The middle years of Rabindranath Tagore were spent primarily in Santiniketan, although they included extensive travels throughout Asia, Europe, and Japan.[ citation needed ]
In 1901, Tagore left Shelaidaha and moved to Shantiniketan, about one hundred miles to Calcutta's northwest in what is now West Bengal. Shantiniketan, a spread of relatively arid and eroded red soil of seven acres bought in the 1860s by Debendranth, was made the home of Tagore's new ashram, a marble-floored prayer hall ("The Mandir"), experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, and a library. [1] Unfortunately, his wife along with two of his children, Renuka (in 1903) and Samindranath (in 1907), died in this period, leaving Tagore distraught. When Tagore's father, aged 87, also died on 19 January 1905, Tagore began receiving 1,250–1,500 rupees (Rs.) monthly as an inheritance. This combined with income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of jewelry owned by him and his late wife, his bungalow at the seaside Puri, and mediocre royalties (Rs. 2,000) gleaned from the licensed publishing of thousands of copies of his works. [2]
Thus he gained a large following among Bengali readers. He published such works as Naivedya (1901) and Kheya (1906). Non-Bangla translations were also published, but these were frequently of mediocre quality. In response to requests by admirers (including painter William Rothenstein), Tagore began translating his poems into free verse.
In 1913, he went to England while carrying a sheaf of his translated works. At readings there, these works impressed a number of Englishmen, including English missionary and Gandhi protégé Charles F. Andrews, Anglo-Irish poet William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, and Thomas Sturge Moore. [3] [4] Indeed, Yeats later wrote the preface to the English translation of Gitanjali (published by the India Society), while Andrews joined Tagore in India to work with him.
On 10 November 1912, Tagore traveled to the United States, speaking at a Unitarian church in Urbana, Illinois. [5] In that year, Tagore also toured the United Kingdom, meeting William Rothenstein and William Butler Yeats, who read his Gitanjali. Later, he stayed in Butterton, Staffordshire with C.F. Andrews' clergymen friends. [6] On 14 November 1913, he received word that he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature; the award stemmed from the idealistic and accessible (for Western readers) nature of a small body of translated material, including the 1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings . [7]
Together with Mukul Dey,[ citation needed ] Charles F. Andrews and W. W. Pearson, Tagore again set off by boat on 3 May 1916, embarking on a lecturing circuit of Japan and the United States that was intended to last until April 1917. [8] During a four-month layover in Japan, Tagore authored "On the Way to Japan" and "In Japan", which were later compiled into the book Japanyatri ("A Sojourn to Japan"), [9] which detailed his admiration for the Japanese aesthetic. Yet Tagore also denounced nationalism, particularly that of the Japanese and Americans. He wrote the essay "Nationalism in India", attracting both derision and praise (the latter from pacifists and fellow internationalists like Romain Rolland). [10] Yet these views also endangered him: during his stay in a San Francisco hotel, Tagore narrowly escaped being assassinated by a pair of Indian expatriates — the plot failed only because the would-be assassins fell into argument concerning whether they should carry through with the murder. The following morning, Tagore left for Santa Barbara, near Los Angeles. [11] There, Tagore meditated among orange groves and conceived of a new type of university, desiring to "make Shantiniketan 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." [12]
In 1924, Tagore held numerous lectures in China. He argued that China could encounter trouble by integrating too much progressive and Western thoughts into Chinese society. [13]
The foundation stone of the school, which he named Visva-Bharati, [lower-alpha 1] was ceremonially laid on 22 December 1918 and the school was later inaugurated on 22 December 1921. [14] The motto of the university reflected Tagore's vision of universalism. Tagore's duties as steward and mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy; he taught classes in mornings and wrote textbooks for his students in afternoons and evenings. [15] Of this routine, he wrote that "I long to discover some fairyland of holidays ... where all duties look delightfully undutiful, like clouds bearing rain appearing perfectly inconsequential". [15] Tagore was also occupied with fundraising between 1919 and 1921, undertaking trips to Europe and the U.S. [16]
Shantiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son, Rabindranath Tagore whose vision became what is now a university town with the creation of Visva-Bharati.
