Tagore's connection with Chittagong's litterateurs and civil society | The Asian Age Online, Bangladesh 11/2/18 5:01 PM

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Home (https://dailyasianage.com) / Editorial (https://dailyasianage.com/news-category/14)

Published: 01:18 AM, 06 August 2017

Tagore's connection with Chittagong's litterateurs and civil

society
Uday Sankar Das

More From Editorial

(https://dailyasianage.com/news-
category/14)

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Rabindranath Tagore made his only visit to Chittagong in mid-June, 1907, but long
America's self-
before that, he had established contacts with the literary figures and members of the
defeating China
civil society of the city. As a matter of fact, when Tagore was in his teens - he was
policy
only 16 at the time - he met the famous poet of Chittagong, Nabin Chandra Sen (https://dailyasianage.com/news/147230/am
during the Hindu Mela in 1877. self-defeating-china-
policy)
After reading the Bangla translation of Part 1 of Kalidas' "Raghubangsha" by poet
Nabin Chandra Das, another distinguished son of Chittagong, Tagore in a letter to Das

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Tagore's connection with Chittagong's litterateurs and civil society | The Asian Age Online, Bangladesh 11/2/18 5:01 PM

in June 1892, sent this compliment, "I have had great pleasure reading your Significance of
translation of Raghubangsha. renaming West
Bengal to Bangla
Such lively and beautiful translation of Sanskrit poetry is hard to come by. In majority
(https://dailyasianage.com/news/147229/sig
cases, the language of the translation of such poems becomes clumsy and
of-renaming-west-
unintelligible. The substance and beauty of the original book has been retained in its
bengal-to-bangla)
entirety as much as possible in your translation". Tagore was so overwhelmed after
reading the second part of Raghubangsha that he wrote a lengthy review of this work Khashoggi killing
in Sadhana in 1895.
incident refuses
to fade
Tagore's brief comment, after reading another prominent literary figure of Chittagong,
(https://dailyasianage.com/news/147027/kha
Shashanka Mohon Sen's "Sindhu Sangeet", was, "In this book, one can see a natural
killing-incident-refuses-
compassion and poetic talent". When Tagore visited Chittagong in 1907, he did not
to-fade)
miss the opportunity of meeting the eminent writers and members of the civil society.
Politely declining the invitation to dinner of the ICS judge of the city and sending his
No action from
nephew Surendranath to the judge's residence, he had a lengthy meeting in the
world community
evening of 17th June, 1907.
to stop Rohingya
A great scholar of Chittagong, Professor Jogesh Chandra Singha while recalling the
genocide
events of Tagore's visit to Chittagong wrote in a letter to researcher Pratap Mukherjee
(https://dailyasianage.com/news/147025/no-
that Professor Rajani Kanta Sen , a teacher of Chittagong College, who was also a
action-from-world-
noted litterateur, had invited Tagore and all the leading literary personalities from all
community-to-stop-
communities of Chittagong to his house on the first day of the poet's visit. The main rohingya-genocide)
agenda was discussion about the formation of Chattagram Shahittyo Parishad
The politics of
(Chittagong Literary Council).
Sher-e-Bangla
The meeting was held at Professor Sen's house 'Parade', and among the poets,
(https://dailyasianage.com/news/146719/the
authors, litterateurs and eminent citizens of Chittagong present, were Abdul Karim politics-of-sher-e-bangla)
Shahittyo Bisharad, Nabin Chandra Sen, Purna Chandra Chowdhury, Moulana
Growing income
Moniruzzaman Islamabadi, Jatra Mohon Sen, Ram Chandra Barua, Harish Chandra
Datta, Abdur Rahman Dobhash, Mahim Chandra Guha, Kazem Ali and Braja Kumar
disparity
Sen (grandfather of Professor Anupam Sen, the present vice chancellor of Premier
upsetting economy
University). (https://dailyasianage.com/news/146392/gro
income-disparity-
Tagore was delighted that this meeting was held in a very pleasant and congenial upsetting-economy)
atmosphere, because formation of a literary council was the main purpose of his visit
to Chittagong. Tagore was also fascinated by and interested in many events
Why Nordhaus
happening in Chittagong. These included the various activities initiated by Nalini and Romer won
Kanta Sen, and also the initiatives that he had heard from and read in Jamini Kanta Nobel Prize in economics
Sen's books. Tagore was also very keen to know how the people of Chittagong could (https://dailyasianage.com/news/146092/wh
form their own Bengal Navigation Company and also run two steamers by nordhaus-and-romer-
overpowering the mighty British company, Messrs M David Company. won-nobel-prize-in-
economics)
Only a couple of years before his visit to Chittagong, Tagore had formed an insurance
company with some of his relatives and friends by the name of The Hindustan Co- Yemen: An
operative Insurance Society, for the benefit of the poor people of the community. An ignored invisible
abbreviated but much more multi-faceted form of this insurance company, called war
Marriage Provident Fund, was formed in Chittagong and Tagore showed a keen (https://dailyasianage.com/news/146091/yem
interest in how it worked in practice. an-ignored-invisible-war)

After his brief sojourn in Chittagong in mid-June 1907, Tagore had expressed his 
E-Paper
satisfaction at the turn of events both there and in Barisal, and had mentioned in his
Video Gallery
letters that 'in both the places I had encouraged the appropriate people to establish
(https://dailyasianage.com/page/videos)
branches of Literary Council'.

