Proceedings of The International Social Sciences Conference
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Tagore’s Engagement with Borders
Prof. Dr. Meera Chakravorty
ABSTRACT:
In his eventful life, Tagore had taken many journeys for material and poetical reasons. He loved to travel enormously to enjoy the freedom to understand the culture, as the walls of boundary or border he was ever opposed to at home and elsewhere disturbed him now and then intensely. As a schoolboy, he had despised any institutionalized studies that would bind him with their rules and regulations. This experience at a young age helped Tagore imagine having a school for children that would facilitate a way of learning without any walls, both literally and philosophically and thus would provide a culture of freedom. He translated this through his school at Santiniketan. Eventually, this was a great challenge. He had to raise funds to keep the school going, for which he undertook assignments, delivered lectures at different places, and earned some money that would benefit the school. In these ventures, he interacted with many eminent people on important and serious issues, including concerns regarding nationalism or borders and margins that restrict the free spirit. Undoubtedly, the borders fail to symbolize the spirit of freedom.Tagore opposed the existing concept of nationalism, as Gandhi vigorously supported it during the Indian independence struggle. He was disconcerted that he would not take the journey beyond the already accepted definition of a border. Tagore then found it better to take the cause himself through activism, writing, and music to reinvent freedom beyond the boundaries of conservative interests.
keywords: Border, culture, freedom, Santiniketan, Tagore