How The Bard Of Bengal's Relevance Shines Bright In 2024

Tagore is a soft spot for the Bengali community. Many outside Bengal find it comical how emotionally charged the people of Bengal get when you bring up the topic of the bard. All you need to do is strike up a conversation with a Bengali anywhere in the world about Tagore and you can see the nostalgia pouring in from every corner of their being. It can’t be overlooked that the legacy he has left behind for the generations ahead to enjoy, through his writings is unbelievably impressive. Even today, many express his poetry in love, sadness and despair. 

The Polymath Who Inspired India

Tagore is one among the many extraordinary Bengali polymath who is worshipped as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter during the age of the Bengal Renaissance. 

The Bengali Renaissance was a very important period of its literary history. It was mainly led by the Bengali Hindus who during that time were more socially and economically affluent in colonial Bengal. So they were better placed for receiving higher education as a community. Among them, the significant names with Tagore were the social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy, and the physicist Satyendra Nath Bose. 

Kobi Guru Robindro Nath Thakur as he is referred to by the Bengalis is instrumental in reshaping Bengali literature, music, and art with contextual modernism. His famous book of poems Geetanjali is among the most popular poetry books to date in Bengal. 

He is also the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in literature. 

Tagore was born in an affluent Bengali family and his work is a reflection of his spiritual life journey. The magic of his work has still not been translated enough for him to be able to cross borders and travel to the world of literature lovers. It is monumental the art he has left behind for generations to feel proud of the Bengali language and its richness found in his writings. Yet the translations are still not complete in retaining the original meaning in its true essence. 

His compositions were chosen by two nations as their national anthems. India’s “Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla" were both written by him. Also, the Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.

It is estimated that there are around 290 million Bengali speakers across the world and the majority of them are connected with a sentiment that cuts across religion and gender for the bard of Bengal. 

For me, Tagore appears and reappears in the memory of my growing-up years as my mother would listen to his songs, playing in the background as she went about her chores. She insisted I listen to the songs with a lot of attention which was extremely difficult for me as a child, who was studying in a convent school where Keats and Wordsworth were more discussed.

Tagore’s Where The Mind Is Without Fear was one on the syllabus. What my mother wanted to appreciate, I found them abstract and too much of a parental pressure, to really soak it on my own. But as the years rolled and a book of his poems is on the bookshelf, gifted by my late father to my mother, I realised the importance of the language and the wondrously beautiful words of Tagore that are sensuous for my soul. 

Mohua Chinappa is a poet, an author who runs two podcasts called The Literature Lounge, and The Mohua Show and is a member of a UK-based think tank called Bridge India.

Views expressed are the author's own.