Rabindranath Tagore’s fascination with Japan and his ambivalent feelings about Gandhi’s non-co operation movement are few of the unknown facts that historian Ramachandra Guha highlighted at a recent lecture
For decades, Rabindranath Tagore’s works have interested million of readers worldwide but historian and biographer Ramachandra Guha discovered the world of the bard through a book called Truth Called Them Differently by RK Prabhu. Thereafter he dedicated an entire summer to reading a few of Tagore’s works.
Such was the depth of his research on the laureate that he could share several lesser known information about Tagore. Speaking on the poet at the Rosalind Wilson Memorial lecture, Guha shared that Tagore travelled mostly out of curiosity. “Unlike Gandhi, Nehru or Ambedkar, Tagore was most consciously internationalist,” he added. This aspect of Tagore’s persona set the mood for the lecture titled Between Nationalism and Internationalism: The Political Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore.
Although he began with insights into Tagore’s life, Guha focussed on the poet’s non-fictional writing. He also explored Tagore’s thoughts on three major events that left a mark in world history — the Swadeshi Movement, World War I and Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. He spoke in detail about Tagore’s view of the Swadeshi Movement and also read out from a rare 1908 letter that the poet had written to a friend. “Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual centre, I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity,” he quoted.
The historian further explained how Tagore was critical of the developments during the Swadeshi movement, considering them “xenophobic, chauvinistic.”
Tagore was very fascinated with Japan, he told us, recounting the poet’s trips to the country and also to US. There, Tagore held talks warning the countries against joining the Europeans in war. “True modernism is freedom of mind not slavery of taste,” cited Guha from one of Tagore’s lectures to a Japanese audience, pointing out how Tagore’s talks on “true nationalism” were “not so well-received” in America.
The lecture took an interesting turn where Guha spoke about his relationship with Gandhi and his reaction to the non-cooperation movement. “Tagore had ambivalent feelings about the non-cooperation movement,” the historian shared.Guha generously quoted from Tagore’s letter to his friend CF Andrews, who was an “intermediary between him and Gandhi.”
