TAGORE AND THE CHILD-THEME

G. V. SUBRAMANYAM, M. A.

S. V. College, New Delhi

Going through the writings and drawings of Tagore, I am reminded of the children in Stevenson’s essay “Lantern-Bearers,” If those found happiness in carrying a lantern, hidden from view, Tagore carried a love for children in his heart of hearts and made no secret of it. I believe, it is the admirers of Tagore that seem to feel a bit apologetic about it. Perhaps his own bearded figure tempt us to compare him with the rishis and prophets of the past. The popular belief is that India is the land of the Vedas and the Upanishads and the mystic saints and so our greatest modern Indian writer should only be honoured as the composer of the Gitanjali. This is what the West believes and we in India have willingly encouraged it believe. When Tagore got the Noble prize for his Gitanjali, it was hailed more as a proof of India’s spiritual greatness. But this is being unfair to Tagore. Refusing to take a complete view or his writings and his paintings and his own words, we have been emphasising only those aspects of his genius which fit into our own image of India. Tagore deserves greater praise for his achievement as a pioneer in literary forms like the short-story and the novel and for his philosophy of life. If Milton amidst his political defeat and personal misfortunes stood up to create Eden, Tagore amidst initial apathy, occasional hostility and personal Borrows succeeded in creating a Jerusalem within himself and in his writings and in Santiniketan.

The Jerusalem that Tagore built within himself, the flame that he kept alive to the last day of his life, is a love for children. This love for children is recurrent, persistent and dominant in Tagore. This is the result as much of his own personal life as literary influences.

Born in a large family, he did not get all the attention and love of his mother. Her death made him more lonely than ever. The servants in the large mansion at Jorosanko restricted his movements and the open roof and the neglected palanquin in a corner became his little world. Such a restricted life might not be conducive to inward happiness but it did keep the child in his heart. Life at school was equally bleak for Tagore. When he grew to age, he had to bear the brunt of domestic sorrow. The death of a daughter followed by that of his wife and a son left a deep mark on his soul. Wherever he went, and whatever he saw and heard reminded him of his own childhood and when it came to giving solid shape to his unfulfilled longing lingering memories of childhood and children, he founded Santiniketan.

It looks as though every influence that came to bear on Tagore intensified his love for children and made it an abiding feeling with him. The influence of the poetry of Wordsworth could be seen, not only in a few poems of Tagore but also in his partiality for the language of his own people (the regional language, as we call it now-a-days) and the faith in the godhead of children. It is for this reason that an Indian critic has said that to understand Tagore, we should approach him through Wordsworth. The young Indian poet found in the English romantic poet not only a similar attitude to Nature but also a similar faith in children trailing clouds of glory.

The Vaishnava tradition did the same tale relate to Tagore. For the mendicant Baul, the human form is the temple of God, and God attains richness through human birth. Gnanadas whom Tagore admired, considered children as dear to God. That he was influenced by this aspect of Vaishnavism is seen in a poem translated by Tagore.

The Upanishads that Tagore studied at the feet of his saintly father taught him the concept of the Infinite God inherent in the human being. This must have impressed him profoundly, for it is merely the Vaishnava doctrine of the humanity of God and the Divinity of the human being, known to him earlier. This is not mere guess. The way Tagore uses some of the Upanishadic sayings in his writings shows his partiality for the child-mother theme. The Upanishadic saying ‘Neti, neti’ (Not this, not this) is used by him to illustrate his rejecting things, like a child rejecting toys, saying, not this, not this. This same vagary of a child is compared by him in another context to our rejection of life. In yet another context, he compares our soul’s yearning for God to a child’s curiosity. Another comparison of his is to make a child a Sanyasi doing Sadhana.

Tagore was to some extent influenced by the teachings of Buddhism. Though he rejected pure asceticism as such, the Brahma-Vihara theory of Buddhism that we should love all like a mother loving her children had a strong appeal to his intellectual and natural love for children.

Next, the influence of the family background may be mentioned. Though Tagore was left to himself in his childhood days, there was a keen love for children as such in the family. For example, his elder brother Dwijendranath used to entertain the children in the family by setting the names of countries to music. When Rabindranath grew old, he, in turn, entertained his children and niece in a similar way. To his own children, he was more than a father. He was a kindly nurse, he carried an ailing daughter seven miles to satisfy the last wish of hers. Whether he went to Bankok or to Russia or to Rome, he had an eye for children. Throughout his life, he continued to love the company of children and became one in their laughter and their play. He peopled his stories with them. He wrote nursery rhymes for them and could spare time to write primers for their education and to correspond with them. Whatever might be his pre-occupations, he never forgot the children of Santiniketan. To the end of his life, no child left his presence empty-handed.

All this explain’s Tagore’s obsession with children and the child-mother theme. Here is an Indian Raphael elevating the mother and the child to the pedestal of literature. Because this is an unconventional theme, we tend to neglect it and admire only his mysticism.

Even the mysticism of Tagore points only to his fondness for the child-mother theme. Again and again, he says that man realists the great idea only in his childhood. Man is a born child. All his actions are like the faulty steps of a toddler. Like a child trusting mother, man trusts God. Even if man does not know all about Him, it is enough if he has faith in His presence. The mercy of God is like the consolation given by the mother when the father is angry. As for man’s separation from God, it is momentary like that of a child tossed by his father.

There are a few passages wherein Tagore is more forthright. He ridicules a man running away from his children to seek God not knowing that he is running away from God Himself thus. In Gitanjali, he calls children as His ambassadors; they are the covenant of His faith in us. In yet another place, he refers to great preparations being made to welcome God; lo! a toddler comes. Further, Tagore uses the child-mother imagery to establish his own identity as an artist. The sky full of stars is likened by him to a child walking with a lamp. The memory of his own son hovers over him as the blue of the sky. He seeks consolation in the composition of the Gitanjali like a tired child seeking the arms of the mother.

Besides oblique references, there are many writings of Tagore devoted completely to this recurrent theme. Abhilash, Sisu, Sisu Bholanath, The Crescent Moon, The Post-Office and Achalayathan are too well-known to be explained in detail. In the last years of his life, he wrote poems, painted pictures and published his own Reminiscences for the delight of the young. His autobiographical volume might not be strictly admissible in a court of law, as he humorously confessed, but it proves his love for the child in himself and about him.

In conclusion, a reference might also be made to his Poem Shah Jehan. A child in a cradle is a greater object of wonder for Tagore than the mausoleum containing the dead. Here is a genius who has discovered through the sufferings of life and literary influence a source of great joy. To revert to Stevenson, like the lantern-bearers in his essay who delighted in the lamps which they carried secretly, Tagore has preserved all the glory of childhood against the ups and downs of life. This I believe, is an achievement far more enduring than his mysticism.

Back