Bhopal: There are so much reams of writing and there will be much more in the years to come about Rabindranath Tagore as a bard, novelist, essayist, storywriter, composer and painter. So, an additional effort to do that will be in vain. But an author in Tagore has put into shadow his contribution to social reforms that Indian society needed at the beginning of the 19th century and still needs it.
The most-important feature of Indian society is the caste system which has sapped every yarn of it. Not surprising that Tagore who advocated for ‘creative mind’ of an individual was against the caste system and its associated practices including those of untouchability and animal sacrifice. He ripped into the Brahmanical social order through a dance drama, In the Land of Playing Cards (Tasher Deshe), The Red Oleanders (Rakta Karobi), Chandalika (Untouchable Girl), Mukta Dhara (Free Rivulet). These plays are full of suggestions not only on modern politics but also on many other problems that unveil the modern world.
On his 157th birth anniversary which falls on May 7, poets, theatre artistes and academicians in the city remembered him as social reformer and his works which they said are as relevant today as they were years ago. “Most of the works of Tagore were against casteism. Besides, Tagore highlights religious contradictions in his works like Gora. His aim was to end the narrowness of caste and religion,” said Hindi poet Rajesh Joshi to Free Press. Remembering Tagore’s role as a social reformer, theatre director Alok Chatterjee said, “No doubt, his works like Visarjan, Mukta Dhara, Chandalika, Tasher Deshe and Kabuliwala talk against the caste, religion and orthodox mindset.”
“Tagore’s writing is a blend of the Indian tradition and the western philosophy, so it is difficult to understand and stage Tagore’s works,” said Chatterjee. “Besides, Tagore has combined the Suffism, the Buddhism and the folk tradition, so his works cross all barriers of life and death; they are eternal,” he added.
“He was a poet of an era when such social evils as caste, class and untouchability dominated the society. He fought it out through his works. A dialogue in Chadalika, ‘Jo Manav Tum, Wahi Manav Mai…,’ talks against casteism,” said theatre actor Swastika Chakraborty who has rendered ‘Chandalika’ and ‘Chitrangada’ into Hindi. A novelist and author Padmashree Ramesh Chandra Shah said, “Tagore was a genius and universal poet.
He talked about social reforms through his works including uprooting of casteism. He was against narrow sectarianism, and that’s why he established Shantiniketan. He had a big heart to accept everything. ” “Chandalika’ is the finest example of his voice against casteism. The message, wafted through this dance drama, was against inhumanity that lies in casteism. We are talking about it now, but he had done that long ago,” said Rajesh Bhadauriya, founder of Ravindra Amateur Natya Group, Bhopal.
