[PDF]Builders Of Modern India Rabindranath Tagore By Hiranmay Banerjee Govt Of India New Delhi

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CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


BUILDERS OF MODERN INDIA


RABINDRANATH
TAGORE


AEZ R3


Hiranmay Banerjee


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PUBLICATIONS DIVISION
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA


CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


Ist Edition: 1971 (Kartika 1893)
2nd Edition: 1976 (Kartika 1898)
3rd Edition: 1981 (Sravana 1903)
4th Edition: 2011 (Saka 1932)


N : 978-81-230-1670-2
PD ISB 9


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About The Series


The object of this series is to record, for the present and future
generations, the story of the struggles and achievements of the
eminent sons and daughters of India who have been mainly
instrumental in our national renaissance and the attainment of
independence. Except in a few cases, such authoritative
biographics have not been available.


The biographies are planned as handy volumes written by
knowledgeable people and giving a brief account, in simple
words, of the life and activities of the eminent leaders and of
their times. They are not intended either to be comprehensive
studies or to replace the more elaborate biographies.


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vA


Preface


As the builders of modern India, Rabindranath Tagore
admittedly enjoys a place of eminence. His numerous
contributions again have a distinctive quality of their own. They
cover mainly the spiritual and cultural fields but are not confined
to them and overflow into other fields as well. His contributions
as a creative writer are too well known to be mentioned in detail.
In the cultural field, he distinguished himself as an outstanding
composer who created a new school of music named after him;
as the champion of the traditional dances of India which he revived
and in the process built up a new school of dancing; and lastly,
as a person who turned in old age a painter who attracted warm
appreciation from connoisseurs abroad.


His achievements which extend to other fields are no less
remarkable. As an educationist, he introduced new ideas and in
carrying out experiments with them, built up a unique educational
institution, namely, the Visva Bharati. As a compassionate humanist,
he made new experiments in rural reconstruction for the
amelioration of the condition of the rural people. In this matter
he anticipated the Community Development Programme later
initiated by the Planning Commission. Though averse to political
activities, Tagore’s sensitive mind could not resist reacting to
serious political developments in our country. This explains why
he involved himself so deeply in the anti-partition movement
initiated in Bengal in 1905 and relinquished knighthood after the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. It was with reference to the
anti-partition movement that he introduced the Rakhibandhan
ceremony and composed a collection of patriotic songs which still
continue to sustain and nurture our patriotic feelings.


Tagore’s character is thus very complex and has many facets.
It is this complexity that makes the task of his biographer somewhat


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vi Babu Jagjivan Ram


difficult. An effort has been made in this biographical narrative
to cover the different aspects of his character and contributions
to our heritage by linking his achievements with the events of his
colourful life. It is hoped that the matter presented within the
limitations of the present series will be found sufficiently
comprehensive and give an adequate idea of the life of this great
man.


T consider it a privilege to be invited to make a contribution
to this biographical series on a subject which is very dear to my
heart.


9" May, 1971 Hiranmay Banerjee


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Contents


Chapter Page
I The Ancestors l
II The Family 17
II Birth and Early Days 29
IV Education 39
Vv Development of Literary Talents 50
VI Marriage and Family Life 63
VII Experiment in Education 75
VIII Travail and Distraction 84
IX Spiritual Self-Realisation 97
X Recognition as a World Figure 114
XI India's Spiritual Ambassador 124
XII Educationist and Social Worker 147
XIII As Painter 158
XIV The Last Days 170

Appendix-A 180

(Genealogical Tables)

Appendix-B 185

(Rabindranath Tagore’s Important Works)

Index 190


CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


CC-O. Nanaji Deshmukh Library, BJP, Jammu. Digitized By Siddhanta eGangotri Gyaan Kosha


I
THE ANCESTORS


HE family of the Tagores traces its descent from

Bhattanarayan, author of the celebrated Sanskrit drama Veni
Samharam. There is historical evidence to show that the original
home of Bhattanarayan was in Kanauj and it was at the invitation
of King Adisur of Bengal that he migrated to the king’s court,
along with four other distinguished Brahmins, in the eighth century.
The king not only rewarded him by the gift of extensive lands but
also provided for similar land grants to his sons.


