Paramita Mishra
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37th Rabindra Sangeet Summit at Niphamari, Bangladesh
(Image Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune)
one truth keeps prevailing with all these people who have been caught in the crossfire of arguments about the validity of their citizenship, and that is that they are all from the same cultural clan, spread across the border. Their language got enriched on poems and songs of Tagore, their art has evolved mostly along the faculties and philosophy of Tagore.
Timeline 1905, partition of Bengal
just found its way into the colonial strategy to divide (and then rule) the
whole Bengal province. Intended or unintended, the bigger chasm erupts,
radicalizing along an imaginary fault line between the Hindu and Muslim Bengalis
from east to west, and snowballing into communal polarization.
1947 to 1951, freedom from British colonialism comes packaged with the two nation theory; a huge migration takes place across national borders, either being forced, or by fear of retribution sharply drawn along the communal line.
1971, communal fissure widens again; the freedom of Bangladesh is followed by assassination of its leader Mujibar Rehman, when millions of Bengali speaking migrants get asylum in West Bengal, or the so called Bengal in India.
2019, the modern, maverick India too boisterous from its economic dominance following few decades of liberalization allows another binary polarization along communal lines. Each time it has been a cultural cataclysm with deep and dangerous scars splintering one culture into so many fragments.
India, Bangladesh - these nations’ cultural
genesis can be traced to communal fissures exacerbated at different times with
the exuberant force of rightwing politics. This force has tried to break
and breach the bonds with which these nations were once united along its every
faculty of thinking, its music, literature and arts. And one force which keeps
rescuing them from further degradation, reuniting them time and again,
keeping harmony and heritage afloat is Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet,
author, musician, philosopher and above all the fountain of two cultures called
Bengal in India, and Bangladesh. He is the cradle of these twin (rather
than two) cultures showing that humanity, harmony and heartfelt love can
blur all those bold lines drawn across geographical boundaries or political
ideologies. He is equally revered by two countries where his two songs are
national anthems. Twin cultures, whose songs, literature, language keep mutating
but never lose their originality and commonality even while enduring all the
onslaughts of partition, fundamentalism, and rightism, in 1905, 1947 and 1971.
They show the path of tolerance, love and humanity in today’s hyper-nationalistic noise. Rabindranath Tagore is a name
which abides by no boundary, of countries, clan or culture. Whenever he
addressed India, or the so called Bharat, he took the name of great humanity
called Bharat:
“ei bharater mahanmanber
sagartire” (at the shore
of this great human nation). To him this subcontinent, which merges religions,
cultures, and groups who came at different times like the Huns, Pathans,
Mughals, Aryans, Dravidians, gave rise to a big confluence of
humanity called Bharat.
Rabindrasangeet speaks of brotherhood, humanity, and harmony by virtue of its wordings, lyrics and timelines when it was written. As in any art (dance, literature, sculpture, painting, etc.) in general, in Rabindrasangeet too its artistic appeal can be executed or sung by anyone irrespective of caste, clan or creed, who loves it or learns it. As in Bangladesh, where because of Muslim majority most Rabindrasangeet artists are Muslims, like Shama Rehman, Aditi Mohsin, Rejewana Choudhary Bonya and so many, as in Bengal in India, most are of Hindu origin. Rabinrasangeet is a flourishing industry in both countries, where thousands of artists get their sustenance from it. A special style has evolved for singing Tagore's songs, and there are many dance dramas that have become an integral part of Rabindrasangeet. The special dance form that is improvised for these songs is called Rabindranrityo. There is constant experimentation on all these forms in both countries. In India, Tagore's Viswabharati Viswavidyalay in Shantiniketan became the epicentre of academic as well as social cultivation of his art, amidst nature and encompassing all humanity as he desired. In Kolkata, Rabindra Bharati, where I am a student now, became another mecca for exploring Rabindrasangeet.
These centres have cultivated some of
the greatest artists of Bengal, such as Sahntideb Ghosh, Kanika Bondopadhya,
Suchitra Mira, Maya Sen, Subinay Roy, and Hemanta Mukherjee, and Dwijen
Chattopadhya, and Sagar Sen in earlier times. It continues to develop
contemporary experts such as Swagatalakhsi Dasgupta, Prasun Mukhopadhya, Jayati
Roy, Iman Chakroborty, Sahana Bajpai, and the list is never ending. Both career
aspirations and love of the language (i.e., Bengali) and philosophy
(spirituality, nature and love) have allowed Rabindrasangeet to flourish in
these twin Bengali speaking places (West Bengal and Bangladesh). Vishwa Bharati
and Rabindra Bharati in India, and Dhaka University in Bangladesh run
full-fledged research centres on Rabindrasangeet, where scholars from both
nations and beyond come and work together.
