Human Values: the Tagorean Panorama

Book excerpt: ``Rabindranath Tagores Epic Life Spanned The Last Four Decades Of The 19Th Century And The First Four Of The 20Th. Possibly The Most Versatile Aesthetic Genius India Has Produced, He Was A School Dropout Who Became In 1913 The First Asian To Be Awarded The Nobel Prize For Literature For English Translations Of His Own Poems, Gitanjali(``Offerings Of Song``).But The Fine Arts Were Not His Sole Concern. Tagore Was Deeply Involved In The Swadeshi And Freedom Movements. The Appellative``Mahatma``By Which Gandhi Is Known World-Wide Was Given To Him By His Respected Mentor Tagore. Whom He Addressed As``Gurudev``. Subhas Bose And Nehru Had Profound Admiration For Him. In Protest Against The Jalianwala Bagh Atrocities He Relinquished The Knighthood Conferred Upon Him By The British Government.He Was A Pioneer In Experimenting With Grassroots Co-Operatives For Rural Reconstruction. Aworid-Wide Traveller, He Conceived Of A Universal University (Vishva Bharati) At Shantiniketan As A Meeting Ground Of The Best Of The East And The West To Develop The Complete Man. Tagore Is The Only Poet Whose Compositions Have Been Chosen By Two Countries As Their National Anthems: India Andbangladesh.``