Ilya Stogov rock. Ilya Yurievich Stogov: biography
Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, musician and artist of the late 19th and early 20th century Bengali Renaissance who had a great influence on Indian art and literature. The author of Gitanjali in 1913 became the first non-European to be awarded Nobel Prize. His legacy is preserved at the University of Visva-Bharati, and his poetic compositions have become the anthems of India and Bangladesh.
Childhood and youth
Rabindranath Tagore, nicknamed Rabi, was born on May 7, 1861 in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta into a large family of a landowner, a Brahmin Debendranath Tagore, and his wife Sarada Devi.
The father traveled a lot, and the mother died when the future poet was very young, so Rabindranath and other children were brought up by servants and invited teachers. Being at the forefront of cultural and social life, the Tagore family regularly arranged theater and creative evenings, was fond of Bengali and Western classical music. As a result, children brought up in the advanced traditions of the time became famous educated people.
In addition to Rabindranath, the Tagore family was glorified by older brothers who were philosophers, playwrights and public figures, as well as a sister who became a well-known novelist in India.
Rabindranath avoided schooling and preferred to wander around the estate and the surrounding area and do gymnastics, wrestling and swimming under the supervision of his brother. In parallel, he mastered fine arts, anatomy, history, geography, literature, arithmetic, Sanskrit and English.
Having reached adulthood, Rabindranath and his father went to the foothills of the Himalayas, where the young man listened to melodic singing in the sacred Golden Temple of Amritsar, studied history, astronomy, modern science, Sanskrit and the classical poetry of Kalidasa.
Poems and prose
Returning from a trip, Tagore wrote 6 poems and a poetic novel, which he presented as a lost creation of a fictional author of the 17th century. At the same time, the young writer made his debut in the genre of the story, publishing in Bengali a miniature "Beggar Woman" ("Bhiharini").
Since Debendranath wished that youngest child became a lawyer, in 1878 Rabindranath entered University College London and studied law for several months. The hatred of formal education made the young man give up science and devote himself to reading. In England, Tagore got acquainted with creativity and imbued with the folklore traditions of Foggy Albion.
At a young age, Rabindranath composed plays in collaboration with his brothers, some of them were shown at creative evenings in the family mansion. Later, independent dramatic works were born from the plots of short stories. They were reflections on eternal philosophical themes, sometimes containing elements of allegory and grotesque.
In 1880, the young man returned to Bengal and began to regularly publish his own poems, novels and stories, written under the influence of European traditions, which was a completely new phenomenon in the Brahmin classical literature. This period of writing includes collections of "Evening" and "Morning" songs, as well as the book "Chabi-O-Gan".
Tagore's stories were published in a magazine, and then were published as a separate three-volume collection containing 84 works, in which the writer talked about the modern world with characteristic newfangled tendencies, mind games, and unhappy life. ordinary people. A vivid example of the latter theme was the miniatures "Hungry Stones" and "Runaway", written in 1895.
Poems by Rabindranath TagoreIn 1891, the poet began work on transcribing folk works about the life of the common people of Bengal. The Golden Boat, Chitara, Harvest were published from 1893 to 1901, followed by the novel The Grain of Sand, published in 1903.
Since 1908, Rabindranath worked on the works included in the collection "Gitanjali", which in translation meant "Sacrificial chants". 157 verses were devoted to the relationship between man and God, revealed through simple and understandable images. Structural minimalism made the lines catchy, as a result of which they began to be used as quotations.
The collection has been translated into English language and published in Europe and America. In 1913, the author of "Gitanjali" was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his elegant storytelling, creative thinking and exceptional craftsmanship. In the 1930s, Rabindranath experimented with various literary movements. He tried to add modernist notes to classical Bengali poetry. This was most clearly manifested in the mature poetic works of the author.
During his life, Tagore created hundreds of poems, dozens of stories and 8 novels, the topics of which were village life, problems of Bengali society, generational conflict, religion and others. A special place in the writer's work was occupied by the lyrical work "The Last Poem". The poetic lines included in the short story formed the basis of the composer's song, which sounded in the movie "You never dreamed of."
Song on poems by Rabindranath Tagore "The Last Poem"In the late 1930s, Rabindranath turned his writing activity into a scientific direction. He published several research essays in the fields of biology, astronomy and physics, and also composed a number of poems and short stories, where lyrics were intertwined with academic knowledge. Poetry and prose, created at the end of Tagore's life, are distinguished by gloomy colors and a premonition of imminent death. According to literary critics, the work of this period was the best legacy of the Bengali creator.
Music and paintings
Tagore was not only a writer and poet, he became the author of more than 2 thousand songs, from prayer hymns to folk and lyrical melodies. The composing side of Rabindranath's work is inseparable from the literary one, since the smooth sound of the poetic lines of the Bengali creator was musical in itself.
Anthem of India written by Rabindranath TagoreSome of Tagore's lyrics became songs after the author's death. So, in 1950, his poem became the words of the Indian national anthem, and in 1970, the lines of the work "Amar Shonar Bangla" were chosen for the official music of the state of Bangladesh.
Rabindranath also succeeded as a painter. His brushes belong to about 2.5 thousand works, repeatedly exhibited at home and in other countries.
Tagore was interested in the trends of modern art, adopted advanced techniques and used them in his own paintings. He tried himself as a realist, primitivist, impressionist artist. His creations are distinguished by an unconventional selection of colors, which researchers associate with color blindness, and regular geometric silhouettes, a consequence of a passion for the exact sciences.
Social activity
In the early 1900s, Tagore settled in a family mansion in Santiniketan, not far from Calcutta, where he combined creativity with social and political activity. The poet founded the asylum of the sages, which included a school, a chapel, vast areas with green spaces and a library.
At the same time, Rabindranath became the protector of the revolutionary figure Tilak and organized the Swadeshi movement, which protested against the partition of Bengal. He was not a supporter of radical extremist measures, but advocated change through education and peaceful enlightenment. In 1921, with funds raised from around the world, Tagore built the Welfare Abode, designed to help the villagers.
And in the 1930s, the writer turned to social problem caste division. Thanks to statements about the clan of the untouchables in lectures and in his own works, Rabindranath achieved for them the right to be present in the famous Krishna Temple located in Guruvayur. In 1940, the poet personally met the leader of the Indian independence movement, whose violent methods he did not approve of. A memorable photo from this meeting has been preserved in the archives.
Tagore traveled a lot around the world, studied various religions, got acquainted with great foreign contemporaries. The writer had a negative attitude towards the problem of nationalism, talked about it during lectures in the USA and Japan, and later devoted a journalistic work to this topic. Rabindranath was sharply criticized by the German attack on Soviet Union, he condemned politics and believed in retribution for bloody deeds and the triumph of justice.
Personal life
Little is known about the personal life of the great Bengali. In 1883, Tagore married 10-year-old Mrinalini Devi, born Bhabatarini. Early marriages of Indian girls were a common practice at the time. The couple had five children, two of whom died in early childhood.
In 1890, Rabindranath took over the reins of government over the vast family estates in the Shelaidakhi region and moved his family there 8 years later. Tagore spent his time cruising the Padme River on the family barge, collecting rent and blessing the peasants.
The beginning of the 1900s became a time of tragic losses in the biography of the Bengali creator. Mrinalini died in 1902 in Santiniketan, a year later Rabindranath lost his daughter, then the head of the Tagore family died, leaving his youngest son a small inheritance. In 1907, Tagore's youngest child fell victim to a cholera epidemic.
Death
In 1937, Tagore began to suffer from chronic pain, which developed into a long illness. One day he fainted and was in a coma for some time. Periods of creativity were replaced by times when the physical state the creator did not allow him to work.
After a second loss of consciousness in 1940, Rabindranath could not recover. He dictated his last works to his friends and secretary.
On August 7, 1941, Tagore died at his home in Jorasanko. The exact cause of death is unknown, researchers believe that the writer was killed by old age and a debilitating illness.
The death of the great Bengali bard was a tragedy for many people around the world who honored his memory by organizing festivals of creativity and holidays in his honor.
Quotes
The fountain of death sets in motion the stagnant water of life.
Pessimism is a form of spiritual alcoholism.
The Almighty respected me as long as I could rebel,
When I fell at his feet, he neglected me.
Having wallowed in pleasures, we cease to feel any pleasure.
Bibliography
- 1881 - Evening Songs
- 1883 - "Bibha's Shore"
- 1891 - "The story of the road"
- 1893 - "Rook"
- 1910 - Gitanjali
- 1916 - "Four Lives"
- 1925 - Evening Melodies
- 1929 - "The Last Poem"
- 1932 - "Completion"
- 1933 - "Two Sisters"
- 1934 - "Malancha" ("Flower Garden")
- 1934 - "Four Chapters"
English Rabindranath Tagore; beng. রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Robindronath Thakur; alias: Bhanu Shingho
Indian writer, poet, composer, artist, public figure
short biography
An outstanding Indian writer, poet, public figure, artist, composer, the first Asian Nobel Prize winner in literature - was born in Calcutta on May 7, 1861. He was the 14th child of a very famous and prosperous family. Being hereditary landowners, the Tagores made their home open to many famous public figures and people of culture. Rabindranath's mother died when he was 14 years old, and this event left a huge imprint in the heart of a teenager.
He started writing poetry when he was 8 years old. Having received a good education at home, he was a student of private schools, in particular the Calcutta Eastern Seminary, the Bengal Academy. During several months of 1873, while traveling in the north of the country, young Tagore was extremely impressed by the beauties of these lands, and, having become acquainted with cultural heritage, was amazed at his wealth.
1878 became his debut in the literary field: 17-year-old Tagore publishes the epic poem "The History of the Poet". In the same year, he goes to the capital of England to University College London to study law, however, after studying for exactly a year, he returns to India, to Calcutta, and, following the example of the brothers, begins to engage in writing. In 1883 he marries and publishes his first poetry collections: in 1882 - "Evening Song", in 1883 - "Morning Songs".
Following the request of his father, Rabindranath Tagore in 1899 takes on the role of manager of one of the family estates in eastern Bengal. Rural landscapes, the customs of rural residents are the main object of poetic descriptions of 1893-1900. This time is considered the heyday of his poetic work. The collections Golden Boat (1894) and Instant (1900) were a great success.
In 1901, Tagore moved to Shantiniketan near Calcutta. There, he and five other teachers opened a school, for the creation of which the poet sold the copyright to his writings, and his wife - some jewelry. At this time, poems and works of other genres, including articles on the topic of pedagogy and textbooks, and works on the history of the country, came out from under his pen.
The next few years in Tagore's biography were marked by a number of sad events. In 1902, his wife dies, the following year, tuberculosis takes the life of one of his daughters, and in 1907, the poet's youngest son dies of cholera. Together with the eldest son, who went to study at the University of Illinois (USA), Tagore also leaves. Stopping on the way in London, he introduces his poems, translated by him into English, to the writer William Rotenstein, with whom they were familiar. In the same year, an English writer helped him to publish "Sacrificial Songs" - this makes Tagore a famous person in England and the USA, as well as in other countries. In 1913, Tagore received the Nobel Prize for them, spending it on the needs of his school, which after the end of the First World War turned into a free university.
In 1915, Tagore was awarded a knighthood, but after British troops shot down a demonstration in Amritsar four years later, he refused the regalia. Starting in 1912, Tagore made many trips to the USA, Europe, the Middle East, South America. For Western countries, Tagore was more of a famous poet, but he has a large number of works and other genres, which in total amounted to 15 volumes: plays, essays, etc.
During the last four years of his life, the writer suffered from a number of diseases. In 1937, Tagore, having lost consciousness, was in a coma for some time. Towards the end of 1940, the disease worsened and ultimately took his life on August 7, 1941. Rabindranath Tagore enjoyed great popularity in his homeland. Four universities in the country awarded him an honorary degree, he was an honorary doctor of Oxford University. The modern hymns of India and Bangladesh are based on Tagore's poetry.
Biography from Wikipedia
Rabindranath Tagore(Beng. রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Robindronath Thakur; May 7, 1861 - August 7, 1941) - Indian writer, poet, composer, artist, public figure. His work has shaped the literature and music of Bengal. He became the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). Translations of his poetry were regarded as spiritual literature, and together with his charisma created the image of Tagore the prophet in the West.
