Tagore's Visits to Sri Lanka
Tagore’s Visits to Sri Lanka
Sandagomi Coperahewa
Professor & Head, Department of Sinhala &
Founder Director of Centre for Contemporary Indian
Studies
University of Colombo
As a poet, it is my
mission to restore that ancient association of mind through my efforts that
speak through a direct language of art.
Rabindranath
Tagore, Colombo – 1934
Introduction
Among the many aspects of
Rabindranath Tagore’s diverse personality was his fascination for travel. He
kept his doors open to ideas from the East and the West. As Supriya Roy says, Tagore’s journeys to the East
are quite distinct from those he made to the West; “whereas his travels to the
West had an air of adventure, his travels to the eastward were like pilgrimages
– in the footsteps of his ancestors who travelled to the East from India
carrying a message of truth and love” ( 2011: 2). Tagore visited more than thirty countries in
the world including Sri Lanka. In fact, his last overseas visit was to Sri
Lanka. During his travels, Tagore
explained his ideal of Visva-Bharati and raised funds for its
development, and made a deep impact on the cultural life of the people. He also
continued with his dream of establishing contacts between different cultures
and people. Focussing on Tagore’s most well-known visits to Sri Lanka, 1922,
1928 and 1934, this paper discusses the socio-historical background of Tagore’s
travels and his impact on Sri Lankan cultural life. It also explores Tagore’s
lesser-known three other transit visits to the island, and shows his abiding
interest in the island of Sri Lanka. By examining the ways in which he
interacted with the cultural personalities of that era, this paper revisits
Tagore’s legacy in Sri Lankan cultural and intellectual life. In general, this
paper provides insights into the nature and effect of Tagore’s Asian voyages.
During the early twentieth century,
when Tagore visited Sri Lanka, both India and Sri Lanka were under British
colonial rule. Britain’s colonial relationship with South Asia led to many
cross-cultural exchanges in the arts and sciences. Many South Asian
intellectuals and academics established influential contacts and friendships
within the region. At the same time, Bengal was the most vibrant intellectual
and cultural nerve centre of South Asia. Two important institutions attracted
Sri Lankan scholars: one was the University of Calcutta (founded in 1857) and the
other was Visva-Bharati at Santiniketan, founded by Tagore in 1918. Tagore’s visits to Sri Lanka and his close
contacts with Sri Lankans had a profound influence on the socio-cultural
relations between the two countries. An important cultural landmark was thus
established in the mutual relationship between India and Sri Lanka. Tagore
himself had shown a great interest in the Sri Lankan people and had an emotional
attachment with Sri Lanka’s history. According
to scholars Tagore’s fascination with Sri Lanka seems to have been prompted by two
factors: first, the general belief that the Sinhalese, the majority of Sri
Lankans, descended from immigrants from Bengal, and second, profound respect
for Theravada Buddhism and the Buddhist heritage of the island (Dharmadasa,
2011: 2).
Tagore and Sri Lanka: Early Contacts
According Kalidas Nag, the historian and a
Tagore follower, Rabindranath’s father, Debendranath Tagore had visited Sri
Lanka in the 1860’s with his son Satyendranath Tagore (1944: 4). This shows that the Tagore family had an
abiding interest in the island of Sri Lanka. In the 1890s when Tagore edited
the literary journal Sadhana he
invited articles on Buddhism, and Tagore was aware of Anagarika Dharmapala’s
(1864-1933) Buddhist revival work in India. The Maha Bodhi journal
started by Dharmapala as the organ of the Society was patronized by Indian intellectuals
such as Tagore, who contributed articles and poems to it. Moreover, during
1903-05, Asit Kumar Haldar (1890-1964) an artist-colleague of Tagore was a
frequent visitor to the home of Dharmapala (Halder, 2011: 132). In the first two decades of the twentieth
century, the cultural and spiritual collaboration between India and Sri Lanka was
deepened through the initiatives of Dharmapala, Asutosh Mookerjee and Tagore.
