TAGORE’S CONTRIBUTION IN INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A POET

NAME- URVI DAVE

CLASS- M.A.

SEM- 1

PAPER NO.-4

TOPIC- TAGORE’S CONTRIBUTION IN INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A POET

SUBMITTED TO- SMT.S.B. GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH & M. K. BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY

BATCH YEAR- 2014-16

EMAIL ID- dave.urvi71@gmail.com

Birth and early days- He was born on 25^th Baisakh 1268, according to the Bengali calendar, corresponding to may 7, 1861, of the English calendar. He was the last but one child of his parents. The youngest child, however, died in early infancy and in effect Rabindranath became the youngest child and also the youngest son of the family. Though not lacking his affection for her youngest child, his mother Sarada Devi was too much worn out in health by repeated childbirth to be able to bestow personal attention on him in his boyhood. Rabindranath aptly names the early part of his life as the period of the monarchy of servants (Bhrityakaraj Tantra) and draws a comparison with the slave dynasty that ruled the Delhi sultanate in the thirteenth century. When he was old enough to be able to remember things, he found that he had been handed over to the charge of the servants. They fed him, controlled his movements and were the only persons to whom he had access. Debendranath was blessed with a numerous family. As many as nine sons and six daughters were born to him. Of them one daughter and two sons died very young; the daughter happened to be the eldest; and of the two sons, one happened to be the youngest child born to him. Rabindranath was the fourteenth child of the family. During his official career, he exercised special influence on Rabindranath and was to some extent responsible for the shaping of his future life. It was under his advice that his father agreed to Rabindranath being taken to United Kingdom for higher education. Infact it was he who escorted Rabindranath both in his journey to England in 1878 and back on the expiry of his Furlough. That proved Rabindranath with an opportunity to come in close with European society and also helped him to assimilate the general principles of western music, a factor which contributed to some degree in imparting a distinctive character to his musical compositions. Debendranath’s third son, Hemendranath (1844-84), who died at the age of forty, also deserves a reference in this connection. His contribution to the building of a cultural atmosphere in the family and giving it a nationalistic bias was not inconsiderable. He had varied interests. Having interest in the medical sciences, he studied in the medical college for sometime in Calcutta. He also took keen interest in wrestling and encouraged wrestling among his younger brothers, including Rabindranath.  But his greatest passion was his desire to educate the members of his family. His patriotism made him insist that the medium of instruction should be Bengali which was their mother tongue. In those days, girls used to be married young and there was little scope for them for learning and to read and write. So his first concern was to make the daughter-in-laws of the family literate. He shouldered the task of teaching them himself. During his boyhood, his father would, most of the time, remain away from the home, spending his days on the hills of the Himalayas. In his boyhood days, the entire world appeared before his eyes with an aura of mystery. To observe the process of growth, he collected some earth and debris in a verandah in a corner of the house and planted the seed of a custard apple in it and then started watering it. The idea was that he would have the fascinating experience of seeing it grow and then flower and bear fruit. This was, of course, a wish which could not be consummated when the seed happened to be sown on a fistful of soil inside the house. The experience struck in his mind so deeply that it reappeared as the theme of a poem written in his old age. During his early boyhood, Rabindranath was placed under the charge of private tutors to learn his lessons. At times, such lessons proved so boring to him that he would look for a pretext to avoid them. The trick that he would usually play on such occasions was to feign that he was suffering from stomach ache. He would plead to his mother for exemption from taking lessons. It was not at all difficult for his mother to see through his game, but her affection for him would prove too strong for her to desist from granting his prayer. In the family, there was an elaborate provision for all round training of both the mind and the body. The training included besides reading lessons, wrestling for physical development and music for creating a taste for fine arts. Tagore gives an elaborate account of these arrangements in his book Chelebela. The first training of the day was in wrestling. For the lessons in reading and writing at the stroke of seven in the morning, the tutor would arrive. Three subjects: mathematics, reading of Bengali texts which included the classic by Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar sitar Vanavasa, and even elementary science. These lessons continued throughout the morning. It appears that Rabindranath’s lessons in reading would have foundered against his natural resistance to imposed tasks but for his innate love for poetry. He had a highly developed aesthetic sense which enabled him to put up with unpleasant experiences, if it could compensate by providing him aesthetic enjoyment in return. It appears that it is the discovery that written word could give him access to beauty that enabled him to go through the boredom of taking lessons for gaining mastery over the alphabet. He says “Suddenly I came to a rhymed sentence of combined words which may be translated as thus: ‘It rains, the leaves tremble’. At once I came to a world where I recovered my full meaning. My mind touched the creative realm of expression and at that moment, I was no longer a mere student with his mind ruffled by spelling lessons, enclosed by a classroom”.

