I CONGRATULATE the Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute for bringing out a TAGORE CENTENARY VOLUME in honour of one of the greatest sons of India. The volume is divided into two sections, of which the first deals with the many aspects of Tagore's manifold genius and includes some selections from his writings. The second section appropriately enough deals with aspects of Indian culture, for perhaps no one else has so fully represented Indian culture in all its richness and diversity and few have worked so devotedly for integrating its values with the demands of the modern world of science and technology.
TAGORE was fortunate in both the time and the place of his birth. The advent of the West had disturbed the placid waters of Indian life and a new awakening was seeping throughout the land. Its initial impact had dazzled the Indian mind and so impressed some of the early reformers that they at times seemed to be blind imitators of the West. By the time Tagore was born, the first uncritical admiration for the West had worn off and there was a more balanced appraisal of the values of the West. Simultaneously, there was increased knowledge of and regard for the values of the East. The place of his birth was equally opportune. Bengal had felt the impact of the West earlier and more vividly than perhaps any other part of India, and in Bengal the stirrings of new life were most marked in Calcutta. The meeting of East and West on India's shores was thus for Tagore both a fact and an ideal.
The circumstances of his family also helped in the flowering of Tagore's genius. Originally from East Bengal, the family became rich and prosperous during the later Mughal days. The prosperity became even greater atter the advent of the British. Co-operation with the ruling powers brought it status, wealth and culture but also attracted the disapproval of the orthodox. Interlining with Tagore family invited social disapproval, inter-marriage ostracism, Conscious of its wealth and talents, it had already produced three gene. rations of exceptionally able men when Tagore was born, the family reacted by a proud unconcern with many of the social taboos of the day. The family had however for gene. rations been moved by the deeper values of Indian life, Tagore's grandfather was one of the pioneers of Western education and a friend of Raja Ram mohan Roy. His father, a deep student of Indian philosophy and Islamic mysticism, began his day with recitations from the Upanishads and Hafiz. Tagore was thus born in a family which was steeped in the traditions of ancient and medieval India and yet responsive to the currents of the modern West. A deeply religious atmosphere free from adherence to forms and rituals created an ideal background for the flowering of his universal mind.
We can only hint at his many splendored genius in this brief account. The world rightly honours Rabindranath Tagore as one of the greatest literary figures in history. His writings include more than one thousand poems and two thousand songs in addition to a large number of short stories, novels, dramatic works and essays on diverse topics. As a writer of lyrics and songs, he has rarely been equalled and perhaps never surpassed. As a short story writer, his rank is among the first three or four masters of the craft. As a novelist and playwright, he has achieved for himself an honoured place in the world of letters. As a literary critic, he has given evidence of rare insight and deep sympathy with the work of men who differed from him widely in tradition and temperament. It is thus not surprising that his works should be translated into all the major languages of the world and bring joy, solace and strength to countless millions.
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