Influence of Sanskrit Classics on Tagore`s Creativity

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Influence of Sanskrit Classics on Tagore’s Creativity
Prof. Shubhra Tripathi
Head, Dept of English
Govt. MVM
Bhopal
India
During the pre technology era, knowledge or information about mythology and Sanskrit
classics in any Indian household was disseminated through certain predictable sources: bedtime
stories, loving interactions between grandparents and grand children, stage performances like
Ramlila, conscious educational efforts either at home or at school etc. The Tagore family was no
exception. In the Author's Preface of Sadhna or The Realisation of Life (English Translation)
published in 1916 Tagore wrote, “The writer has been brought up in a family where texts of the
Upanishads are used in daily worship….” In an essay in the volume Reminiscences entitled
“Servocracy,” a term coined by Tagore to imply the autocracy of servants, he gives a detailed
account of how his childhood was supervised and controlled by tyrannical servants. “Of most of
these tyrants of our childhood I remember only their cuffing and boxings, and nothing more.”
(35) However, some of these played an important role in introducing Tagore children to Sanskrit
classics. One of these named Iswar, is especially remembered by him. He had been a village
schoolmaster earlier and “was a prim, proper and sedately dignified personage.” (36) Tagore
further says:
This erstwhile schoolmaster had discovered a way of keeping us quiet in the evenings.
Every evening he would gather us round the cracked castor-oil lamp and read out to us
stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Some of the other servants would also come
and join the audience. The lamp would be throwing huge shadows right up to the beams of
the roof, the little house lizards catching insects on the walls, the bats doing a mad dervish
dance round and round the verandahs outside, and we listening in silent open-mouthed
wonder. (37)
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Iswar was not the only one who contributed to schooling young children of the Tagore family in
Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit. There were some others whose influence was no less though they
were themselves not educated. When the children were lost in Iswar’s narrative, Tagore tells us:
At this critical juncture my father's old follower Kishori came to the rescue, and finished
the episode for us, at express speed, to the quick step of Dasuraya's jingling verses. The
impression of the soft slow chants of Krittivasa’s fourteen-syllabled measure was swept
clean away and we were left overwhelmed by a flood of rhymes and alliterations. (37-38)
This is how Tagore was introduced to Krittivasa’s version of the Ramayana. The servants not only
introduced the children to the story of this great Hindu epic, but also ignited their minds with the
religious, philosophical and social issues involved. The narrative would often lead to discussions
about these concerns:
On some occasions these readings would give rise to shastric discussions, which would at
length be settled by the depth of Iswar's wise pronouncements. Though, as one of the
children's servants, his rank in our domestic society was below that of many, yet, as with
old Grandfather Bhisma in the Mahabharata, his supremacy would assert itself from his
seat, below his juniors. (38)
These “shastric discussions” prepared ground for his literary exercises later in life, and fuelled his
imagination for his poetic renderings.
Besides these servants of the Tagore household, there was the undisputedly singular
influence of his intensely and widely well-read father Debendranath Tagore. In another essay
entitled “My Father,” in the same volume, while recounting his childhood days spent with his
father, Tagore reveals how Debendranath Tagore initiated him into Sanskrit literature. Before
performing the “sacred thread ceremony” for his son and two other boys in the family, the senior
Tagore ensured that they learnt the Vedic chants in Sanskrit and understood all the rituals
conducted in that language. He engaged a Brahmin for this purpose and entrusted him with this
responsibility. Tagore recollects:
On one occasion my father came home to invest the three of us with the sacred
thread. With the help of Pandit Vedantavagish he had collected the old Vedic rites for the
purpose. For days together we were taught to chant in correct accents the selections from
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the Upanishads, arranged by my father under the name of "Brahma Dharma," seated in the
prayer hall with Becharam Babu. Finally, with shaven heads and gold rings in our ears, we
three budding Brahmins went into a three-days' retreat in a portion of the third storey. (80)
For the young boys the whole ritual was great fun. Instead of spending those days of their
retirement in ascetic meditation, they would while away their time in merry – making and
playful pranks.
The earrings gave us a good handle to pull each other's ears with. We found a little drum
lying in one of the rooms; taking this we would stand out in the verandah, and, when we
caught sight of any servant passing alone in the storey below, we would rap a tattoo on it.
This would make the man look up, only to beat a hasty retreat the next moment with averted
eyes. (81)
Such trivial merry-making was expected of them at such a tender age. Tagore reflects upon the
events thoughtfully in the essay and gives a psychological justification for it.
