Rabindranath was an avid traveller but not in the manner of the modern tourist. When he visited a new country, he was not so interested in their scenic spots or historical sites in a superficial manner. In fact, his writings do not mention the flora and fauna of the new country or even the details we expect from travel books. He looked at each country as part of the larger world view; on one level he analyzed the history and culture of the place from the perspective of his own country, and on the other he tried to place all this in a framework cutting across time and physical boundaries.
In a letter written to C.F. Andrews during July 1915¹, Rabindranath said, My own mind, as usual, is athirst, longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance, dreaming of far-away islands redolent of perfume indefinable.
I have had a pamphlet sent me by a distinguished American artist who spent three years of his life in Bali, an island near Java. Some remnant of Old India remains stranded in that lonely place for centuries. Its voice comes to me across the sea mingled with the murmur of lovely palm groves. Why not pay a visit to that prisoner of time and see if it has a language that I dimly understand?
It needed just a little prod to awaken the wanderlust within him. However, when he finally decided to visit these far-away islands twelve years later, he found enough reasons to justify his travel plans. He had once complained that unless one had reasons to travel, his fellow-countrymen were not satisfied. By then he had decided that he would make a longish tour touching the two mainland countries of South-east Asia, Burma and Thailand and the maritime lands of Malaya, Singapore, Penang, Sumatra, Java and Bali.
Apart from the fact that he loved to travel, he was fascinated with the idea that the island of Bali would indeed contain remnants of Old India. On 28 May 1927 Rabindranath wrote to Ramananda Chatterjee, telling him of his decision to travel to South-east Asia. He wrote,.
Apart from the wish to collect material for the reconstruction of Indian history and to establish a permanent basis for research, I have no other reason for wanting to travel there. I think I shall stay for only a short while and if I am able to, I shall keep behind an appropriate person who could do some historical research. I consider this to be very important work, I also believe it will be easy for me to accomplish the work. The Java Government has not invited me. Those who have encouraged me are archeologists who will find helpful to their research the assistance of scholars from our country.
For quite some time Rabindranath had been contemplating a visit to Java and Bali and to Indo-China. On his trip to the Netherlands in 1920, he visited the Colonial Institute in Amsterdam. The Director of the Institute, Professor Van Eerde, who was also on the faculty of Malaysian Ethnology at the University, showed him photographs and slides of temple ruins in Java and of artifacts of those islands. The next day Mr. Moojen who was in charge of the restoration work of the architectural structures in Java and Bali, came to meet him. He promised all help to Rabindranath if he decided to visit the islands. During his European tour of 1926 he had received invitations from several prominent people both Dutch and Javanese to undertake the tour. He received formal invitations from most of the towns of British Malaya, and also from the Kunstkring and the Java Institute, two important art and literary societies of Java. Sri Jugalkishore Birla donated Rs 10,000/- and Sri Narayandas Bajoria donated Rs 1000/- to make this trip possible. He had chosen as his companions, Sunitikumar Chatterjee, Surendranath Kar and Dhirendrakrishna Devbarman. Ariam Williams would be with him in Malaysia and Arnold Bake and his wife would be present during the trip to Indonesia.
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