Rabindranath's Education abroad (U.K.)(contd-1)

Rabindranath sailed for UK accompanying his second elder brother Stayendranath from Bombay boarding the Ship "Puna" on 20th Sept., 1878. Satyendranath took a long leave to stay in UK where his wife with two children had gone earlier. They first landed in Brindis, Italy, had a journey on land through the tunnel of Alps and went  to Paris. There they visited an art Exhibition, organised after the fall of the monarchy and establishment of  a Republic in France.
After reaching England they went straight to Brighton where Satyendranath's family stayed. Rabindranath saw the two beloved children (Surendranath and Indira) and was delighted. He stayed there and was admitted in a Public School. He made many friends (boys and girls) at the school, and attended a dance party on invitation. Every one loved this young handsome boy. He learnt many English songs also and was passing his time nicely.
One day Tarak Nath Palit, a High Court advocate and a friend of Satyendranath, came and asked Satyendranath to send him to London without further wasting time in a suburban  town.
He arranged everything and Rabindranath was brought to London and began to stay in a house in front of Regent Park. He began learning Latin from a private tutor and then he was taken to a teacher named Barker who used to prepare students for admission to College and University.
Ultimately, Rabindranath was admitted to London University  where he studied English literature from Prof. Henry Morley. He enjoyed this experience. At that time, he stayed as a boarder with the Scott family in London. Dr Scott  had  two girls. Both of them loved Rabindranath . He attended a session of the House of Commons to hear William Gladstone and John Bright who spoke on Irish Home Rule. He wrote a poem "Dui Din" here which was published in his "Sandhya Sangeet. " He wrote many letters "Europe Prabasir Patra" that was published in 1881. Here Rabindranath passed most of his time by writing essays on Western civilization, their attitude, behavior and sent them to be published in "Bharati". Reading all these essays, his guardians asked him to come back to India. He came back to India after about one and half years without obtaining any degree or passing any formal examination.
There was a second attempt at sending him to England. It was settled that this time Satyaprasad, son of his elder sister,  would accompany him. Satyaprasad had been recently married and after reaching Madras they changed their mind and decided to return home.
They went to Mussouri to see Devendranath who accepted their decision without recriminations.

Satyendranath Thakur, (1842-1923)

First Indian ICS :

For a long time, only the British were appointed to administrative posts in India. In 1832, the post of Musif and Sadar amin were created and opened to Indians. In 1833, the post of deputy Magistrate and deputy Collector were created for Indians. The ICS Act of 1861, established the Indian Civil Service. The Act of 1853 already established the practice of recruiting Indian civilians through competitive examinations. It was a daunting task to go to England at that time and compete with the British for securing a position . However, being inspired by a friend, Monomohan Ghose, Satyendranath, along with Monomohan, set sail for England in 1862 to prepare for and compete in the civil service examination. Satyendranath was selected in June 1863 but Monomohan was not. He was called to the bar. Satyendranath was posted to the Bombay Presidency, which then covered western parts of present day Maharashtra, Gujrat and Sindh. He had his first posting at Ahmedabad. Among the regular visitors to his place were his younger brothers,  Jyotirindranath (1849-1825), Rabindranath (1861-1941) and his sister Swarnakumari Devi.

