In his poem “Mrittyu”, he writes, “Mrittyu re ami bhalo basibo nishchoi” (I will certainly love death). Similarly, Tagore, while losing his loved ones, started growing as a mature and magnificent writer. After the death of Hamnet, Shakespeare gave birth to his masterpieces. Hamnet’s death largely impacted Shakespeare and his career. The great playwright William Shakespeare lost his 11-year-old son Hamnet Shakespeare who possibly died of the bubonic plague (?). He again writes, “Death is not extinguishing the light it is only putting out the lamp as the dawn has come.” Tagore similarly writes “the extinction of lamp in the morning light, not the abolition of the sun”. Tagore’s perception is very close to that of Emily Dickinson’s as she writes, “Life is death we are lengthy at, death the hinge to life”. It was perfection.” Many other modern and Tagore’s contemporary poets viewed death as the ravager of life. It was not mere resignation that came to me, but the sense of a fuller life. He embraced death as he writes in a letter, “Death was a blessing to me. He, like the Romantic poet John Keats, took these melancholic incidents of losing loved ones as the charged tool of building the foundation of his poetic works. While going through all these bereavements and traumas, Tagore started perceiving death in a new way. Finally, his 13-year-old son Samindranath died of Cholera-a death which broke Tagore’s heart into pieces. He lost his father Debendranath Tagore in 1905. Life had to offer more sorrows and griefs to Tagore. However, in Emily Dickinson’s words, Mrinalini never stopped for death, but death kindly stopped for her and so did it for Tagore’s 13-year-old daughter Renuka who passed away in 1903. She was conventionally too young to receive the call of death. Life still kept on moving until 1902 when Tagore lost his beloved wife Mrinalini Devi with who Tagore lived a 19-yearlong shared life of happiness, sorrow, love and commitment. Tagore writes, at the age of 50, in “My Reminiscences”, “In a single instant, it tore away one end of this very visible fabric of life. He accepted death as the ultimate truth of life. In losing his muse, he lost a paramount part of his life. Kadambari’s death left him shattered as he understood the grim reality of death. He was 24 years old man with a mind full of joy, love, color and excitement. This is how “Bhanusimher Podaboli” came into being. Later, Kadambari Devi inspired him to compile the lyrics in a form of a book just one year before she committed suicide in 1884. In one of the poems from this series, “Moron” (Death), Tagore embraced death writing, “moron re, tuhu momo shyamsoman” (O Death, thy is like my Lord). Tagore, taking refuge in the pseudonym Bhanusimha Thakur, composed Vaishnava lyrics in Brujobuli language which were published in several issues of Bharati magazine. The young Tagore was influenced by the works of a powerful English poet Thomas Chatterton, among many other Romantic poets, who committed suicide at 17. After losing his mother, he found a bosom friend in his favorite sister-in-law Kadambari Devi with who he shared his thoughts and emotions. Kobiguru lost his mother, Sharada Devi, at the young age of 14 in 1875. Let us first look at the chronological order of the deaths in Tagore’s family. Nonetheless, in 8 long decades of his life, Tagore experienced the death of his core family members in quick succession which changed his way of thinking. Such deaths change our perception and reconstruct our thought process. Death is inevitable though the experience of losing loved ones can be really nerve-racking and utterly heartbreaking. We are so deeply shaken and bewildered by the unexpected and unanticipated death news of many of our acquaintances. Due to the sudden upsurge of the COVID-19 cases and death rates, the country observed the day by remembering and appreciating the literary and critical works of this ever-towering persona mostly virtually. This year 6 August marked the 79th death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) who is known as “kobiguru”, “gurudev” and “bishwa kobi” to the entire world.
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