Top scholars from nearly 30 countries finish the first book on Rabindranath Tagore

LONDON: The world’s foremost scholars from over two and a half dozen countries have joined hands to write a seminal narrative on India’s greatest cultural ambassador – Rabindranath Tagore.
In what will be the first book to look at all of Tagore’s travels internationally – his politics of friendship and practise of liberal humanism, scholars will gather in Edinburgh on May 12 to reveal to the world how the Indian Nobel laureate was perceived globally.
The book “Rabindranath Tagore – One hundred years of global reception” edited jointly by a Hungarian expert based in Oxford University and a German Tagore scholar from Santiniketan tracks each and every international journey Tagore undertook in his lifetime.
Tagore is believed to have visited 37 countries during his lifetime.
The book to be released for the first time at the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies talks about how he was perceived globally, the reception he received there and the meetings he had with towering political and cultural figures of his time.
The book also explores how he used these international lectures as a way to raise funds for Vishwa Bharati university which he was setting up.
Patron of the Tagore Centre Charles Bruce told TOI “Tagore was the first Asian poet to receive the Nobel prize for literature which struck a universal chord globally. The book which is the first such narrative looking at each and every international trip Tagore undertook talks about the extraordinary story of Tagore’s external reputation through his visits across the five continents - how he was perceived wherever he went. He though he played a major role to connect east and the west”.
“Tagore’s principle legacy was to encourage the dialogue between East and West which was also the premise on which his university was built in 1921. It was the first university based on the Indian view as all others during that time were based on the British model. He didn’t see himself as the cultural ambassador although many of his contemporaries saw him like that. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to represent the Indian state because independence didn’t come till 1947 - six years after his death. He was trying to present the idea of India of the role it could play globally. The book is the most genuine international view on the impact that Tagore made as a global writer, speaking to local communities,” Bruce added.
Director of the Centre professor Bashabi Fraser told TOI that everyone around the world. Tagore’s legacy still remains fresh – some will have a road named after him while others will have a bust of his n a public square.
According to Professor Fraser, no other Nobel laureate played such a role of a global ambassador.
“He always knew that India would become very important internationally for its soft power. He therefore indulged in cultural diplomacy and travelled to Iraq, Britain, France, central Europe, China and Japan. Gitanjali has never been out of print and continues to be published and translated, which says volumes about his global profile. Tagore always tried to bring the world together through dialogue. He believed that the East had something to give to the West. Unlike very few Indians of his time, he not only looked to the West for contact and inspiration but also looked to the East – Japan, China and South East Asia which he wanted to bring both together”.
The book edited by Martin Kampchen and Imre Bangha looks at where he was read, translated and continues to be a literary presence. Contributions are from authors from South Africa to China to Japan and indulges in Tagore’s legacy of international movement never been told before.
“He thought himself to be the bridge between Eastern and Western ideas and wanted to know about other literary traditions.
The editors say that when Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, it gave him the authority to speak and the intellectual elite of many countries listened. Around 35 essays arranged by region or language group inform us about translations, the impact of Tagore’s visits, and his subsequent standing in the world of letters. Tagore’s reception while often enthusiastic was not always adulatory, occasionally undergoing dramatic metamorphoses and diverse political and social milieus and cultural movements responded to him differently.