Rabindranath Tagore and Patrick Geddes, the Correspondence
Visva-Bharati Press (India) and Edinburgh University Press (Scotland)
ISBN - 1-85933-203-X

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Rabindranath Tagore is regarded by many as the greatest writer in modern Indian literature. A Bengali poet, novelist and educator, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Tagore was awarded the knighthood in 1915, but he surrendered it in 1919 as a protest against the Massacre of Amritsar, where British troops killed some 400 Indian demonstrators protesting colonial laws. Geddes produced town planning reports in Indore, Balrampur, Baroda, Conjeevaram, Lahore, Lucknow, Nagpur and Pinjaur before being appointed the first Professor of Civics and Sociology at Bombay University.

Bashabi Faser is the author of this new book chronicling the correspondence between Rabindranath Tagore and Patrick Geddes which she has compiled, edited and introduced. The letters show how these two men explored similar ideas on issues like education, international universities, the environment and rural reconstruction. The letters commemorate a beautiful friendship.

PG.CO.UK: Can you tell people who might not be familiar with Tagores work, a bit more about him and how he came into contact with Geddes?

Bashabi: Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his translation of 'Gitanjali'. He was a poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, and song composer (having written about 300 songs). He established a whole new dance form called Rabindra Nritya, and was an accomplished artist, an educationist (founding his own school and International University, Visva-Bharati, both at Shantiniketan), an environmentalist, a rural reconstructionist, a political thinker and philosopher. What ever he wrote, he wrote well.

Geddes and Tagore definitely met face to face at the summer meeting in Darjeeling in 1917 but were already in correspondence before that. So they were probably introduced to each other between 1914-1915.

PG.CO.UK: It seems to me that Tagore was often misconceived as a mystic, when in fact he was more political than that, in the same way as Geddes was pigeonholed as a "town-planner" but he was more interested in poetics than is realised. Is that what you experienced?

Bashabi: Yes, I did. Geddes had strong ideas against war, he believed, like Tagore in creative education, hating the rote method and believing in developing the analytical mind, giving freedom of thought and scope for mental and spiritual development. Geddes respected what he found in another civilization/culture and all his advice/plans were for improvement/development keeping in mind not only the ground reality but the actual history, mode a living and sentiments of the people he worked for. This would not have been possible if he did not have the sensitivity of the spiritual/cultural man that he was.

Needless to say, his suggestions were not always taken kindly to by the Governments in power as he always showed their plans up as exorbitant and unpratical, and proposed ones that needed very little monetary investment and the smallest possible changes/damage, thus avoiding any hurt/damage to a community/locality. I think the whole triad of People, Work and Place, bring out his humanist approach to all his undertakings. Tagore's own work at Shelidah, his father's estate and later at Shatiniketan and Sriniketan, show the pragmatic humanist, striving to establish co-operatives and build self-reliance and self-respect amongst his tenants and later, the surrounding villagers.

Tagore was far ahead of his times, in fact, whatever he did/said was picked up by Gandhi or others 20 to 30 years later. He was very modern, hence his continuing appeal. As such, he was a radical and always a lonely, fearless but honest voice. I think Geddes too was considered too outspoken by many of his associates and especially the city burghers and education dons.

PG.CO.UK: What did you discover about your subjects through the correspondence?

Bashabi: That two great minds did indeed meet, though they came from east and west and that they thought similarly on various things - an uncanny resemblance which was not prompted by one to the other but is evident in this correspondence. Both warned against ruthless individualism, the devastation of war, the necessity of international universities, of tampering thoughtlessly with the environment and unnecessary appendages in the name of development.

PG.CO.UK: Does Geddes have a stronger presence in Bengal than Geddes does in Scotland?

I can't call it 'stronger', but there is now a growing idea of who Geddes is, what he did and what he stands for amongst the educated elite, through the work of a few individuals who have written/lectured extensively in the Bengali literary magazines/newspapers and universities, especially at Tagore's university: Visva-Bharati and the university specialising in Tagore studies: Rabindra Bharati (at Kolkata), and at Jadavpur University (at Kolkata), where there is now a Geddes Centre in the Dept. of Architecture.

PG.CO.UK: It's odd that whilst Tagore was actively opposing British imperialism, Geddes was, in a sense anyway, exploiting his contacts within that system. How do you view their relationship in this regard?

Tagore's implicit belief in individual freedom and giving everyone full scope for expressing her/his creativity led him to believe that India needed to be free of imperialism. For Geddes, India was part of Britain, a reality which he, like others around him, could not foresee as coming to an inevitable end. His association with Tagore was from 1915 onwards, especially after they met at the summer school organised by Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose (the botanist whose biography Geddes wrote).