Tagore began writing poetry at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen, he wrote his first short stories and dramas, published his poetry tests under the pseudonym Sunny Lion (Beng. Bhānusiṃha). Having received an upbringing saturated with humanism and love for the motherland, Tagore advocated the independence of India. Founded Vishwa Bharati University and Institute of Agricultural Reconstruction. Tagore's poems are today the anthems of India and Bangladesh.
The work of Rabindranath Tagore includes lyric works, essays and novels on political and social topics. His most famous works - "Gitanjali" (Sacrificial Chants), "Mountain" and "House and Peace" - are examples of lyricism, colloquial style, naturalism and contemplation in literature.
Childhood and youth (1861-1877)
Rabindranath Tagore, the youngest of the children of Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Sharada Devi (1830-1875), was born at the estate of Jorasanko Thakur Bari (north of Calcutta). The Tagore clan was very ancient and among its ancestors were the founders of the Adi Dharm religion. Father, being a Brahmin, often made pilgrimages to the holy places of India. Mother, Sharada Devi, died when Tagore was 14 years old.
The Tagore family was very famous. Tagores were large zamindars (landowners), many prominent writers, musicians and public figures visited their house. Rabindranath's elder brother Dwijendranath was a mathematician, poet and musician, the middle brothers Dijendranath and Jyotirindranath were famous philosophers, poets and playwrights. Nephew Rabindranath Obonindranath became one of the founders of the school of modern Bengali painting.
At the age of five, Rabindranath was sent to the Eastern Seminary, and later transferred to the so-called Normal School, which was distinguished by official discipline and a shallow level of education. Therefore, Tagore was more fond of walks around the estate and the surrounding area than schoolwork. After completing the Upanayana at the age of 11, Tagore left Calcutta in early 1873 and traveled with his father for several months. They visited the family estate at Santiniketan and stayed in Amritsar. Young Rabindranath received a good education at home, studying history, arithmetic, geometry, languages (particularly English and Sanskrit) and other subjects, got acquainted with the work of Kalidasa. Tagore noted in his Memoirs:
Our spiritual upbringing was successful because we were taught in Bengali in childhood... Despite the fact that it was widely said about the need for an English upbringing, my brother was firm enough to give us "Bengali".
First publications and acquaintance with England (1877-1901)
Vishnu poetry inspired the sixteen-year-old Rabindranath to create a poem in the Maithili style founded by Vidyapati. It was published in the Bharoti magazine under the pseudonym Bhanu Shingho (Bhānusiṃha, Solar Lion) with the explanation that the 15th century manuscript was found in an old archive and was positively evaluated by experts. He wrote Bikharini (A Beggar Woman, published in the July 1877 issue of the Bharoti magazine, was the first story in Bengali), poetry collections Evening Songs (1882), which included the poem "Nirjharer Svapnabhanga", and "Morning songs" (1883).
A promising young barrister, Tagore entered the public school at Brighton in England in 1878. Initially, he stayed for several months in a house owned by his family near there. A year earlier, he was joined by his nephews, Suren and Indira, the children of his brother Satyendranath, who came with their mother. Rabindranath studied law at University College London, but soon left to study literature: Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, Thomas Browne's Religio Medici and others. He returned to Bengal in 1880 without completing his degree. However, this familiarity with England later manifested itself in his familiarity with the traditions of Bengali music, allowing him to create new images in music, poetry and drama. But Tagore, in his life and work, never fully accepted either the criticism of Britain or the strict family traditions based on the experience of Hinduism, instead absorbing the best of these two cultures.
On December 9, 1883, Rabindranath married Mrinalini Devi (born Bhabatarini, 1873-1902). Mrinalini, like Rabindranath, came from a Pirali Brahmin family. They had five children: daughters Madhurilata (1886-1918), Renuka (1890-1904), Mira (1892-?), and sons Rathindranath (1888-1961) and Samindranath (1894-1907). In 1890, Tagore was entrusted with huge estates in Shilaidah (now part of Bangladesh). His wife and children joined him in 1898.
In 1890, Tagore published one of his most famous works, a collection of poems, The Image of the Beloved. As a "zamindar babu", Tagore traveled around the family property on the luxurious barge "Padma", collecting fees and communicating with the villagers who held holidays in his honor. The years 1891-1895, the period of Tagore's sadhana, were very fruitful. At this time, he created more than half of the eighty-four stories included in the three-volume Galpaguchcha. With irony and seriousness, they portrayed many areas of Bengal life, focusing mainly on rural images. Late XIX century is marked by the writing of collections of songs and poetry "Golden Boat" (1894) and "Instant" (1900).
Shantiniketan and Nobel Prize (1901-1932)
In 1901, Tagore returned to Shilaidah and moved to Shantiniketan (Abode of Peace), where he established an ashram. It included an experimental school, a marble-floored prayer room (mandir), gardens, groves, and a library. After the death of his wife in 1902, Tagore published a collection of lyrical poems "Memory" ("Sharan"), permeated with a poignant sense of loss. In 1903, one of the daughters died of tuberculosis, and in 1907, the youngest son died of cholera. In 1905 Rabindranath's father passed away. During these years, Tagore received monthly payments as part of his inheritance, additional income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of family jewels and royalties.
Public life did not stay away from the writer. After the famous Indian revolutionary Tilak was arrested by the colonial authorities, Tagore defended him and organized a fundraiser to help the prisoner. The Curzon Act on the division of Bengal in 1905 caused a wave of protest, which was expressed in the Swadeshi movement, of which Tagore became one of the leaders. At this time, he wrote the patriotic songs "Golden Bengal" and "Land of Bengal". On the day the act came into force, Tagore organized a Rakhi-bondkhon, an exchange of bandages symbolizing the unity of Bengal, in which Hindus and Muslims took part. However, when the Swadeshi movement began to take the form of a revolutionary struggle, Tagore moved away from it. He believed that social change should take place through the enlightenment of the people, the creation of voluntary organizations and the expansion of domestic production.
In 1910, one of Tagore's most famous collections of poems, Gitanjali (Sacrificial Chants), was published. Since 1912, Tagore began to travel, visiting Europe, the USA, the USSR, Japan and China. While in London, he showed some of his own English-translated verses from the Gitanjali to his friend, the British artist William Rothenstein, who was greatly impressed by them. With the assistance of Rothenstein, Ezra Pound, William Yeats and others, the London Indian Society (India Society of London) published 103 translated poems by Tagore in 1913, and a year later four Russian-language editions appeared.
for deeply felt, original and beautiful poetry, in which his poetic thinking was expressed with exceptional skill, which became, in his own words, part of the literature of the West.
original text(English)
because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913. nobelprize.org. Retrieved March 28, 2011. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011.
Tagore became its first laureate from Asia. The Swedish Academy highly appreciated the idealistic, and accessible to Western readers, a small part of the translated material, which included part of the Gitanjali. In his speech, the representative of the Academy, Harald Jerne, noted that the members of the Nobel Committee were most impressed by the Sacrificial Songs. Jerne also mentioned the English translations of Tagore's other works, both poetic and prose, which were mostly published in 1913. The Nobel Committee's cash prize was donated by Tagore to his school at Santiniketan, which later became the first university with free education. In 1915 he was granted the title of knight, which he refused in 1919 - after the execution of civilians in Amritsar.
In 1921, Tagore, together with his friend, the English agronomist and economist Leonard Elmhurst, founded in Surul (near Shantiniketan) the Institute for the Reconstruction of Agriculture, later renamed Sriniketan (Welfare Abode). By this, Rabindranath Tagore bypassed Mahatma Gandhi's symbolic swaraj, which he did not approve of. Tagore had to seek the help of sponsors, officials and scientists all over the world to "liberate the village from the shackles of helplessness and ignorance" through enlightenment.
According to Michele Moramarco, in 1924 Tagore was awarded by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite honorary award. According to him, Tagore had the opportunity to become a Freemason in his youth, supposedly having been initiated in one of the lodges during his stay in England.
In the early 1930s Tagore turned his attention to the caste system and the problems of the untouchables. Speaking at public lectures and describing the "untouchable heroes" in his work, he managed to obtain permission for them to visit the Krishna Temple in Guruvayur.
In his declining years (1932-1941)
Tagore's numerous international travels only strengthened his opinion that any division of people is very superficial. In May 1932, while visiting a Bedouin camp in the desert of Iraq, the leader addressed him with the words: "Our Prophet said that a true Muslim is one whose words or actions will not harm a single person." Subsequently, in his diary, Tagore will note: "I began to recognize in his words the voice of inner humanity." He carefully studied orthodox religions and reproached Gandhi for saying that the January 15, 1934 earthquake in Bihar, which caused thousands of deaths, was a punishment from above for the oppression of the untouchable caste. He lamented the epidemic of poverty in Calcutta and the accelerating socio-economic decline in Bengal, which he detailed in a thousand-line unrhymed poem whose devastating technique of double vision foreshadowed Satyajit Ray's film Apur Samsar. Tagore wrote many more works that amounted to fifteen volumes. Among them are such poems in prose as "Again" ("Punashcha", 1932), "The Last Octave" ("Shes Saptak", 1935) and "Leaves" ("Patraput", 1936). He continued to experiment with style, creating prose songs and dance-plays such as Chitrangada (Chitrangada, 1914), Shyama (Shyama, 1939) and Chandalika (Chandalika, 1938). Tagore wrote the novels Dui Bon (Dui Bon, 1933), Malancha (Malancha, 1934) and Four Parts (Char Adhyay, 1934). AT last years Science interested him in his life. He wrote a collection of essays, Our Universe (Visva-Parichay, 1937). His studies of biology, physics, and astronomy were reflected in poetry, which often contained a broad naturalism that emphasized his respect for the laws of science. Tagore participated in the scientific process, creating stories about scientists included in some chapters of "Si" ("Se", 1937), "Tin Sangi" ("Tin Sangi", 1940) and "Galpasalpa" ("Galpasalpa", 1941).
The last four years of Tagore's life were marred by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. They began when Tagore lost consciousness in 1937 and remained in a coma for a long time on the verge of life and death. The same thing happened again at the end of 1940, after which he never recovered. Tagore's poetry, written during these years, is an example of his skill and was distinguished by a special concern for death. After a long illness, Tagore died on August 7, 1941 at the Jorasanko estate. The entire Bengali-speaking world mourned the death of the poet. The last person to see Tagore alive was Amiya Kumar Sen, who took down his last poem from dictation. Later, her draft was given to the Calcutta Museum. In the memoirs of the Indian mathematician, Professor P. Ch. Mahalonbis, it was noted that Tagore was very worried about the war between Nazi Germany and the USSR, often interested in reports from the fronts, and on the last day of his life expressed his firm belief in victory over Nazism.
Trips
Between 1878 and 1932 Tagore visited over thirty countries on five continents. Many of these trips were very important in introducing non-Indian audiences to his work and political views. In 1912, he showed some of his own English translations of his poetry to acquaintances in Britain. They greatly impressed Gandhi's close friend Charles Andrews, the Irish poet William Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridge, Thomas Moore and others. Yeats wrote the preface to the English edition of Gitanjali, and Andrews later visited Tagore at Santiniketan. On November 10, 1912, Tagore visited the United States and Great Britain, staying in Butterton, Staffordshire, with fellow clergymen Andrews. From May 3, 1916 to April 1917, Tagore lectured in Japan and the United States in which he denounced nationalism. His essay "Nationalism in India" received both disdainful and laudatory reviews from pacifists, including Romain Rolland.
Shortly after returning to India, the 63-year-old Tagore accepted an invitation from the Peruvian government. Then he visited Mexico. The governments of both countries provided a $100,000 loan to the Tagore School in Santiniketan in honor of his visit. A week after arriving in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on November 6, 1924, the ill Tagore settled in Villa Miralrio at the invitation of Victoria Ocampo. He returned to India in January 1925. On May 30 of the following year, Tagore visited Naples (Italy), and on April 1 he spoke with Benito Mussolini in Rome. Their initially cordial relationship ended with criticism from Tagore on July 20, 1926.
On July 14, 1927, Tagore and two companions began a four-month tour of South Asia, visiting Bali, Java, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam and Singapore. Tagore's tales of these travels were later collected in Jatri. In the early 1930s he returned to Bengal to prepare for a year-long tour of Europe and the United States. His drawings have been exhibited in London and Paris. One day, when he returned to Britain, he stayed at a Quaker settlement in Birmingham. There he wrote his Oxford Lectures and spoke at Quaker meetings. Tagore spoke of a "deep rift of alienation" about the relationship between the British and the Indians, a theme he worked on over the next few years. He visited the Aga Khan III at Darlington Hall and traveled to Denmark, Switzerland and Germany, traveling from June to mid-September 1930, then visiting the Soviet Union. In April 1932, Tagore, who became acquainted with the writings of the Persian mystic Hafiz and the legends about him, stayed with Reza Pahlavi in Iran. Such a busy travel schedule allowed Tagore to communicate with many famous contemporaries, such as Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Thomas Mann, Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and Romain Rolland Tagore's last trips abroad included visits to Persia and Iraq (in 1932) and Sri Lanka (in 1933), which only strengthened the writer in his positions regarding the division of people and nationalism.