I am however persuaded that boys like ourselves could not have been rare in the hermitages
of old. And if some ancient document has it that the ten or twelve-year old Saradwata or
Sarngarava is spending the whole of the days of his boyhood offering oblations and
chanting _mantras_, we are not compelled to put unquestioning faith in the statement;
because the book of Boy Nature is even older and also more authentic.(81-82)
The whole series of rituals however, had an unconscious and deep impact on his intellectual
persona. Once the initial playfulness and excitement were over, the serious bent of his mind took
control. He tells us about it in the same essay:
After we had attained full brahminhood I became very keen on repeating the
gayatri. I would meditate on it with great concentration. It is hardly a text the full meaning
of which I could have grasped at that age. I well remember what efforts I made to extend
the range of my consciousness with the help of the initial invocation of "Earth, firmament
and heaven." How I felt or thought it is difficult to express clearly, but this much is certain
that to be clear about the meaning of words is not the most important function of the human
understanding. . . .The main object of teaching is not to explain meanings, but to knock at
the door of the mind. (82)
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The sacred thread ceremony which initiated Tagore into brahminhood, also initiated him into the
learning of Sanskrit language, by “knocking at the door of his mind.” It must be remembered that
Tagore’s mother tongue Bangla is a derivative of Sanskrit, so there are many words common to
both the languages. Therefore, it was not difficult for Tagore to understand Sanskrit and learn it.
He not only took a keen interest in the language but also Sanskrit poetics and classics. It did not
matter to him at that stage how much he understood or what were the finer nuances of the language.
Whoever goes back to his early childhood will agree that his greatest gains were not in
proportion to the completeness of his understanding… I know this truth well. So their
narratives always have a good proportion of ear-filling Sanskrit words and abstruse
remarks not calculated to be fully understood by their simple hearers, but only to be
suggestive. (85)
Devendranath Tagore, his father, encouraged him personally and soon Tagore was into reading,
writing and translating. When Tagore was only eleven his father took him on a trip to the
Himalayas via Bolpur and making short halts on the way at Sahebganj, Dinapore, Allahabad and
Cawnpore (Kanpur) at last stopping at Amritsar. Tagore recollects in another essay “A Journey
with my Father” in the same collection My Reminiscences
My father had marked his favourite verses in his copy of the Bhagavadgita. He asked me
to copy these out, with their translation, for him. At home, I had been a boy of no account,
but here, when these important functions were entrusted to me, I felt the glory of the
situation. (95)
Such small exercises, which raised his self-esteem, were an important step in kindling Tagore’s
interest and sustaining it in Sanskrit literature. By the time he returned from his Himalayan journey
with his father, he had acquired sufficient interest in and knowledge of Sanskrit language. His
mother appreciated his learning, whatever little it was, and his father took personal interest in
supervising it. In the essay ‘My Return’ Tagore writes:
But the achievement of mine which appealed most to my mother was that while the rest of
the inmates of the inner apartments had to be content with Krittivasa's Bengali rendering
of the Ramayana, I had been reading with my father the original of Maharshi Valmiki
himself, Sanscrit metre and all. (114-15)
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The love that he developed for Sanskrit language and literature in his boyhood remained with him
lifelong, infusing his creativity with the richness of classics. He did not merely translate from them,
but transcreated literary gems from the Sanskrit sources, modifying them to suit contemporary
sensibility.
The foregoing makes amply clear that falling back upon Hindu mythology and Sanskrit
literature or epics for inspiration and a source of his creativity came naturally to Tagore, not
because he was a devout Hindu ( his family had embraced Brahmo Samaj ), but because they
formed a part of his growing up and his intellectual make up. Therefore in the essay ‘An Eastern
University’ he says:
All great countries have their vital centres for intellectual life, where a high standard of
learning is maintained, where the minds of the people are naturally attracted, where they find
their genial atmosphere, in which to prove their worth and to contribute their share to the
country's culture. Thus they kindle, on the common altar of the land, that great sacrificial fire
which can radiate the sacred light of wisdom abroad.
Athens was such a centre in Greece, Rome in Italy; and Paris is such to-day in France.
Benares has been and still continues to be the centre of our Sanskrit culture.
(Creative Unity: 169)
In order to contribute his share to the “great sacrificial fire” he would frequently take up themes,
episodes or characters from the two great Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or
other Sanskrit classics, or refer to wisdom of the Upanishads in his essays, lectures or talks. It was
this intense interest in Sanskrit literature, particularly the two epics that Tagore wrote his first
original dramatic piece when he was just twenty entitled Valmiki Pratibha (the Genius of Valmiki)
which was staged at the Tagores' mansion. It was written in 1881, when he had just returned from
England, where he had gone to attend the University College in London from 1878-1880.
