RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S ABIDING LOVE FOR SHIKHISM AND ITS FOUNDER
Guru Nanak ,the founder of Sikhism was born this day (allowing for the inaccuracy of a lunar calendar ) five and half centuries back. He was a product of a churn called ' bhakti movement' that swept the subcontinent challenging the caste hierarchy and bringing a synthesis of Islam and Hinduism.Guru Nanak was an incessant taveller,in search of the truth .Maybe his continuous interaction with different communities freed him from sectarian narrowness and prejudices .He held before a people divided by caste ,class and religion the vision spiritual equality, human brotherhood, always insisting on honest work .No relious reformer of his time spoke so eloquently about the dignity of labour which was intended to be a critique of Brahminism that degraded and dehumanized the labourers. It is therefore is no wonder that Sikhs have been a flourishing community wherever they have settled and whichever country they adopted as their own.Rabindranath Tagore,the poet and thinker, was also a product of a reformist movement initiated by Raja Rammohun Roy ,' the first modern modern man of India' .Roy sought to synthesize the Enlightment tradition of the West with the best elements from Hinduism,Islam and Christianity ,A profound Islamic scholar,he wrote his rationalist tract Tu'hfat Ul Muwahidin in Persian and brought out the first Persian journal of the world.The poet's father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore ,a great admirer of Rumi ,Hafez and Saadi, found in Sikhism ,the kind of religious community he had in his mind .In 1873 ,he would make a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritswar with his youngest son Rabi ,a budding poet.
The poet's biographers Andrew Robinson and Krishna Dutta write ," For about a month they settled at a place not far away from the Golden Temple of the Sikhs The Maharshi was drawn to the temple by the rousing worship by the middle of the sacred lake ,and Rabi went too. Sometimes the Maharshi joined the hymns .No Sikh ever objected .Here was a prime lesson in religious tolerance .....Here in Amritwar at the age of eleven ,Rabi composed his first song .He also began to sing for his father .Evening was their time
You are my friend in all difficulty and doubt
And companion in the darkest passage of life
When they returned ,they brought a Sikh boy who received a welcome' which would be not unbecoming of Maharaja Ranjit Singh." In his early collection of narrative poems Katha o Kahini he immortalized Banda and his martyrdom in a moving poem- The Brave Prisoner .My communist father used to recite it to me with great dramatic force .A rebel himself, he drew inspiration from Banda's heroic defiance in face of gruesome torture and death.His poem still vibrates in my memory .Tagore was the first Indian to renounce his knighthood in protest against Jalianwalabagh massacre, when our nationalist leaders thought it wiser to remain silent . Tagore's writings on religious dialogue and tolerance make frequent reference to Guru Nanak and his religion of devotion and work.
Tagore would later enter into a bitter controversy with Mohandas Gandhi regarding the Dalits' decision to convert to Sikhism . Gandhi who did his best to keep the Dalits within the Brahminical fold in a state of servitude, was pained when Tagore strongly supported conversion to Sikhism as a way of liberation . With his usual clarity, he wrote," If the Sanatani ( orthodox ) Hindus of the upper classes are not prepared to extend the ordinary rights of a civilized existence to the Harijans, they should not also cry against the victims seeking shelter in the Sikh fold ." But Gandhi did . Mahadev Deshai, his secretary wrote ' Bapu ( Gandhi)could not believe that you could have ever given your assent to a proposition like this .' In his response Tagore held his ground and expressed himself even more boldly :
" Sikhism has a bold message to the people and it has a noble record. How great it would be its effect if this religion can get out of its geographical provincialism ..and acquire a nationwide perspective one can guess. I do not find anything in Sikh religious practice and creeds which hurts my human dignity " In this dark time when fascist forces are polarizing society along religious lines with sinister conspiracy and systematic violence, we need to remember the words of Guru Nanak and his lasting message of religious tolerance, primacy of truth and universal brotherhood/sisterhood.
