Rabijibani 7 by Prashanta Kumar Pal [Hardcover]

The seventh volume of Rabijibani has been published. During his travels to England and America in 1912-1913, Rabindranath was deeply influenced by the progressive thinkers and poets he met there, sparking a significant change in his intellectual world. However, upon returning to India, he did not see any reflection of these ideas in the narrow and stagnant lifestyle prevalent in Bengal and India. This led to the beginning of a conflict—a conflict that became apparent in his literary style and his approach to literature, as well as in his interpretations of religion, society, and politics.

Though he had witnessed the terrible brutality of imperialist exploitation in the European colonies, he was still fascinated by the bright aspects of Western civilization. He felt that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to the Eastern message was an expression of the brilliance of European civilization. But when the First World War broke out, the monstrous form of European civilization that he saw made the inherent darkness of that civilization more pronounced in his eyes. He believed that the remedy lay in the synthesis of East and West, and to bring together these two distinct civilizations in a single fold, he established Visva-Bharati. However, at the very moment he sought to promote and shape this ideal, he directly witnessed the barbarism of the victorious, arrogant British in the fields of Jallianwala Bagh. In his anger and sorrow, he rejected the 'Sir' title given to him by the British government.

This story is detailed in the present volume.