On 22nd
May, he visited Galle and then Matara where he witnessed the mask-dance. On 4th June, Tagore visited Kandy,
where he was fascinated by the Kandyan dance, on which he wrote a beautiful
poem. Tagore encouraged inmates of Santiniketan
to learn and imbibe these dance forms and adapted some elements of those
dances in his later choreographic productions. Moreover, his words of
encouragement helped the Kandyan dance form emerge into the mainstream of Sri
Lankan culture. During this visit, Nandalal Bose who traveled with Tagore
did some beautiful paintings and sketches, including some on Kandyan dance. While in Kandy, Tagore completed his novel Char Adhyay (Four Chapters). After a
visit to Anuradhapura and other places of historic interest, he went to Jaffna
on 9th June where Shaap Mochan was performed on three
successive evenings. He left Jaffna on 15th June and returned by way
of Danuskodi-Madras to Calcutta by rail (Mukhopadhyaya & Roy, 1961: 496).
Tagore’s three visits to Sri Lanka in 1922, 1928 and 1934 and three transit
halts had clearly left an abiding imprint. Moreover, his extensive interactions
with artists and literary personalities of Sri Lanka significantly contributed
to the country’s cultural resurgence, inspiring young artistes, dancers and
singers to develop new artistic creations. A reporter at the time of
Tagore’s visit to Lanka in 1934 said:
While in India, Sri Lankan art critic and historian Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) formed close relationships with the Tagore family and was involved in both the literary renaissance and the swadeshi movement, an early phase of the struggle for Indian independence. It is clear that Tagore had already met Sri Lankans before he travelled to Sri Lanka.
On the 13th of November 1913,
the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Tagore by the Swedish Academy;
the Bengali poet had become a world figure. Soon after the World War (1914-1918),
in May 1920, Tagore sailed for Europe, where he was received with immense
admiration.
Tagore’s
First Visit to Sri Lanka – October 1922
The beginning of the twentieth century saw a remarkable social, political and cultural change in Sri Lankan society. The English-educated elite were politically involved in constitutional reform activities and at the same time they were interested in various cultural and reform movements (Coperahewa, 2009). It is clear that during the early 1920s Tagore had many connections with Sri Lankan Buddhist priests, politicians and intellectuals including D. B. Jayatilaka, Dr. W.A. De Silva, Rev. Rambukawelle Siddhartha. All of them studied at the University of Calcutta and Tagore had a close association with the university. In 1918 Tagore laid the foundation for his ideal institution Visva-Bharati at Santiniketan and made adequate provisions to study Buddhism and Pali (Nag, 1944). Thus, the conducive socio-cultural atmosphere that existed in Sri Lanka in the early decades of the twentieth century paved the way for Tagore to visit his neighbouring country. At this time, Tagore was famous in the region for his literary and intellectual contribution and the Nobel Prize (1913) established Tagore’s status as a ‘World Poet’ (Visva Kavi).
Tagore’s first visit to
Sri Lanka in October 1922 was on the invitation of Dr W. Arthur De Silva (1869-1942), a scholar, politician and
philanthropist, who was an alumnus of Calcutta University. When he visited Sri
Lanka in 1922, Tagore was 61 years old and had a considerable reputation in the
region both as literary icon and an anti-imperialist. Tagore was accompanied by
Rev. C.F. Andrews. In this visit Tagore stayed at ‘Sravasti’, the home of Dr.
De Silva, and then went to Kandy, and spent a week in Nuwara Eliya. At this
time, in Sri Lanka, the political elite was forming the Ceylon National
Congress (1919) following the example of the Indian National Congress
(INC). Tagore’s friend Dr. Arthur De
Silva was a Member of the Executive Committee of the CNC and became the
President of the Congress in 1928. In this visit, Tagore gave a lecture at the
newly-established Ceylon University College (1921). He spoke on the ‘Ancient
Indian Universities’ and the “tradition of close engagement between the guru and shiya” (Goonetileke,
2001: 51). Robert Marrs, Principal of the College, presided the occasion. On 10th November 1922, Tagore
visited Ananda College, as the chief guest of the annual prize giving. During
his visit to Kandy he was honoured by politician George E. De Silva and Albert
Godamunne. Tagore also gave a lecture at Trinity College. During this visit he
addressed gatherings in Colombo, and Mahinda College, Galle. At this time
Tagore’s disciple Dr. Kalidas Nag served as the Principal of the Mahinda
College, Galle. In one his speeches
Tagore said:
Although the political constitution of modern Ceylon separates this
country from India, it is no secret that its history, religion, language,
morals, culture and everything else are closely linked to India. Briefly
stated, the fact that Ceylon became great because of India is no exaggeration.