His posting outside Bengal helped him to learn several Indian languages other than Bengali. While in Maharashtra he had close contact with many of the leading reformers, such as, Govinda Ranade, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar and Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar.
He retired as a Judge of Satara in Maharashtra in 1897.
Ram Mohan Roy found Hindu Indian women "uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as SATI". By the time Satyendranath was born, SATI had been baned in 1829, and the process of reformation had begun. Satyendranath began thinking that purdah system had come from Muslim practices. After his marriage (1859), he found that Jnanadanandini was the ideal partner for his social experiments. In-spite of the opposition from Devendranath,  he sent her along with her two children, Surendranath and Indira Devi, to England to learn from the behavior of women in an advanced society. In Calcutta, breaking from all the previous practices, he took her to a party at the Government House (now Raj Bhavan).  Prasanna Coomar Tagore of Pathuriaghata branch of Tagore family, who was also present on the occasion, became astonished to see a Bengali woman in such an open place among the hundreds of English women and left the place immediately 'in shame and anger'. In 1877, he sent Jnanadanandini Devi with two children to England with an English couple. They, initially stayed with the family of Prasanna Coomar Tagore's son, Gnanendramohan Tagore, who had converted to Christianity and was the first Indian to qualify for the English  bar. Later Jnanadanandini with her children shifted to Brighton and lived on their own there.
This was the attempt of Satyendranath to remove the upper and middle class women from purdah.
Patriotism;
The Tagore family was deeply patriotic.  It was a fashion to wear foreign clothes and use foreign language (without having sound knowledge) at that time. The members of Tagore family stuck to wearing Indian dress and did a lot to improve Bengali language. Satyendranath was one of the persons to organize Hindu Mela to arouse patriotism in people. In the second session, he composed the pariotic song "mile sabe Bharat santan, ektan gaho gaan" ( unite India's Children, sing in unision). The song was hailed as the first national anthem of India.
After retirement, he lived in Park Street and Ballygunge in Kolkata. His house was the meeting place of his friends and relatives. Persons who visited regularly, outside his family members, were Taraknath Palit, Monomohan Ghose, Satyendraprasanna Sinha, W.C.Banerjee, Krishna Govinda Gupta, and Bihari Lal Gupta and others.
His house at Park Street was the centre of a literary majlis.
He was president of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad from 1900-1901and presided over the 10th session of the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Natore in 1897.
Satyendranath was the author of :
1. Sushila o Birsingha (play, 1867)
2. Bombay Chitra (1888)
3. Nabarathna mala
4. Stree swadhinata
5. Baudhafharmma
6. Amar Balyakatha
7. Bharatbarshiya Ingrej
8.Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
He translated works of Tilak's Bhagabat Gita Bhasya, Kalidas's Meghduta,and Tukaram's Abhanga. He also composed few patriotic songs and Brahmo Sangeet and sometimes edited Tattwabodhini.

Rabindranath's Education in Ahmedabad

About five years had elapsed since Rabindranath returned from the Himalayas and there was no sign of improvement in his formal education. The anxious guardians were wondering whether he might be sent to England for studying law but before that he was sent to Ahmedabad to his second elder brother, Satyendranath, to improve his English vocabulary.
Satyendranath stayed in a big house meant for the Judge at Shahibag, on the bank of Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad.  During the day, Satyendranath used to remain in the court and his wife and children were in London at that time. Rabindranath usually passed his time in the library reading books, specially in English with the help of a dictionary and using his imagination.
Simultaneously, he was writing articles for "Bharati" on various famous Eurpean writers. He roamed about the house from top to bottom and sang to himself.  His first music composition in music of a set of songs was created here- "Nirab rajani dyakho mogna jochanaya", "Boli o amar golap bala" and others.  He wrote poetry also which were simply translations of English poems.
But he could not develop  his vocabulary in English alone. He was removed to the house of a friend of Styendranath, Atmaram Panduranga, whose daughter, Anna, was well versed in English. Rabindranath was a poet and used to recite poems several times which the girl would commit to memory. One day, she asked Rabindranath to give her a name. Rabindranath gave her a name and wrote a poem using the word. Anna used to listen songs of Rabindranath almost everyday and they became closely acquainted. Rabindranath remembered her even in his old age.  In the "Shaishab Sangeet Kabya,"  there are references to  his close relationship with Anna.

Rabindranath's School Education (1868-1874)

Rabindranath's attendance at Bengal Academy did not improve. He was frequently absent on one lame excuse or another, even after returning from the Himalayas.  He was then admitted to St.Xevier's school along with his other brothers. But the result was the same. In the meantime, Sarada Devi, wife of Devendranath, died in 1875,  when Ranindranath was fourteen years old. At the death of such a well organised housewife of the family, every thing became disorderly. The elder sisters and sisters-in-law of Rabindranath, being sympathetic to him,  also did not press him to go to school.

