Freedom from Dualities

G.N. Devy
Tagore viewed creativity as a result of the 'surplus of emotion', an activity of the mind that lifts
life above the mundane and the merely material. -

Like Vyasa (n.d.), Valmiki (estimated 400 BC) and Kalidasa (estimated 4 th century AD)
of ancient times, Kabir (1440-1158), Mira (1498-1597) and Tukaram (1608-1650) of
medieval times and Ghalib (1797-1869)- just before he was born, Tagore is accepted by
common consent as a writer who transcends the boundaries of his times and his own language.
Among Indian writers of the twentieth century, he is certainly the most known in all
parts of the world. No other Indian writer has been so widely translated in literary
languages outside India. Since the times of the medieval poets Mira and Kabir , rarely has
an Indian writer influenced his own contemporaries and those of the generations to follow
across all literary languages in India as Tagore. Perhaps, the Bangla novelist Sarat
Chandra Chatterji (1876-1938) and the Hindi fiction writer Premchand (1880-1936)
come closest to Tagore as major influences in modern Indian literature. But even they have
not received as much acclaim outside India as Tagore. He remains to this day the only Indian
author to have received the Nobel Prize for literature, and the only Indian author whose
statues adorn every Indian city and whose memory is preserved by creating
innumerable memorial buildings, schools and colleges.
All his significant writing was in his mother tongue Bangla, though some of his lectures to
audiences outside India were originally drafted in English and he produced English translations of
many of his own works. In Bangla, which has a rich literary crop over the last two centuries, Tagore
still remains the most significant literary figure. Though he lived and wrote during the last
quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, his appeal
shows no signs of wearing out. Till our time, his works continue to be used for
adaptations and reproductions in the form of Cinema and television productions.
Kabuliwallah, Ghare Baire (1916). Chokher Bali (1902) have been some of the memorable
films based on Tagore stories. As a historical accident. he has the rare honour of being the
author of national anthems of two nations. Bangladesh — Amar Sonar Bangla, and India —
Jana Gana Mana.
Rabindranath decided to devote himself to literature at a very early age and he
continued to write till the end of his long life. There is hardly a literary genre that
he did not touch. Thu. his works include plays, short fiction and novels, non-
fiction travelogues, essays, lectures, translations, autobiographical writing, lyrics,
songs and plays. It was not only the field of literature on which Tagore has left his
distinctive mark. His contribution to music and painting has been equally
distinctive. Besides, his monumental work as a teacher, an institution builder and a
philosopher make him what may be figuratively described as 'a renaissance
figure'.

It would have been a surprise had Tagore not been a nationalist considering that he
lived through all phases of the struggle for India's freedom. But, his literary outlook
was liberal. He encouraged his generation of writers to look out to the eastern
literary cultures, mainly Japan, and argued for an approach to literature beyond
national and linguistic boundaries by promoting the concept of `visva-sahitya’ as
Goethe had done in Germany a century before him.

In most ways, the literary career of Tagore compares closely with that of his Irish
contemporary W.B. Yeats. Both began writing at an early age and turned to the folklore
and myth for drawing the themes and tone in their works. Both felt equally comfortable
in writing plays marked by intense lyricism and poetry made alluring by an
evocatively mystified persona. Being contemporaries, they drew upon the same or
similar literary sources as their inspiration. William Blake (l 757-1827) and Shelley
(l792-1822) were too much in the air for either Tagore or Yeats to escape the influence.
Though their early works were shaped under the shadow of English Romanticism, both
drew upon the folk traditions and developed their unique symbolism during the mature
years of their literary life, and moved ahead to pioneering modernism in their respective
literatures, Yeats in Anglo-English and Tagore in Bangla. Their greatness lies in their ability to
transform the influences that they had imbibed. In Tagore's case, the Bengal renaissance,
the works of his predecessors in Bangla like Bankim Chandra and the social reform
movements of his times provide the immediate context for his ideas. But; Tagore — like
Yeats in his own context -- went far beyond these. His fascination for a medieval poet like Kabir
— whose poems he translated into English -- and the ancient Indian literature were of a
striking importance in his literary making.
It is true that Rabindranath’s meeting with W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound and their spontaneous
response to translations of his poems—though later the developed skepticism towards his
translation skills- contributed to Tagore’s receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913. Yeats
wrote a moving 'Foreword’, to Gitanjali lavishing praise over Tagore for invoking through his
rhythms and metrical inventions “a world that I have dreamed of all my life.” The mutual
recognition of literary greatness between them, the publication of Gitanjali, its translations in
other European languages that followed in quick succession and the Nobel Prize, greatly
contributed to Tagore's becoming known throughout the world. But it would be unfair to him
to read this as a mere historical accident. The range of his creativity and the exceptional
degree of originality in each of his creative pursuits amply justify the recognition that he
received and which no other Indian writer has received since then.