              After completing reading lessons at home, the boy was admitted to a school. After a year’s attendance, Rabindranath appeared in the annual examination conducted at his school. He stood first in Bengali. It was at this stage that Rabindranath had his first lessons in composing poems. Jyotiprakash showed Rabindranath how in poetry the word at the end of a line had to rhyme with the last word of the previous line. With a natural aptitude for writing poems, Rabindranath immediately found himself deeply involved in this new hobby. Soon his reputation as a poet spread even to his school and one of his teachers expressed interest in his poetry. But the man whose appreciation this budding poet valued most was an elderly person named Srikrishna Sinha. He was a scion of the Zamindar family of Raipur which in later days sprung to fame when one of its members, Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, was made a baron by the British Government. He had been attracted to maharishi by the latter’s saintly character and was a frequent visitor to the house. He became the most sympathetic listener of the poems written by the budding poet. It was arranged that Rabindranath would spend about three months with his father. The stay at Santiniketan made a profound impression on his mind and played a significant part in shaping his future life. Tagore was married to Bhabatarini Devi on December 9, 1883. To suit the taste of this highly cultured family, she was given the new name Mrinalini Devi. She, being the wife of the youngest son of the family, came to be called in the conventional manner Chhoto- Bow. In letters, Tagore used to place the word bhai before Chhoto-Bow. In Bengali, someone is called bhai only when that person has become the object of deep affection. Rabindranath became the patron of a cultural organization named Kham Kheyali Sabha. During his short stays in Calcutta, it would come to life when literary sittings, musical soirees and even theatrical performances would be arranged for, while during his absence in that estate, it would revert to inactivity. The simultaneous contact with nature and the unsophisticated village folk not only stirred Tagore’s imagination but also directed his writings to a new course. It appears that the hold of poetry which he considered to be his first love slackened his consequence, to make room for newcomer- short stories. Not that he stopped writing poems altogether, but they received less attention form him that during this long period of twelve years, his pen produced only five books of poems which included Sonar Tari and Chitra. The scenic beauty of rural Bengal had its impact on his poetry too and it became a new subject for treatment in his poems. The specific charm of the poems of Sonar Tari is evidently derived from this source. The image of a boat plied by a mystical figure that haunts the last poem of this collection was evidently inspired by the long boat journeys on the Padma. It also appears that one entire book of verses called Chaitali was the gift of this land of beauty. It records the scenic beauty and petty village incidents in such meticulous details that they appear to take shape before the reader’s eyes. The conflicting moods are quite discernible in the poems of Chitra written in 1896. He gave vent to his resentment on seeing the miserable existence of rural labourers by writing the stirring poem Ebar Firao More which finds place in Chitra. During the rainy season, Mrinalini Devi was ill at Santiniketan and the disease could not be cured by local doctors. So she was removed to the family house of Jorasanko for better medical attention. After a protracted illness patiently borne, Mrinalini Devi expired on November 23, 1902. The grief that flooded his heart on this occasion however, found expression in secret in a series of poems written at a stretch within two months of his wife’s death. Soon after, they were published in the form of a book titled Smaran. The book was not directly dedicated to Mrinalini Devi but on the page earmarked for dedication it simply quoted the date of her death. This book contributed to Bengali literature on one of the best collections of poems dealing with the tragedy of a beloved, and stands comparison with other similar books in world literature. One of it poems has been translated into English by the poet himself and given a place in his English Gitanjali. The poem gives a vivid picture of the agony of his heart when he misses her in the house and seeks consolation by dipping his emptied life in the ocean of eternity.