At home, Rabindranath began to study Bengali books, Bengali magazines and anything which he could lay his hands on. Specially, he began to study Baishnab Padabali. As a result, he was not promoted to the next class after the end of the year. This led to the discontinuation of his going to school and that  was the end of his school education at the age of 14+ when he was reading fifth standard, i.e., class VI.  The summary of his School education was as follows :

  1. At the age of 5 - in 1866 - Rituals for first lesson was done along with Somendranath.

  2. At the age of 7- in 1868- he was admitted to Oriental Seminary and then to Normal School.

                                                         3. At the age of 10- in 1871- he was transferred to Bengal Academy, an Anglo-Indian School with the intention of  acquiring a better vocabulary in English.

                                                         4. At the age of 13- in 1874- he was admitted to St. Xavier's School. The last Indian School where he was admitted.

(Video) Hiland Park Observes 150th

( Video) Hiland Park observes 150th Birth anniversay of Tagore

Essay written and read by Prof.R.Samadder, 15A1 Brook Tower.

(Video)Hiland Park Observes 150th birth Anniversary of Tagore

150th Birth Anniversary Of Tagore, Observed by Hiland Park, Kol-94

Beginning of Rabindranath's Creative activity

Rabindranath started his creative activity after returning from the Himalayas.  His "Prakritir Khed" was published in "Pratibimba", edited by Pandit Ramsarbaswar in its 1st issue, 1st year, Baishakh, 1282 Bangabda (1875).  After a few months, Pratibimba amalgamated with Gnanankur. When he was a boy of 13+, he wrote in this magazine his first Novel in Poetry, Banaful as a serial. His elder brother Somendranath published it as a book in 1880. This book was not re-printed- it was included in the collection of Tagore's uncirculated work.
Gnanankur published some other Tagore's poem. It was only possible for Rabindranath to write in such a

language at that age. .
Rabindranath began to write essays too at this stage. He wrote three essays- Bhuban Mohini Pratibha, Abasar Sarojini and Dukhyosangini in 1876 - in which he discussed the qualities of a  lyric, an epic and small poetry and said that "Banaful" was below the standard of  any of the three. These were the first essays written by Rabindranath.
At this time, he also wrote a song, "Ek sutre Gnathiyachi sahasrati mon" for the secret organisation (patriotic) of his elder brothers, led by Jyotirindranath, of which he  was also a member.

Retinue of servants of Tagore family

The house was full of relatives and other people. From all parts of the house one could hear the sounds made by the shouts of the servants at work.  Pari, the maid, returning from the bazaar through the front courtyard, her vegetables in a basket on her hip; Dukhon the bearer carrying Ganga water in a yoke across his shoulder, the weaver woman going into the inner apartments to trade the newest style of sari; Dinu the goldsmith, who received a monthly wage, sitting in the room next to the lane, blowing his bellows and carrying out the orders of the family, now coming to the counting-house to present his bill to Kailash Mukherjee, who had a quill pen stuck behind his ear. The carder sits in the courtyard cleaning the mattress-stuffing on his twinging bow. Mukundalal, the durwan  was rolling outside on the ground with the one-eyed wrestler, trying out a new wrestling fall. He slapped his thighs loudly and repeated his movements twenty or thirty times, dropping on all fours. A crowd of beggars were waiting outside for their regular dole.  This was a regular routine Rabindranath witnessed and it became tedious.         

Daily routine of Rabindranath in his Childhood

Even in winter Rabindranath used to get up early in the morning when it was still dark and he shivered with the cold. He practised wrestling with the 'celebrated one-eyed'  wrestler. Their wrestling ground was on the north side of the outer room where there was once a greenery. The ground had been prepared by digging and loosening the earth to a depth of one cubit and pouring over it a mound of mustard oil. It was a mere child play for the wrestler to tangle with him. But Rabi's mother did not like this activity because her son's skin was becoming darkened and in holidays she used to scrub him top to bottom and treated him with cosmetics like almond paste, thickened cream, the rind of orange etc. Specially on Sunday morning, there was much rubbing and scrubbing on the veranda,
After coming from the wrestling ground there was a medical student waiting with a skeleton of the human body to teach them the names of the bones which were terribly difficult to remember.

