Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, two towering figures in India’s struggle for independence, offered distinct and multifaceted perspectives on education and nationalism. While their overarching goal was India’s liberation from colonial rule, their approaches and philosophies diverged significantly.

Tagore''s views on education

• • His view on education indicates his catholic approach when he says: “To accept the truth of our own age it will be necessary to establish a new education on the basis, not of nationalism, but of a wider relationship of humanity.”
  • He opened up his Santiniketan (‘ abode of peace’) school to those who believed in East and West alike, in peace and goodwill, without distinction of caste and creed and away from nationalist politics.
  • He argued that the lessons of the First World War proved that ‘tomorrow’s history’ must begin with a chapter on ‘internationalism’ and that education must be in harmony with the times.
  • He transformed Santiniketan into a world university to which scholars from the East and West were invited to meet and study each other’s cultures. He named this university ‘Visva-Bharati’.
  • He once wrote that ‘my countrymen will gain truly their India by fighting against that education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity.’
• Indian historiography:
  • He distanced himself as much from the colonialist historiography as he did from a Hindu nationalist view of the past.
  • He pointed out how ‘India’ or ‘national’ tended to be identified with ‘Hindu’ which he argued was limited to only one historical aspect of India. He wrote that his country’s social civilization was founded on an adjustment of races, to acknowledge real differences between them, and yet to seek some basis of unity.
• Respect for differences of opinions:
  • Tagore argued that disagreement and different notions were of utmost importance.
  • Writing from the Soviet Union in 1937, Tagore reacted positively to the Soviet Experiment, particularly their attempts at eradicating lack of education, but warned of any attempt to curb “freedom of mind”.
  • He wrote, “It would be an uninteresting but a sterile world of mechanical regularity if all our opinions were forcibly made alike’.
• Tagore was strictly anti-imperialist.
  • He supported the Congress in its attempt to end British colonisation of India.
  • He categorically declared imperialism as the logical culmination of a nation base on that race, language, com~nercial interests, religious unity and geographical location which did not constitute the human essence.

Towards education

1. Differences

2. Similarities

• Gandhi and Tagore shared a belief in the concept of God or the universal soul, highlighting their spiritual inclinations.
• Both emphasized a child-centric approach to education, valuing each child’s uniqueness. They advocated for a curriculum that allowed children to explore their interests freely.
• Additionally, both were staunch proponents of mother tongue education, opposing the imposition of the English language.
• Their ideologies were rooted in idealism and humanism, underlining their commitment to higher moral and ethical values.

Towards Nationalism

Tagore’s brand of nationalism

       Nationalism is an ideology which emphasis on the loyalty and devotion to a nation. Historically, it was a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations. However, in contemporary world (especially in 3rd world) it is more associated with the love for the country, it’s people and is more inclusive. Tagore’s brand of nationalism is fundamentally associated with the humanism. Tagore opined that the term nationalism was derived from the term nation-state.  He believed that these ideals were intrinsically against the Indian tradition of self-autonomy, pluralism and religious tolerance which one would find in what he termed as the samaj. His view on the nationalism is reflected in his essay “Nationalism in India” and ‘ what is a Nation?‘and other works.
Nationalism and R.N Tagore:

