What freedom from the British meant for Rabindranath Tagore

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New
Delhi,
Aug
06:
India
is
celebrating
its
75th
anniversary
of
Independence
from
British
rule
this
year.
There
were
so
many
who
took
part
in
the
freedom
struggle
from
all
walks
of
life.

Rabindranath
Tagore
was
not
just
a
poet
but
someone
ahead
of
his
time.
At
the
time
of
independence
India
did
not
have
a
national
anthem.
The
song
‘Bharoto
Bhagyo
Bidhata’,
composed
in
1911
by
Tagore
was
renamed
as
‘Jan
Gan
Man.’ It
was
adopted
by
the
Constituent
Assembly
of
India
as
the
national
anthem
on
January
24
1950.

Tagore
who
in
1913
became
the
first
Indian
to
receive
a
Nobel
Prize
in
literature
played
an
important
role
in
India’s
freedom
struggle.
He
denounced
British
imperialism
but
also
did
not
fully
support
or
agree
with
Gandhi
and
his
non-cooperation
movement.

Rabindranath
Tagore
birth
anniversary:
Unknown
Facts
about
the
Bard
of
Bengal

He
viewed
the
British
as
a
symptom
of
overall
sickness
of
the
social
disease
of
the
public.
Tagore
not
only
rejected
violence
by
the
British
but
also
recounted
the
knighthood
that
had
been
conferred
upon
him
by
Lord
Hardinge
in
1915.
This
was
done
in
protest
against
the
Amritsar
massacre
in
which
the
British
killed
at
1,526
unarmed
Indians.

His
belief
was
that
the
idea
of
anti-colonialism
cannot
simply
be
achieved
by
rejecting
all
things
British.
It
should
comprise
of
incorporating
the
best
aspects
of
western
culture
into
the
best
Indian
culture.

Freedom
does
not
simply
mean
political
freedom
from
the
British.
True
freedom
means
the
ability
to
be
truthful
and
honest
with
oneself
otherwise
autonomy
loses
all
of
its
worth,
he
said.

Rabindranath
Tagore,
Bengali
Rabindranath
Ṭhakur
(born
May
7,
1861,
Calcutta
[now
Kolkata]
was
Bengali
poet,
short-story
writer,
song
composer,
playwright,
essayist,
and
painter
who
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
the
youngest
son
of
Debendranath
Tagore,
a
leader
of
the
Brahmo
Samaj,
which
was
a
new
religious
sect
in
nineteenth-century
Bengal
and
which
attempted
a
revival
of
the
ultimate
monistic
basis
of
Hinduism
as
laid
down
in
the
Upanishads.

Rabindranath
Tagore
is
well-
known
as
a
poet
and
prolific
writer
with
works
ranging
from
poetry
to
short
stories
and
plays.
He
was
also
the
first
Indian
to
win
a
Nobel
for
literature
and
on
the
other,
a
novelist
who
wrote
and
composed
an
entire
genre
of
songs.
His
contribution
to
Literature,
music,
art
and
politics
is
brilliant.

From
Tagore
to
Banerjee:
List
of
Indian-origin
Nobel
Laureates

Each
time
Rabindranath
Tagore
visited
a
new
nation,
the
government
would
pledge
thousands
of
dollars
to
his
Visva
Bharti
University
in
honor
of
his
visit
to
their
country
The
first
Asian
to
win
a
Nobel
Prize,
Tagore
composed
more
than
2,000
songs
and
penned
a
large
number
of
poems,
stories,
dramas,
and
novels.
His
works
“Gitanjali”
and
“Jeevan
Smriti”
are
still
cherished
today.

Rabindranath
Tagore
wasn’t
just
the
first
Asian
to
win
a
Nobel
prize,
but
also
the
first
Non-European
to
mark
his
prominence
in
literature.

Many
people
are
aware
that
Tagore
wrote
2
national
anthems.
“Jana
Gana
Mana”
for
India
and
“Amar
Sonar
Bangla”
for
Bangladesh.
What
many
people
don’t
know
is
that
he
also
inspired
the
Sri
Lankan
national
anthem
“Sri
Lanka
Matha”.
Some
even
hold
a
view
that
Tagore
composed
the
anthem
in
its
entirety.