Although the spiritual bond between the two countries that was there in the
past has collapsed, time has come to put that together again and strengthen it
(Cited in Dharmadasa, 2011: 4).
Tagore’s
Second Visit to Sri Lanka – May 1928
In 1927 Tagore staged Natir Puja in Kolkata where he acted the
role of the Buddhist monk. In the same year he went on a trip to South East
Asia, including Myanmmar, Singapore, Java, Bali. In 1928,
the University of Oxford invited Tagore to deliver the Hibbert Lectures. Tagore
had embarked on a ship on 12th May 1928 but had to cancel his trip
to Europe due to his illness. Instead he visited his Sri Lankan friend Dr. Arthur
De Silva in Colombo. It was a longer
visit and it lasted for ten days, from 29th May – 11th June
1928. Tagore stayed at ‘Sravasti’ and
then went to Nuwara Eliya. Rev. C.F. Andrews was with him during this trip
also. When Tagore visited Sri Lanka in 1928 he was known to the Sinhala intelligentsia
as a recipient of Nobel Prize for Literature and also as a great Indian poet. Sinhala
and English newspapers announced the arrival of the great Indian poet. In connection with this visit the Sinhala
daily Dinamina published several poems in praise of ‘Maha Kavi
Ravindranth Tagore’ including a poem written by Katunayaka Lionel W. De Silva wishing
good health for the poet (See Dinamina,
1928-5-31).
During the early 1930s Tagore had many coonections
with Sri Lanka. At this time, Arian Williams, a Sri Lankan
Tamil from Jaffna served as the poet’s Secrteray and also worked as a teacher at Santiniketan ( Nag, 1944: 7). Moreover,
Tagore’s interaction with Sri
Lankan students in Santiniketan provided
scope for another visit to the island.
Tagore’s Last Visit to Sri Lanka –
May 1934
During 1931-32 Tagore had financial
difficulties and his friends and well-wishers in Sri Lanka invited him to the
island and helped him in many ways to raise funds for Visva-Bharati. Tagore’s last visit to Sri Lanka was in May
1934. In fact, this was his last overseas visit. It was the most important visit and the
invitation was extended by an admirer, Mr.
Wilmot A. Perera (1905-1973). He was a business magnate and
visited Santiniketan in
1932. The friendship between Wilmot
A. Perera and Tagore had a profound influence on the cultural relationship
between the two countries. By this time, the name and work of Tagore had become
familiar to those embarking on literary and artistic careers.
On 9th May 1934, Tagore
and a group of 23 students from Santiniketan
arrived in Colombo. His 73rd birthday was celebrated on board
ship. He was accompanied by his daughter
in law Pratima Tagore, the daughter of the poet, Mira Devi and the renowned
artist Nandalal Bose. Huge crowds
welcomed Tagore and his group. The
personalities who were present to receive him included Sir D. B. Jayatilaka,
who was then the Leader of the State Council of Ceylon and also an alumnus of
Calcutta University and W.L. Murphy, the Mayor of Colombo. On his arrival to Lanka, Tagore stated:
I know your island and her beauty. I have been here more than once. And
this time I have a special mission. I have brought some part of our culture
which Santiniketan represents. I hope I will be able to please you. I hope my
mission will be fullfiled… I have brought something from India, some aspect of
the culture, some delight of her arts and I hope you will realize that it that
it is of eternal value. With politics I am not concerned. My mission is
spiritual delights of art and beauty far and wide (Cited in Nag, 1944: 2).
Tagore stayed as a guest
at Helena Wijewardena’s Colombo residence – ‘Sri Ramya’. The coverage of this visit was intensive
compared to his earlier visits to Sri Lanka. The Sinhala and English press gave
wide publicity this visit and also produced a large body of reports and coverage
of the event. Both Sinhala and English daily newspapers carried page 1 news
items on Tagore’s visit. The Sinhala daily Dinamina described Tagore as ‘Sage of Santiniketan’ or
Great Poet (Maha Kavi) of India. On 9th
May 1934, an editorial appeared under the title ‘Tagore and National Revival’
and Martin Wickremasinghe,
(1890-1976)
the foremost Sinhala writer of the twentieth century, wrote a feature article
for Dinamina on Tagore’s life and
works. During his stay in Colombo, Tagore gave
interviews to the English press expressing his views on national culture
and the language problem, and delivered several lectures. D.B. Dhanapala, a leading English journalist
who interviewed Tagore in 1934, gives the following interesting account:
I remember an interview both of us [DB Dhanapala & HAJ Hulugalle]
had with Rabindranath Tagore when he was the guest of Wijewardene at ‘Sri Ramya’
now occupied by the American Embassy. Both of us listened to Tagore for two
hours only now and then putting a timid question to him. We came away without
taking down a single note. He wrote down from memory half the interview and I
wrote the other half in the first person singular in Tagore’s own words. We
sent the proof to Tagore for approval keeping our fingers crossed. It came back
with only one word altered – ‘catastrophe’ changed to ‘cataclysm’ – just in
time to be rushed to the front page to be published as “The Island of Lotus
Eaters” (Dhanapala, 1962: 174-175).