As the clock struck 7, Master Nilkamal appeared to teach him Bengali, Arithmatic, Algebra and Geometry with the help of the black board. In the literature lesson he could quickly jump from Sitar Banabas to Meghnadhbadh Kabya. Along with this he had learned natural sciences. Sometimes Sitanath Dutta came to teach experiments in science with familiar things. Once Hiramba Tattnaratna, the Sanskrit scholar, came and taught them Mugdhobodh Sanskrit grammar, which they had to learn by heart without understanding anything.

After finishing the morning lessons, he had to go to school and returned at half past four. The gymnastic master came then and for about an hour he had to practise with parallel bars. He enjoyed other types of games also, with marbles, with bat-ball (a poor relation of cricket), top spinning, kite-flying-- all the lazy types of games.  Football was out of their reach.

Palanquin, a spot for Imagination of Rabindranath (contd-1)

Rabindranath, since his childhood, had a powerful imagination. He imagined that the bearers of the palanquin carried him to a fancy world and passed through faraway strange lands and he gave each country a name from the books he read. His imagination took him through a deep forest  where tiger's eyes blazed. Sometimes his palanquin became a peacock-boat, floating on the ocean  until the shore was out of sight. The water splashed gently on to the shore, the waves winged and swelled around them.
Role of a teacher; 
Sometimes he assumed the role of a teacher. The railings of the veranda were his students. They were afraid of him. Some of them were very naughty and cared nothing for their books. He told them with dire threats that when they  grew up they would be fit for nothing but casual labor. They bore the marks of his beating from head to foot, yet they did not stop being naughty. They would only stop at the end of his game.
Game with wooden lion:
There was another game, too, with his wooden lion. He heard stories of sacrifices of goats, buffaloes and he decided that a lion sacrifice would be magnificient.  He had a wooden lion. Ofcourse, there would be some strong 'mantra' for the lion otherwise it could not be offered for puja, He found a mantra,
                       Liony, Liony, off with your head,
                       Liony, Liony, now you are dead,
                       Woofle the walnut goes clappety clap,
                        Snip, Snop, Snap.
          

From Servocracy to Aristocracy

After about a four-months' tour to the Himalayas, Rabindranath came back  home with one of the assistants of Devendranath and was placed in the "Andarmahal"- amongst his near and dear ones. When he was under the administration of the 'retinue of servants' which he termed  'servocracy' he had his foundation of learning. His third elder brother Hemendranath, strong in Science and Mathematics, believed that before learning English one must be sufficiently strong in one's mother tongue (in this case Bengali).  Since then English spellings and meanings did not lie heavily on his shoulder like a nightmare.
Until then , even when he was within the house the day long, still  he felt that he was in exile. Now he got his seat inside his mother's room and got his friend, the youngest daughter-in-law of the family, wife of Jyotirindranath named Kadambari, who also took him with love and affection because he was the youngest brother-in-law, the most beloved one.
But he, again, had to go to Bengal Academy which he did not like and felt as if he was being imprisoned within the four walls of a prison. He expressed his feeling in the poem "Abhilas" written at the age of eleven. The poem was published in "Tattwabodhini" in 1281 (Bangabda) without mentioning his name. The previous eassay on Astrology published in the same magazine was also without his name.
The number of days he could not attend the school gradually became more than  the number of days he attended the school. As a result, one home tutor, named Gnanchandra Bhattacharya, was appointed. He was meritorious and his method of teaching was also unique. He taught Kumarsambhab of Kalidas and Macbeth of Shakespeare in the original and opened a new world to the mind of the young poet.  The teacher forced the learners to translate those pieces in  other languages also.
One day Rabindranath had to go to Vidyasagar  to recite before him one such  translated piece. On seeing the number of books in  the library of Vidyasagar, Rabindranath became overwhelmed with joy.
At this time he used to  publish his eassays and poetry anonymously. The first poetry in his own name was "Hindu Melar Upahar" published  in Bi-lingual Amrita Bazar Patrika  in February 1875. His age at that time was 13 yrs and 8 months.
The meeting of the Hindumela usually took place at Parsibagan of Upper Circular Road: Rajnarayan Bose was its Presidsent.  Rabindranath wrote this poem imitating the poetry , "Bajre Shinga Bajre", written by Poet Hemchandra Bandyopadhaya. In those days, the Bengali elite had memorised the " Bharat Sangeet". Once Rabindranath recited in a meeting of the elite, another poem, 'Prakritir Khed", which was written by him and was also expressed uniquely the pathos of the country. This was published in "Pratibimba" magazine in 1282, Baishakh (Bangabda).
He also wrote a song "Jwal Jwal Chita" for the dramma "Sarojini" written by Jyotirindrannath.
In this year, from Agrahayan, 1282 to Kartik 1283, he wrote a serial, "Banaphul".  

