INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON HUMANISTIC IDEOLOGY
VOL. 3 NO. 2 AUTUMN-WINTER 2010
TOPIC: THE INTERNATIONAL TAGORE
Rabindranath TAGORE, Mind without Fear, 9
EDITORIAL: Mihaela GLIGOR, The International Tagore. The Problem, 11
ARTICLES:
Kathleen O’CONNELL, Rabindranath Tagore: Envisioning Humanistic Education at Santiniketan (1902-1922), 15
Abstract: This article traces some of the significant developments that occurred in the first two decades, as the Santiniketan School evolved from the Brahmacharyashram into Visva-Bharati, an international learning centre. The first section focuses on the historical context within which Tagore formulated his educational vision, as well as some of his formative educational influences and the historical origins of the Brahma-charyashram. Two documents are then examined, in which Tagore discusses his educational priorities: the first is a 1902 constitutional letter representing Tagore’s plan for the Brahmacharyashram; the other is a 1918 essay “The Centre of Indian Culture” in which Tagore articulates his vision for Visva-Bharati and Sriniketan. Here we find Rabindranath, using the Buddhist learning centres at Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramshila as indigenous idealized models, creating a broader educational paradigm. Such a model emphasizes scholarship, hospitality, cosmopolitanism and a harmonious relationship with the local community. The concluding section examines the developments that occurred between 1902 and 1922 and assesses Tagore’s goals and achievements from a present-day perspective.
Keywords: Santiniketan School, educational system, community, learning, humanism, methodology.
Reba SOM, The Musical Journey of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), 43
Abstract: Much of what Tagore experienced in life was expressed in songs. Music is, in fact, the key to understand Tagore, the man and his greatness. The following pages will map out chronologically the musical journey of the poet.
Keywords: music, life, poetry, songs, Tagore’s universe.
Subrata MAJUMDAR, A Poet Made of Light and Music, 52
Abstract: A brief exposition of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs has been made. Their relationship with Bengali folk songs and the classical vocal music of the Indian subcontinent has been discussed. The outstanding, original and unique features of Tagore’s songs have been stressed. A few examples have been included.
Keywords: Bauls of Bengal, Dhrupad, Flourish, Kirtan, Melody, Raaga, Rhythm, Taal.
Mihaela GLIGOR, Rabindranath Tagore. The Inner World. Some Remarks about Poet’s Religion, 67
Abstract: Rabindranath Tagore was essentially a religious thinker and he always upheld the primacy of the soul. In his work My Religion, he observed that “Man’s religion is his innermost truth. One’s religion is at the source of one’s being”. But he was not religious in the traditional sense and was least concerned with the practices of the communal religion he belonged to (i.e. Hinduism). The idea of a direct, joyful, and totally fearless relationship with God can be found in many of Tagore’s religious writings, including the poems of Gitanjali. From India’s diverse religious traditions he drew many ideas, both from ancient texts and from popular poetry.
Keywords: Tagore, tradition, philosophy, influences, Religion of Man, teachings.
Imre BANGHA, Tagore and Kosztolányi, 75
Abstract: Rabindranath Tagore is the universal poet. His works are known everywhere in the world. Tagore in the writings of an East Central European poet looking towards the Occident is the subject of this article. The fervour that the man and his works received diffused over East Central Europe. A close examination of his reception, however, shows that this enthusiasm was a qualified one in almost all places and that there were always voices criticising or dismissing the “oriental sage”.
Keywords: universal poet, translations, culture, Orient, Occident.
Madhumita CHATTOPADHYAY, Lord Buddha and Buddhism seen through the Eyes of Rabindranath, 87
Abstract: Lord Buddha and Rabindranath Tagore are the cultural icons of India. Tagore had great respect and admiration for Buddha. Though Buddhist philosophy is generally believed to be anti-Vedic, but in Tagore’s observation, the teachings of Buddha and the Upanisads speak of the same truth. This he tried to justify with the notion of Brahmavihāra and from that stand-point he tried to look at the doctrines of Four Noble Truths and Nirvāna in a new way.
Keywords: Brahmavihāra, four noble truths, Nirvāna, maitrī, karunā, Upanishad.
Martin KÄMPCHEN, Rabindranath Tagore in Germany, 111
Abstract: Tagore was translated into German immediately after the English versions of his books appeared. On his first visit to Germany in 1921, he created a sensation with the public. Writers were divided about his literary merits and his personality. Tagore’s lasting fame as a figure of world literature will rest on competent direct translations into German.
Keywords: Tagore’s works, translation, poetry, literature, culture, cultural interests.
Raluca BOBOC, Rabindranath Tagore: the Image of the Poet as Pilgrim , 123
Abstract: Reconstructing the image of Tagore as pilgrim implies embarking on a hermeneutic journey on several different maps. By accessing the imaginary of pilgrimage and discussing it against Tagore’s wayfaring on the geographical, cultural and existential/spiritual map, I endeavour to look into the way Tagore rewrites the artist’s strategies of reaching universalism and attaining wholeness. To illustrate, pieces and poems from Gitanjali are analysed to the conclusion that Tagore is a pilgrim of the heart.
Keywords: pilgrimage, liminality of pilgrimage, pabbajja, existential / spiritual map, “the innermost shrine”, All-Man (Vishva-manava), pilgrim of the heart.
Sanjukta BHATTACHARYA, Tagore’s Idea of Self – Finite and Infinite , 134
Abstract: As a poet and artist, Rabindranāth Tagore always aspired towards the realization of the transcendental personality of man, which he believed is immanent in the finite self only. In his writings, he laid stress on the realization of unity between the individual and the Universal Being through a perfect relationship. With Tagore, “religion” is the ultimate awakening of man’s ego-consciousness in the Universal Consciousness. It is a process of realizing the Infinite ‘I’ in the finite ‘I’, by the freedom of mind and creative activities, for the goodness of humanity at large. The aim of this paper is to bring out Tagore’s bifocal idea of the Self – the finite and the Infinite, his idea of humanism, Universal Man and his very own way of discovering the “religion of man”.
Keywords: Self, Religion of man, Tagore, Universal Man, finite, infinite, humanism.
REVIEWS, 163
Anandamayee MAJUMDAR: Maitreyi Devi, Tagore by Fireside, Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 2002, 259 pp., ISBN: 81-7167-725-8
Tapu BISWAS: Goutam Ghosal, The Rainbow Bridge:A Comparative Study of Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, 2007, 232 pp., ISBN: 812460418-5
Rajasri BASU: Wang Bangwei, Tan Chung, Amiya Dev, Wei Liming (Eds.), Tagore and China, Central Compilation and Translation Press, Beijing, 2010, English edition, 317 pp.; Chinese edition, 237 pp., ISBN: 978-7-5117-0527-3
Mihaela GLIGOR: Reba Som, Rabindranath Tagore. The Singer and His Song. Viking, Penguin Books India, 2009, 291 pp., ISBN: 9780670082483
Sarvani GOOPTU: Uma Dasgupta, Rabindranath Tagore: a biography, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2004, 104 pp., ISBN: 978-0195669800
CONTRIBUTORS, 185