However, Tagore's experiences with drama had begun much earlier when he was sixteen, with his
brother Jyotirindranath. In the volume My Reminiscences, Tagore gives an interesting account of
the genesis of the drama:
Before I went to England we occasionally used to have gatherings of literary men in our
house, at which music, recitations and light refreshments were served up. After my return
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one more such gathering was held, which happened to be the last. It was for an
entertainment in this connection that the Valmiki Pratibha was composed. I played Valmiki
and my niece, Pratibha, took the part of Saraswati — which bit of history remains recorded
in the name. (My Reminiscences: 206)
The drama Valmiki Pratibha belonged to the early phase of Tagore’s creativity. It is not a mere
coincidence, but a continued interest in Sanskrit scriptures that towards the fag end of his life, he
referred to the Mahabharata again, at length. On 23 December 1940, at the Paush celebration at
Shantiniketan, he delivered his last speech, ‘The Supreme Message of Humanity Uttered in
India.’ He said,
According to Western literary code, epics are based on war. In Mahabharata also the
greater part of the story is occupied with descriptions of war, but its finality is not on war.
It does not portray vindictive hilarity on the part of the Pandavas... On the contrary we see
the victorious Pandavas leave their conquered wealth ...and take the road to renunciation.
(EWT IV, 610).
Tagore had misgivings that this epic of war could justify and perpetrate destructive tendencies. His
fears were not unfounded. In spite of his ‘Message of Humanity’ in 1940 as Malashri Lal observes,
“… the following year the modern Mahabharata, the great World War, unfolded across the canvas
of Europe.” Between these two literary impassioned literary outpourings, Valmiki Pratibha and
his last speech, there are numerous creative renderings that only prove the point that Sanskrit
literature exercised a deep rooted influence on Tagore’s creativity.
Before we take up for a close scrutiny, some of the literary pieces of Tagore which are directly
influenced by Sanskrit works, it is important to consider whether he was merely retelling these to
the contemporary readers in a language which they could understand, i.e. Bangla, or that he had
some other purpose, and that he was doing something else. Whenever an earlier literary work is
used by a later writer either for inspiration or for direct reproduction, its merit lies in the fact how
and how much it has deviated from the original piece; whether it is a mere poor image of the
original or has light of its own; if it is a transcreation from the earlier version, then it is important
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to assess its merits in relation to contemporary life. These issues are pertinent to Tagore’s works
also which are inspired by classical works in Sanskrit.
Tagore was in the habit of taking easy liberty with the sources of his writings. His very first
literary piece which was inspired by Sanskrit classics was not a creative retelling of the
Ramcharitmanas, but about the author Valmiki, and his creative talent. The Sanskrit original can
be very effective when read, but Tagore’s work is different. He had said himself in the essay
‘Valmiki Pratibha’:
Valmiki Pratibha is not a composition which will bear being read. Its significance is lost if
it is not heard sung and seen acted. It is not what Europeans call an Opera, but a little drama
set to music. That is to say, it is not primarily a musical composition. Very few of the songs
are important or attractive by themselves; they all serve merely as the musical text of the
play. (Reminiscences: 205)
Ketaki Kushari Dyson has made an interesting observation, ‘Reworking old stories from
the Mahabharata or from Buddhist lore, reinterpreting them so that they resonate in modern times,
so that the new interpretations act as bridges between tradition and modernity: these were artistic
tasks that Tagore took very seriously in his poetry and drama’ Dyson had translated Tagore’s
Karna Kunti Sanvad from Bangla into English, for a stage performance, 100 years after it was
first published It was at the request of Bithika Raha of London, who choreographed a dance
performance to accompany the words . Karna Kunti Sanvad (EWT I, 303) was originally a part
of Tagore’s volume entitled Kahini published in 1900. Nineteen years later in 1919, its English
translation was published in an anthology titled Fugitive from Bolpur. Two years later, a modified
version of the collection Fugitive was published in England.
