Rabindranath: There must be an angel

 Momtaz Ahmed 

Published on February 13, 2007

 
 
In the Net we can find many comments on Rabindranath Tagore. Readers are asking a variety of questions, and obviously it is natural. Lot of philosophy, idealism and theology are creating controversies which formulate serious confusion. Latest is The Da Vinci Code. No one is spared of criticism, even God, prophets, saints and so on. The website discussion is always prone to misunderstanding and misjudgment due to the fact that many people with diverse views make the subject cloudier.
 
We have the culture of Mosque, graveyard and Adhan with Temple, Shoshan and Shonghkho-dhoni. Even in the beginning of 20th century the Hindus and Muslim were very ignorant about communal problem. They were mostly involved in their ordinary daily life to earn bread and butter. In 1905, the Hindus fought gallantly against the division of Bengal. Within seven years slowly politics came to be increasingly dominated by communal issues. The scenario was very different in 1947.They did not rise when Bengal was divided to create Muslim East Pakistan. Muslims were late to realize that their educational backwardness was a root cause of their decline in other fields of life. Racial conflicts were a reality and ultimately Bengal involved Hindu-Muslim politics, which eventually led to birth of Pakistan.
 
Asutosh Mukherjee, Vice-chancellor of Calcutta and many Hindu leaders were not happy with the proposal of Dhaka University. Dr. Rash Bihari Ghosh led a delegation and met viceroy on February 16, 1920 and expressed university at Dhaka would promote an internal partition of Bengal. Later also recorded in Calcutta University Commission report, that "Muslims of Eastern Bengal were in large majority cultivators and they would benefit in no way by the foundation of a university". Their campaign didn�t work and we acknowledge with honour the great contribution of non-Muslims such as Dr. Wa Jenkins, Prof Satyendra Nath Bose, Dr. JC Ghose, Dr.Hara Prasad Shastri, Dr. Haridas Bhattcharya and more.
 
Politics or religion cannot divide the heart of Bengali people. What I care is that 44 million ordinary bengali of West Bengal bared our suffering, humuliation, sorrow and stood beside us in 1971. They were not upper cast, politician or  Hindu extremist.
 
A man like Rabindranath needs no verbal and superficial praise. If we rewind our pages we might see Avijit Roy�s on Friday May 10, 2002 forwarded an article of Mohammad Abdullah �Paying Homage � Died of Harness!� He also posted another article of Shakil Sarwar, 30th May 2002. I was really interested on his last sentence, �Readers are requested to read the article carefully and comment from their knowledge.�  
 
I have seen cross-cultural relation between Western and Indian scholars have a long, diverse history. To me Rabindranath is a solitary pilgrim in the eternal quest of boundless bliss that is perhaps beyond the realm of human experience. His life was in search of global form of religious expression, rooted in the spirit of lovely Bengali tradition. His contribution is the pride of undivided India irrespective of religion.
 
Perhaps there is no shortage of decadent ideas about the issues relate to Rabinadranath now and then. People didn�t like the blessing of Kabi Guru to Nazrul. When Rabinadranath dedicated his Boshonto drama to Nazul, he found the blessing turned into a curse. Can we envisage how much respect Kazi Nazrul had towards him? Once Nazrul wrote, �I do not only respect Bishaw Kabi, I have always worshipped him with body and soul, the same way the idolater worships his beloved idol.  When I was much younger I used to stand reverent before his picture with the full accompaniment of flowers, incense and sandalwood paste.�
 
Bangladesh�s foremost woman poet Sufia Kamal, in her poem Panchishe baishakh identified Rabindranath with the power of Nature. She wishes to honour him with the same fecundity that the earth offers to the sun at spring.
 
Tagore�s mediation on God, human and nature offers melody to infinite. It echoes the Vedantic perception of the whole but also convey the ardour of a Vaishnavaite bhakta's love for God. How beautifully his Two Sisters (Dui Bon) tells about the eternal conflict that arises when a man does not find a mother figure and a sweetheart in the same person.
 
There is no end of mockery and sarcasm in the name of religion. As a human being Rabinranath had good and bad sides. Tagore worked for the betterment of humanity and not the benefit of the individual. This called by some a religion, but it is really a philosophy. His contribution is pride of Benagli speaking people irrespective of religion.
 
My admiration can best be kept in my heart and minds rather than be expressed by words. I convey my care for with James Blunt�s lyrics, �My life is brilliant, my love is pure�, from his song you�re Beautiful. But it�s time to tell the truth, Tagore must be an angel, of that I�m sure. By no means can anyone minimize his status among us and among the poets and literary giants around the world.
 
Momtaz Ahmed
 Toronto, Canada