However, it took over four years to form the branch in Chittagong. To be precise, the
council in Chittagong was formed on 15th August, 1911 with poet Nabin Chandra Das
(https://dailyasianage.com/page/videos)
as its founder President and Bipin Chandra Guha as Secretary. The 221-member (https://dailyasianage.com/page/videos)
committee consisted of 10 Muslims, including Kazem Ali and Abdul Karim, and also a (https://dailyasianage.com/page/videos)
number of Christians and Buddhists. 

Photo Gallery (http://dailyasianage.com/ep/)

An illustrious son of Chittagong and a renowned litterateur, Professor Abul Fazal was
(https://dailyasianage.com/page/photos)
only four years old when Tagore visited Chittagong in 1907. But, in his autobiography
'Rekhachitro', Abul Fazal had written that when Tagore visited Dhaka University in
1926, he was a student volunteer, and listened with rapt attention, the poet's speech
in Curzon Hall. Abul Fazal also admitted to sneaking into a private gathering in Dhaka,
(https://dailyasianage.com/page/photos)
where Tagore was a guest, just to have a closer glimpse of the poet he adored.

By the time he was in his thirties, Abul Fazal had gained name and fame in the Bangla
literary arena and a number of his books had already been published. In his writings,

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Tagore's connection with Chittagong's litterateurs and civil society | The Asian Age Online, Bangladesh 11/2/18 5:01 PM

Abul Fazal endeavoured to depict the everyday life of the then Muslim society in East
Bengal, including their usage of Arabic and Parsi words.

Abul Fazal wanted to have the opinion of Tagore on the usage of such words in
Bangla literature. On 31st August, 1940, he wrote a letter from Chittagong to the
Nobel laureate on the subject, enclosing three of his already published books -
"Chouchir', 'Maatir Prithibi' and 'Bichitra Kawtha'.

Abul Fazal wrote in his letter, "An effort has been made to portray some pictures of
the society and the family lives of the Muslims living in the eastern side of Bengal. As
a result, it has not been possible to exclude many words and expressions used in
their everyday lives, which are not yet prevalent in our literature".

He added, "I believe, if one has to paint a picture of the Muslim society, Bangla
language has to accept many such uncustomary words". Citing quite a few examples
of such Arabic and Parsi words extensively used in the day-to-day lives of the
ordinary people, Abul Fazal in the last paragraph wrote, "I would be benefitted if I
could get some of your comments on this subject……………..".

Tagore sent a reply post-haste. Writing on a letter head of Bisva Bharati, Santiniketan,
on 6th September, 1940, he, at the outset mentioned about his failing eye-sight and
his doctor's advice 'to give rest to his eyes'. "You have said correctly about the use of
language, There is no effectiveness in a language if the difference in customs and the
traits of psychology are not complied with", wrote Tagore.

He, however, emphasised on the limit to the flexibility of any language which should
not be exceeded. Tagore also said that there were quite a good number of Arabic and
Parsi words in Bangla language, and these have rightfully established their places.

As regards the Muslim writers' contribution to Bangla literature, Tagore in that letter
commented, "The powerful Muslim writers have not adequately described the Muslim
way of life in Bangla literature. This inadequacy, irrespective of any community, is a
failure of the entire literature………. If the words regularly used in the Muslim society
enter into the language spontaneously, no damage would be inflicted to literature,
rather it would be strengthened. There are examples of this in the history of the
evolution of Bangla language".

Despite his failing eye-sight, Tagore in that short span of time could read the story
'Chouchir' by Abul Fazal, and expressed the hope that writers like him would be able
to fill the vacuum of sufficient knowledge of the Muslim society in Bengal. Tagore,
however, warned that in this endeavour, if there is hard-heartedness due to a
stubborn attitude, then there would be detrimental fallout.

In the last sentence of his reply, complimenting Abul Fazal on his writing, Tagore
wrote, "From what little I have been able to see, I have felt that there is smooth flow in
your writing". It was therefore befitting that despite so much opposition and
resistance in the then Ayub regime in erstwhile East Pakistan, when Tagore's birth
centenary was celebrated in 1961 in a week-long programme in the compound of St
Placid's School, Chittagong, it was Abul Fazal who delivered the Presidential speech,
delving deep into the thoughts and philosophy of this great poet.

Rabindranath Tagore therefore had a great connection with Chittagong and the great
poet had always been in close contact with the literary figures and members of the
civil society of this great city renowned for its rich heritage in both the fields of
literature and culture. (The translations in italics have been done by the writer.)

The writer is a senior journalist, political commentator and sports analyst

(https://dailyasianage.com/news-category/10/Sports)

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