tagore and independence movement.

tagore and independence movement.

it is a case of tail wagging the dog. no positive contribution except discovered later citing his love for ideas which could be used in freedom struggle. during the 1905 agitation when bengal was divided, he is said to have supported the movement but kept aloof from boycott calls. no active contribution is cited.

in 1910, he published geetajali, a collection of 157 poems written at different times without a central theme except that of love and sanskriti. in 1911 came his jana gana mana, the same year george 5 came to hold his durbar at delhi. in 1912 some 53 of his poems in geetanjali and some 50 from other collections was published in english. in 1913, he got his nobel prize, having been nominated the same year. in 1915, he was granted knighthood and became sir rabindra. following deplorable massacre in amritsar, he renunciated his knighthood.

his contribution to education was advocacy to return to natural surroundings for teaching. this led to establishment of shanti niketan. but it remained an isolated attempt. there was no effort to duplicate the effort elsewhere.

as for jana gana mana, the timing has led to the controversy. it was written in 1911. the main point is who is “adhinayak”. the official translation reads “"Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,". apologists say that this phrase is “symbolizing India’s unity and diversity”. how can unity and diversity be the ruler of minds of all people. perhaps this is what is the bane of indian situation. we are always singing of diversity refusing to consider  india as a nation, only a conglomeration of different people. “adhinayak” cannot be a group where diversity is celebrated. it can only be a person. in 1911, there was no one person in india who would represent all the people, diversity or not.

why was jana gana mana adopted as national anthem in preference to vande matram? it needs another write-up.  but, to my mind, it was the idea of diversity which prevailed. incidentally, the jana gana mana is a five stanza poem and only the first one is adopted as natuinal anthem.