Tagore already had the Nobel Prize and was a world figure. When Geddes came to India, he was introduced to him through mutual friends, who felt that amongst the people he should meet were Gandhi, and Tagore. The association with Tagore continued till at least April, 1930. Gandhi's salt march which was to begin the momentum to the protracted freedom for struggle started on 12 March 1930. To be fair on Geddes, he could not have anticipated the strong wave of opposition to foreign rule that was to build up from then on.

Geddes, like Tagore, could be touchy and sensitive, but he was far from posing to be the arrogant coloniser and was never patronising, and that is why his contacts in India valued his presence/assistance, especially at Bombay University where he was Professor of Sociology and Civics.

PG.CO.UK: It seems to me that Geddes and Tagore also have in common there attitude towards technology. Geddes argued for "neo-technics" whilst Tagore was critical of some of Ghandi's schemes. Tagore wrote: "One thing is certain, that the all-embracing poverty which has overwhelmed our country cannot be removed by working with our hands to the neglect of science." Tagore - The Cult of the Charka (Sep 1925)

Bashabi Fraser: Tagore agreed with Geddes that science was absolutely necessary for India to become a modern nation. In his essay on 'Nationalism', he does speak against the deindustrialization of India, which was the reason for her poverty and backwardness. In fact, at his international university, Visva-Bharati in Shanitiniketan, there is a science faculty. Though Tagore did not respond to Gandhi's plea for the working at the charkha, both of them respected each other deeply.

Tagore named Gandhi the 'Mahatma'- the great soul and Gandhi (as did Nehru and Arthur Geddes like everyone else in India), called Tagore 'Gurudev'- revered teacher. When Tagore in his old, ailing state went touring with his dance drama troupe to collect funds for Shantiniketan (his school) and fainted, Gandhi was appalled and told 'Gurudev' that he should never have come out begging for money like that but should have asked Gandhi. He told Tagore to go back to Shantiniketan and write and he would collect the money he needed and send it to him (as people in India would give at Gandhi's call) - and he did. Whenever Gandhi began a new political agitation, he publicly sought Tagore's blessing and approval, though Tagore did not go along with Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, as Tagore had his own ideas about freedom struggle.

When Tagore was really frail and Gandhi paid him his last visit at Shantiniketan, Tagore put a short, scrawled note in his hand which said that he had put his lifetime's work into this institute (his international university and school) and if Gandhi felt it was worth sustaining, would he take it into his care. Tagore knew his end was near. Gandhi readily promised and kept his word. Today, Visva-Bharati is a central university (run by the central government) and the Indian Prime Minister is always its Chancellor, attending its convocation every year.

Gandhi: '"Gurudev, you can spin. Why not get all your students to sit down around you and spin?'' They both laughed."Poems I can spin, Gandhi, songs and plays I can spin, but of your precious cotton what a mess I would make."' Nehru read both Tagore's 'The Call of Truth' in answer to Gandhi's call and Gandhi's answer to Tagore, 'The Great Sentinel' in 1921 and agreed more with Gandhi. Later in 1961 when Nehru was Prime Minister he said 'but the more I have read what Tagore wrote then, the more I appreciated it and felt in tune with it'. (Datta and Robinson, 'The Myriad Minded Man ', p. 240).

On Gandhi's last visit to Shantiniketan before Tagore's death, an ailing Tagore pushed a hurriedly written note in the departing Gandhi's hand in which he had written:

"Accept this institution under your protection, giving it an assurance of permanence if you consider it to be a national asset. Visva-Bharati is like a vessel which is carrying the cargo of my life's best treasure, and I hope it may claim special care from my countrymen for its preservation".

Gandhi's reply, 'Who am I to take this institution under my protection? It carries God's protection, because it is the creation of an earnest soul. It is not a show-thing. Gurudev is himself international because he is truly national. Therefore, all his creation is international, and Visva-Bharati is the best of all. I have no doubt whatsoever that Gurudev deserves to be relieved of all anxiety about its future so far as the financial part is concerned. In my reply to his touching appeal I have promised all the assistance I am capable of rendering. This note is the beginning of the effort.' (Kripalain, 'Rabindranath Tagore', p. 385)

The Geddes-Tagore Correspondence is available from James Thin's, North Bridge, and Digger, West Nicholson Street in Edinburgh, and Borders in Glasgow, and can be ordered from Wordpower Bookshop here.

You can also email the Edinburgh Review for a copy at: Edinburgh.Review@ed.ac.uk

The price is £5.99.