Education for Fullness

A Study of the Educational Thought and Experiment of Rabindranath Tagore

H. B. Mukherjee

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000081329
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This volume is the first comprehensive exploration of Rabindranath Tagore's works on education and pedagogy. It presents a valuable account of the creation of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati, Tagore's vision of social regeneration, and his rejection of the colonial scheme; while reflecting on significant events of his life and his ideas.

The book evaluates Tagore's unique contribution to education and discusses his views on fundamental issues, such as aim, method, discipline, and medium. It reinforces for readers today the relevance of his experiments and activities in the field of education. Drawing from various sources, the book also offers bibliographic information on Tagore's writing on education.

This new edition with a new Introduction and Foreword will be of immense value to educationists, teachers, policymakers, and those interested in modern Indian history and the philosophy of education.

Part I
The Pre-Santiniketan Period 1861–1901

Chapter 1
The Background

RABINDRANATH TAGORE was born in 1861, four years after the momentous year of 1857, when the Sepoy Mutiny had been suppressed and the administration of the British territories in India had passed from the hands of the East India Company to the Crown. By that time not only had the British power in India been fairly consolidated, but the general foundations of the English system of education in India had been virtually laid. The subsequent history of educational thought and developments in India during the next hundred years has been mainly the outcome of the policies and movements that had characterized the preceding era. The story is by now quite familiar. It will, none the less, be helpful to take a bird’s eye view of the factors directly leading to the educational conditions in India, and specially in Bengal, into which Tagore was born and which subsequently inspired his educational thoughts and activities.

The central fact in the history of education in India during the first half of the nineteenth century was the introduction of the English language through schools modeled after the English system of education of that period and the gradual decay of the indigenous educational institutions and of the cultivation of indigenous languages and learning. “The Anglicist-Orientalist” controversy had been settled once for all through Macaulay’s Minutes and Bentinck’s proclamation in 1835, and the promotion of English studies and the creation through it of “a class of persons Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect” had become the accepted policy of the government, in spite of the patronage extended to the cause of the vernaculars and the elementary education of the masses by administrators like Moira, Elphinstone and Munro. Adam’s reports (1835–38) recommending the promotion and improvement of the existing indigenous village schools and Thomason’s experiments in U.P. on Adam’s scheme through the establishment of Tahsildari Schools in 1846 failed to win any substantial support.

Apart from State patronage, English education was in great favor with large and influential sections of the people both for cultural and economic reasons, and a large number of mercenary schools were opened along with the better type of modern schools. “The indigenous institutions were consequently neglected and with them the education of the masses was also completely neglected. The forces which were responsible for the adoption of Macaulay’s policy had by that time gathered so much momentum that any counter-movement, however much it might succeed for the time being, was ultimately destined to fail and, as history proved, it did fail.”¹ Lord Hardinge’s declaration in 1844, that in the selection of candidates for public employment preference would always be given to those who would have received English education, gave an extra impetus to English education. But it also served to accentuate the mercenary character of the new type of education which came to be valued not so much for knowledge and culture as for the economic advantages it brought in its train.

Wood’s Despatch of 1854 was another statesmanlike attempt to focus the attention of the government specially on “the importance of placing the means of acquiring useful and practical knowledge within reach of the great mass of the people,” and on the fundamental principle that “English is to be taught wherever there is a demand for it, but it is not to be substituted for the vernacular languages of the country.”² But the essential features of the scheme were not given effect to and the educational policy of the government continued as before. One momentous outcome of the Despatch of 1854 was the establishment in 1857 of three universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The universities, however, were modeled after the recently founded University of London, and, although there was the suggestion in the Despatch regarding direct teaching arrangements in the university, the main business of the universities came to be the holding of public examinations and the conferring of degrees. University degrees were highly rewarded by good posts under the government and thus immediately began to be valued and sought after in view of the lucrative positions they secured. Moreover, the medium of instruction and examination at the university level being in the difficult and unfamiliar English language, the tendency to cram the subject-matter and adopt shortcut devices for examination purposes became prevalent. “Unintelligent memory work and cramming became the order of the day, and ‘notes’ and ‘cribs’ flooded the educational bazaar and the intellectual market.”³