Journey to Himalayas with Father, Devendranath (contd-2)

After staying for one month in Amrtisar, they went to Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh.  The house they had taken at Bakrota was on the highest hill-top.  Though it was nearing May, it was still bitterly cold there, so much so that, on the shaded side of the hill, the winter frost had not yet melted.  Rabindranath's room was at one end of the house from where he could see through the uncurtained windows, the distant snowy peaks shimmering dimly in the starlight.
Rabindranath was allowed to move through the small lane in between two hills and pine-trees. Sometimes his father took him along with him along the hilly roads with Dandy.
In the bangalow of Bakrota, Devendranath regularly gave lessons to Rabindranath in Sanskrit, English, and Astrology.  In the  Astrology book written in English, Devendranath showed Rabindranath the stars and planets in the open sky.
What he learnt from the English text and from his father, he put them in an eassay which was published in Tattwabodhini magazine in short form. Probably this was his first published essay.

Journey to Himalayas with father Devendranath (contd-1)

At last they reached Amritsar of the Punjab. They stayed in a resort and used to visit Swarna Mandir almost every day and became pleased on hearing their songs and offered donations to the singers. He implemented in Shantiniketan these practices-- to read their holy book, Grantha Saheb, and the  Bhajan. This practice prevailed for long.

Journey to Himalayas with father Devendranath

In Adi Brahmo Samaj the ritual of Sacred Thread ceremony was in vogue. Devendranath got the celebration done for his two youngest sons Somendranath and Rabindranath along with Satyaprasad, the son of his eldest daughter. It was in 1873, when Rabindranath was 11 years and 9 months old, but he took it seriously
and observed all the rituals though it was not possible for him to follow all the

meanings of the Mantras. Its influence lingered even in his old age.  He had become a Brahmin but with his shaved head  it became difficult for him to go to School. At this time his father offered to take him to the Himalayas,  which he accepted at once. He felt so excited that he wanted to express his willingness by shouting like a thunder.
This was the first time he would enjoy the  world outside and the company of his father which was also unknown to him.
At first they went to Shantiniketan and stayed there for a few days. It was a mere village at that time in 1873. About 4-5 Kilometers away from Bolpur station, Devendranath had purchased 20 bighas of land and constructed a one storied building there with bricks and given it the name "Shantiniketan".   All around there were open meadows, an unfinished pond and at a distance there was a dam in Bhubandanga village and  rows of palm-trees, non-existent today.
Later on Devendranath established an Ashram and a temple there.
This was the first outing for Rabindranath, in 1873, at the age of 11yrs and 9 months.
Devendranath used to stay away from home for his work and could not devote  time to his children. This was the quite the usual practice at that time-- for the father to keep himself at a respectable distance from the children. After coming to Bolpur, Rabindranath got the chance to come into close contact with his father and could help him out, such as winding his watch, keeping cash and accounts etc. He also got ample opportunity to roam around as he liked. The peaceful environment of Shantiniketan helped him in his creative work. In Shantiniketan, under a small coconut tree, he wrote a lyrical-drama, "Prthwiraj  Parajay", the manuscript of this book is lost. However, the lyrical-drama "Rudrachandra" might be of a similar type.
They left Bolpur after a few days and went to Amritsar, halting at several places - Sahibganj, Danapur, Allahabad, Kanpur etc.