Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Rabindranath's Creativity (contd-6), Sandhya Sangeet and Pravat Sangeet

In 1881-1882, amongst other things Rabindranath finished  3 important projects, 1. Bauthakuranir Hat, a novel, 2. Sandhya Sangeet, comprising 26 poems and, 3. Pravat Sangeet, comprising 16 poems. Some poems published in Sandhya Sangeet had been placed in Hriday Aranya.
Jyotidada and his wife went out trvelling and  Rabindranath was left alone. He passed his time alone in the vacant rooms and the roof of second floor. Rabindranath felt freed of all bondage and his creativity flowed freely. The poetry which he wrote then was purely of his own, even though they may not have been superlative. This was the first time that the poetry bore Rabindranath's own style and he was pleased about this. The honing of his poetic techniques came later. Some of this poetry were pessimistic. Pravat Sangeet was alive with passion, of course. In Nirjharer Swapna Bhagna, one of the most famous of its poems, he celebrates and exults in the new.
While compiling for printing, Rabindranath discarded many poems, excepting those that were to later become Bhanu Singher Padabali. In his old age, he wanted to discard Sandhya Sangeet also but he disisted because of the objections raised by many.
In 1882, Kamala, the daughter of Ramesh Chandra Dutta was married to P. N. Basu. BankimChandra and Rabindranath both were present on the occasion. Bankim Chandra was so pleased with Sandhya Sangeet that he offered the garland, offered to  him, to Rabindranath Tagore as a mark of recognition of the book, Sandhya Sangeet.
In autumn (1882) Rabindranath went to Darjeeling with Jyotidada and Kadambari. He thought that the feelings of Pravat Sangeet would jump to a height in Darjeeling but nothing  remarkable happened. Only he was able to create another Kabya "Pratidhwani".
In this year Kalmrigaya was staged on the occasion of Biddwatjana Samagama.
Jyotirindranath was a very good organiser. He was good at choosing the right person for the right posts. He wanted to start a Literary Academy by bringing together all the men of letters of repute. The object of this Literary Academy was to find authoritative technical terms for the Bengali language and to assist its growth. Dr. Rajendrahal Mitra took up the idea of this Academy with enthusiasm, and he was eventually its president for the short time it lasted. Rabindranath went to Pandit Vidyasagar and request him to join. Vidyasagar gave patient hearing to Rabindranath's explanation of its objects and the list of names proposed for the academy and said that his suggestion was to leave them out of the list for nothing could be achieved with big wigs because they would never agree with one another. Bankim Babu became a member but did not take much interest in it. So long as Rajendrahal Mitra took the chair, he did everything single handed.
Pandit Vidyasagar's prophecy was fulfilled and the academy withered away shortly after sprouting.