His first play Valmiki Pratibha (1881) was written when he was twenty. Visarjan (Sacrifice, 1890),
considered one of his best, was composed when he was barely thirty. His other celebrated plays
include Dakghar (The Post Office, 19 I 2), Chandalika (Untouchable Woman 1933) Raktakarabi (Red
Oleanders, 1925) and Chitrangada (1891). Tagore started writing short stories at sixteen and
continued to cultivate the genre for several decades. Particularly prolific in this genre were the
periods when he edited the literary periodicals Sadhana and Sabuj. ‘Bhikaripi - (The Beggar Woman,
1877) was the first short story that he wrote when he was barely sixteen, and he continued to
produce memorable stories such as Kabuliwallah (The nut-vendor from Kabul, 1892), Ksudhita Pasan
(The Hungry Stones, 1895) and Atithi (The Runaway, 1895). The enormous prestige that the short story
form has acquired in Bangla literature owes substantially to Tagore's contribution to this genre which
the volumes of collected short stories, Galpaguchcha testify. Though he is more widely known as a
poet, perhaps it is in his novels that one can see Tagore's deep understanding of the complexities of
human nature combined with his political engagement. Gora (1910), Seser Kabita (The Farewell Song,
1928-29), Ghare Baire (Home and the World, 1 9 1 6), Chokher Bali (Sand in the Eye, 1903) have been
among the more known of his novels.

The most known and the most widely translated of Tagore's works, however, remains the slim
collection of songs Gitanjali (1912), though in Bangla and in other Indian languages his other
volumes of poetry such as Purabi ( I 925) and Sonar Tari (1894) have been greatly admired
as well. Though his poems are suffused with the mystical symbolism, like the writings of the
medieval mystic poets or like the poems of William Blake, they have a hypnotizing appeal mainly
due to their musical quality. Just as he created a poetic style of his own, he also transformed
the song tradition that he had inherited and created his own style of music, the `Rabindra-
sangit.'. The combined influence of his songs and music on modern Bengal's life, has been as
pervasive as that of Shakespeare's on modern English or the Mahabharata's on Indian
mythology,
Tagore viewed creativity as a result of the 'surplus of emotion', an activity of the mind
that lifts life above the mundane and the merely material. For him, imagination brings man
closer to nature and allows the human mind to transcend the world of sensory experience.
All his writing is marked with a profound karuna, an empathy that transcends limits set
upon the human understanding. His poems bring together the innocent curiosity of a child
with the romantic pining of a lover in the tradition of the bhakit poets of India. His
plays capture the lyrical moments of the human emotion and his prose is distinguished
by the directness of style. However, the most distinguishing mark of his writing is the
powerful presence of the author who is a 'questing soul' troubled by what Shelley
described as "the longing for something afar from the sphere of our sorrow." It is in that
quest for freedom from 'the human condition' that Tagore seeks a variety of imaginative
expression through painting, music, song and story.

Interpretation of Tagore's prolific literary career and an analysis of his creative genius
have kept the succeeding generations engaged. It may not be far off the mark to say that a
silent meditation on freedom is the essence of all his creative expression. If Homer is the
master of the heroic, Vyasa the voice of the timeless, Kalidadsa a devotee of beauty of
nature and word and Kabir the mystic of the ordinary, Tagore is the never aging child in
search of freedom from dualities between tradition and modernity, man aand nature and
the east and the west. In his speech written in response to the Nobel Prize, Tagore wrote,
"The spirit of India has proclaimed unity." It is owing to his profound exploration of that
principle of unity that Tagore has come to be seen as the most phenomenal Indian writer
in modern times.
•
The author lives in Baroda and writes in Marathi, Gujarati and English. His critical work
in English 'After Amnesia' was given the Sahitya Akademi Award. He has created and
nurtured several institutions including the Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh. His major works
were compiled in ‘The G.N. Devy Reader' .