Remembering Tagore, the early environmentalist

KOLKATA - Environmental issues like river erosion and deforestation may be hot topics today, but Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had been eloquent about the exploitation of environment even a century ago.

Tagore churned out poems, plays and short stories emphasising the need to protect nature. With India beginning year-long celebrations to mark his 150th birth anniversary, many are pointing to his deep sensitivities for the environment.

At Santiniketan, the sprawling campus where he founded his Brahmacharyashrama school and later Visva-Bharati university, Tagore started in July 1927 the festival of the earth through ‘brikkharopan’ (planting of trees) and ‘halakarshan’ (tilling the land).

On one such occasion, Tagore wrote the song “Maruvijayera ketana urao he shunye” (Raise aloft the banner of the conquest of the desert) giving a clarion call to increase the tree cover.

“Rabindranath wrote extensively about nature, about the relationship between human beings and nature,” poet Abul Bashar told IANS.

Bashar referred to the short story “Balai” in which Tagore highlighted a young boy’s love for a Simul tree in front of his house.

Through the poem, “The tame bird was in a cage”, Tagore brought out the plight of a tamed bird. It highlighted the way in which man wants to domesticate nature, which they see from only their own perspective.

In another poem, “I plucked you, flower”, human aggression gets expressed through the plucking of a flower.

Subhash Dutta, an environmentalist, said: “The literary works of Tagore can be used for raising awareness about the environment.

“Tagore not only wrote extensively on man’s relationship with the environment but implemented it too by building Santineketan. It is surrounded by greenery on all sides. He created an example for the whole world in terms of the relationship between nature and humans.”

Tagore’s play “Raktakarabi” (1925) was inspired by the image of a red oleander plant crushed by pieces of discarded iron that Tagore had witnessed while taking a walk in Shillong.

The play’s central character is of a king who cruelly exploits nature and man to develop an almost mechanised bureaucracy.

Another play, “Muktadhara”, tells the story of man’s limitless greed and the backlash from nature. The plot revolves around a monstrous machine created by a king to block the natural flow of a huge river and how a prince joins commoners to protect nature by revolting against the king.

Pabitra Sarkar, a former vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University and a Tagore expert, said: “In his literary works, he has said he was born along with the trees and flowers. He has depicted his intense love for nature and its beauty. His song ‘Akash bhora, surjya tara, bishwa bhara pran’ speaks of his deep affection for nature,”

(Pradipta Tapadar can be contacted at pradiptanarayan@gmail.com)