Friday, November 12, 2010

Rabindranath and 'Bharati'

Rabindranath Tagore with eminent Bengali writers.
Sitting: From right- Satyendranath Dutta, Jatindramohan Bagchi, Karunanidhan Bandopadhyaya.
Standing : from right- Pravat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya, Manilal Gangopadhyaya, Dwijendra Narayan Bagchi, Charuchandra Bandopadhyaya.
( This picture was taken in 1912 immediately before a trip to England. He got the Nobel Prize in 1913.)
In 1898 (Baishakh 1305) Rabindranath took the responsibility of Bharati.
In 1877, when Rabindranath was 16 years old, Jyotirindranath made Dwijendranath the editor of Bharati and published it. The main writers of the magazine were the two poets Rabindranath and Akshoy Choudhury. Practically speaking, Rabindranath was editing the magazine after returning from England. But the sudden death of Kadambari Devi almost led to the closure of Bharati. At this critical stage, Swarnakumari Devi took the responsibility of editing the magazine and saved the magazine from untimely death. She successfully conducted her duties upto 1894 (Chaitra 1301) but due to her illness, her elder daughter Hiranmoyee Devi had taken over the responsibility of editting the magazine.T She took the help of her youngest sister Sarala Devi, a Mysore resident. Rabindranath was requested by Hiranmoyee Devi to take charge but he was looking after the magazine 'Sadhana' at that time. Hironmoyee wrote that they (two sisters) were in charge of the magazine for three years. "Even stones show wear and tear if water is poured on it continuously." For three years, Hironmoyee was asking her Uncle (Rabimama) to take charge. At last he agreed to take over charge. She continued to do the other jobs excepting the editing.