In the original epic the Mahabharata, there are two distinct incidents in the section
Udyogparva. There is a a dialogue between Krishna and Karna, and another between Karna and
Kunti, Tagore combines the facts of both into one poetic piece. In the Mahabharata the meeting
of Kunti and Karna takes place in the morning, whereas in Tagore’s poem it is ‘godhuli’ time or
when the dim light of the dying day gradually merges into darkness. The approaching darkness is
symbolic of the gloom that is going to engulf Kunti the mother of Pandavas, who confronts her
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first born so late in life with vested interests. In the original epic, Karna learns about his maternal
lineage for the first time from Krishna; in Tagore’s poem it is Kunti who discloses this fact. Tagore
dexterously creates an atmosphere of mystery, gloom and impending disaster against the backdrop
of the imminent great war, as a befitting setting for this first and last meeting between a long-lost
natural mother and a heroic warrior son abandoned by her at birth.Tagore’s treatment is more
dramatic, psychological and humane.The dramatic playlet is intense, emotional and argumentative,
depicting the dialectical tensions that are tearing Karna apart. He displays different emotions, all
extremely poignant. He overcomes his dilemma and finally declares:
‘Must you who once refused me mother’s love, tempt me with a kingdom? Shame were
mine should I hasten to call the mother of kings, mother, and abandon my mother in the
charioteer’s house!’ (EWT I, 307).
He is happy to remain a ‘sutaputra,’ to be known as the son of low class Adhirath and Radha, in
war to be on the side of the Kauravas and also remain eternally indebted to Duryodhana. Thus
Tagore retains the original story, but makes changes in sequencing the events and in his treatment
of the characters and the subject matter, infusing it with irony and pathos. Sukanta Choudhary
rightly points out, “Through the liquidness and the fluidity of style Tagore’s One-Scene-Playlet
‘The Meeting of Karna and Kunti’ appeals directly to the aesthetic senses of its readers.”
Included in the volume The Fugitive alongwith Karna Kunti Sanvad, there is his portrayel of
another mother- son relationship, in the dramatic piece Gandharir A or The Mother’s Prayer. This
time it is the mother of Kauravas speaking to her son Duryodhana, another fierce and brave warrior
in the Mahabharata, but an incarnation of evil. Like the Sanvad, this poem is also intense,
emotional and argumentative, depicting dialectical tensions, displaying different extremely
poignant emotions, and fraught with dilemma. But here the psychological and emotional trauma
have enthralled the mother Queen Gandhari, and not the son, Prince Duryodhana; the dilemma is
faced by the blind father King Dhritarashtra too. Duryodhana has won the kingdom of his cousins
the Pandavas by fraud and is jubilant. Overcoming his dilemma and dialectical tension, and
Dhritarashtra declares:
Could the pious warnings of my friends lessen my love for my sons, then we might be
saved. But I have dipped my hands in the mire of your infamy and lost my sense of
goodness. For your sakes I have heedlessly set fire to the ancient forest of our royal lineage-
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-so dire is my love. Clasped breast to breast, we, like a double meteor, are blindly plunging
into ruin. Therefore doubt not my love; relax not your embrace till the brink of annihilation
be reached. Beat your drums of victory, lift your banner of triumph. In this mad riot of
exultant evil, brothers and friends will disperse till nothing remain save the doomed father,
the doomed son and God's curse.
Unlike Kunti, Queen Gandhari is fair and just with a clear and strong sense of right and wrong.
Though she has willingly embraced blindness, she is not blind to her son’s misdeeds, and tells her
husband emphatically, “The time has come to renounce him.”
The Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana and Gandhari of Tagore’s dramatic piece are not mere images
from the timeless epic. He has made them contemporary by portraying them psychologically, in
shades distinct from the original Sanskrit epic. Being a naturally versatile and multifaceted genius,
Tagore consciously contemplated upon the problems of men and women in the society of his times,
and unconsciously drew from Sanskrit sources which were etched deeply in his creative mind, in
order to deal with those problems in his works. But sometimes he also consciously thought about
or dwelt upon the scriptures and wrote about things which stirred him. On one occasion the theme
of Karna’s tragic life was suggested to Tagore by none other than his friend and the famous
scientist Jagdish Chandra Bose.
There is yet another story of Kacha and Devayani from the Mahabharata included in the volume
The Fugitive. Though in this case Tagore does not deviate from the main story of the original epic,
his treatment of his characters is in keeping with his times. His Kacha and Devayani are as human
as anyone in the contemporary times and caught in a turmoil resulting from betrayal and unrequited
love. Kacha is also caught in a dialectical tension --- between his love for Devyani and his duty
towards his father and the devatas.
Tagore’s another work, Chitra: A Play in One Act, written in 1921 and published in 1926 is a
lyrical drama, based on the story of Princess Chitangada and Arjuna, is directly inspired from the
Mahabharata. In order to fulfill a vow of penance, in the course of his wanderings, Arjuna came
to Manipur. There he saw Princess Chitrangada, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of King
Chitravahana. Smitten with her beauty, he expressed to the king his desire to marry Chitrangada.
