Sudhir Kakar’s new book Young Tagore is a psychobiography of the poet. He told Iknoor Kaur that it explores his unknown side and delves deep into his psyche
Two years ago the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) asked Sudhir Kakar to comment on Rabindranath Tagore’s paintings. The psychoanalyst was mesmerised by what he saw and immediately delved into the master’s vision. Further probe led to his recent psychobiography, Young Tagore. “It was like a discovery of Tagore for me. He was a man who had a troubled childhood and he was extremely sensitive and stressful. I feel it is very important to like a person to write his or her biography. However, in my case I needed to focus on not idolising him,” he said at the launch of his book at the Residence of France.
The book is a detailed account and speculation of Rabi (Tagore’s youth name) by Kakar who has mapped the Indian psyche in the process. He explained, “I didn’t go by Rabi’s looks. He was a boy who had the youth’s extremes. He was young but was hurt and unhappy. For a psychoanalyst there is anyway nothing like happy (laughs), but — Rabi’s childhood was very complex one indeed.”
According to him, Tagore’s unhappiness began when he was six or seven and continued in the later part of his life. He stressed that this was a big determinant in making Rabi the Tagore we know today. “At the age of six Rabi was separated from his mother to stay with servants, as a part of the family tradition. This exile was terrible for him, but that contributed in making him a great poet,” he said, adding that one of Rabi’s writings about the loss of his mother, is a proof to this. He continued, “His mother passed away when he was 14 but what he wrote about his mother read like a piece written by some seven-year-old. This means that according to him, his mother left him the day he was made to stay with the servants. His psyche formed the structure of his work.”
Kakar feels that poetry was the only saving grace for Rabi. He said, “Tagore used poetry as a tool to keep himself occupied. Without his poetry he would’ve been lost and this was the case till the time he met his sister-in-law, Kadambari Devi.”
The scholar stated that he went deep into the psychology of Tagore to understand his “much scrutinised” relationship with Kadambari. “When Kadambari came into the family she was only two years elder to Rabi and 13 years younger to her husband. So, inevitably the two of them got along very well. Her influence on him was tremendous. She always encouraged his poetry because she used to write too. However, at 16 Tagore faced the dilemma — how to be so close to her without being too close. And that pressure shows in his writing too.”
There is a chapter in the book titled Kadambari, and the Smell of Buttered Toast. Kakar read out an excerpt from the book in order to explain the context. “The relationship with Kadambari had rooted Rabi, seduced him back into the world, quickened his psyche with the life force of Eros, given him great joy and affirmed his destiny as a poet; and yet it inevitably came up against the reality that she belonged to another. In a letter he wrote, ‘The room was filled with the smell of melting butter on those warm toasts… I was like slippery moss, gently floating over life and family, I still didn’t have any roots anywhere… it was like I was not anyone’s — from morning till night, I was only in the hands of servants, and didn’t have any option of experiencing any loving touch. Jyotida was married, he had someone to think about him, from early morning he had his warm toasts going.’ That is why I gave this name to the chapter.”
Kakar mentioned in his book that Kadambari “garbed his (Rabi) soul in erotic grace”. He feels that she had such a huge role in Tagore’s life that when she committed suicide, it was devastating for him. “She was the only person he ever opened up to. So, Rabi’s life came to a standstill when she killed herself. For Kadambari, the biggest betrayal was his marriage,” he added.
Kakar also debated Tagore’s philosophy of the West. He shared, “He was a man of many dualities. He always felt that being one human being is not enough for a creative person. He loved the West because at the age of 16 when he went abroad he found a new side to himself. He loved the culture there but at the same time he loved India as well. He aimed at striking the right balance.”
Tagore was a lonely man but at the same time accompanied by his thoughts. “loneliness doesn’t lead to creativity. But if with loneliness there is fullness of thought, creativity pours out of you. That is why people say that the most creative people work in solitude,” he signed off.