LITERARY TALENTS- if his inborn genius was a major factor in making him an outstanding literary figure, the environment in the family was no less important factor in unfolding it. Tagore himself was very conscious of this as he confirms in his reminiscences. “I had a great advantage that an atmosphere of literary activities pervaded the house day and night in my early age. Their enthusiasm for literary and artistic pursuits was unbounded, as if they were trying by all possible ways to usher in the modern era of Bengal. Dress and costumes, poems, music, painting, staging of dramas, religious discourses, patriotic activities- in respect of all such matters their minds were dominated by a comprehensive ideal of nationalism”.

           The Hindu Mela provided Tagore the scope to give expression to his feelings about his land of birth, in poetry. It appears that on two occasions he participated in the programs of the Hindu Mela by reciting his poems on India. The first occasion was in 1875, when he was only fourteen years of age. It was considered so important an event that it was reported in the leading daily next day. The theme of the poem imagines the Sage Vyas sitting on the Himalayas recalling the history and glory of India’s past and contrasting it with the present lowly state and poses the question: “will the ashes of India’s past glory kindle again a blazing fire and light up the world?”

                     His sensitive mind was fully conscious. He was proud of his country’s past. He strongly wished that India should be reinstated to her position of glory. This desire finds expression in one of his sonnets which finds place in his book of verse Naivedya. The Tattvabodhini Patrika published one of his earliest poems, Abhilash towards the end of December 1874, when he was barely thirteen. The greatest incentive came from Kadambari Devi, the worthy wife of Jyotindranath. She came to the family when Rabindranath was only seven years old. His poetic qualities so much excited her admiration that Kadambari Devi would entertain him by serving food cooked by her. She even presented him with an Asan (a carpet piece used to sit on) embroidered by her, in which she quoted a few lines of verse from his famous book, Sarada Mangal. Taking such delight in poetry she naturally felt interested in poetic talent displayed by her young brother-in-law and encouraged him in his efforts. In 1884, she committed suicide for some unknown reason. Overwhelmed with a sense of deep gratitude, he dedicated two of his books, published shortly after this shocking event, to her memory. The first of these is Saisab Sangeet, a collection of poems composed by him when he was still in his teens. The words recorded in the dedication read in translation- “I dedicate these poems to you. It is so long ago that I used to write them in your presence and read them out to you. They carry the memory of your affection. So I am led to think that wherever you are these poems will not escape your eyes”.

        The other book is Bhanu Sinha Thakurer Padavali. It has some interesting features of its own. Under his sister-in-law’s encouragement. Tagore wrote a number of poems following the Padavalis of the Vaisanava poets. They were published in the different issues of the family journal Bharati, between 1877 and 1881. The touching dedication reads: “you had requested me to publish the collection of poems written under the pseudonym Bhanu Sinha. I did not comply with your request then. I have published it today, but you are not here to see it”.

          After that Tagore’s poetry made a rapid advance towards maturity. This seal of maturity is noticeable in Kari-o-Kamal published in 1886. It reflects the characteristic features of his poetry like a strong note of optimism and a style in which him an attributes are ascribed to different parts of nature and even to inanimate objects. In the poem Jogia, in his book Kori-o-kamal, the theme is the wonderful the theme is the wonderful experience of thrill enjoyed by the poet one fine sunny morning. While giving expression to this emotion, he used the phrase that the emotion he used the phrase that the emotion of thrill was dancing from tree to tree. Tagore’s poems, in Dwinjendralal Roy’s opinion, were sensuous and worked as an incentive to illicit love.

        Tagore develops a love for the religion founded by his father. He used to compose hymns to be sung during prayers and such contributions have been assigned an honourable place in the compilation of hymns brought out by his community. Charmed by a particular hymn, his father, on one occasion expressed his appreciation by paying Tagore handsome monetary reward. Tagore says that the search is for the discovery of “a poet’s religion and neither that of an orthodox man of piety nor that of a theologian”. The inspiration for spiritual self-realisation as also for his poetry, being the same what he discovered at the end of his life-long quest was truly a poet’s religion. The fact that a common theme provided inspiration to both his religion and poetry imports two rare qualities to the latter. First, his poetry has a dynamic quality; has a history and has developed through different phases to maturity. In Tagore’s poems a continuous growth can be traced from his earliest writings. The second quality imparted by the common theme is that his poetry becomes a written record of his religious experience. In its mature form, therefore, it gives a picture of his own idea of what religion should be.   

