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Unit 10: Once There was a King by Rabindranath Tagore

the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and Notes
mercurial; however, his “elegant prose and magical poetry” remain largely unknown outside
Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into
Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was
highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is
generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern South Asia.
A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At age sixteen, he
released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym BhânusiCha (“Sun Lion”), which were
seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. He graduated to his first short stories
and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist, universalist
internationalist, and strident anti-nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated independence
from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised
paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy
endures also in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures.
His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal.
Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are
his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for
their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were
chosen by two nations as national anthems: India’s Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh’s Amar
Shonar Bangla.

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Caution Remember that Rabindranath Tagore’s name also transliterated as Ravindranatha
Thakura. He was an Indian short story writer, poet, playwright, essayist, novelist, painter,
and songwriter.

10.1.1 Early Life of Rabindranath Tagore: 1861–1878

The youngest of thirteen surviving children, Tagore was born in the Jorasanko mansion in
Calcutta, India to parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875). The
Tagore family came into prominence during the Bengal Renaissance that started during the age
of Hussein Shah (1493–1519). The original name of the Tagore family was Banerjee. Being
Brahmins, their ancestors were referred to as ‘Thakurmashai’ or ‘Holy Sir’. During the British
rule, this name stuck and they began to be recognised as Thakur and eventually the family name
got anglicised to Tagore. Tagore family patriarchs were the Brahmo founders of the Adi Dharm
faith. The loyalist “Prince” Dwarkanath Tagore, who employed European estate managers and
visited with Victoria and other royalty, was his paternal grandfather. Debendranath had
formulated the Brahmoist philosophies espoused by his friend Ram Mohan Roy, and became
focal in Brahmo society after Roy’s death.
Tagore was raised mostly by servants; his mother had died in his early childhood and his father
travelled widely. His home hosted the publication of literary magazines; theatre and recitals of
both Bengali and Western classical music featured there regularly, as the Jorasanko Tagores
were the center of a large and art-loving social group. Tagore’s oldest brother Dwijendranath
was a respected philosopher and poet. Another brother, Satyendranath, was the first Indian
appointed to the elite and formerly all-European Indian Civil Service. Yet another brother,
Jyotirindranath, was a musician, composer, and playwright. His sister Swarnakumari became a
novelist. Jyotirindranath’s wife Kadambari, slightly older than Tagore, was a dear friend and
powerful influence. Her abrupt suicide in 1884, soon after he married, left him for years
profoundly distraught.

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