Creation
Best known as a poet, Tagore also painted and composed music, and was the author of novels, essays, short stories, dramas and numerous songs. Of his prose, his short stories are best known, moreover, he is considered the founder of the Bengali-language version of this genre. Tagore's works are often noted for their rhythm, optimism and lyricism. Such works of his are mainly borrowed from deceptively simple stories from the lives of ordinary people. From Tagore's pen came not only the text of the verse "Janaganamana", which became the Anthem of India, but also the music to which it is performed. Tagore's drawings, made in watercolor, pen and ink, were exhibited in many European countries.
Poetry
Tagore's poetry, rich in its stylistic diversity from classical formalism to comic, dreamy and enthusiastic, has its roots in the work of Vaishnava poets of the 15th-16th centuries. Tagore was in awe of the mysticism of rishis such as Vyasa, who wrote the Upanishads, Kabir and Ramprasada Sen. His poetry became fresher and more mature after his exposure to the folk music of Bengali, which included the ballads of the Baul mystic singers. Tagore rediscovered and made widely known the hymns of Kartābhajā, which focused on inner divinity and rebellion against religious and social orthodoxy. Over the years spent in Shilaidakh, Tagore's poems acquired a lyrical sound. In them, he sought to connect with the divine through an appeal to nature and touching empathy with the human drama. Tagore used a similar technique in his poems on the relationship between Radha and Krishna, which he published under the pseudonym Bhanusimha (Bhānusiṃha, Solar Lion). He returned to this topic again and again.
Tagore's involvement in the earliest attempts to develop modernism and realism in Bengal was evident in his literary experiments in the 1930s, exemplified by "Afrika" or "Kamalia", one of the best known of his later poems. Sometimes Tagore wrote poetry using a dialect shadhu bhasha, formed as a result of the influence of Sanskrit on the Bengali language, later starting to use the more common choltee bhasha. His other significant compositions include The Image of the Beloved (1890), The Golden Boat (1894), The Cranes (Beng. Balaka, 1916, a metaphor for migrating souls) and Evening Melodies (1925). The Golden Boat is one of his most famous poems about the ephemeral nature of life and achievements.
The collection of poems Gitanjali (Beng. গীতাঞ্জলি, English Gitanjali, "Sacrificial Chants") was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
Tagore's poetry has been set to music by many composers, including Arthur Shepherd's triptych for soprano and string quartet, Alexander Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony, Josef Förster's cycle of love songs, and Leoš Janáček's Potulný šílenec, inspired by Tagore's performance in Czechoslovakia in 1922 year, "Prana" to the verse "The Stream of Life" from "Gitanjali" by Harry Schumann. In 1917, Richard Hagman translated and set to music his poems, creating one of his most famous songs "Don't go my love". Jonathan Harvey composed "One Evening" (1994) and "Song Offerings" (1985) with lyrics by Tagore.
Novels
Tagore has written eight novels, many novellas and short stories, including "Chaturanga" ("Chaturanga"), "Farewell Song" (also translated as "The Last Song", "Shesher Kobita"), "Four Parts" ("Char Adhay") and "Noukadubi" ("Noukadubi"). Tagore's short stories, mostly describing the life of the Bengali peasantry, first appeared in English in 1913 in the collection Hungry Stones and Other Stories. One of the best-known novels, Home and Peace (Ghare Baire), presents Indian society through the vision of the idealistic zamindar Nikhil, exposing Indian nationalism, terrorism and religious zeal in the Swadeshi movement. The novel ends with a confrontation between Hindus and Muslims and Nikhil's deep spiritual wounds. The novel "Fairface" ("Gora") raises controversial questions about the identity of India. As in Ghare Baire, issues of self-identification (jāti), personal and religious freedom are worked out in the context of a family history and a love triangle.
The story "Relationships" (also translated as "Connections", "Jogajog") tells of the rivalry between two families Chattirzhi (Biprodas) - now impoverished aristocrats - and Gosals (Madhusudan), representing a new arrogant generation of capitalists. Kumudini, the sister of Biprodas, finds herself between two fires by marrying Madhusudan, being brought up under reliable protection, in respect for religion and rituals. The heroine, bound by the ideals of Shiva-Sati on the example of Dakshayani, is torn between pity for the fate of her progressive, compassionate brother and his opposite - her dissolute exploitative husband. This novel deals with the plight of Bengali women caught between duty, family honor and pregnancy, and shows the declining influence of the Bengal landed oligarchy.
Tagore also wrote more optimistic works. The Last Poem (also translated as "Farewell Song", "Shesher Kobita") is one of his more lyrical novels, with written poems and rhythmic passages of the protagonist, the poet. The work also contains elements of satire and postmodernism, it attacks the old, obsolete, disgusting poet, who is identified with Rabindranath Tagore himself. Although his novels remain the least acclaimed, they have received significant attention from filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray and others, such as Tagore's films of the same name Chokher Bali and Home and Peace (Ghare Baire) . In the first of these, Tagore describes Bengali society in the early 20th century. The central character is a young widow who wants to live her own life, which comes into conflict with the tradition that does not allow remarriage and dooms to a secluded, lonely existence. This longing, mixed with deceit and grief, arose from dissatisfaction and sadness. Tagore said of the novel: "I always regretted its end." The film's soundtracks are often characterized as rabindrasangita, musical forms developed by Tagore based on Bengali music. The second film illustrates Tagore's struggle with himself: between the ideals of Western culture and the revolution against it. These two ideas are expressed through two main characters - Nikhil, who embodies the rational principle and opposes violence, and Sandeep, who stops at nothing to achieve his goals. Such contrasts are very important for understanding the history of Bengal and its problems. There are disputes whether Tagore tried to express Gandhi in the image of Sandeep and arguments against this version, since Tagore had great respect for the Mahatma, who opposed any violence.
Documentary
Tagore has written many non-fiction books covering topics from Indian history to linguistics and spirituality. In addition to his autobiographical writings, his travel diaries, essays and lectures have been collected into several volumes, including "Lectures from Europe" ("Europe Jatrir Patro") and "The Religion of Man" ("Manusher Dhormo"). A brief correspondence between Tagore and Einstein, Notes on the Nature of Reality, was included as an addendum.
Music
Tagore composed about 2,230 songs. His songs, often written in the Rabindra Sangeet (Beng. রবীন্দ্র সংগীত - "Tagore song") style, are a significant part of Bengal culture. Tagore's music is inseparable from his literary works, many of which - poems or chapters of novels, stories - were taken as the basis for songs. Significantly influenced by the Thumri style (dev. ठुमरी, one of the styles of Hindustani music). They often play on the key of classical ragas in various variations, sometimes completely imitating the melody and rhythm of a given raga, or mixing different ragas to create new works.
art
Tagore is the author of about 2,500 drawings that have been exhibited in India, Europe and Asia. The debut exhibition took place in Paris, at the invitation of artists with whom Tagore spoke in France. At the Arsenal Exhibition, during its exposition in Chicago in 1913, Tagore studied modern Art from the Impressionists to Marcel Duchamp. He was impressed by Stella Cramrich's London lectures (1920) and invited her to speak about world art from Gothic to Dada at Santiniketan. Tagore's style was influenced by a visit to Japan in 1912. In some of his landscapes and self-portraits, a fascination with impressionism is clearly visible. Tagore imitated numerous styles, including the crafts of northern New Ireland, the Haida carvings of Canada's west coast (British Columbia), and the woodblock prints of Max Pechstein.
Tagore, who allegedly had color blindness (partial indistinguishability of red and green flowers), created works with special compositions and color schemes. He was fascinated by geometric figures, he often used in portraits angular, upwardly directed lines, narrow, elongated forms, reflecting emotional experiences. Tagore's later work is characterized by grotesqueness and drama, although it remains unclear whether this reflects Tagore's pain for his family or for the fate of all mankind.
In a letter to Rani Mahalanobis, the wife of the famous Indian mathematician and his friend Prasantha Mahalanobis, Tagore wrote:
First of all there is a hint of a line, then the line becomes a form. A more pronounced form becomes a reflection of my concept... The only training I received in my youth was the training of rhythm, in thought, rhythm in sound. I have come to understand that rhythm creates a reality in which the unsystematic is insignificant.
original text(English)
First, there is the hint of a line, and then the line becomes a form. The more pronounced the form becomes the clearer becomes the picture of my conception… The only training which I had from my younger days was the training in rhythm, in thought, the rhythm in sound. I had come to know that rhythm gives reality to which is desultory, insignificant in itself.- "Rabindranth Tagore to Rani Mahalanobis", November 1928, trans. Khitish Roy, inNeogy, pp. 79-80.
In this sunny world I don't want to die
I would like to live forever in this flowering forest,
Where people leave to return again
Where hearts beat and flowers gather dew.
Life goes on the earth in strings of days and nights,
A change of meetings and partings, a series of hopes and losses, -
If you hear joy and pain in my song,
It means that the dawns of immortality will illuminate my garden at night.
If the song dies, then, like everyone else, I will go through life -
Nameless drop in the stream great river;
I will be like flowers, I will grow songs in the garden -
Let tired people come into my flower beds,
Let them bow down to them, let them pick flowers on the go,
To throw them away when the petals fall to dust.
(Rabindranath Tagore)
Rabindranath Tagore
(Indian writer and public figure, poet, musician, artist. Nobel Prize winner in 1913 for literature. Wrote in Bengali).
“When one thinks of unbreakable energy, of blessed enthusiasm, of pure culture, before me always rises the image of Rabindranath Tagore so close to me. The potential of this spirit must be great in order to tirelessly put into practice the foundations of true culture. After all, Tagore's songs are inspired calls to culture, his prayer for great culture, his blessing looking for ways climbing. Synthesizing this huge activity - all going up the same mountain, penetrating into the narrowest lanes of life, how can anyone refrain from feeling inspiring joy? So blessed, so beautiful is the essence of the song, the call and the labors of Tagore.
I very much love the following lines from Tagore's work: “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but only for fearlessness, meeting them. Yes, I do not ask to calm my pain, but only that my heart overcome it. May I not seek allies in the battle of life, but only my own strength. Grant me the strength not to be cowardly, sensing Your Mercy only in my successes, but let me feel the shaking of Your Hand in my mistakes.
Letters to E.I. Roerich in nine volumes / Letters. Volume VI (1938-1939), Page 3 5. 35. H.I. Roerich - F.A. Butzen April 5, 1938
Poetry, excerpts from works, philosophical lines.
The Sun is a great poet in the measured choir of planets.
The Almighty respected me as long as I could rebel, but when I fell at his feet, he neglected me.
Sky blue in the rays in the morning.
By the touch of the palms of the saints
The multicolored earth is awakened.
If I contemplate the world through chants
It becomes possible for me to comprehend the world.
The music sounds like a verbal heavenly light full of bliss.
The dust of the earth awakens the voice of inspiration.
The world seems to enter the soul, dropping the shell.
The heart responds with a tremble to each leaf.
In this feeling of the ocean - forms are collapsing and edges,
The whole universe is in close unity with me.
Happy, make everyone happy,
Because love is grace, not sin.
It is good news for good news,
Generosity is a support along the way.
Truth will shine in the night skies,
Able to save in a world of doubt;
Love will sweeten you on the road and overcome all vicissitudes,
He will reward with new strength and grant success to the silent ones.
We languish in the world, we mourn in the world,
But remember: the lover is unshakable;
The donkey was thirsty by the pond.
“Dark,” he shouted, indignantly, “water!”
Perhaps the water is dark for the donkey, -
It is bright for enlightened minds.
A flower does not realize its beauty: what is easily received, easily gives.
When service, having become true, possesses you completely, you comprehend that it is beautiful.
Winds tear flowers.
This is a waste of time:
For the flowers in the dust will only die in vain.
He who, having raised a flower, wove it into his wreath, -
Treasure and decoration from negligence saved.
