Vangiya Sahitya Parishad

The Folk Mysticism of Rabindranath Tagore: ManerManus and JivanDevata

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JoannaTuczy?ska, University of Gda?sk, Poland

Abstract
The lyrical mysticism of Rabindranath Tagorein its musical dimensionwas outstandingly inspired by the B?ul devotional vocal tradition.Theprimeval aboriginal spirit permeated the unboundgenius of the poetwith the idea of M?n?r M?nuswhich he imaginatively transformedinto the deeply symbolic concept of J?van D?vat?. Thus, the indigenous musical folkloreof Bengal becomes the poetic medium of the reunion between man and the Creator as the way to the realization of J?van y?tr?. Music in its devine form of g?t? guides man on his path to the Lord through the Heart understood as the symbolic dwelling ofthe Ultimate Truth where the Cycle of Love is completed.

[Keywords: folk mysticism, M?n?rM?nus, J?vanD?vat?, B?uls]

The mysticism of Rabindranath Tagore blossomed on the soil of rich and complex religious influences, which became the fusion of his poetic interest. The spirit ofUpani?ad, the voice of theBr?hmas?majmovement, the light of the Bible, the ??f?esotericism and the B?ulfolk tradition of Medieval Indiacreate together the realm of Tagore’s artistic genius. However, the imaginative musical tone of his poetic expressionfinds its special inspiration in the vocal heritage of the devotional mysticsongs of the B?uls. It is their unsophisticated authenticity that touched Tagore’s spirit with its overwhelming force. The light and the magical charm of the aboriginal songs of Bengal reached the innermost depths of Rabindranath’s heart to blossom in his imagination into lyrical song offerings.Music filled the creative spirit of the poet, building a divine path to the Creator and shaping the universe of his creations, midst of whichG?t?ñjali, G?t?liand Gitim?lya arose with their outstanding artistic quality. Rabindranath’s devotional songs resounded in the mystic flute of K???a with the message of the Truth inherently rooted in the Infinite Divine Consciousness and ultimately realized within the human heart…Access Full Text of the Article


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Debmalya Das, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, India

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European Enlightenment in the eighteenth century marked a paradigm shift in its perception of time and in the practice of historiography. The idea of linear/teleological classification of time and the notion of empirical documentation of history was combined with the notion of progress, which saw civilization as a development from the state of barbarity to that of refinement. The appropriation of this progressivist ideology by the powerful in society has served as a tool of domination. Walter Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History” (1940) and Rabindranath Tagore’s “Crisis in Civilization”(1941), written in the wake of World War II, provide us with two radical perspectives which challenge such progressivist assumptions. Expanding the critical span into their other writings, this paper seeks to historicize the two figures in their varied positions of marginality as two counter-Enlightenment ideologues, writing at a moment of human history when the idea of being civilized was continually threatened by manifestations of barbarity in the socio-political/cultural dynamics of the entire world. Keep Reading

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As one of the earliest educators to think in terms of the global village and free education for all, Rabindranath Tagore’s educational pattern Loka-siksha has a distinctive understanding and suitability for education within multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural situations, amidst conditions of acknowledged economic discrepancy and political imbalance of contemporary times where education and cost are twined. The paper proposes to focus on Tagore’s philosophy on education an idea of extending equal right of education for all. Keep Reading

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Rajdeep Konar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

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Standing even at his 150th birth anniversary, there still remains a tendency to see Rabindranath Tagore’s paintings as “aberrations” to his aesthetic creed. This article makes an attempt at understanding the “thought gesture” behind Tagore’s paintings and thus relocating them in his personal tradition of art. This argues that the significance of Tagore’s painting will be fully realized not in a minute technical analysis of his painting. There have been numerous attempts at asserting judgmental views on Tagore’s paintings concerning the absence of any “methodological approach” to his painting. Rather, the pertinent questions which should be posed are: Why did Tagore essentially began painting? And why did he paint what he did? These questions could lead us towards comprehending the potentially infinite “thought gesture” which lies beneath the finite, pragmatic act of painting. This could let us into a greater understanding of his act of painting as not an event of ‘exception’ but as a development of the very ideas and concepts which constituted his consciousness in whatever he did. Keep Reading

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This article attempts to explore the scientific discourses of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore, to whom science did not signify a mechanistic analysis of facts, but rather a broader interpretation, a wider perception of the universe. Having their beliefs firmly rooted to the preachings of the ancient Hindu Upanishads and the Vedas, they conceived Nature not merely as a physical phenomenon, but a living spirit, which could help man to realize the essential Truth of Life. Keep Reading

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