Remembering Tagore: The Great Indian Polymath

Remembering Tagore: the Indian Polymath

                                       By- Aaditya Wadhwa

15th August,1947. Our country got independence from years of British Rule. But this day of independence did not come so easily. It took us about 100 years of struggle and protest to get our country back from the English Rule. In these 100 years of freedom struggle, every Indian fought for the country in different ways. Some like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and Bose fought with bullets, while others with politics and Satyagraha like Nehru and Gandhi. But there were also some poets and writers, who through their robust writings, used to raise their voice against the Britishers. One such intellectual was Rabindranath Tagore.

Born in Calcutta on 7th May, 1861 to parents Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi, Tagore went on to become an exceptional personality. He wrote many dramas, short stories, novels, poems and songs, composing as many as 2,000 of them. He is the only writer whose compositions have been chosen as the national anthem for two countries- Jan Gan Man(India) and Amar Sonar Bangla(Bangladesh). 

Unfortunately, due to a chronic illness, we lost this great personality on August 7th,1941.

Today, it is his 160th Birth Anniversary. In all these years, Tagore’s readers have expanded worldwide. He had a unique style of highlighting socio-political issues through his stories. In one such story he writes-

“There is no god in the temple!” The Sage said. 

Hearing this, the king beams with anger. “We performed all the rituals, spent 2,00,000 gold coins! And you say there is no god in the temple?!” The Sage replies- “In the year when 20,00,000 of your people were facing devastating drought, where they could not afford food for their families. When they were returned empty handed from your door. In that year, you construct a temple spending 2,00,000 gold coins!

God’s house is not made from bricks and mortar, it is rather made on the morals and values of Truth, Ahimsa, Empathy and Love. How will a king who couldn’t provide a home for his people, make a home for God?!

The temple you have constructed is hollow. It is a bubble of pride.”

Such was the richness in Tagore’s literature. He became the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize in 1913 for his book Geetanjali. He was also honored by Knighthood by the British Empire. But he returned the honor later to register protest against the inhuman Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Tagore was a far-sighted visionary. His views on lack of human values and the idea of nation are well articulated in his lectures.

“Political Freedom does not give us the freedom when our mind is not free!”

He did not believe in materialistic independence. According to Tagore, true independence lies in the freedom of the mind. He believed that until one is free to think for oneself, one is not absolutely free.

He used to talk about freedom of the mind where each person can study and examine everything for himself and can form his own opinion which is not based upon fake news and propaganda. According to him, to express your ideology and opinion based on facts and truth is the ultimate freedom.

Until we raise our voice for ourselves, we are not free no matter who is in power.

“Let your crown be of humility, 

your freedom, the freedom of the soul!” 

Tagore’s ideas continue to fascinate readers till this date and are as relevant as they were when formed. However, Tagore’s vision for an India free from the shackles of misery is far from true. On his birth anniversary, let us pledge to strive towards shaping a better tomorrow, in Tagore’s words-

“Where the mind is without fear,

And the head is held high.

Where knowledge is free,

Into the heaven of freedom,

My father, let my country awake!”