tagore, Jashimuddin in the folklorique style and Farrukh Ahmed in the tradition of Iqbal‡ added new chapters in the history of Bengali poetry.
The style of writing that Tagore developed at that time was also frowned upon by many contemporary critics. If we were to discuss that, the article would become even longer. But, in spite of that, whether in day-to-day activities or in intellectual pursuits, the Bengalis still remain dazzled by the luminous achievement and magnificent personality of this Great Man. For the Bengali Intelligentsia of India and Pakistan (now Bangladesh), perhaps Tagore’s greatest contribution lies in the universal intellectual citizenship this achievement has so lavishly conferred upon their literature.
Behold, the Great One comes,
A thrill awakens everywhere,
On every blade of mortal grass.
Conch shells resound in the heavens,
Victory-drums echo through the earth—
The destined hour of a mighty birth arrives.
This night of endless darkness,
Its gateways of misery,
All lie shattered into dust.
On the peaks of dawn arises the call:
“Fear not, fear not!”
A promise of new life.
“Victory, victory, victory to the rise of Man!”
Resounds in deep chorus across the sky.¹
[This is a poem from his book, titled, 'Shesh Lekha' (The Last Writings).]
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Footnotes:
† Letter in the honor of Tagore, on the occasion of Rabindra-Jayanti, refer to sarat-rachanabali.nltr.org
‡ Muhammad Iqbal (1877—1938) was the greatest Urdu poet and is the national poet of Pakistan.
¹ Translated by the author
² The French version of the last poems of Tagore, translated by Mahmud Shah Qureshi and André Guimbrétière was published in the Revue Générale Belge, June, 1961.
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