Daughters of Jorasanko by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2021-10-28T21:48:08+00:00

Kolkata was agog with excitement. Balgangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant had sent a representation to the British government demanding Home Rule for India. Opinion in the city was divided. Some favoured self-governance, some didn’t. But the moot question, one that the intelligentsia was asking, was this: What is the poet’s stance? Will he side with the rulers? Or will he join his countrymen?

Since spearheading the Rakhi Utsav in 1905, Rabindranath had kept aloof from politics. But could he afford to do so any longer? As one of the principal citizens of the country, wasn’t it imperative for him to make his stance clear?

As a matter of fact, Rabindranath was in favour of Tilak’s proposal. But with a caveat. He felt that before taking the right of governance into their own hands, his countrymen should make themselves worthy of it. Indians were emotionally bound to differing religious dogmas and were therefore divided. Until they discarded their theological differences and put the nation first, they would be incapable of self-rule.

He had written a paper on the subject which he decided to read out at the Rammohun Library, causing concern in both camps. The pro-Home Rule camp was afraid that his message would dilute the urgency of the demand. The other feared for his safety. Under the prevalent Defence of India laws, a lecture endorsing the necessity of self-governance might get him arrested. The poet was aware of this danger, but he went ahead with his plan. And, though the police hovered in the venue throughout his speech, they left as soon as it was over. They had received instructions, no doubt, to proceed with the utmost caution. The man was no ordinary citizen of India. He was a Nobel Laureate and had the distinctive honour of receiving the knighthood.

Meanwhile, hectic preparations were on in Jorasanko. Gaganendranath and Abanindranath, who while being famous painters also had a passion for the performing arts, were putting up a production of their uncle’s latest play Dakghar. Inspired by his ailing daughter’s condition, this was a poignant story of an adolescent boy’s yearning to traverse distant spaces while lying on his deathbed in an obscure village of Bengal. Like all Rabindranath’s plays, this one, too, was enriched with lyrics, some of which were sung by his niece Bibi and some by himself in the role of a village elder. Dressed in saffron robes and a turban, he danced past the sick boy’s window singing ‘Aami chanchal he / aami sudoor er piyashi’. (I’m restless / I thirst for the distant; the unreachable.)

Dakghar was staged in Lal Bari. With the ground floor having fallen vacant after Sarat’s departure, Rabindranath had turned it into a cultural centre which he named Bichitra. His nephews, Gagan and Aban, together with the latter’s favourite student, Nandalal Bose, took full advantage of the space and organized several painting exhibitions, musical soirees and dramatic presentations of which the most popular was Dakghar. After the meeting of the Indian National Congress in Kolkata, a special performance was put up for its members.

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