On 10th May, he delivered talked on Visva-Bharati under the title ‘Ideals of an Indian University’, and it was
broadcasted over Radio Ceylon. He also
recited his poems at the YMBA and YMCA and spoke in Jaffna, Kandy, Horana and
Panadura. His speeches made a deep impression at that time. On 12th
June 1934, speaking at the Jaffna Central College, Tagore said:
The spirit of India once visited Lanka. The
best moral ideals, the deepest spiritual philosophy which had been produced in
that land, travelled across the barriers of mountains and seas, consecrating
this beautiful land. But centuries passed by and she became alienated from
India, and today India’s gifts lie disassociated from their sacred source. As a
poet, it is my mission to restore that ancient association of mind through my
efforts that speak through a direct language of art (Ceylon Daily News,
13-6-1934; also cited in Nag, 1944: 3).
In this visit to Sri Lanka,
Tagore also hoped to raise funds for Visva-Bharati with his dance troupe. He was accompanied by a troupe
of 23 artistes and performed dance-drama Shaap
The curtain went up, and my first
impression was one of aesthetic satisfaction at the setting and the grouping,
which had the simplicity and the beauty which Greek drama alone has yet been
able to achieve. There was Tagore seated at one end, approximately garbed in a
yellow robe, a typical bard and seer with his flowing grey hair and beard. The
first thing that stuck me was the beauty of his shapely hands and the long
tapering fingers; only a great artist could have hands like that. The music
started, low and soft, and the slow movement of the dance. . … Love and wrath and sorrow and joy and
chivalry – all human emotions find their place in this play, and the delicate and sure touch
with which they are conveyed by the music and dancing is a revelation of art
its highest .. (Ceylon Daily News, 1934)
During this last visit, besides
giving lectures and interviews, on May 20 1934, Tagore laid the foundation for
the new institution called Sri Palee
in Horana. Sri Palee was the dream institution of Wilmot A. Perera. As a scholarly pursuit, he visited Santiniketan in 1932, and after his arrival to the
island Wilmot A. Perera went on to build a school for the rural
reconstruction on similar lines with Santiniketan.
Tagore even gave the name for this institution,‘“Sri Palee’ – the place where the goddess of fine arts resides. At the founding of Sri Palee Tagore
said:
My heart goes out to these simple people from the neighbouring villages
and I feel unhappy that I am not able to speak to them in their own language,
but I hope that they will realize that they have my heartiest blessings and I
wish them well. It reminds me of my own work in Bengal, this institution
which you have started, and I feel that this will be a channel of
communication of hearts between your island and our institution in Bengal. It
makes me feel so happy (Cited in Sri Palee College website).
On the following day (21st
May) Tagore addressed a public gathering at the Panadura Town Hall and stayed
at ‘Swarnagiri’ in Panadura, as a guest of Wilmot A. Perera’s mother (Sri
Palee, 2010: 345 ).
It needs to be mentioned that
Tagore visited Sri Lanka at a time when the English-educated Sri Lankan elite
treated with contempt the ancient cultures of India and Lanka. This
period also marked ‘linguistic decolonization’– actions taken to undo the
social, political and cultural effects of the dominance of colonial language
within the Sinhala and Tamil communities (Coperahewa, 2009). In this socio-cultural context, Tagore
truly believed in the mutually interactive relationship between the two
cultures and often showed his regard for the glorious history and cultural
traditions of India and Sri Lanka. In
one of his speeches during this visit Tagore had stated:
I thought it was my mission
to come Ceylon to spread this message of our Oriental culture to those who by
some unfortunate external circumstances have forgotten their own past and who
are ready to disown their richest inheritance (Ceylon Daily News, 1934-5-21).
