Tagore: His Glory, Triumph And Tragedy Tayeb Husain

Personal Reflection

TAGORE: HIS GLORY, TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY

Tayeb Husain

Published on February 13, 2007

Rabindranath Tagore was the greatest Bengali poet; there is no doubt about that and none in the history of Bengali literature is close to him when we compare his literary greatness and versatility. But he was great and controversial among some Bengali intellectuals of his time and until he got the Nobel Prize in literature (1913). All of sudden even his vocal critics became his flatterers and joined hands in making him a demigod to Bengali people. That phenomenon caused great damage to Bengali psyche and thereby understanding of this famous poet correctly became almost impossible. Nobody dares to criticise him and flatterers expect everybody to accept Tagoreï¿½s literary creations as messages from the Riga-Veda, Torah, Bible and Koran all mixed together. They find in Tagore the incarnation of Brahma and Jesus Christ and worship him almost as God. No criticism please or we will take on you, the threat and warning at all times the flatterers spread relentlessly. Is there any difference between these flatterers and the Taliban and the Hindu and the Muslim fundamentalists? Readers can judge themselves and get some concrete proves of this statement from recent write-ups of some pseudo Tagore flatterers whom we find in the cyber sites. In this write-up, however, we shall try to assess Tagore, his poetry, his triumph and his tragedy, if any, so that we can understand this great Bengali poet as he really is. I use the synonym ï¿½isï¿½ because a man of letters is always with us and I for one respect Tagore for the weight of his virtues and not for his vices. He was a human being and one needs to judge him as a mortal and not as god and this write-up in not to express any flout to him but make clear some points which the Tagore flatterers need to keep in their mind for Tagoreï¿½s and their own sake.

Tagore wrote relentlessly over 65 years. In him we find a poet, a novelist, a dramatist, an essayist, a music writer, a composer, a painter and even a singer at its best. Such a versatile man is rare and that makes Tagore a unique personality. His myriad mind created wonderful poetry, top novels, dramas, songs plus many other things. But not all his poems are world class, some are, we can not deny the remark, are ï¿½post-card poemsï¿½. The reason is also very simple.

Tagore started writing at a very tender age; he was young, had no experience and no good knowledge for correctly understanding life. Tagoreï¿½s poem got maturity with his age and he wrote many great poems that made him a great master of the art. But his poetry is not the very best in the world, comparing, for example Shakespeareï¿½s. I have read Shakespeare a little and I am not qualified in assessing this giant of a poet. Shakespearean language is difficult for me even today but one gets hypnotised while reading his sonnets and dramas. I still remember Prof. Munir Chowdhuryï¿½s lectures on Macbeth at Dhaka University. In those days reading Shakespeare was boring to me because I did not understand that much the depth of that drama then and I had to look to dictionary to find out the meaning of many words in that drama. With time I learnt English a little better and also develop some sense of understanding, in my own way of course. I do not say it is perfect or even near perfect but I can understand Tagore vis-ï¿½-vis Shakespeare much better and enjoy both but again, different ways.

Rabindranath attracts me because he speaks my mother tongue but I am enchanted by Shakespeare because his every word, every sentence, every connotation thrills me and I get enchanted even though it is in a foreign tongue. Once I read Rabindranath and I can do without it for months or, until I long for reading Bengali again. Shakespeareï¿½s many characters are witches, ghosts, spirits or phantoms but to a reader it appears real, and words from their mouths sound genuine and true. That reality I do not feel while reading Tagore, I find him inferior someway even to Michael (M. S. Dutta). It is not quantity but quality that counts and in that measure, Michael is superior to Tagore. He wrote no post card poetry. This judgement is mine and I do not insist anyone to join me.

Tagoreï¿½s novels are excellent by Bengali standard but can we compare it with any of Tolstoyï¿½s novels? Tagore lacks Tolstoyï¿½s depth, profundity and understanding. Tagore has no novel which we can safely compare with Tolstoyï¿½s ï¿½War and Peaceï¿½.

What about Tagoreï¿½s drama? It could be thrilling to Bengali mind but it is certainly not comparable with Shawï¿½s, quote one just as example, the ï¿½Pygmalionï¿½. After Shakespeare it is Shaw the most towering personality in the worldsï¿½ theatre. Shawï¿½s wit, humour and perception Tagore could never reach.

Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Shaw are originals and nobody ever said that any one of them had copied anybodyï¿½s idea. Unfortunately we can not say the same about Tagore. There is rumour that Tagoreï¿½s ï¿½Goraï¿½ and ï¿½Gharay Bhiraï¿½ are copies of two English novels. It is not Abdullah or Taj Hashmi who whispered it to my ear but by reading genuine literary critics (and non-Muslims) I learnt it while I was a student at Dhaka University in mid sixties. One Kali Mohan found out many Tagoreï¿½s poems nothing but copies of other poetsï¿½ works. In short I want to say, I am not anti-Tagore, I read his works and I listen to his songs. But why I need to worship him and consider him the greatest on earth when I find him, by my own judgement, not so? How many non-Bengali Indian read Tagoreï¿½s books and listen to his songs? Very little, empirical studies confirm, comparing their (other Indians) fascinations for Shakespeare, Tolstoy or Shaw, Oskar Wilde and many other European literary figures.

Tagore triumph in life was winning the novel prize (a controversial prize one can say). But I am happy about it and not proud and I do not know how much Alfred Nobelï¿½s dynamite money is good for any prize. And I strongly believe that one need not be proud for anything in life. I am not a nationalist or a fanatic of any kind. My only fanaticism, if any bit of it I have, is in seeking the truth and I will finish this write-up talking about that truth that we always need to uphold in our value judgement.

