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Unit 3: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore

3.2 Works Notes

Apart from poetry, Tagore wrote songs, short stories, novels, dramas, travelogues,
autobiographies and essays. Of Tagore’s prose, his short stories are probably most highly praised
and is credited with originating the Bengali-language version of the genre. His works are
commonly noted for their lyrical, rhythmic and optimistic nature and deal with the lives of
common people. Tagore’s non-fiction dealt with linguistics, spirituality and history. His essays,
lectures, and travelogues were assembled into several volumes, including Europe Jatrir Patro
(Letters from Europe) and Manusher Dhormo (The Religion of Man). On the occasion of Tagore’s 150th
birthday an compilation (titled Kalanukromik Rabindra Rachanabali) of the total body of his works
is presently being published in Bengali in chronological order. This includes all versions of each
work and fills about eighty volumes. In 2011, Harvard University Press collaborated with
Visva-Bharati University to publish The Essential Tagore, the largest anthology of Tagore’s works
available in English. It was edited by Radha Chakravarthy and Fakrul Alam and marks the 150th
anniversary of Tagore’s birth.
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres and among his fifty and odd volumes
of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song
Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English
renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The
Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes in the original Bengali; and in
spite of its title, Gitanjali: the Song Offerings (1912), the much-admired of them, contains poems
from other works besides its namesake. Tagore’s major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark
Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922)
[The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]. He is the author of several volumes of short
stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the
World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Tagore also left several drawings and paintings, and
composed music for his various songs.

Did u know? On 25 March 2004, Tagore’s Nobel Prize was stolen from the safety vault
of the Visva-Bharati University, along with many other of his personal belongings.
On 7 December 2004, the Swedish Academy presented two replicas of Tagore’s Nobel
Prize, one made of gold and the other made of bronze, to the Visva Bharati University.

3.2.1 Dramas

Tagore’s began to write drama when he was merely 16 years-old after leading his brother
Jyotirindranath’s adaptation of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. With the help of his brother
Jyotirindranath, Tagore wrote his first original drama, Valmiki Pratibha (The Genius of Valmiki) at
the age of 20, which was shown at the Tagores’ mansion. Tagore stated that his works sought to
articulate “the play of feeling and not of action”. In 1890 he wrote Visarjan it has been regarded
as his finest drama. In the original Bengali language, such works included complicated subplots
and extended monologues. Later, Tagore’s dramas used more philosophical and allegorical
themes. In it the pandit Valmiki overcomes his sins, is blessed by Saraswati, and compiles the
Râmâyana. Through it Tagore explores a varied range of dramatic styles and emotions, including
usage of refurbished kirtans and adaptation of traditional Irish and English folk melodies as
drinking songs. Another play, Dak Ghar (The Post Office), depicts the child Amal challenging his
stuffy and childish confines by ultimately “fall[ing] asleep”, hinting his physical death. A story
with borderless appeal—gleaning rave reviews in Europe—Dak Ghar dealt with death as, in
Tagore’s words, “spiritual freedom” from “the world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds”.

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