I give songs to those who are able to understand them,
Find in the road dust and raise with respect.
We bring the substance of sweetness from outside.
The essence of joy is in itself.
Entrance and exit - through the same gate,
Do you know about it, blind?
If they block the way of leaving,
The way to enter is blocked before you.
With a smile, the dawn star entered, warmed with joy,
In the last page of darkness, the salutatory song of the dawn.
I didn't give you happiness
Just gave me freedom
The last bright victim of separation
the night lit up.
And there's nothing left
No bitterness, no regret
No pain, no tears, no pity,
No pride, no contempt.
I won't look back!
I give you freedom.
The last precious gift
On the night of my departure.
Darkness reigns forever, locked in its chambers,
And you open your eyes to the world - and the eternal day is in front of you.
When the lamp goes out, we see: the sky is starry,
And we distinguish our way, although it is dark and late.
Will you turn or curl into a ball -
Your left side will remain the same.
To avoid grief - there is no such mercy.
Let there be enough strength to endure grief.
The moment flies away without a trace, forever,
But it also dreams not to sink without a trace.
Who are you, not opening your mouth? -
Kindness asks softly.
And the gaze answers, whose radiance
Do not overshadow with tears:
- I'm grateful.
The top spoke with boastfulness:
- My abode is the blue sky.
And you, O root, dweller of the dungeon.
But the root was indignant:
- Empty!
How funny you are to me with your arrogance:
Am I not lifting you up to heaven?
Seeing the fall of a star, the lampada laughed:
- The unbearable proud fell down. ... So she needs it!
And the night says to her:
- Well, laugh before it goes out.
You must have forgotten that the oil is running out soon.
Traveler, traveler! You're lonely -
You saw the invisible in your heart.
You saw a sign in the sky
Wandering at night.
There will be no footprints on your path.
You didn't take anyone with you.
Along the winding mountain path
You decided to go up there
Where the eternal radiance is a bright campaign
In the morning the star ends.
Morning dawn.
She is the breath of young life
As if filling a moonless hour,
In a mysterious time
invisible to the inner eye,
When above the thick of darkness,
Where the dream lurks
The sun is rising.
With the dawn from the shore of the night
The morning word came.
And the world woke up refreshed
Surrounded by a fence of light.
O night, lonely night!
Under the boundless sky
Looking into the face of the universe
Hair untwisted
Affectionate and swarthy
Is that you singing, oh night?
Awakening entered the realm of sleep,
The trembling passed through the earth,
A bird's chirp woke up on the branches,
On the flowers - the buzzing of bees.
***
Someone built a house for himself -
So mine is broken.
I made a truce
Someone went to war.
If I touched the strings -
Somewhere, their bells have stopped.
The circle closes right there
Where does it start.
***
We slam the door before mistakes.
Confused is the truth: "How shall I enter now?"
* * *
“O fruit! O fruit! the flower screams.
Tell me, where do you live, my friend?
“Well,” the fruit laughs, “look:
I live inside you."
* * *
“Aren't you,” I once asked fate, -
Pushing me so mercilessly in the back?”
She croaked with an evil smile:
“Your past is driving you.”
* * *
The echo responds to everything that it hears around:
It does not want to be anyone's debtor.
* * *
The little flower woke up. And suddenly appeared
The whole world is in front of him, like a huge beautiful flower garden.
And so he said to the universe, blinking in amazement:
“While I live, live, too, dear.”
***
The flower withered and so decided: “Trouble,
Spring is gone from the world forever
***
The cloud that the winter winds
Drove through the sky on an autumn day,
Looks with eyes full of tears,
Like it's about to rain.
***
You didn't even manage
What came naturally.
How do you deal with getting
Everything you want?
***
Man is worse than an animal when he becomes an animal.
***
I saved up the wisdom of many years,
stubbornly comprehended good and evil,
I have accumulated so much junk in my heart,
that became too heavy for the heart.
***
A leaf told a flower in a sleepy grove,
That the shadow fell passionately in love with the light.
The flower learned about the modest lover
And smiles all day.
SAINTS OF R. TAGORA:
In fact, it is often our moral strength that enables us to do evil with great success.
Loyalty in love requires abstinence, but only with the help of it can one know the hidden beauty of love.
Even a gang of robbers must comply with some moral requirements in order to remain a gang; they can plunder the whole world, but not each other.
If, on the path to perfection, one adheres to reasonable abstinence, not a single trait of the human character will suffer, on the contrary, all of them will sparkle with even brighter colors.
There is love that floats freely in the sky. This love warms the soul. And there is love that dissolves in everyday affairs. This love brings warmth to the family.
Stars are not afraid of being mistaken for fireflies.
When any one religion has a claim to force all mankind to accept its doctrine, it becomes a tyranny.
He who thinks too much about doing good has no time to be good.
A lie can never grow into truth by growing in power.
Many fools consider marriage to be a mere union. That is why this union is so neglected after marriage.
Pessimism is a form of spiritual alcoholism, it rejects healthy drinks and is carried away by the intoxicating wine of reproof; it plunges him into a painful despondency, from which he seeks salvation in an even stronger dope.
Crying for the sun, you do not notice the stars.
Having wallowed in pleasures, we cease to feel any pleasure.
No matter how happy a drunkard feels from wine, he is far from true happiness, because for him it is happiness, for others it is grief; today it is happiness, tomorrow it is misfortune.
Not hammer blows, but the dance of water brings the pebbles to perfection.
Female
You are not only a creation of God, you are not a product of the earth, -
A man creates you from his spiritual beauty.
For you, the poets, O woman, weaved an expensive outfit,
Golden threads of metaphors on your clothes are burning.
Painters have immortalized your female appearance on canvas
In an unprecedented grandeur, in amazing purity.
How many all kinds of incense, colors were brought to you as a gift,
How many pearls from the abyss, how much gold from the earth.
How many delicate flowers have been plucked for you in spring days,
How many bugs have been exterminated to paint your feet.
In these saris and bedspreads, hiding his shy look,
Immediately you became more accessible and more mysterious a hundred times.
In a different way, your features shone in the fire of desires.
You are half being, you are half imagination.
Translation by V. Tushnova
Impossible
Loneliness? What does it mean? Years go by
You go into the wilderness, not knowing why and where.
The month of Srabon drives over the forest foliage of the cloud,
The heart of the night was cut by lightning with a wave of the blade,
I hear: Varuni splashes, her stream rushes into the night.
My soul tells me: the impossible cannot be overcome.
How many times a bad night in my arms
The beloved fell asleep, listening to the downpour and the verse.
The forest was noisy, disturbed by the sob of the heavenly stream,
The body merged with the spirit, my desires were born,
Precious feelings gave me a rainy night
I'm leaving in the dark, wandering along the wet road,
And in my blood there is a long song of rain.
The sweet smell of jasmine was brought by a gusty wind.
The smell of a tree of smallness, the smell of girlish braids;
In the braids of the pretty flowers, these smelled just like that, exactly the same.
But the soul says: the impossible cannot be overcome.
Immersed in thought, wandering somewhere at random.
There is someone's house on my road. I see the windows are on fire.
I hear the sounds of the sitar, the melody of the song is simple,
This is my song, irrigated with warm tears,
This is my glory, this is sadness, gone away.
But the soul says: the impossible cannot be overcome.
Translation by A. Revich.
Night
O night, lonely night!
Under the boundless sky
You sit and whisper something.
Looking into the face of the universe
untangled hair,
Affectionate and swarthy ...
What are you eating, O night?
I hear your call again.
But your songs until now
I cannot comprehend.
My spirit is uplifted by you,
The eyes are clouded by sleep.
And someone in the wilderness of my soul
He sings your song, O beloved.
With your light voice
Singing with you
Like your own brother
Lost in the soul, alone
And anxiously looking for roads.
He sings the hymns of your fatherland
And waiting for an answer.
And, waiting, he goes towards ...
As if these fugitive sounds
Wake up the memory of someone past
As if he was laughing here, and crying,
And he called someone to his starry home.
Again he wants to come here -
And can't find a way...
How many affectionate half-words and bashful
half smiles
Old songs and sighs of the soul,
How many tender hopes and conversations of love,
How many stars, how many tears in silence,
Oh night, he gave you
And buried in your darkness! ..
And these sounds and stars float,
Like worlds turned to dust
In your endless seas
And when I sit alone on your shore
Songs and stars surround me
Life hugs me
And, beckoning with a smile,
Floats forward
And it blooms, and melts away, and calls ...
Night, today I have come again,
To look into your eyes
I want to be silent for you
And I want to sing for you.
Where my old songs are, and my
lost laugh,
And swarms of forgotten dreams
Save my songs night
And build a tomb for them.
Night, I sing for you again
I know the night, I am your love.
Hide the song from close malice,
Bury in the treasured land ...
The dew will slowly fall
Forests will sigh measuredly.
Silence, lean on your hand,
Be careful coming there...
Only sometimes, slipping a tear,
A star will fall on the tomb.
Translation by D. Golubkov
holiday morning
Opened in the morning the heart inadvertently,
And the world flowed into him like a living stream.
Confused, I watched with my eyes
Behind the golden arrows-rays.
A chariot appeared to Aruna,
And the morning bird woke up
Greeting the dawn, she chirped,
And everything around became even more beautiful.
Like a brother, the sky called out to me: “Come!>>
And I crouched, clung to his chest,
I went up to the sky along the beam, up,
The bounties of the sun poured into the soul.
Take me oh solar stream!
Guide Aruna's boat to the east
And into the ocean, boundless, blue
Take me, take me with you!
Translation by N. Podgorichani
NEW TIME
All the chorus of the old song is remembered to this day:
The Lord of Dance moves everything: in eternal renewal -
A waterfall of names, rituals, songs, generations.
Those who in their youth breathed the truth of these words, -
Were created differently, from other foundations.
Everyone knew - his lamp floats on the waves,
He brought gifts to the goddess at the sacred waters.
Dull timidity reigned in thoughts and in hearts.
Death scared, life scared, tormented by eternal fear.
Now the lords are tyranny, then the enemies are raided,
A timid man expected earthquakes.
And it is dangerous to walk to the river along a dark path -
Somewhere thieves lurk, sin, trouble, robbery.
They listened to fairy tales, where there are many most wonderful things, -
As from the wrath of the evil goddess, the righteous burned down ...
From empty family strife in the villages then
Grew up, inflamed, formidable enmity.
And a network of insidious intrigues and deceptions was woven,
For the strong to overcome the weak faster.
The vanquished was expelled, after long quarrels,
And others took away his house and yard.
Besides God, who will help, protect in trouble?
And there was no other refuge anywhere.
Thoughts are timid and powerless. The man is quiet...
And the mistress lowered her eyes in front of strangers.
She circled her eyes with black, and there was a spot on her forehead.
It's time to light the lamp - it's dark in the room.
Prays the earth, sky, water: "Protect us!"
Waiting for the inevitable misfortune every day and hour.
To keep a child alive, witchcraft is needed:
The blood of sacrificial animals smears his forehead.
Cautious gait, fearful look, -
How do you know where troubles threaten her now?
At night they rob on the roads and in dense forests,
And the machinations of evil spirits threaten her family.
Everywhere he sees the seal of crimes and sins
And from horror he can not raise his head ...
Someone's voice flies, disturbing the dark blue:
"Right - Ganges, left - Ganges, shallow - in the middle."
And the river splashed in the same way, clinging to the banks ...
Like lamps, the stars glided over the waves.
And merchants crowded boats near the market,
And in the mist of the dawn oars, blows were heard.
The world is quiet and calm, but the dawn is near, -
Pink, the fisherman's sail lit up.
At the end, everything subsided, as if exhausted,
Only the trembling came from the crane's wings.
The day has passed, the rowers are tired, it's time to have dinner.
At the edge - a dark shore and a fire of a fire.
The silence of calm is only sometimes a jackal
Somewhere in the thickets of the coastal howling broke.
But it all disappeared, leaving the earthly world.
There are no formidable judges, guards, rulers left.
Decrepit teachings crush with a heavy burden.
They no longer go on a long journey with a buffalo in a harness.
A new page is inevitable in the book of life, -
All customs and destinies must be renewed.
All the rulers will disappear, formidable lords,
But the splash of the great river will remain the same.
A fisherman will sail on a boat and a visiting merchant, -
And the sail will be the same, the splashes of the oars will be the same.
And the same trees will be by the river, -
Fishermen will again tie boats to them for the night.