I said that I am happy because Tagore got Nobel Prize. It is nice that someone got this honour sometime in Bengali literature. I have lived most of my life in a foreign country; still I feel nostalgia for my mother tongue. I can also say that I find poetry written by ordinary poets in Sweden, Norway or Denmark often expound depths and feelings that are enchanting, amazing and an thing of joy. Sadly, I can not say so, generally, about our Bengali literature. We are still poor if not very poor in arts and letters as we are economically. This assessment is based on our population, we are over 250 millions, are not we?

I was happy again when Sen got Nobel Prize in Economics. I am not anti-Indian or anti-Pakistani and not even pro-Bangladeshi when I find Bangladesh in the wrong side. Nor do I ever judge things from religious angle because I do not believe in any conventional religion. But I do not mind calling a spade a spade and I refuse to be carried away by any popular craze or daft fashion.

Tagoreï¿½s life was a tragic one too. Talking about Tagoreï¿½s tragedy I do not talk about the premature death of his wife or any other member of his family. I am talking about tragedy of his outlook, his social, political and economic staunch. There rests his shame and tragedies indeed. He was a Zamindar and by all means a cruel one. The whole Tagore clan was like that. They burnt villages because the poor subjects failed to pay rent. The Tagore family or Tagore never built any school or dug any pond for their subjects from whom they earned huge fortune. Tagoreï¿½s poor subjects lived along the river Padma and when he took-up the job (of collecting rents) from his father, he increased the balance sheet by 300%. He had even the ill and communal mind to plan eviction of Muslim subjects from his state and replace them by the schedule caste Hindus. Tagore never tolerated any criticism or anyone opposing of his views. That is what many said who worked in Santhinekaton or had close contact with him. Tagoreï¿½s religious faith was again a controversial muddle up slant. He was a mixed-up man and he said many hocus-pocus things that do not make any sense. He was a reactionary communal person but unfortunately Muslims community blamed Bankim Chandra more loudly and clearly for that crime than they did against Tagore. Bankim was a government servant (a deputy magistrate) but he was anti-colonialist and anti-British whereas Tagore was a British flatterer and rose to fame with their support. If he had half of Biddhasargarï¿½s humanity, Hindu-Muslim relation in Bengal could have improved greatly. Men like Tagore were responsible for many communal ills that poison Hindu-Muslim relationship even today. Tagore the man of letters disgraced himself by being a Tagore, the communal Hindu. His ï¿½Brahmasamajï¿½ connection was outright duplicity if not plain hypocrisy. His grandfather Dwarkanth, the fake prince, was a collaborator with the colonial power and minted money doing business with their kindness. His father Debendranath all of a sudden became ï¿½Maharshiï¿½ and Rabindranath himself a ï¿½Kabiguruï¿½ and indeed a communal ï¿½guruï¿½ in Bengali literature. But one can forgive him considering that communalism was part and parcel of social life at his time and both the Hindu and the Muslim community can be equally blamed for that. However, we blame Hindus loudly because they were the educated class when the Muslims were the underdogs. Tagore again represents the towering personality of the Hindu community and thus he bears the blame strongly and vividly. But should we cry over it or try to hide to make Tagore an angel? What for? Even his bones do not exist today and no use possessing any grudge against him now because he was communal. But need not we know it to know the man correctly?

There were many black spots in Tagoreï¿½s character and we need not blame him today or judge him by present dayï¿½s value judgement. In this context I would like to say that Tagore, the great writer of Bengali literature, was not up to our expectation as a man and especially in his personal life. That is a tragedy. But who says that the man and the poet must be the same? We, of course, need to be afraid of when contamination takes place between the man and his literary life. Tagore contaminated both sides of his life and was mixed-up or jumbled he got in many ways. Muslims blame Bankim for writing ï¿½Bande-mataramï¿½ and they consider this song very offensive and against the Muslims. Actually Bankim wrote it hymning greater Bengal (Bengal Presidency), he had no concept of one India as that concept did not evolve until early twentieth century. But Tagore wrote his famous ï¿½ Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He, Bharat Bhagya Vidhataï¿½ aiming George V on his visit to India. He was approached by Ashutosh Chowdhury, elder brother of Pramath Chowdhury, to write this song addressing George Frederich Ernest Albert who succeeded his father on 6 May 1910 as George V. He was crowned on 22 June 1911 and at the end of that year he visited India, being the first British emperor to do so. The flatterers of Tagore try to hide this truth and say that it is not George-V but the God and mother India whom he hailed. Tagoreï¿½s sin becomes very profound and dishonourable when we remember that he wrote this song addressing George V only 3 years before he got the Noble Prize (in 1913) and most importantly, when he was a fully matured man. It shows how poor his taste was and it is indeed his greatest disgrace and tragedy. He became a fifth-columnist by writing this infamous song. Indian adaptation of this disgraceful song, how wonderful it may be from literary point of view, is again a slur on 1.2 billion Indian people.

Friends and enemies of Tagore please accept history and accept the truth regarding Tagore. You honour yourself and the great Bengali poet by doing so. You need to understand him correctly for your own sake. Truth may be unpleasant, truth may be unacceptable or politically incorrect, truth may be painful to swallow but truths prevail and truth will purify your souls. If you hide truth for convenience, lie will infect your body like cancer and you will bring down yourself and your God with you. I wrote before, Tagore will survive with his own virtues and not by flatterers hymn or prayer and, possibility is there, that ignorant flatters one day bring this great son of Bengal down with their unqualified support and disproportionate sycophancy and obsequiousness.

Tayeb Husain, Lund, Sweden

Note for the reader, if any: Every remark in this write-up is taken from well know literary critics and if someone needs the source of my any reference may contact me directly through my e-mail address: [email protected]