Abanindranath Tagore was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of Oriental Art". He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art. He founded the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern Indian painting. He was also a noted writer, particularly for children. Popularly known as 'Aban Thakur', his books Rajkahini, Buro Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul were landmarks in Bengali language children's literature and art.
Visva-Bharati, is a public central university and an Institute of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India. Until independence it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Kanika Banerjee was a Bengali Rabindra Sangeet singer.
The works of Rabindranath Tagore consist of poems, novels, short stories, dramas, paintings, drawings, and music that Bengali poet and Brahmo philosopher Rabindranath Tagore created over his lifetime.
Bengali author and statesman Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, philosopher, educationist and cultural reformer. He lived during the long period of Indian independence and was acquainted with several political leaders in Asia.
Rabindranath Tagore is a 1961 Indian documentary film written and directed by Satyajit Ray about the life and works of noted Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore. Ray started working on the documentary in early 1958. Shot in black-and-white, the finished film was released during the birth centenary year of Rabindranath Tagore, who was born on 7 May 1861. Ray avoided the controversial aspects of Tagore's life in order to make it as an official portrait of the poet. Though Tagore was known as a poet, Ray did not use any of Tagore's poetry as he was not happy with the English translation and believed that "it would not make the right impression if recited" and people would not consider Tagore "a very great poet," based on those translations. Satyajit Ray has been reported to have said about the documentary Rabindranath Tagore in his biography Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye by W. Andrew Robinson that, "Ten or twelve minutes of it are among the most moving and powerful things that I have produced."
Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian polymath who was active as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter during the age of the Bengal Renaissance. 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, in 1913 Tagore became the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; where his elegant prose and magical poetry were widely popular in the Indian subcontinent. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Referred to as "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore was known by the sobriquets Gurudeb, Kobiguru, and Biswokobi.
"Where the mind is without fear" is a poem written by 1913 Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. It represents Tagore's vision of a new and awakened India. The original poem was published in 1910 and was included in the 1910 collection Gitanjali and, in Tagore's own translation, in its 1912 English edition. "Where the mind is without fear" is the 35th poem of Gitanjali, and one of Tagore's most anthologised poems.
Song Offerings is a volume of lyrics by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, rendered into English by the poet himself, for which he was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Kala Bhavana is the fine arts faculty of Visva-Bharati University, in Shantiniketan, India. It is an institution of education and research in visual arts, founded in 1919, it was established by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
Surendranath Kar was an Indian artist and architect, known for amalgamating the Indian architectural style with western and eastern styles of architecture. Born in 1892 in British India, Kar did his primary learning of art under his cousin, renowned Bengali painter, Nandalal Bose, and Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. Later, he joined Vichitra Club, founded by the Tagore family, as a teacher of art. In 1917, when Tagore set up Brahmacharyasrama, the precursor of later day Shantiniketan, he joined the institution and worked as an art teacher. Two years later, he moved to Kala Bhavana of Tagore as a faculty member.
Pratima Devi (1893–1969) was an Indian Bengali artist, widely known for her artistic abilities. She was the wife of Rathindranath Tagore. The poet took special interest in developing her capabilities.
Rathindranath Thakur was an Indian educationist, agronomist, painter, in leathercraft, and a woodworker. He served as the first vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, which was founded by his father, Rabindranath Tagore.
The following is a list of notable people associated withVisva- Bharati University and/or Santiniketan, a neighbourhood in Bolpur city in West Bengal, India:
Martin Kämpchen is an author, translator, journalist and social worker.
Alex Aronson was a German author and educator.
The 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West." He is the first and remains only the Indian recipient of the prize. The award stemmed from the idealistic and accessible nature of a small body of translated material, including the translated Gitanjali.
Jamuna Sen was an Indian artist, known for her design work in a variety of mediums including Batik and Alpona as well as developing, in an Indian context, a variety of traditional crafts from across the world. She was a pioneer in establishing the practice of Batik in India in modern times. Daughter of Nandalal Bose, a central figure in modern Indian art, she was brought up in the artistic and intellectual milieu of Santiniketan and made significant contributions in the field of design.
Notes
Citations