And they will sing in other centuries just as they do now:
"Right - Ganges, left - Ganges, shallow - in the middle."
INDIA-LAKSHMI
O you who bewitch people,
You, O earth, shining in the brilliance of the sun's rays,
Great Mother of mothers,
The valleys washed by the Indus with a noisy wind - forest,
trembling bowls,
With the Himalayan snow crown flying into the sky;
In your sky the sun rose for the first time, for the first time the forest
heard the Vedas of the saints,
Legends sounded for the first time, live songs, in your houses
And in the forests, in the open spaces of fields;
You are our ever-growing wealth, giving to the peoples
a full bowl
You are Jumna and Ganga, there is no more beautiful, more free, you are -
Life's nectar, mother's milk!
Tagor_-_Eto_ne_son._(sbornik).fb2 (Collection of poems)
compilation
Download file:
Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world is not broken into pieces by the narrow walls of the house;
Where words come from the depths of truth;
Where relentless striving stretches out its hands to perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dry desert sands of dead habit;
Where the mind is led by Thee to ever-expanding thought and action.
In those skies of freedom, my Father,
Let my country wake up!
RABINDRANAT TAGORE (1861–1941)
Short biography.
Rabindranath Tagore belonged to one of the oldest Indian families. His ancestors held an influential position in the court of the rulers of Bengal. His surname came from Thakur - translated as "holy lord", which foreigners transformed into Tagore.
Rabindranath was born on May 6, 1861 at the ancestral home at Jorashanko in Calcutta. He was already the fourteenth child of Debendranath Tagore (from the age of twenty-eight he was called Maharshi, that is, a man known for wisdom and a righteous life). 
The head of the family, even if he lived at home, and was not usually in the Himalayas, was inaccessible to the family. All household chores fell on the shoulders of the mother - Sharoda Debi, and she had little time and energy left to raise her youngest son. 
The boy spent his childhood and early adolescence under the care of domestic servants. He went to school very early, that was the Eastern Seminary. After some time, when Roby was not yet seven years old, he was accepted to another school, which was considered exemplary and was created according to British standards. At the same time, the boy composed his first poems in the Poyar size, which is popular in Bengal. In 1875, Tagore experienced one of the most powerful shocks of his life - his mother died suddenly. Her death caused him such a severe depression that his father had to take his son on a long trip through the foothills of the Himalayas. Upon his return, Rabindranath continued his education, but not in an English school, but in pedagogical school where teaching was conducted in the Bengali language. After graduation, Tagore spent several years at the Bengal Academy, where he studied cultural history and Indian history. At this time, he was already constantly published in various literary magazines, and in 1878 his first major work, the poem "The History of the Poet", was published.
Soon his father sent him to England so that Rabindranath could become a student at the University of London. Tagore lived in England for almost two years. He diligently studied law, but his main interests were connected with English literature and history. While in London, he constantly published in Indian journals, and on his return he collected his notes and published them in the form of a book, calling it Letters of a Traveler to Europe. Never having received a law degree, Tagore returned to India.
In 1882-1883, poetry collections of the young author were published - "Evening Songs" and "Morning Songs".
On December 9, 1883, the wedding of Rabindranath and the ten-year-old girl Mrinalini Debi, the daughter of an employee in one of the Tagore estates, took place. That was the will of the father. Unlike many other families, Tagore not only carefully raised his wife, but also did not interfere with her studies. As a result, Tagore's wife became one of the most educated Indian women. Three years later, the first child in the family appeared - the daughter of Madhurilota. They later had two more sons and two daughters. 
In 1890, Tagore was forced to leave his home, on behalf of his father, he took up the position of manager of the Shelaideho family estate in East Bengal. He settled in a houseboat on the Padma River, combining literary pursuits with administrative activities. In 1901, Tagore was finally able to reunite with his family, after a brief stay in Calcutta they moved to the family estate near the city, where, together with five teachers, Tagore opened his own school. The death of his wife, then his youngest daughter, and a little later his father had a strong impact on all the activities of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore became the heir to a huge fortune, but Rabindranath was not in the least interested in material problems, and he transferred the right to manage the estates to his brothers.
He published extensively at home and abroad. Tagore was in Shantiniketon when the news came that on 13 November 1913 he had been awarded the Nobel Prize. Tagore was the first to imprint in the minds of the Western intelligentsia the fact, which has now become universally recognized, that the "wisdom of Asia" is alive, that it must be treated like a living being, and not like a curious museum exhibit. Since that time, the period of recognition of Tagore's work begins both in India itself and beyond its borders. In 1915, the English king elevated Tagore to a knighthood. Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Tagore traveled a lot, visited European countries, Japan, China, the USA, the Soviet Union (1930). At home, Tagore lived on his estate, where he continued his literary and teaching activities. After the outbreak of World War II, Tagore issued an appeal against fascism. However, the writer was already mortally ill. Tagore died at his estate near Calcutta on August 7, 1941.
Biography of R. Tagore (Book of Kripalani Krishna from the cycle Life of Remarkable People)
RERICH AND TAGOR
Plyusnina Elvira
Nicholas Roerich (1874 - 1947) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), two outstanding cultural figures, two great thinkers and artists of the late 19th - first half of the 20th century, knew each other well. They met in London in 1920 and became lifelong friends.
The literary genius of Tagore in its scale and versatility is not inferior to the titans of the European Renaissance. In India, compatriots call him Kabiguru - a poet-teacher, thus accurately defining the essence of his work. Tagore is primarily a poet, but he is also the greatest Indian prose writer and playwright. He is a composer whose songs are sung in his homeland to this day, and two of them have become the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. He rendered invaluable services to the theater not only as a playwright, but also as a talented director and actor. He is an original painter who does not belong to any of the schools. In addition to all this, he is a philologist, philosopher, political publicist, educator.
His creative heritage is grandiose - over two thousand lyrical poems and songs, hundreds of ballads and poems, eleven collections of short stories, eight novels, more than twenty plays, articles on literary, social, political, philosophical topics, speeches and speeches. In the last twelve years of his life, he became interested in painting and graphics and managed to create about three thousand paintings and sketches.
Jawaharlal Nehru in his book "The Discovery of India" (1942) devoted several pages to Rabindranath Tagore and gave a deep assessment of his literary, cultural and socio-political activities. J. Nehru wrote: “More than any other of the Indians, he helped the harmonious combination of the ideals of East and West ... He was the most prominent internationalist of India, who believed in the international cooperation and worked in his name. He brought to other countries what India could give them, and to India what the world could give to his own people... Tagore was the great humanist of India.”1
The Soviet orientalist academician S.F. Oldenburg wrote about the universal significance of Tagore’s work back in 1926: “He is a Bengali, and we are people different countries- in a Bengali poet, we still understand a person intoxicated with the beauty of life, the beauty of nature and the beauty of man. He tells us about his homeland, about Bengal, about the Ganges, and we listen to him, and each of us sees his homeland, his own river.
Tagore's homeland of Bengal, with its main city of Calcutta, in the 19th century became the center of the beginning of the national awakening of India. And in Bengal, the Tagore family played a leading social role. It was a rich ancient aristocratic family, one of the most educated people of that time. First, the poet's grandfather, and then the poet's father, led the Brahmo Samaj society (Society of the One God Brahma). It was founded in 1828 by the religious reformer and educator Ram Mohan Rai and was the first in India public organization a new type, the participants of which sought to reform the religion of Hinduism, rejecting medieval class-caste divisions and family and everyday customs. The poet's father, Debendranath Tagore, who was considered a "maharishi" (great sage), asserted the cultural independence of the Indians, speaking out against the blind admiration for everything Western, which was implanted by the British colonial authorities and the school.
Young Rabindranath, the fourteenth child in the family, grew up in an atmosphere of philosophical discussions, literary and scientific studies of older brothers, his education was conducted in Bengali, and not in English. At the age of eight, he began writing poetry. When he was fourteen, his poems and notes on literature began to be published, and the seventeen-year-old poet already owned two collections of lyrical poems. In 1877, he went with his older brother to study law in England, where he spent two years, studying mainly literature and music, and returned without completing his legal education.
At the end of the 19th century, Tagore became interested in pedagogy: he was very worried about the state of public education in the country. The colonial government did not want to incur any expenses for this purpose, and as a result, the state of education in India at the beginning of the 20th century was almost the same as in India. early XIX century. The number of literate people increased by 1-2% per decade. For example, in 1921 it was 7%, and the one who could only put his signature was considered literate. In his numerous articles, Tagore drew attention to the fact that the school, organized according to the English model, is alien to the soul of an Indian child, it disfigures and destroys the youth, offends its national dignity.
An example of a practical approach to solving the problem of education is pedagogical activity Tagore himself, who in 1901 founded a school at his own expense on the family estate of Shanti-niketon (“Resident of Peace”). At first it was a small ashram school, where he himself was a teacher, not using any textbooks and manuals, but having a subtle and deep understanding of the child's soul. Then the school turned into a college, and in 1919 the famous National University"Vishvabharati", one of the world centers for studying the spiritual culture of the peoples of the East, which later became an important center for educating personnel for independent India. Here, in 1920, Tagore founded the Union of Artists and an art school, which became the center of a new movement - the Bengal Renaissance, which laid the foundations for the modern national art of India. Tagore's role in development visual arts of that time is not limited, therefore, to his own original painting, which does not belong to any of the directions and so amazed compatriots. In 1922, Tagore also organized a rural high school(peasant educational center) in Sriniketon, where, along with general education subjects, students were trained in agricultural technology and crafts.
The experience of school work in Shantiniketon and Tagore's pedagogical views were used by his ardent supporter M. Gandhi to draw up and implement a plan for the reform of the elementary school in India.
A staunch opponent of oppression and exploitation, Tagore has always been a supporter of the socialist idea. In 1930, at the age of seventy, he visited the Soviet Union and wrote his famous "Letters on Russia", in which he praised the successes of the Soviet people, especially in the field of education. “Everything I saw amazed me. For eight years, enlightenment has changed the spiritual face of the people. (…)
It is hard to imagine how lightning fast the changes are with such a huge population. The soul rejoices when you see how the waters of enlightenment gush into a dry bed. Initiative and creativity are in full swing everywhere. The light of new hope illuminates their path. Full-blooded life is in full swing everywhere. This book, imbued with sincere sympathy for our country, was published in Bengali in 1931 and was banned by the British authorities in India, because it sounded like a call to fight for the freedom of the Indian people.
World fame came to the poet in 1912, when a small book of Tagore's poems "Gitanjali" ("Sacrificial Songs") was published in England in the author's translation into English. And already in 1913, R. Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for this collection. This fact itself was unprecedented - for the first time it was presented to a representative of the peoples of Asia. From 1913 Tagore's translations began to appear in Russia as well. In 1914, the book "Gitanjali" was translated into Russian with the participation and under the editorship of the Russian and Lithuanian poet Jurgis Baltrushaitis. It was this edition that was for Elena Ivanovna and Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich the key to the "heartfelt depth" of Tagore's poetry.
Here is how N.K. Roerich writes about discovering Tagore's work: “She found [H.I. Roerich] and Tagore's Gitanjali translated by Baltrushaitis. Like a rainbow shone from these heartfelt tunes, which subsided in the Russian figurative verse of Baltrushaitis unusually in tune. In addition to the sensitive talent of Baltrushaitis, of course, the affinity of Sanskrit with the Russian, Lithuanian and Latvian languages also helped. Prior to this, Tagore in Russia was known only in fits and starts. Of course, they knew perfectly well how welcoming Tagore's name was all over the world, but we Russians have not yet had a chance to touch the poet's heart.
"Gitanjali" was a whole revelation. Poems were read at parties and at internal conversations. It turned out that precious mutual understanding, which you can’t achieve with anything other than genuine talent. The quality of persuasiveness is mysterious. The basis of beauty is inexpressible, and every uncontaminated human heart trembles and rejoices from a spark of beautiful light. Tagore brought this beauty, this all-luminous response about the soul of the people. What is he like? Where and how does this giant of thought and beautiful images live? The primordial love for the wisdom of the East found its embodiment and touching consonance in the persuasive words of the poet. How they immediately fell in love with Tagore! It seemed that the most diverse people, the most irreconcilable psychologists, were united by the call of the poet. As under the beautiful dome of a temple, as in the consonances of a majestic symphony, the inspirational song victoriously united human hearts. Just as Tagore himself said in his What is Art:
"In art, our inner essence sends its answer to the Highest, which reveals itself to us in a world of boundless beauty over the lightless world of facts."