His first son, Adivaraha, settled in the Bandyaghati village, now
known as Bandighat, in Birbhum district. His descendants took
their family name after this village and came to be known as
Bandyopadhyayas. Another son, named Koy, settled in the village
Kush, in Burdwan district and his descendants came to be known
as Kusharis after the name of the village. There is a controversy
as to which of the two branches the Tagore family descended from.
One version links it with the Kusharis and the other with the
Bandyopadhyayas. The members of the Tagore family claim their
descent from Adivaraha and, therefore, say that they originally
bore the family name Bandyopadhyaya.*


The movements of the family remained obscure for several
centuries afterwards. The story goes, however, that Rabindranath’s
remote ancestor, Jagannath of Pithabhog village in Jessore district
in East Bengal, married a daughter of Sukhdev Ray Choudhury
of Chingutia and settled at Narendrapur in the same district.


The next time we hear about them was early in the eighteenth
century. Job Charnock had already laid the foundation of Calcutta.


*Rathindranath Tagore, On the Edges of Time; also Kshitindranath Tagore;
Dwarkanath Thakurer Jivani


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5 Rabindranath Tagore


A port had been opened up near about the place where Fort
William stands. It formed part of the village called Govindapur
which was one of the three villages bought by Job Charnock for
founding Calcutta. The East India Company was plying a brisk
trade at this port. The security and facilities for earning a living
that this infant town offered started attracting people from outside
who settled there and in the process speeded up the pace of its
growth.


It was this new growing city that lured Panchanan, who was
Jagannath’s grandson’s grandson, away from his remote village
home in Jessore district in search of fortune. It appears that he
settled by the bank of the river near the growing port. The area
was inhabited by people who eked out a living by fishing or by
doing labour for transporting merchandise at the port. Though a
lone highcaste Brahmin, living among the common folk, Panchanan,
however, did not prove a misfit. His amiable disposition and noble
character enabled him not only to live with them peacefully but
also to develop ties of affection with them. In fact, his neighbours
started loving himas well as respecting him. They started addressing
him as ‘Thakur’—an appellation which means a ‘Godly man’.


Panchanan must have adopted a profession which brought him
in close contact with the merchants of the East India Company.
The location of his place of living would seem to confirm that.
It is presumed that, having heard him called ‘Thakur’ by his
neighbours, the merchants tried to imitate them. But Indian words
not unoften undergo strange transformation on European lips.
Subjected to the same process, the original Bengali word ‘Thakur’


became transformed into ‘Tagore’ and eventually gave his family
the surname of “Tagore’.*


Panchanan left a son named Jayram who became an Amin
(Surveyor) under the East India Company. It appears that the
family prospered under his care, so that when he died in 1756,
he could leave behind a considerable amount of money for his
widow and four sons. Of the sons, we shall be directly concerned
with the second, called Nilmoni, and the third, Darpanarayan.


*James Farrel. The Tagore Family


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The Ancestors 3


Soon after, the family became displaced from its home at
Govindapur in conseguence of some political events. Serajuddaulla,
the young Nawab of Murshidabad, assumed a very hostile attitude
to the Company, marched to Calcutta in 1756 with an army and
overran the city. The fort was then located at the site where the
General Post Office now stands. Events moved guickly after that.
An army led by Clive marched towards the Nawab's capital at
Murshidabad and defeated him utterly at the battle of Plassey. In
the struggle for power that followed, Serajuddaulla was murdered
and his General Mir Jafar succeeded him as the ruler of Bengal.
With peace thus re-established, the East India Company gave
serious thought to providing for a more effective defence for
Calcutta. The plan for a new fort was drawn up and it was decided
that it should be built at Govindapur, that is, at its present site.
The site was notified for acquisition and consequently the Tagore
family got displaced.