Rabindranath Tagore had very consciously drawn from the land, nature, culture, literature, and the history he was born into, i.e., the undivided Bengal. He wrote a big tranche of his songs and poems while he lived in the zamindari land he inherited from his father spread over Shilaidoho, now in erstwhile Bangladesh. Gitananjali, the epic poem book, which became the source of some of the best renditions in Rabindrasangeet and brought him recognition as Nobel Prize in literature, was mostly written while he was sent by his father to look after his estate in Shilaidoho. After his marriage in 1891 he was sent off by his father Maharshi Debendranath Thakur to this place which was at the confluence of rivers Padma and Gorai. Thakur family had purchased 32 bighas of land and built a huge 2 acre farm house. He spent a decade in this picturesque area amidst nature, and wrote several songs and books of poems such as Khanika, Chitra, and Sonar Tori. This place, now in Kusthia district of Bangladesh, has become a place of perseverance and reverence of his art. Every year for three days starting on his birth day (25th Boisakh, the Bengali first month), the riverbed location with its heritage building becomes the site of a pilgrimage and fair. Artists and aficionados of Rabindrasangeet from across the border and beyond throng in thousands. And in this enrichment of culture, academia has also played a huge role in exploring layers of humanity, worldliness and eternity which lie under the sublime lines of Tagore’s lyrics.
After his decade in Shilaidoho, Tagore kept moving between Kolkata, Dhaka and Shantiniketan and the cultural imprint of these places is reflected in his creativity, in his poems, essays and surely in his songs. Specially in the early stages of independence struggle, when Kolkata, Dhaka, and Chattagram were hubs of revolution against the Raj, his invocation to the country as Bharatmata or Bangamata connected with Bengalis in both East and West. That cultural connection continues till date. Every year in these two neighbouring countries, especially in Kolkata and Dhaka, a series of programmes on Tagore's songs in particular, and other art in general keep this connection alive. Artists from both the Bengals congregate with the rendition of Tagore’s more than 2200 songs spread over 6 paryay (themes). As the Ballard Poet himself once said, his songs not only cross the bar of time, but also acquire more relevance at every stage of civilisation in its progress. Today's Bengalis across borders consider him the poet of their heart, the Ballard of their life. Whether rejoicing in a win, or regretting a defeat, whether shining in jubilation or sulking in sorrow, or searching for ultimate spirituality, Bengalis take the refuge in his immortal songs.
Now at last but not the least, in the
recently introduced NRC which evoked more political agenda camouflaged under
the so called security issue and encroachment, one truth keeps prevailing with
all these people who have been caught in the crossfire of arguments about the
validity of their citizenship, and that is that they are all from the same
cultural clan, spread across the border. Their language got enriched on poems
and songs of Tagore, their art has evolved mostly along the faculties and
philosophy of Tagore. They left everything that belonged to them while
migrating from the country they got ousted, and the country they are still
fighting for their ownership, where they are staying now, but one thing they
never lose in this sojourn of hope and despair are Tagore's lines, his creation
as lyrics, as staccato crossing every phase of upheaval, overcoming every
period of turmoil.
Image Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune
In the Swadesh series of songs, he always kept the mother nation above all narrow definitions of caste, clan or religion. Although written to inspire and instigate a particular phase of Indian independence movement in the era of 1905 and beyond, Tagore’s songs just get redefined and relived with every timeline. In today’s troubled world, where nationalism trumpets its high pitch chord to deafen others, where guarding one’s identity, interest or ideology means ruthlessly trampling others, Tagore reminds us that respect and reverence are reciprocal. A nation is bound by trust, not tyranny or enslavement: “amra sobai raja amader ei rajar rajotwe, noile moder rajar sone milbo ki sorte” (we all are kings in the fiefdom of our king, and this is the only precondition to stay in the rule of his highness. It is because we are allowed all the freedom and liberty that we abide by his rule, which is more being invoked by ourselves out of our gratitude rather than imposed on us.) These lines written to arouse our esteem against colonial subjugation are even more relevant today. Rabindranath Tagore is the eternal lighthouse to guide us:
Paramita Mishra has done MA in Bangla Literature, and is now doing her 2nd MA in Rabindrasangeet from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.