Everyone believed, believes and knows that Tagore did not belong to the earthly world of conventional facts, but to the world of great truth and beauty.
"Gitanjali" is a dialogue of a person with God, it is a spiritual lyric, which uses and rethinks the ideas and images of the traditional Vaishnavism poetry "bhakti". In this poetry, the Supreme Being is perceived by a person as close and beloved, as a father or mother, beloved or beloved, and this brings it closer to Christian religious poetry. The famous researcher and translator of Tagore, M.I. Tubyansky, made the following insightful observation: “The idea of love as the highest value of life and as the basis of religion is in Tagore’s worldview a legacy of the religion of Vaishnavism, especially Vaishnavist religious lyrics, which Tagore was fond of in his early youth ... Old Vaishnavist lyrics - the main source of those Tagore poems in which the religious content takes the form of love lyrics.
Let us cite, for example, fragments of free arrangements from the book "Gitanjali". The girl dreams of meeting her Beloved, but her heart is closed:
I came to You with a lute, but the song remained unsung,
And the strings did not obey, and the rhythm slipped far away.
The flower did not open, and the wind sighed sadly,
The heart of the meeting was looking for, but it is not easy to meet You.
Helena Ivanovna Roerich has a letter dated September 10, 1938, dedicated to the work of Tagore. Here is what she writes about his philosophical and religious poetry: “Now, regarding the many-sidedness of the poet in his representations of the Deity. The poet, addressing the Supreme Being, rises in spirit to the highest image of the manifested beauty, and where to look for this beauty, if not in the highest symbol for us, in the form of the crown of Creation? (...) The Upanishads say: "The Supreme Being penetrates everything by itself, therefore, it is the innate property of everyone." And every Hindu imbibed this concept with mother's milk. (...) He knows that he himself is only a reflection of the Supreme Being, which is in a constant process of revealing its infinite essence. (…)
Therefore, the idea of a Higher Being always fully corresponds to the stage of development at which a person is. (…)
The East says: “The two kinds of people do not worship God as a man: the man-beast, who has no religion, and the liberated soul, who has risen above human weaknesses and passed beyond the limits of his nature. Only she can worship God as He is."
The Supreme Being in the view of Tagore contains all the most beloved by him, all the most beautiful Appearances that live in his poet's heart. Each touch evokes the fire of thought-creation, and each string of the heart will resound in its own way to the affected depths of consciousness.
The first meeting between Nicholas Roerich and R. Tagore took place on June 17, 1920 in London. The eldest son of the poet writes about this: “... After dinner, Suniti Chatterjee brought Nicholas Roerich, a Russian artist, and his two sons. Roerich showed us an album of reproductions of his paintings. The paintings are really wonderful. There is nothing like it in Western art. They made a very big impression on my father ... The whole family is going to India in September. Their sincere simplicity and natural manners are charming, they are so fresh, so different from the stiff English. We would like to get to know them better."
After this meeting, Roerich wrote the first letter to Tagore on June 24: “Dear master! Let my words remind you of Russia…” He invited Tagore to see the paintings in the workshop, and Tagore accepted the offer.
Tagore's friend Kedarnath Das Gupta in 1934 in New York recalled his visit to Roerich's workshop: “It happened 14 years ago in London. At that time I was in the house of R. Tagore, and he said to me: "Today I will give you great pleasure." I followed him and we drove to South Kensington, to a house filled with beautiful paintings. And there we met Nicholas Roerich and Madame Roerich. When Madame Roerich showed us the pictures, I thought about our beautiful ideal of the East: Prakriti and Purusha, the man revealed through a woman. This visit will forever remain in my memory.
By the arrival of R. Tagore, paintings inspired by Indian scenes were staged in the studio. Some of the paintings were not yet finished, but the author considered that the main thing was not the completion of the work, but the theme that was already visible. At this time, Roerich worked on the Indian series - "Dreams of the East". The whole room was hung with paintings, and numerous sketches lay everywhere.
Tagore was amazed by the name of the Roerich estate - Izvara, very similar to the Indian word "Ishvara", denoting in Hinduism the personal God, the creator of the Universe (translated as "Lord" or "Lord").
N.K. Roerich also recalled this meeting: “I dreamed of seeing Tagore, and now the poet personally in my studio ... in London in 1920. (...) And at that very time, the Hindu series was being painted - the panel "Dreams of the East". I remember the surprise of the poet at the sight of such a coincidence. We remember how beautifully he entered and his spiritual appearance made our hearts tremble.
On July 24, R. Tagore wrote a letter to Nicholas Roerich, in which he expressed sympathy for the Russian artist and delight in his work: “Dear friend! Your paintings, which I saw in your studio in London, and the reproductions of some of your paintings that appeared in art magazines, captured me deeply. They made me realize what is, of course, obvious, but still must be discovered again and again by us in ourselves: that Truth is infinite. When I tried to find words to describe to myself the ideas contained in your paintings, I could not do it. And I couldn't because the language of words can express only one facet of Truth, and the language of a picture finds its own area in Truth, which is not accessible to verbal expression. Each kind of art reaches its perfection only when it opens in our soul those special gates, the key to which is in its exclusive possession. When a picture is truly great, we should not be able to say what the greatness is, but still we should see and know it. The same applies to music. When one art can be fully expressed by another, that is not real art. Your pictures are clear and yet inexpressible in words. Your art defends its independence because it is great art. Sincerely yours, Rabindranath Tagore.
Tagore was the first who introduced the Indians to the work of Nicholas Roerich. On his recommendation and insistence, already in December 1920, translations of Nicholas Roerich's poems were published in the Calcutta magazine "The Modern Review", and in 1921 - a large article about his paintings.
A year later they met again in the USA. In America, Tagore lectured on art. Recalling this, Nikolai Konstantinovich draws a parallel between the work of R. Tagore and L.N. Tolstoy, seeing the similarity between them in the pursuit of Beauty and the good of mankind: “Then we also met in America, where in lectures the poet spoke so convincingly about the unforgettable laws Beauty and human understanding. In the hustle and bustle of the Leviathan City, Tagore's words sometimes sounded as paradoxical as Tolstoy's magical land that lived in the heart of the great thinker. All the more was the feat of Tagore, tirelessly going around the world with an imperative call for Beauty. (…)
Are these calls far from life? Are they just the dreams of a poet? Nothing happened. All this truth in all its immutability is given and can be fulfilled in earthly life. In vain will the ignoramuses assert that the world of Tagore and Tolstoy is utopian. Three times wrong. What kind of utopia is that you need to live beautifully? What kind of utopia is that there is no need to kill and destroy? What kind of utopia is that you need to know and saturate everything around with enlightenment? After all, this is not a utopia at all, but reality itself. If the light of Beauty did not penetrate into the darkness of earthly life, even in isolated, subdued sparks, then earthly life in general would be unthinkable. What deep gratitude of mankind should be brought to those giants of thought who, not sparing their hearts, truly selflessly bring reminders and orders about the eternal foundations of life!
The theme of accepting life in its entirety, admiring the beauty of the world, glorifying happiness, love and good human feelings was present in Tagore's poetic work throughout his life.
I contemplated the illumined face of the world, without closing my eyes,
Marvel at his perfection.
The breath of Lakshmi from the garden where the Eternal Beauty,
It blew my lips.
Generous joy of the universe and sighs of her sorrows
I expressed with my flute, -
he wrote already in his declining years in the poem "The End of the Year" (1932).
Roerich especially appreciated the combination of modernity with the precepts of ancient wisdom in Tagore's work, which seemed impossible to many even recognized philosophers. They saw retrograde or lifelessness in the study of knowledge that has come down to us from time immemorial. “In Tagore, such knowledge is innate, and his deep knowledge of modern literature and science gives him that balance, that golden path, which in the minds of many would seem like an impossible dream. And he is here in front of us, if only to carefully and benevolently examine him.
N.K. Roerich informed R. Tagore about many of his undertakings, in particular, about the Pact for the Protection of Cultural Property in Time of War, about the foundation of the Urusvati Research Institute in the Himalayas. Responding to Roerich’s request to express his opinion about the Pact, Tagore wrote to the artist on April 26, 1931: “I have closely followed your wonderful achievements in the field of art and your great humanitarian work for the benefit of all peoples, for whom your Peace Pact with its banner of protection of cultural treasures will be an exclusively active symbol. As if responding to this assessment, Roerich writes in the article “Vijaya Tagore” (“Victory of Tagore”), dedicated to the poet’s seventieth birthday (1931): “When I think about unbreakable energy, about blessed enthusiasm, about pure culture, I always get image of Rabindranath Tagore so close to me. (...) After all, Tagore's songs are inspired calls to culture, his prayer for a great culture, his blessing to those who seek the path of ascent. Synthesizing this huge activity - all going up the same mountain, penetrating the narrowest lanes of life - how can anyone refrain from feeling inspiring joy? So blessed, so beautiful is the essence of Tagore's song, call and labor. (...) Isn’t it a sacred joyful feeling to look at eternal snow Himalayas, saturated with the miraculous dust of meteors distant worlds and realize that now Rabindranath Tagore lives among us, that, at the age of seventy, he tirelessly exalts the beautiful and tirelessly builds the eternal stones of culture, creating from them strongholds of the joy of the human spirit?
It's so necessary! This is so urgently needed!.. Let us tirelessly exclaim about this true pride of the nation and the whole world!”10
Correspondence between Roerich and Tagore continued until the death of the poet. He invited Nikolai Konstantinovich to visit Shantiniketon, but this trip did not take place. In his memoirs about the poet, Nicholas Roerich cites lines from Rabindranath Tagore's letters to him: “I was very glad to hear from you again and learn that you had safely returned to your monastery after a difficult expedition to Central Asia. I envy your fascinating adventures and impressions received in these remote, inaccessible parts of the world ... In my solitary life of an old man, full of worries about the developing training center I am forced to satisfy my curiosity only by reading about the triumphs of the indomitable human spirit over the forces of nature. “I am sure that you will be very interested in the spirit of internationalism that prevails in the Center and in educational work. And believe me, it will give me real pleasure to introduce you to the brainchild of my life, which is Shantiniketon.
In connection with the events of World War II, Tagore wrote to Roerich: “The ugly manifestations of open militarism in all directions portend an ominous future, and I almost lose faith in civilization itself. (…) Today I am just as confused and upset as you are due to the turn of events in the West. Let's hope that the world can come out cleaner from this carnage. (…) You dedicated your life to your work. I hope that fate will keep you for a long time so that you continue to serve Culture and Humanity.
On the eve of his eightieth birthday, R. Tagore wrote an article entitled "The Crisis of Civilization". “The dying Tagore cries out about the crisis of civilization. He complains about the hatred that has enveloped humanity everywhere, ”N.K. Roerich noted. Nevertheless, realizing his imminent departure, the poet did not lose his sense of historical optimism. Tagore's article ends with the words: “To lose faith in humanity is a terrible sin; I will not stain myself with this sin. I believe that after the storm, in the sky cleared of clouds, a new light will shine: the light of selfless service to man. A new, unsullied page of history will open. (…) To think that mankind can suffer a final defeat is criminal!”13
In Roerich's diary entries dedicated to the memory of Tagore, there are the following words: “Rabindranath is gone. Another page of Culture has ended. (…)
India will not forget Gitanjali, Sadhana and all Tagore's inspirational heritage. It displays the soul of India in all its sophistication, sublimity. (...) The ties between the two glorious peoples are great. It was in the Russian translation that Tagore's songs sounded great. In other languages, they lose, their flame and sincerity go out. But the idea of India is perfectly expressed in the Russian word. No wonder we have so many identical words with Sanskrit. This relationship is still little appreciated. I remember how Tagore was read to us. They fell in love with his songs not for their outward appearance, but for their deep feeling, which gave the appearance of India dear to the heart. Something more sincere could be sent to the poet, something else could be expressed. But you don't say, you think. His memory will be bright."
It only remains for us to join these words of N.K. Roerich.
Two great people, two wonderful lives dedicated to the service of Culture.
