Gurudev Tagore birth anniversary celebrated in Moscow
On May 7, 2013, the Embassy of India, Moscow, commemorated the 152nd Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at a function held at the Tagore Statue at Friendship Park, Moscow. HE Mr. Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, was the Chief Guest at the celebration.
Speaking after offering a floral tribute, Ambassador Malhotra described Gurudev as a vigorous intellectual force who naturally imbibed the ancient traditions of India and was inspired by the rich heritage of India’s people and civilisation. He expressed admiration for Tagore as a towering literary figure, political and social reformer, accomplished composer and visionary educationist. He characterised the great diversity, volume and sheer range of creative works of Tagore as “truly astounding”. He highlighted Tagore’s contribution to education through his school at Shantiniketan and Visva-Bharati Univesrity. He described Visva-Bharati as a meeting-ground of cultures and a learning centre where students could work together in a common pursuit of truth. He opined that Tagore's ground-breaking educational philosophy may yet emerge as one of his most significant contributions. He also highlighted Tagore’s deep fascination and affinity for Russia, which he finally visited in 1930. He shared a line from his “Letters from Russia”, wherein Gurudev Tagore stated “If I had not come to Russia, life’s pilgrimage would have remained incomplete”. Ambassador Malhotra described the installation of Tagore’s statue in Moscow in 1990 as a reflection of the tremendous affection and goodwill of the Russian people for Gurudev Tagore. He thanked the admirers of Tagore who had gathered to honour Tagore.
Other speakers on the occasion were Prof. Irina Prokofieva, eminent Indologist & Bengali language expert of the Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO), Ms. Galina Kiriyenko, Director, Tagore Museum, School No.1279, Moscow, and Ms. Ludmila Sekachova, Head, “Parade of Cultural Heritage”. They warmly praised Tagore’s multi-faceted contributions to society and voiced admiration for Gurudev and his visionary ideas.
Thereafter, Dr. Rathindranath Chatterjee, Ex-President, Hindustani Samaj, and Ms. Krishna Roy, Member, Hindustani Samaj, recited some of Tagore’s poems. The choir of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, Moscow, sang several Tagore songs, which were enthusiastically applauded by the assembled gathering.
Remarks by HE Mr. Ajai Malhotra, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, at the Gurudev Tagore birth anniversary celebrations; Moscow, May 7, 2013.
Thank you for joining in this celebration of the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
Gurudev was a vigorous intellectual force who naturally imbibed the ancient traditions of India and was inspired by the rich heritage of our people and civilisation. He was a multi-faceted genius - a towering literary figure, a political and social reformer, an accomplished composer, a visionary educationist, an early advocate of Indian independence, and much more.
Gitanjali, for which he was given the Nobel Prize a century ago, is undoubtedly the most famous of his books and his short stories, poems and songs are characterized by their exceptional lyrical qualities. They leave you with a feeling of having originated from a moment of quiet contemplation, after deep introspection. One cannot but appreciate his bold and vivid imagery, the sincerity and sensitivity of his magical verse, and his admirable and earnest quest for truth.
His novels such as Ghare Baire, Chokher Bali, and Nashtanirh, received renewed attention as a result of film adaptations by Satyajit Ray. He also wrote many popular dramas such as The King of the Dark Chamber and The Post Office. In fact the great diversity, volume and sheer range of his creative works, is truly astounding.
On another plane, Gurudev influenced the styles of such famous musicians as sitar maestro Vilayat Khan, and sarod ustad Amjad Ali Khan. He also composed what were to become two national anthems - Jana Gana Mana and Amar Shonar Bangla – and influenced a third. And who can remain unmoved by that eternal favourite “êkla chôlo re”?
Tagore also sought to give a voice to the voiceless and was deeply aware of the need to extend his ideas beyond the rarefied intellectual atmosphere they nestled in.
He devoted much energy to the school he founded at Shantiniketan and envisioned an education rooted in one’s surroundings, yet connected to the cultures of the wider world. He visualized an education founded upon enjoyable learning and shaped to each child’s individuality. He also favoured a humane educational system that was in touch with the environment and aimed at the all-round development of a child’s personality. He regarded the aesthetic development of the senses as at least as important, if not more so, than intellectual development.
Tagore later founded Visva-Bharati University as an experiment in higher education and conceived of it as a national centre for the arts. Without music and the fine arts, he wrote, a nation lacks its highest means of national self-expression and the people remain inarticulate. He saw Visva-Bharati as a meeting-ground of cultures, as a learning centre where students could work together in a common pursuit of truth. Tagore's ground-breaking educational philosophy may yet emerge as one of his most significant contributions.
Tagore was also a great traveler. He visited over thirty countries and these trips were crucial in familiarising non-Indian audiences with his works and spreading his ideas. Tagore had a deep fascination and affinity for Russia and his long-held desire to visit it was finally fulfilled in 1930. In the letters he wrote from here, collected in Russiar Chithi (Letters from Russia), he stated: “If I had not come to Russia, life’s pilgrimage would have remained incomplete”. He was impressed by the remarkable progress Russia had achieved in a short span of time and attributed it to the spread of education among the masses. He praised the “unsparing energy with which Russia had tried to fight diseases and illiteracy” and its progress in “steadily liquidating ignorance and poverty”.
The installation of this statue of Tagore at “Friendship Park” in Moscow in 1990, reflects the tremendous affection and goodwill of the Russian people for Gurudev. I thank the admirers of Tagore who have gathered here to honour, in Pandit Nehru’s words, “India’s internationalist par excellence” – a man who believed and worked for international co-operation and in “taking India’s message to other countries and bringing their message to his own people”.
Above all, Gurudev was a messenger of peace and harmony and we need his optimism and faith in mankind now, more than ever before. As we celebrate his birth anniversary let us pay tribute to Tagore by working for his vision of a world where “… man will have his new birth, in the freedom of his individuality, from the enveloping vagueness of abstraction”.
Thank you.
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