• Rejection of narrow nationalism:
  • Rabindranath Tagore’s nationalism did not contain narrowly defined concepts of nationalism and patriotism.
    • In his words- “Separatist nationalism devoid of love for mankind is a great menace.”
    • He rejected the idea of ‘Nation-State and believed in ‘the great federation of man’. He said, “pride patriotism is not for me. I earnestly hope that I shall find my home anywhere in the world.”
    • Over the course of his life, Tagore travelled to over 30 countries, meeting many famous personalities like Albert Einstein and W.B. Yeats.
  • Tagore had even criticized Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement, because it was confined to a local, parochial and limited outlook.
    • He opposed the bonfire of foreign clothes during the Non-Cooperation movement (1920-22) because it was deliberate promotion of hatred and animosity among the Indians towards the British regime.
    • Tagore had warned Gandhi that there remained a thin line that divided nationalism and xenophobia.
    • In 1925, Tagore wrote the essay, ‘Cult of the Chakra’, which severely criticised the Swadeshi movement and Gandhi’s idea of ‘chakra spinning’ as a means to achieve independence. He saw the exercise as a futile revolt against the British, with no real spiritual or intellectual base.
  • He told that nationalism narrows the outlook and vision of the people. To him, the entire world is a state, the kingdom of God. With pride, breaking the narrow barrier of nationalism, one should be the citizen of this kingdom.
    • He wanted all human beings to be treated equally regardless of the nation to which they belonged. He did not want barriers between people even within the same nation—the barriers of caste, race, and religion.
  • Tagore once wrote about an international desire to “achieve the unity of man by destroying the bondage of nationalism in order to achieve the unity of man”.
  • However, his songs such as Banglar Maati Banglar Jol (Earth of Bengal, Water of Bengal) reflect his sense of patriotism.
• He had observed European forms of nationalism and concluded that the West had  turned chauvinistic. In Europe, nationalism was a sentiment that was being promoted in order for a nation to become more powerful, especially commercially.
  • Tagore’s brand of nationalism sought to caution against this.
  • His nationalism was rooted in human agency and its traditions that emphasised tolerance that Indian civilisations used to be characterised by.
• Tagore’s Critique of 20th Century Nationalism Through the Japanese Example:
  • He saw Japan as a symbol of hope as well as caution.
  • Japan became an example for other Asian nations and broke the myth that only Western nations were capable of modernisation.
  • However, Tagore also expressed a note of caution saying that the method by which Japan achieved this transformation was similar to that of other Western nations that followed a form of aggressive nationalism.
• Cultural catholicity:
  • The ‘national movement’ revived the Indian pride in its past achievement in philosophy and religion, art and architecture, music and poetry.
  • Pride in his own cultural traditions did not however blind Tagore to the moral and social degradation of his country which he directly experienced. Even in his eulogies of India he was remarkably free from the rhetoric of patriotism.
  • He responded to European literature with a keen mind and great enthusiasm. He was fond of the Romantic and the Victorian poets, and Shakespeare, matched equally by his passionate love for Sanskrit literature.
  • This catholicity of taste slowly evolved into his deep and pervasive sense of the ‘universal’ in thought and culture.
• Tagore’s  Nationalism Is Substantiated by Secular and not Canonical Texts:
  • Unlike many 19th century thinkers like Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda and  Sri Aurobindo who rooted indian cultural unity in canonical texts, Tagore  believed that religious texts could be central to classical indian culture but not to Indian cultural unity which had to be rooted in temporal ideas.
• Union of East and West:
  • Tagore remained a pioneer of the intellectual union of East and West.
  • He believed that despite the West’s ruthless politics, there was no absence of martyrs in the West who sacrificed their lives for the wrongs done by their governments. That is how he sought to turn people’s minds towards the ideal of the spiritual unity of man.
  • He wrote, ‘In India what is needed is the broad mind which is not afraid of accepting truth from all sources’.
• Unity of nations:
  • In his words, any nation which takes an isolated view of its own country will run counter to the spirit of the new Age. This will create antagonism among themselves as had happened in the past (in case of two world wars).
  • The anxiety that each country has for its own safety must embrace the welfare of the world.
• National Anthems:
  • His catholic internationalism is best expressed by the fact that he had composed the national anthems for three nations: India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (only inspired).
  • Tagore’s national anthem for India, ‘jana gana mana adhinayaka’ (1911) invokes the goal of a larger humanity and indicates Tagore’s nationalism based on catholic internationalism and universal humanity.

    Tagore’s dismay for the fervent nationalism that had gripped India was further shaped by the first World War in 1914. Speaking at Japanese nationalism after the war he said, “it is carnivorous and cannibalistic in its tendencies, it feeds upon the resources of other peoples and tries to swallow their whole future. It is always afraid of other races achieving eminence, naming it as a peril, and tries to thwart all symptoms of greatness outside its own boundaries.”

Limitation of his idea of nationalism: :

• Tagore’s criticism of nationalism didn’t make him a popular figure.
• An American journal (‘The Detroit’) warned the people against ‘sickly saccharine mental poison’ with which Tagore would  corrupt the minds of the youth of U.S.A.
• some members of the Ghadar Party mistook his criticisms “as betrayal of Indian nationalist aspiration”.
• Gandhi had famously commented, on being criticised by Tagore, that “the poet lives in a magnificent world of his own creation — his world of ideas”.

Thus Tagore remained deeply critical of nationalism, a position that pitted him against Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore argued that when love for one’s country gives way to worship, or becomes a “sacred obligation”, then disaster is the inevitable outcome. “I am willing to serve my country; but my worship I reserve for Right which is far greater than country. To worship my country as a god is to bring curse upon it,” Tagore wrote in his 1916 novel, Ghare Baire (The Home and the World).Thus, as historian Chakravarty said. “Fundamental to his belief was that nationalism could not rise above humanity.”

Differences

Ultimately, both Gandhi and Tagore played pivotal roles in shaping India’s path to independence and continue to inspire generations with their unique perspectives on education, nationalism, and humanity.