1 Cited. by: R. Tagore. Favorites. M., 1987. S. 5.
2 Quot. by: Rabindranath Tagore. Life and art. M.: Nauka, 1986. S. 21.
3 R. Tagore. Collected works. T. 12. M., 1965. S. 259.
4 N.K. Roerich. Diary sheets. T. 2. M.: MCR, 1995. S. 92.
5 Cited. by: Rabindranath Tagore. Life and art. S. 19.
6 E.I. Roerich. Letters. VI. M.: MCR, 2006. 09/10/1938.
7 N.K. Roerich. Diary sheets. T. 2. S. 93.
8 N.K. Roerich. Diary sheets. T. 2. S. 93 - 94.
9 Ibid. T. 2. S. 95.
10 N.K. Roerich. State of Light. M.: 1999. S. 258 - 259.
11 N.K. Roerich. Diary sheets. T. 2. S. 437.
12 Ibid. pp. 437 - 438.
13 R. Tagore. Collected works. T. 11. M., 1965. S. 381.
14 N.K. Roerich. Diary sheets. T. 2. S. 436.
Internet addresses:
http://nasati.ru/rabindranat-tagor.html
http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/3166127/post286446304/
http://www.newsps.ru/muzy-ka-iskusstvo-i-literatura/30828.html
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_colier/4506/TAGOR
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_Rabindranath_Tagore
http://www.litera-asia.ru/avtor/rabindranat-tagor/
http://rupoem.ru/tagor/all.aspx
http://poetrylibrary.ru/stixiya/menu-date-152.html
And The memories of Tagore as a person in the book Autobiography of a Yogi by Parahamsa Yogananda are interesting:“Scholars have severely and mercilessly criticized Rabindranath Tagore for introducing a new style to Bengali poetry. He mixed colloquial and classical expressions, ignoring all prescribed restrictions, dear to the heart of the pandits. His songs are in emotionally attractive terms without special attention to the accepted literary forms embody a deep philosophical truth.
One influential critic literally dismissed Rabindranath, calling him "a foppish poet who sells coos to the press at a rupee apiece." But Tagore's revenge was close: soon after he translated his Gitanjali into English, the entire Western world laid endless confessions at his feet. A host of pundits, including his former critics, went to Santiniketan to offer congratulations.
After a deliberately long delay, Rabindranath nevertheless received the guests and listened to their praises in stoic silence. Finally, he turned on them their own accustomed tool of criticism: "Gentlemen," he said, "the fragrance of the honors you have bestowed on me here does not much match your old foul-smelling contempt. Is there any connection between my Nobel Prize and your suddenly heightened ability to judge? I am the same poet that you did not like when I first brought modest flowers to the shrine of Bengal.”
Newspapers published a report about Tagore's bold performance. I was delighted with the directness of a man who did not succumb to the hypnosis of flattery. In Calcutta, I was introduced to Tagore by his secretary, Mr. C.F. Andrews, simply dressed in a Bengali dhoti, spoke fondly of Tagore as his gurudeva.
Rabindranath kindly received me. He radiated a soft aura of calm, charm, culture and courtesy. To my question about the prehistory of his literature, Tagore replied that one of his long-standing sources of inspiration, in addition to our religious epic, has always been the work of the 14th-century folk poet Vidyapati.
About two years after the founding of the school at Ranchi, I received a cordial invitation from Rabindranath to visit him in Santiniketan and discuss the ideals of raising children. This invitation was gratefully accepted. When I entered, the poet was sitting in his office. As at the first meeting, it occurred to me that he was such a wonderful living model of noble courage that any painter could wish for. His finely carved face of a noble patrician was framed by long hair and a flowing beard. Big touching eyes, an angelic smile and a voice that literally bewitches like a flute. Strong, tall and serious, he combined an almost feminine tenderness with the delightful spontaneity of a child. It was impossible to find a more suitable embodiment of the ideal idea of a poet than in this meek singer.
Tagore and I soon plunged into a comparative study of our schools, both based on an unorthodox direction. We found many similarities: outdoor learning, simplicity, enough space for the creative spirit of children. But Rabindranath great importance gave to the study of literature and poetry, as well as to expressing himself through music and singing ...
Tagore told me about his own struggles in parenting: “I ran away from school after the fifth grade,” he said, laughing. It was quite understandable how his innate poetic sophistication was offended by the dull, disciplinary atmosphere in the classroom. He continued:
“That's why I opened Shantiniketan in the shade of trees and under majestic skies,” he pointed emphatically at a small group practicing in a pretty garden. “The child is in his natural environment among flowers and songbirds. Only in this way can he fully express the hidden wealth of his individual talent. Genuine education can never be hammered into the head and perceived from the outside, rather, it should contribute to the spontaneous extraction to the surface of the endless repositories of wisdom hidden within.
I agreed, because I believe that the passion for ideals, the cult of heroes among young people will die out on a diet of mere statistics and chronology of epochs. The poet spoke lovingly of his father Devendranath, who had inspired the undertakings of Shantiniketan:
“My father gave me this fertile land, where he has already built an inn and a temple,” Rabindranath told me. “I started my educational experience here in 1901 with only ten children. All 8,000 English pounds that came to me with the Nobel Prize went to the beautification of the school.”
Rabindranath invited me to spend the night at his inn. It was truly a wonderful sight to see the poet sitting with a group of students on the patio in the evening. Time turned back: this view was reminiscent of a scene from an ancient monastery - a happy prince surrounded by people devoted to him, and everyone is shining with divine love. Tagore tightened all the bonds with the strings of harmony. Without any dogmatism, he attracted and captivated hearts with irresistible magnetism. A rare flower of poetry that blossomed in the garden of the Lord attracted others with its natural fragrance!
In a melodious voice, Rabindranath recited to us some newly written lovely verses. Most of the songs and plays written for the joy of his students were composed in Santiniketan. The beauty of these verses for me lies in his art, which was that in almost every line he spoke about God, yet rarely mentioned the holy name. “Intoxicated with the bliss of singing,” he wrote, “I forget myself and call You a friend, You, Who is my Lord.”
The next day, after lunch, I reluctantly took leave of the poet. I am glad that his small school has now grown into the international university of Vishva-Bharati, where scientists from all countries found the right path.
“Every child comes into the world with the message that God has not yet given up on people”
R. Tagore
Dear friends and guests of the Music of the Soul blog!
Today I want to focus on creativity amazing person. Few are given the difficult ability to live. A remarkable Indian writer, inspired lyric poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, composer, founder of two universities, Rabindranath Tagore, possessed this skill to the fullest extent. For the Belgalis, Rabindranath Tagore is not only a great poet, not only an example of a wonderful way of life, but also an integral part of their own life. They grow up with Tagore's language on their lips, and their best feelings are often given vent by his own words, his own poetry. His life is extraordinarily rich, rich in events not only external, but also internal, spiritual.
Rabindranath Tagore was born in 1861 in a family known throughout Bengal at that time. He was the youngest of 14 children. His grandfather Dvorkonath possessed truly fabulous wealth. He owned indigo factories, coal mines, sugar and tea plantations, huge estates.
Father Debendronath, nicknamed the Maharshi (Great Sage), played an important role in awakening the national identity of the Indians. Tagore's numerous brothers and sisters were endowed with various talents. An atmosphere of artistry, humanity, mutual respect reigned in this family, an atmosphere in which all talents flourished.
Rabindranath Tagore in 1873
Rabindranath Tagore started writing poetry at the age of 8. The only merit of these first experiments, he later jokingly wrote, was that they were lost. Tagore's mother died when he was 14 years old. Having lost his mother, the boy began to lead a secluded life, the echoes of this loss went through his whole life.
Sarada Devip (Tagore's mom)
remembrance
I never remember my mother
And only sometimes when I run out
Out in the street to play with the boys
Some kind of melody all of a sudden
Takes possession of me, I do not know where being born,
And it seems to me like it's mom
She came to me, merged with my game.
She, shakingcradlemine
Maybe she sang this song
But everything is gone, and mom is no more,
And my mother's song was gone.
I never remember my mother.
But in the month of Ashshin, among the thickets of jasmine
As soon as it starts to dawn
And the wind, smelling of flowers, is moist,
And the wave gently laps
Memories rise in my soul
And she appears to me.
That's right, my mother often brought
Flowers to offer prayers to the gods;
Isn't that why mother's fragrance
I hear every time I enter the temple?
I never remember my mother.
But looking out the bedroom window
To a world that cannot be embraced with a glance,
To the blue of heaven, I feel it again
She looks into my eyes
Attentive and gentle look,
As in golden times
When, putting me on my knees,
She looked into my eyes.
And then her gaze was imprinted in me,
And he closed the sky from me.
Tagore with his wife Mrinalini Devi (1883)
At 22, R. Tagore marries. And he becomes the father of five children.
There is love that floats freely in the sky. This love warms the soul.
And there is love that dissolves in everyday affairs. This love brings warmth tofamily.
Rabindranath Tagore with his eldest son and daughter
The very first published collection of poems "Evening Songs" glorified the young poet. Since that time, collections of poems, stories, novels, dramas, articles have come out from under his pen in a continuous stream - one can only marvel at the inexhaustible power of his genius.
In 1901, the poet and his family moved to the family estate near Calcutta and opened a school with five associates, for which he sold the copyright to publish his books.
A year later, his beloved wife dies, he experienced this death very hard.
When I don't see you in my dream
It seems to me that whispers spells
Earth to disappear under your feet.
And cling to the empty sky
Raising my hands, in horror I want ...
(translated by A. Akhmatova)
But the misfortunes did not end there. The following year, one of the daughters died of tuberculosis, and in 1907, the youngest son died of tuberculosis.
You want to change everything, but efforts are in vain:
Everything remains exactly the same. as before.
If you destroy all sorrows, soon
Recent joys will turn into sorrows
In 1912, with his eldest son, Rabindranath Tagore left for the United States, making a stop in London. Here he showed his poems to his friend writer William Rotenstein. Tagore becomes famous in England, in America.
The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Tagore in 1913, recognition of his indisputable merits, was greeted with the greatest rejoicing throughout Asia.
R. Tagore never in his life, even in the most difficult moments, did not lose his inescapable optimism, faith in the inevitable final triumph of good over evil.
In the crevice of the wall, in the midst of the cool of the night,
A flower blossomed. He didn't please anyone's looks.
His rootless, squalor reproach
And the sun says, "How are you, brother?"
His favorite image is a flowing river: sometimes a small river Kopai, sometimes a full-flowing Padma, and sometimes an all-entraining stream of time and space. This is how we see his work: rich, varied, nourishing ...
Light comes from his work, helping to find oneself. In ancient India, the poet was viewed as a "rishi" - a prophet leading among people. At almost 70 years old, Rabindranath Tagore discovered painting. And the following years he devoted himself to drawing.
“The morning of my life was full of songs, let the sunset of my days be full of colors,” said Tagore. After himself, he left not only thousands of beautiful lines, but also about 2 thousand paintings and drawings.
He did not study painting, but painted as his heart felt. His impulsive paintings are written quickly, with inspiration and confidence. This is a splash of emotions on paper. “I succumbed to the spell of lines ...” - he said later. With ornate designs, Tagore filled in the crossed-out spaces on the pages of his manuscripts. As a result, these patterns resulted in paintings that inspire many young artists to create, and a new trend in art has appeared in India.
His exhibitions were held in many countries of the world, they conquered people with their sincerity and originality and sold well. Tagore invested money from the sale of paintings in the creation of the university.
Now his paintings can most often be found in private collections. In 2010, a collection of 12 paintings by Rabindranath Tagore was sold for $2.2 million.
The poet is the author of the text of the hymns of Bangladesh and India.
In this sunny world I don't want to die
I would like to live forever in thisbloomingforest,
Where people leave to return again
Where hearts beat and flowers gather dew.
Throughout his life, he argued that the feet should touch the ground, and the head should go to the sky. Only in the interaction of worldly and spiritual life can a person count on the success of his inner search.
At a late hour, he who wished to renounce the world said:
“Today I will go to God, my house has become a burden to me.
Who kept me by sorcery at the threshold of mine?
God told him, "I am." The man did not hear him.
In front of him on the bed, breathing serenely in a dream,
The young wife held the baby to her breast.
"Who are they - the offspring of Maya?" the man asked.
God told him, "I am." The man heard nothing.
The one who wanted to leave the world stood up and shouted:Where are you, god?»
God told him, "Here." The man did not hear him.
The child was brought in, cried in a dream, sighed.
God said, "Come back." But no one heard him.
God sighed and exclaimed, “Alas! Be your way, let it be.
Only where will you find me if I stay here.
