The Self, the Nation and the World Beyond It: Reading Tagore’s Travel Writings
01 Jan 2017-pp 159-170
TL;DR: Tagore's pilgrimage to Southeast Asia requires to be placed in the larger backdrop of the research activity of the Greater India Society in Calcutta as discussed by the authors, where Tagore's travel writings carried the imprints of the poet's visions of historical progression and nationalism.
Abstract: Some of Tagore’s travel writings carried the imprints of the poet’s visions of historical progression and nationalism. Tagore’s Europe Provasir Patra (Letters of a migrant from Europe) or Europe Yatrir Diary (The diary of a traveller to Europe) contained a comparison between what he saw as a dynamic Western culture and a relatively static east. Accompanied by Suniti Chatterjee who described Southeast Asia as ‘island India’, Tagore’s search for the footprints of ‘our’ ancestors had given the travel piece a distinct historical cast. Tagore’s pilgrimage to Southeast Asia requires to be placed in the larger backdrop of the research activity of the Greater India Society in Calcutta.
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TL;DR: Sugata Bose as mentioned in this paper finds in these intricate social and economic webs evidence of the interdependence of the peoples of the lands beyond the horizon, from the Middle East to East Africa to Southeast Asia.
Abstract: On December 26, 2004, giant tsunami waves destroyed communities around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Kenya. Beyond the horrific death toll, this wall of water brought a telling reminder of the interconnectedness of the many countries on the ocean rim, and the insignificance of national boundaries. "A Hundred Horizons" takes us to these shores, in a brilliant reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made at the height of the British Raj. Between 1850 and 1950, the Indian Ocean teemed with people, commodities and ideas: pilgrims and armies, commerce and labour, the politics of Mahatma Gandhi and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore were all linked in surprising ways. Sugata Bose finds in these intricate social and economic webs evidence of the interdependence of the peoples of the lands beyond the horizon, from the Middle East to East Africa to Southeast Asia. In following this narrative, we discover that our usual ways of looking at history - through the lens of nationalism or globalisation - are not adequate. The national ideal did not simply give way to inevitable globalisation in the late 20th Century, as is often supposed; Bose reveals instead the vital importance of an intermediate historical space, where interregional geographic entities like the Indian Ocean rim foster nationalist identities and goals yet simultaneously facilitate interaction among communities. "A Hundred Horizons" merges statistics and myth, history and poetry, in a remarkable reconstruction of how a region's culture, economy, politics and imagination are woven together in time and place.
433 citations
TL;DR: This article explored both Western and Asian imaginings of national histories beyond the boundaries of the nation and contributed to the history of Asian modernities, and to the anthropological study of nationalism.
Abstract: This article explores both Western and Asian imaginings of national histories beyond the boundaries of the nation. It seeks to contribute to the history of Asian modernities, and to the anthropological study of nationalism. Its focus is on thinkers and political actors whose visions of both the colonising and decolonising processes were translocal, rather than narrowly territorial in scope.
91 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this article, an interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore: an Interpretation situates the iconic figure in the history of his tumultuous times - of an India in the throes of the national struggle for independence and of a world moving from Victorian stability to the turmoil of World War II.
Abstract: This intellectual biography of Tagore, perhaps the first of its kind, portrays him as a man who was deeply skeptical, self-critical, tormented by conflicts in his 'inner life', aware of the historical significance of his times and continually interacted with adversaries and friends across the world; someone who built on the heritage of the nineteenth century renaissance in India and became one of the makers of the modern Indian mind. Rabindranath Tagore: an Interpretation situates the iconic figure in the history of his tumultuous times - of an India in the throes of the national struggle for independence and of a world moving from Victorian stability to the turmoil of World War II. Coinciding with his 150th birth anniversary, it illuminates Tagore's extraordinary contributions: as a poet and writer, nationalist and ideologue, educationist and philosopher, composer and painter.
11 citations