B Sur
Guru Nanak ,the founder of Sikhism was born this day (allowing for the inaccuracy of a lunar calendar ) five and half centuries back. He was a product of a churn called ' bhakti movement' that swept the subcontinent challenging the caste hierarchy and bringing a synthesis of Islam and Hinduism.Guru Nanak was an incessant taveller,in search of the truth .Maybe his continuous interaction with different communities freed him from sectarian narrowness and prejudices .He held before a people divided by caste ,class and religion the vision spiritual equality, human brotherhood, always insisting on honest work .No relious reformer of his time spoke so eloquently about the dignity of labour which was intended to be a critique of Brahminism that degraded and dehumanized the labourers. It is therefore is no wonder that Sikhs have been a flourishing community wherever they have settled and whichever country they adopted as their own.Rabindranath Tagore,the poet and thinker, was also a product of a reformist movement initiated by Raja Rammohun Roy ,' the first modern modern man of India' .Roy sought to synthesize the Enlightment tradition of the West with the best elements from Hinduism,Islam and Christianity ,A profound Islamic scholar,he wrote his rationalist tract Tu'hfat Ul Muwahidin in Persian and brought out the first Persian journal of the world.The poet's father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore ,a great admirer of Rumi ,Hafez and Saadi, found in Sikhism ,the kind of religious community he had in his mind .In 1873 ,he would make a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritswar with his youngest son Rabi ,a budding poet.
The poet's biographers Andrew Robinson and Krishna Dutta write ," For about a month they settled at a place not far away from the Golden Temple of the Sikhs The Maharshi was drawn to the temple by the rousing worship by the middle of the sacred lake ,and Rabi went too. Sometimes the Maharshi joined the hymns .No Sikh ever objected .Here was a prime lesson in religious tolerance .....Here in Amritwar at the age of eleven ,Rabi composed his first song .He also began to sing for his father .Evening was their time
You are my friend in all difficulty and doubt
And companion in the darkest passage of life
When they returned ,they brought a Sikh boy who received a welcome' which would be not unbecoming of Maharaja Ranjit Singh." In his early collection of narrative poems Katha o Kahini he immortalized Banda and his martyrdom in a moving poem- The Brave Prisoner .My communist father used to recite it to me with great dramatic force .A rebel himself, he drew inspiration from Banda's heroic defiance in face of gruesome torture and death.His poem still vibrates in my memory .Tagore was the first Indian to renounce his knighthood in protest against Jalianwalabagh massacre, when our nationalist leaders thought it wiser to remain silent . Tagore's writings on religious dialogue and tolerance make frequent reference to Guru Nanak and his religion of devotion and work.
Tagore would later enter into a bitter controversy with Mohandas Gandhi regarding the Dalits' decision to convert to Sikhism . Gandhi who did his best to keep the Dalits within the Brahminical fold in a state of servitude, was pained when Tagore strongly supported conversion to Sikhism as a way of liberation . With his usual clarity, he wrote," If the Sanatani ( orthodox ) Hindus of the upper classes are not prepared to extend the ordinary rights of a civilized existence to the Harijans, they should not also cry against the victims seeking shelter in the Sikh fold ." But Gandhi did . Mahadev Deshai, his secretary wrote ' Bapu ( Gandhi)could not believe that you could have ever given your assent to a proposition like this .' In his response Tagore held his ground and expressed himself even more boldly :
" Sikhism has a bold message to the people and it has a noble record. How great it would be its effect if this religion can get out of its geographical provincialism ..and acquire a nationwide perspective one can guess. I do not find anything in Sikh religious practice and creeds which hurts my human dignity " In this dark time when fascist forces are polarizing society along religious lines with sinister conspiracy and systematic violence, we need to remember the words of Guru Nanak and his lasting message of religious tolerance, primacy of truth and universal brotherhood/sisterhood.
B Sur
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