(translated by V. Tushnova)
Tagore considered personality to be the highest value and was himself the embodiment of a whole person. The word for him was not a unit of information or description, but a call and a message. Throughout his long life, with amazing harmony, Rabindranath Tagore combines in his work the contradictions between the spirit and the flesh, man and society, between the search for truth and the enjoyment of beauty. And he felt beauty with a subtlety peculiar only to a few. And with high, noble inspiration he knew how to recreate it in his lyrical poems, which may be the best of everything that he wrote.
Something from light touches, something from vague words, -
This is how tunes arise - a response to a distant call.
Champak in the midst of the spring bowl,
polash in the blaze of bloom
Sounds and colors will tell me, -
this is the path to inspiration.
Something will appear in a flash,
Visions in the soul - without number, without counting,
And something is gone, ringing - you can’t catch the melody.
So the minute changes to a minute - the hammered ringing of bells.
(translationM. Petrovyh)
For modern Bengali literature, Tagore is still a beacon to navigate. Tagore's ageless poetry is becoming more and more popular. Just as Mahatma Gandhi is called the father of the Indian nation, Rabindranath Tagore can rightfully be called the father of Indian literature. Tagore knew the old age of the body, but not the old age of the soul. And in this unfading youth is the secret of the longevity of his memory.
Poems and quotes by Rabindranath Tagore
Someone built a house for himself -
So mine is broken.
I made a truce
Someone went to war.
If I touched the strings -
Somewhere, their bells have stopped.
The circle closes right there
Where does it start.
***
Clap before mistakesa door.
The truth is in turmoil: "How will I enter now?"
"O fruit! O fruit! the flower screams.
Tell me, where do you live, my friend?
“Well,” the fruit laughs, “look:
I live inside you."
* * *
“Aren't you,” I once asked fate, “
Pushing me so mercilessly in the back?”
She croaked with an evil smile:
"Your own past drives you."
* * *
Respondsechoto everything that is heard around:
It does not want to be anyone's debtor.
* * *
Woke up babyflower. And suddenly appeared
The whole world is in front of him, like a huge beautiful flower garden.
And so he said to the universe, blinking in amazement:
"While I live, live, too, dear."
Rabindranath Tagore (Beng. রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Robindronath Thakur). Born May 7, 1861 - Died August 7, 1941. Indian writer, poet, composer, artist, public figure. His work has shaped the literature and music of Bengal. He became the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). Translations of his poetry were regarded as spiritual literature and, together with his charisma, created the image of Tagore the prophet in the West.
Tagore began writing poetry at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen, he wrote his first short stories and dramas, published his poetry tests under the pseudonym Sunny Lion (Beng. Bhānusiṃha). Having received an upbringing saturated with humanism and love for the motherland, Tagore advocated the independence of India. He founded Vishwa Bharati University and the Institute for Agricultural Reconstruction. Tagore's poems are today the anthems of India and Bangladesh.
The work of Rabindranath Tagore includes lyric works, essays and novels on political and social topics. His most famous works - "Gitanjali" (Sacrificial Chants), "Mountain" and "House and Peace" - are examples of lyricism, colloquial style, naturalism and contemplation in literature.
Rabindranath Tagore, the youngest of the children of Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Sharada Devi (1830-1875), was born at the estate of Jorasanko Thakur Bari (north of Calcutta). The Tagore clan was very ancient and among its ancestors were the founders of the Adi Dharm religion. Father, being a Brahmin, often made pilgrimages to the holy places of India. Mother, Sharada Devi, died when Tagore was 14 years old.
The Tagore family was very famous. Tagores were large zamindars (landowners), many prominent writers, musicians and public figures visited their house. Rabindranath's elder brother Dwijendranath was a mathematician, poet and musician, the middle brothers Dijendranath and Jyotirindranath were famous philosophers, poets and playwrights. Nephew Rabindranath Obonindranath became one of the founders of the school of modern Bengali painting.
At the age of five, Rabindranath was sent to the Eastern Seminary, and later transferred to the so-called Normal School, which was distinguished by official discipline and a shallow level of education. Therefore, Tagore was more fond of walks around the estate and the surrounding area than schoolwork. Upon completion of the Upanayana at the age of 11, Tagore left Calcutta on February 14, 1873, and traveled with his father for several months. They visited the family estate at Santiniketan and stayed in Amritsar. Young Rabindranath received a good education at home, studying history, arithmetic, geometry, languages (particularly English and Sanskrit) and other subjects, got acquainted with the work of Kalidasa.
Vishnu poetry inspired the sixteen-year-old Rabindranath to create a poem in the Maithili style founded by Vidyapati. It was published in the Bharoti magazine under the pseudonym Bhanu Shingho (Bhānusiṃha, Solar Lion) with the explanation that the 15th century manuscript was found in an old archive and was positively evaluated by experts. He wrote Bikharini (A Beggar Woman, published in the July 1877 issue of the Bharoti magazine, was the first story in Bengali), poetry collections Evening Songs (1882), which included the poem "Nirjharer Svapnabhanga", and "Morning songs" (1883).
A promising young barrister, Tagore entered a public school in Brighton (East Sussex, England) in 1878. Initially, he stayed for several months in a house near Brighton and Hove, which belonged to the Tagore family. A year earlier, he was joined by his nephews - Suren and Indira, the children of his brother Satyendranath - who came with their mother. Rabindranath studied law at University College London, but soon left to study literature: Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, Thomas Browne's Religio Medici and others. He returned to Bengal in 1880 without completing his degree. However, this familiarity with England later manifested itself in his familiarity with the traditions of Bengali music, allowing him to create new images in music, poetry and drama. But Tagore, in his life and work, never fully accepted either the criticism of Britain or the strict family traditions based on the experience of Hinduism, instead absorbing the best of these two cultures.
On December 9, 1883, Rabindranath married Mrinalini Devi (born Bhabatarini, 1873-1902). Mrinalini, like Rabindranath, came from a Pirali Brahmin family. They had five children: daughters Madhurilata (1886-1918), Renuka (1890-1904), Mira (1892-?), and sons Rathindranath (1888-1961) and Samindranath (1894-1907). In 1890, Tagore was entrusted with huge estates in Shilaidah (now part of Bangladesh). His wife and children joined him in 1898.
Rabindranath Tagore published in 1890 one of his most famous works - a collection of poems "The Image of the Beloved". As a "zamindar babu", Tagore traveled around the family estates on the luxurious barge "Padma", collecting fees and communicating with the villagers who held holidays in his honor. The years 1891-1895, the period of Tagore's sadhana, were very fruitful. Tagore created more than half of the eighty-four stories included in the three-volume Galpaguchcha. With irony and seriousness, they portrayed many areas of Bengal life, focusing mainly on rural images. The end of the 19th century is marked by the writing of collections of songs and poetry "Golden Boat" (1894) and "Instant" (1900).
In 1901, Tagore returned to Shilaidah and moved to Shantiniketan (Abode of Peace), where he established an ashram. It included an experimental school, a marble-floored prayer room (mandir), gardens, groves, and a library. After the death of his wife in 1902, Tagore published a collection of lyrical poems "Memory" ("Sharan"), permeated with a poignant sense of loss. In 1903, one of the daughters died of tuberculosis, and in 1907, the youngest son of the poet died of cholera. In 1905 Rabindranath's father passed away. During these years, Tagore received monthly payments as part of his inheritance, additional income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of family jewels and royalties.
Public life did not stay away from the writer. After the famous Indian revolutionary Tilak was arrested by the colonial authorities, Tagore defended him and organized a fundraiser to help the prisoner. Curzon Act partitioning Bengal in 1905 he caused a wave of protest, which was expressed in the Swadeshi movement, one of the leaders of which was Tagore. At this time, he wrote the patriotic songs "Golden Bengal" and "Land of Bengal". On the day of the entry into force of the act, Tagore organized Rakhi-bondkhon - an exchange of bandages, symbolizing the unity of Bengal, in which Hindus and Muslims took part. However, when Swadeshi began to take the form of a revolutionary struggle, Tagore moved away from it, believing that social change should occur through the education of the people, the creation of voluntary organizations and the expansion of domestic production.
In 1910, one of Tagore's most famous collections of poems, Gitanjali (Sacrificial Chants), was published. Tagore traveled extensively, visiting Europe, the USA, the USSR, Japan and China since 1912. While in London, he showed some of the verses from Gitanjali, translated into English by himself, to his friend, the British artist William Rothenstein, who was greatly impressed by them. With the assistance of Rothenstein, Ezra Pound, William Yeats and others, the India Society of London published 103 translated Tagore poems in 1913, and a year later four Russian-language editions appeared.
On November 14, 1913, Tagore learned that he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Tagore became its first laureate from Asia. The Swedish Academy highly appreciated the idealistic, and accessible to Western readers, a small part of the translated material, which included part of the Gitanjali. In his speech, the representative of the Academy, Harald Jerne, noted that the members of the Nobel Committee were most impressed by the Sacrificial Songs. Jerne also mentioned the English translations of Tagore's other works, both poetic and prose, which were mostly published in 1913. Tagore's cash prize from the Nobel Committee was donated by Tagore to his school at Shantiniketan, which later became the first free university. In 1915, Tagore was granted the title of knight, which he refused in 1919 after the execution of civilians in Amritsar.
In 1921, Tagore, together with his friend, the English agronomist and economist Leonard Elmhurst, founded in Surul (near Shantiniketan) the Institute for the Reconstruction of Agriculture, later renamed Sriniketan (Welfare Abode). By this, Rabindranath Tagore bypassed the symbolic swaraj, which he did not approve of. Tagore had to seek the help of sponsors, officials and scientists all over the world to "liberate the village from the shackles of helplessness and ignorance" through enlightenment.
Michele Moramarco cites information that in 1924 Tagore was awarded an honorary prize by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. According to him, Tagore had the opportunity to become a Freemason in his youth, supposedly having been initiated in one of the lodges during his stay in England.
In the early 1930s he turned his attention to the caste system and the problems of the untouchables. Speaking at public lectures and describing the "untouchable heroes" in his work, he managed to get permission for them to visit the Krishna Temple in Guruvayur.
Tagore's numerous international travels only strengthened his opinion that any division of people is very superficial.
In May 1932, while visiting a Bedouin camp in the desert of Iraq, the leader addressed him with the words: "Our Prophet said that a true Muslim is one whose words or actions will not harm a single person." Tagore later noted in his diary: "I began to recognize in his words the voice of inner humanity." He carefully studied orthodox religions and reproached Gandhi for saying that the January 15, 1934 earthquake in Bihar, which caused thousands of deaths, was a punishment from above for the oppression of the untouchable caste. He lamented the epidemic of poverty in Calcutta and the accelerating socio-economic decline in Bengal, which he detailed in a thousand-line unrhymed poem whose devastating technique of double vision foreshadowed Satyajit Ray's film Apur Samsar.
Tagore wrote many more works that amounted to fifteen volumes. Among them are such poems in prose as "Again" ("Punashcha", 1932), "The Last Octave" ("Shes Saptak", 1935) and "Leaves" ("Patraput", 1936). He continued to experiment with style, creating prose songs and dance-plays such as Chitrangada (Chitrangada, 1914), Shyama (Shyama, 1939) and Chandalika (Chandalika, 1938). Tagore wrote the novels Dui Bon (Dui Bon, 1933), Malancha (Malancha, 1934) and Four Parts (Char Adhyay, 1934). In the last years of his life, he became interested in science. He wrote a collection of essays, Our Universe (Visva-Parichay, 1937). His studies of biology, physics, and astronomy were reflected in poetry, which often contained a broad naturalism that emphasized his respect for the laws of science. Tagore participated in the scientific process, creating stories about scientists included in some chapters of "Si" ("Se", 1937), "Tin Sangi" ("Tin Sangi", 1940) and "Galpasalpa" ("Galpasalpa", 1941).
The last four years of Tagore's life were marred by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. They began when Tagore lost consciousness in 1937 and remained in a coma for a long time on the verge of life and death. The same thing happened again at the end of 1940, after which he never recovered. Tagore's poetry, written during these years, is an example of his skill and was distinguished by a special concern for death. After a long illness, Tagore died on August 7, 1941 at the Jorasanko estate. The entire Bengali-speaking world mourned the death of the poet. The last person to see Tagore alive was Amiya Kumar Sen, who took down his last poem from dictation. Later, her draft was given to the Calcutta Museum. In the memoirs of the Indian mathematician, Professor P. Ch. Mahalonbis, it was noted that Tagore was very worried about the war between Nazi Germany and the USSR, often interested in reports from the fronts, and on the last day of his life expressed his firm belief in victory over Nazism.