Tagore’s Lesser-Known Visits to Sri
Lanka
Apart
from these three main visits in 1922, 1928 and 1934, there were three other
lesser known visits. These were stopovers rather than visits.
§
On 27th May 1915, the Sinhala
Bauddhaya newspaper of the Mahabodhi Society published a news item about
the postponement of Tagore’s visit to Sri Lanka in May 1915.
§
In September 1924, on his way to Argentina he
stopped at Colombo and was the guest of Dr. W.Arthur De Silva at 'Sravasti‘. He
was accompanied by his son Rathindranath, daughter-in-law, grand-daughter and
Surendranath Kar.
§ In 1929, on his way to Canada via Japan, he left
Bombay on board S.S. Naldera . He stopped at Colombo on 4 March and it was a
brief halt.
§ On
5th March 1930, Tagore stopped at Colombo on his way to Oxford to deliver
the Hibbert Lectures which had been postponed
owing to ill-health in 1928.
Here in Ceylon, Tagore has kindled a new enthusiasm. He was awakened a
great yearning, he has held aloft a great idealism. It is not this generation
that will thank him for his inspiration to Ceylon. Generations cannot measure
the value of his services. It is not history that will record his achievements. Even history cannot give a niche to ‘an
impetus’ that has opened our eyes to a vision of the joy and grandeur of our
song and music, of our art and culture (Cited in Nag, 1944: 8).
In the following years (1934-35),
Tagore’s popularity in Sri Lanka reached its culminating point. We find that several young intellectuals and
artistes proceeded to Santiniketan
to study music, dancing, painting and Indian philosophy (See Ariyaratne, 1999;
Dharmadasa, 2011). Some of them had an opportunity to interact personally with
Gurudev Tagore. Later, they became
major figures in Sinhala art and literary movements and enriched the cultural
life of post-independence Sri Lanka. Among
them were Ananda Samarakoone, Edwin Samardiwakara, Surya Shankar Molligoda, Ediriweera
Sarathchandra, Devar Suryasena, Sunil Shantha, Lionel Edirisinghe, Chitrasena, Premakumara
Epitawela, and W.B. Makuloluwa.
During the 1940s and ‘50s
several poets of the ‘Colombo school’ of Sinhala poetry were also inspired by
Tagore’s poetical creations. For example, the veteran Sinhala poet P.B. Alwis
Perera’s Sabadahama (1942) displays influence of Tagore’s philosophy. Several
Tagore poems were published in Dedunna, the poetry magazine edited by
poet P B Alwis Perera. Writing an
article on ‘Tagore and Ceylon’ Sinhala writer Martin Wickremasinghe said:
Tagore encouraged these young
poets to break away from the traditional Sinhalese poetry which was influenced
until the 13th century by the Sanskrit poetry of Magha and others…
The enduring appeal of Tagore to the intelligentsia of Ceylon is his attitude
to religion and life which he expressed artistically in his poetry and with
imagination and religious perception in his lectures and essays
(Wickremasinghe, 1964: 71).
Tagore’s works began to be
published in local languages, mainly in Sinhala, and these translations
provided access to more of Tagore’s works. Gitanjali’s
popularity was so great that more than one translation of the work appeared
(see Coperahewa, 2011). As more and more of his works began to appear in the Sinhala
language, Tagore became very popular as a literary icon among the Sinhala
reading public.
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to look
into the history and bring out facts and details about Rabindranath Tagore’s
visits to Sri Lanka and the manner in which he emerged as a key personality in
the cultural renaissance of modern Sri Lanka.
Tagore was successful in
achieving the goals of his visits to Sri Lanka. He was very optimistic of the
future cultural and social cooperation between the two countries. His relations
with Sri Lanka were always friendly. He had personal friends in Sri Lanka who
visited Santiniketan and helped him in many ways. His main three visits to Sri Lanka
established long standing cultural relations between the two countries, and made
a great impression on cultural and scholastic circles providing a scope for
people-to-people contacts between India and Sri Lanka. In the twentieth century, among the
foreign individuals who exerted an influence on Sri Lankan arts and culture,
the greatest was Rabindranath Tagore. It is not an exaggeration to say that Tagore had become a household
name in Sri Lanka and every educated Lankan is aware of his contribution to Sri
Lankan music, art, literature and education.
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