In the life of a poet
or a novelist or any creative writer, external events are not important as the internal
ones. The circumstances surrounding him and his response to them played an important role
in the making of Tagore, the writer and the man.
Being a little boy in a
large family with no mother was pathetic. He was expected to behave like a grown-up. His
family environment encouraged creativity. After his mother’s death he was more
inclined towards writing. In fact, he wrote a poem at the age of seven.
Once, while returning to
Calcutta from Deoghar he found the compartment in which he was travelling was crowded. He
was planning to sleep but because of the noise he was not able to do so. So he thought he
would think a little more about ‘Balak’, the book he wanted to write. But sleep
came instead. He dreamt that seeing the blood of the victims of a sacrifice, on the
stone-steps of a temple, a little girl standing there with her father, asked him in
piteous accents, "Father, what is this, why all this blood ?" And the father,
inwardly moved, with a show of gruffness tried to quiet her questioning. As he awoke, he
felt that he now had his story. This is how he went on to write ‘Rajarshi’.
The British Governm ent honored Tagore
with a Knighthood, conferring on him the title ‘Sir’. After the massacre at the
Jalianwala Baug, an outraged and shocked Tagore refused to accept the Knighthood. He wrote
a letter to the Viceroy expressing his outrage.
He went on a tour of
Germany where he was given a hearty welcome. Then, in Bucharest the Rumanian aristocracy
eulogized him, especially the ladies, who courted and kissed his hand. He was speaking in
the parlor of one of the best hotels in town when a woman cried, "He’s wounded!
The poet’s hands are bleeding!" This statement was even more dramatic because
Tagore had just been saying that the blood of our fellow mortals should never stain our
hands. "A miracle", went a murmur, " The blood on the hands is a sign from
heaven." There was a silence. Tagore looked down at his hands and smiled. His hand
was red from the over-rouged lips of the ladies who had kissed his hand.
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One of Tagore’s most celebrated meetings is that with Einstein that took place in 1930. Tagore met him through a common friend, Dr. Mendel. They did not have much contact with each other since Einstein’s friendly letter to Tagore in 1926. They met each other around four times, in Berlin and in New York. Two of the conversations that they had, were published and are even today read with interest by anyone interested in the nature of science and philosophy. They discussed the scientific view of the universe and the nature of truth and beauty.
Einstein: Truth, then, or beauty, is not independent of man?
Tagore: No.
Einstein: If there were no human beings any more, the Apollo Belvedere no longer would be beautiful?
Tagore: No.
Einstein: I agree with regard to this conception to beauty, but not with regard to truth.
Tagore: Why not? Truth is realized through men. |
He met many other men of
genius and his conversations with many of them have been recorded. Some have appeared in
newspapers and in books. He also met H .G. Wells in Geneva in 1930. An excerpt from the
conversation:
Wells: We
are gradually thinking now of one human civilization on the foundation of which
individualities will have great chance of fulfillment. The individual, as we take him, has
suffered from the fact that civilization has been split up into separate units, instead of
being merged into a universal whole, which seems to be the natural destiny of mankind.
Tagore: I
believe the unity of human civilization can be better maintained by linking up in
fellowship and co-operation of the different civilizations of the world.
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