Nilmoni, the head of the family, decided to shift to North
Calcutta. Accordingly, he bought a few plots of land close to the
river bank at Pathuriaghata and built a new home for the family.
His mother gave him money, enough to build a temple and install
deities within the compound. After that it appears, the family was
left in charge of the third brother, Darpanarayan and Nilmoni left
Calcutta in search of fortune elsewhere.

Eventually he found himself a job as the Sheristadar (head
clerk) of a collector of the East India Company, whose
administrative jurisdiction had then spread over not only Bengal
proper but also Orissa and Bihar. There is again a dispute as to
where his place of employment was. One version identified it with
Chittagong and the other with Cuttack. Without going into details,
it may be said that the balance of evidence supports the latter
version and it may be assumed safely that his place of employment
was Cuttack where he continued to serve the Company for a
considerable period of time. It appears that the administrative
jurisdiction of East India Company did not extend to Cuttack until
after the Second Marhatta War in 1803. Even so, it was not
unlikely that Nilmoni had served the Company there with reference
to its commercial activities.


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4 Rabindranath Tagore


In 1784, Nilmoni decided to return to his family house at
Pathuriaghata. Darpanarayan had in the meantime become very
affluent through business transactions more or less on the lines
of banking. It appears that Nilmoni used to send regular remittanee
from his place of employment during his long absence from home
which presumably augmented the resources of his younger brother.
On that plea, Nilmoni demanded a share of the profits earned by
his brother; the demand, it appears. was rejected.


The story goes that this refusal so strongly reacted on the mind
of Nilmoni that he left the family house immediately taking with
him only the deities which had been previously installed by him.
The distress of this respectable man so touched the heart of a well-
to-do neighbour named Vaishnabdas Seth that the latter immediately
made over to him as gift a sizeable plot of land in the Jorasanko
area, which lies a few furlongs to the south-east of the original
home of the Tagores.* That is how the family house of the Tagores
at Jorasanko, at present known as premises No. 6 of Dwarkanath
Tagore Lane, was founded in about 1784.


It appears that the differences over sharing of profits between
the two brothers were subsequently made up through the good
offices of mutual friends. Darpanarayan paid one lakh rupees in


full satisfaction of all claims of Nilmoni and the matter was Teet
as closed. **


Nilmoni died in 1791 leaving behind three sons named Ram-
lochan, Rammani and Ramballabh. Ramlochan and Rammani
married two sisters. Ramlochan’s wife Alaka Devi had no male
child. Rammani's wife Menoka Devi had been blessed with a son
who was named Radhanath. A few years later, in 1794, she got
a second son who was named Dwarkanath. Now Alaka, the elder
sister, expressed a desire that she should be allowed to adopt this
second son. The proposal found ready acceptance from her sister
and brother-in-law. The fact that they were doubly related and
belonged to the same family made this easy. Unfortunately,


*James Farrel, The Tagore Family,
**Bhavasindhu Datta, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore


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The Ancestors 5


however, the cruel hand of death snatched away Menoka Devi
from the scene when hardly a year had passed after the birth of
this second son, and the ceremony which should have completed
the legal adoption could not take place. ~


The question of legal adoption was reopened five years later
in 1799. The father had no reason to object. So the ceremony was
gone through and Dwarkanath attained legally the status of his
uncle Ramlochan’s son. But even before this legal ceremony was
gone through, the aunt Alaka Devi had by her own merits earned
the right to step into the shoes of the natural mother. She took
charge of the child when he was still an infant in arms and brought
him up with all the care and attention that could have been showered
by the real mother.


When Ramlochan died in 1807, Dwarkanath had just stepped
into his teens.


Dwarkanath was destined to play a great part not only in the
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