         Tagore’s poems on nature pulsate with the thrill he experienced on contact with her in her various moods. They raise questions about the hidden spirit beyond, and at a later stage, even betray a strong yearning for physical contact with it. By an accidental combination of circumstances, Tagore set his mind in the work of translating some of his poems into English. In the seclusion of the bungalow at Shelidah, he selectively translated many pieces from different collections of his poems. Out of them he put 103 poems in translation and gave the compilation the name, Gitanjali with the corresponding English title ‘Song Offerings’. He was inspired to name it like that by two considerations. For one thing, out of a total of 103 poems, as many as 55 had been taken out from his Bengali Gitanjali and the rest from eight other books. Of them the book that made the highest contribution to this collection was Gitimalya: as many as 16 having been taken from it. Both books had been inspired by a common theme, namely, the relationship between the poet and his personal god whom he called his Jivan Devta. So the dominant note was the expressions of love to his god and in that sense it was an offering of songs to god. The Bengali Gitanjali is a collection exclusively of poems inspired by this theme.

           The publication of the English version of Gitanjali marked an important turning point in Tagore’s life. The quality of these translations touched their hearts so deeply that they undertook to publish his manuscript themselves so that Tagore could be introduced to the people of the west. The publication created quite a sensation in the literary world and the book was selected the very next year for noble prize in literature. The University of Calcutta conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature in recognition of his achievement. Tagore had so long remained a literary figure whose fame had not crossed the boundaries of his country, because he had expressed himself in Bengali which was only a regional language of India. The language barrier was an effective bar to keep him screened from the view of the outside world. The people of the world discovered in him one of the greatest literary figures of the world. Tagore became a world figure in his own right. In the early part of his life, Tagore had felt deeply proud of the heritage of his country. As an Indian, he had keenly felt that somebody should again make the voice of India heard beyond the geographical boundaries of his country as in the ancient days. It will be remembered that his address on Hindu Marriage was delivered in 1887, the year of the earliest poems of Manasi. Sonar Tari- his Golden Boat- lyrics written between 1891 and 1893, is the typical book of the Sadhana period. It is of importance, because it marks the clear emergence of the jibandebata- the life deity- motive, which for a time dominated Rabindranath’s work. This phase continued throughout Chitra, which was written between 1893 and the spring of 1895, and is recognized as the consummation of this first magnificent half of his life’s work; ‘the sunset of Sonar Tari’, he calls it. In 1903, appeared a second collected edition of his poetry, edited by Babu Mohitchandra Sen, a teacher at Santiniketan. Mohit babu rearranged the pieces according to matter and manner. Utsarga is really just a very varied and miscellaneous handful of lyrical poems, all well written and some of them of much beauty.

                   His reading of poetry was mostly done in youth and early manhood. He read it little in later life, being anxious to get into wider currents still, those of European literature; and our poets did not attract him. His mind had many affinities with the European mind; when explaining Bengali poetry, he was always quick to bring out at once the points that would seem important to an Englishman. His reading in English poetry, though casual, was very wide. He translated both Kalidasa’s Birth of the War-God and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In this last ten years, he came back to English poetry. For example, he translated admirably T.S. Eliot’s the journey of the Magi.

LAST DAYS- the urge to discard the beauty of the outer form proved so strong that Tagore adopted the rhythm of prose- poems for his verses. Gandhiji paid his visit to Santiniketan on February 17, 1941. Tagore’s health had in the meantime broke down. Naturally, he was very much worried about the future of his university. It pained him to think of the insecure future which stared in the institution in the face- the institution which he had built up with so much care over a period of nearly forty years of his life. When India attained independence, its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was himself a great admirer of Tagore, had an act passed to adopt Viswabharati as one of the Central Universities. During the Second World War when Subhash Chandra founded the Free India League in Berlin, it was decided at his instance to adopt Jana-Mana-Gana, the song composed by Tagore on India, as the National Anthem. It was at his instance that it was played on the Orchestra for the first time in ceremony in Hamburg in 1942. Towards the end of July 1941, he fell so seriously ill that he had to be removed to his Calcutta residence on the 25^th July for treatment. He died on 7^th august, 1941. Thus ended an eventful and glorious life which is as fascinating as his poetry. A ‘unity of inspiration’ links up the poems composed by him in different stages of his life. That is perhaps the reason why his poems retained their charm throughout the long period of his creative life extending even to his last days.