Rabindranath Tagore as a Law student in University College, London (1878)

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

At 17, Rabindranath sailed to England; it was his father’s (Debendranath Tagore) wish for Rabi to become a barrister there.[Ghosh, B. (2011), “Inside the World of Tagore’s Music”] In 1878, after his matriculation, the 17-year-old Rabindranath Tagore joined briefly to University College London, in 1878, to read law and which he left without a degree.[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-languages-culture/news-events/annual-tagore-lecture-series-comparative-literature]. Earlier, he had enrolled at a public school in Brighton, East Sussex, England.

In 1880 he returned to Bengal degree-less, resolving to reconcile European novelty with Brahmo traditions, taking the best from each. Then in 1883 he married 10-year-old Mrinalini, which was against the common rule of Brohma Samajis at that time. Keshab Chandra, another Brohma followed the tradition of Devendranath.[Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore-Rabindranath Tagore Cambridge University Press, 26-Jun-1997]. Ravi and Mrinalini had five children.

In 1901, Tagore founded an experimental school in Shantiniketan where he sought to blend the best of Indian and Western traditions.[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1913/tagore/facts/].In 1912, Tagore  went to USA to spent time with his daughter-in-law and son Rathindranath Tagore (1888-1961) who was a student at the University of Illinois and an active member of the Urbana Unitarian congregation. Tagore’s regular meetings with local Church members and students, and his famous Harvard lecture series established long-lasting ties with communities in the U.S., where Tagore Societies soon sprung up to study his work.

“Finding mention of Tagore in the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service was a surprise. Because of the special relationship between Tagore and the Unitarian Church of Urbana, his interactions with the Church are included in the nomination materials of the Church submitted in 1991 to the National Register of Historic Places (RG 79, National Archives Identifier 28891794). This Church was the first religious center at the University of Illinois to accommodate international students (including Tagore’s son) whose religions were Christian and non-Christian. These attendees became known as the Unity Club. Educators and students in Urbana who drew inspiration from Tagore’s poetry, music, and art, became known as the Tagore Circle”. [https://education.blogs.archives.gov/]

Between 1912 and 1930, Tagore visited the U.S. five times, traveling from coast to coast and receiving a warm welcome. In 1913, Gitanjali was translated and published in England in its entirety. Being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature that same year propelled Tagore onto the world stage. 

During World War II, when Paris fell in June 1940, Tagore sent a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the handwritten draft of which was published in Tagore and America. It is a plea to the President and the United States :

“Today, we stand in awe before the fearfully destructive force that has so suddenly swept the world. Every moment I deplore the smallness of our means and the feebleness of our voice in India so utterly inadequate to stem in the least, the tide of evil that has menaced the permanence of civilization.

All our individual problems of politics to-day have merged into one supreme world politics which, I believe, is seeking the help of the United States of America as the last refuge of the spiritual man, and these few lines of mine merely convey my hope, even if unnecessary, that she will not fail in her mission to stand against this universal disaster that appears so imminent”.

Less than two years later, the U.S. entered World War II after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941

17-year-old Rabindranath Tagore at University College London

During World War II, when Paris fell in June 1940, Tagore sent a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the handwritten draft of which was published in Tagore and America.

A handwritten letter and cablegram from Tagore to President Wilson in early May 1918 are preserved in the records of the Department of State.

Mrs. Pratima Tagore Conversing with her Father-in-Law Rabindranath Tagore in NY.

Rabindranath with his Granddaughter Nandini