Since the princess is the heir to the throne, being the only child of the king, Chitravahana puts the
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condition that her progeny will inherit his kingdom. Thus, Arjuna marries Chitrangada, and stays
in her home for some time where he begets a son. However, he has to leave them and proceed on
his wandering Later, Chitrangada’s son Babruvahan, fails to recognize Arjun, and defeats him in
a battle.
But Rabindranath Tagore makes amazing changes in this ancient story. Tagore always
cherished the theme of romance woven with companionship, and takes it up in this dancedrama Chitrangada, which was an extended version of his poem Chitra written in 1892. As was
his habit, he makes many alterations in the original episode from the Mahabharata. In his play,
Chitrangada’s father prayed for a son but the gods give him a daughter. He brings this daughter up
as a son and a warrior. She captures the handsome Arjun during a hunt. He is on a twelve-year
exile from his own erstwhile kingdom. She falls in love with him instantly. However, she fears
that Arjun will reject her because she looks manly due to the fact that she was brought up like a
man. In fact Arjun thinks so because she is a very good warrior. So Chitrangada asks Madana, the
god of love, to make her look more womanly. Rabindranath spins the story to make Chitra a dual
character. She is manly and a warrior, on the one hand, whom Arjun rejects and on the other she
is a charming beauty with whom he falls madly in love. These two sides of the personality of
Chitrangada are termed ‘Shuroopa’ or ‘beautiful’ and ‘Kuroopa’ or ‘ugly’ by Tagore. During an
attack on Manipur, people cry out for their warrior-princess. Arjun is curious to meet this
extraordinary princess. Chitrangada, entreats Madana to restore her to her original form. Arjun is
very surprised on learning the truth about her and loves her even more for who she is.
Besides his poetic and dramatic works, Tagore often referred to Sanskrit literary gems in his
other prose renderings. In his essay “The Religion of the Forest,” he refers to several classical texts
in Sanskrit. While discussing in detail the importance of forest culture of hermitages depicted in
the two Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, he elaborates upon the story of
Shakuntala from the ‘Adiparva’ of the Mahabharata. Besides these two epics, he refers to almost
all the works of the famous Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, and offers in depth insight into these ancient
classics. The Sanskrit classical works he elaborates upon are Mrit- Shakatika, Uttar-Ramacharita,
Shakuntala, Kumara-Sambhava, Malvikagnimitra and Raghuvamsh.
To sum up, Sanskrit language and literature exercised a strong influence on Tagore’s writings.
The themes and episodes of these works were greatly modified, inspirations were infused with
Tagore’s creative imagination, and continued to be a perennial source of creativity throughout his
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life. Tagore sifted Sanskrit literature to sort out suitable themes in order to express his concerns
about humanism, issues pertaining to women like motherhood, or the question of love versus
companionship, even ecological concerns etc. The two Hindu epics and their accompanying
mythology were literary constructs for Tagore. Therefore, he adapted and modified them to suit
contemporary social issues. The influence of Sanskrit literature was so strong that he referred to it
frequently in his talks and essays, and also quoted from them.
Notes and References
Choudhary, Sukanta. (ed.) The Oxford Tagore Translations: Rabindranath Tagore: Selected
Poems. New Delhi, OUP, 2004. p.202
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Das, Sisir Kumar. (ed.) English Writings of Tagore, Volumes I-IV, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi
(1996) is mentioned as EWT with the relevant volume and page number.
Dyson, Ketaki Kushari, trans. Dialogue Between Karna and Kunti. Web. 12 August.2010.
<http://www.parabaas.com/translation/database/translations/poems/RT_Karnakunti.html>
Lal, Malashri. ‘Vignettes from Childhood: Mahasweta Devi remembers Rabindranath
Tagore,’ Confluence, South Asian Perspectives, Summer 2011, UK, p.18.
www.confluence.org.uk
Tagore, Rabindranath. Chitra: A Play in One Act. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1926
- - - . Creative Unity, London: Macmillan and Co, 1922, p. 169.
- - - . Reminiscences, Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd, 1999.
- - - . Sadhna: The Realisation of Life.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6842
- - - . ‘The Religion of the Forest,’ Selected Essays. Mohit K Ray (ed.) New Delhi; Atlantic
Publishers. 2012.
ͲͲͲ .The Fugitive and Other Poems.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7971
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