Thus, by the time Tagore was born, the indigenous system of education had been considerably eclipsed by the new type of English Schools. English had attained the pride of place in order of precedence and importance among the subjects of study, gradually driving the study of the vernaculars into the shade. Elementary mass education had come to be neglected whereas higher education at the secondary schools or the universities for the upper classes received encouragement. The shadow of illiteracy had, thus, gradually deepened and spread wider in the country, and an ever-widening gulf created between the fortunate upper classes and the vast masses of people. Education had come to be valued mainly because of the economic and social advantages it brought. Even university education had acquired the same mercenary significance. The English medium of instruction and examination encouraged thoughtless cramming of ill-digested subject-matter, and joyful, free pursuit of knowledge largely went by default. In short, a growing sense of wastage and futility in education had already begun to oppress the thoughtful sections in the country. The decades around the year 1857 also constituted an age of transition in the social and cultural history of India. The impact of European civilization—through contact with the British was becoming manifest in various ways, heralding the opening of a new chapter in Indian history. The changes in the face of the new township of Calcutta were the most distinct outward signs. Factories were making their appearance around the vicinity. New roads and modern buildings were being built. The Railways had been introduced and were spreading rapidly. Municipal water supply was a very recent innovation. A section of the society was growing up highly Europeanized in dress, manners, attitude and ways of living, sharply distinguished from the rest, fulfilling, as it were, Macaulay’s fondest dreams. Intellectually, signs of unrest were present. Old values and traditions started being challenged and even flouted, and a spirit of revolt against ancient beliefs and customs characterized the progressive intellectual classes. Movements for momentous social and religious reforms, pioneered by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a few decades ago, were rapidly gaining ground. Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar started his famous campaign in favor of widow-remarriage and the education of women. Maharsi Devendranath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen reoriented the Brahma Samaj founded by Ram Mohan Roy, and Ram Krishna Paramhansa preached his gospel of a synthesis of religions, discarding their conflicting and outworn creeds.

Along with the radical progressive elements, counterbalancing forces also were soon to appear. The mid-decades of the nineteenth century constitute what is generally known as the age of the Indian Renaissance. With the attainment of comparative economic prosperity and social prestige by the middle class Bengali society, there grew up a sense of national respect in educated Bengalis. Through the efforts of European and Indian scholars the treasures of thought and learning of Ancient India were being unearthed and publicized. Todd’s Rajasthan in particular evoked the message of patriotism in the hearts of educated Indians through revival of the glorious memories of the heroic and patriotic deeds of the brave heroes of Rajasthan. Thoughtful sections of the people began to feel proud of the glory of Ancient Indian civilization. There was a wave of reaction against the outlandish modes and manners of the Anglicized elements in society, and a strong nationalistic sentiment in favor of a national revival in thoughts and attitudes, in dress and manners, in education and industry, affected a large number of people. Contemporary literature, poetry and drama, in particular, became the vehicle of this nationalistic upsurge. Isvar Gupta, Rangalal, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Dinabandhu Mitra, Nabin Ch. Sen, Hem Chandra Banerji, Bankim Chatterjee and Upendra Nath Das were the foremost literary stalwarts spreading the fire of patriotism and nationalism through their manifold literary output. Tattvabodhinī Patrikā, founded and patronized by Maharsi Devendranath Tagore in 1843, served as the first great organ of the Indian Renaissance, championing the cause of national cultural heritage and the primacy of the mother tongue. It was followed by other worthy successors, the most prominent of which was Vañga-darśan founded and edited by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Rightly has it been observed that this period veritably marked the golden age of Bengal.

Both the above conflicting cultural forces affected the illustrious House of the Tagores, who constituted one of the most reputed, well-to-do and enlightened families in Bengal. There the progressive reformistic zeal, inspired by western culture, combined with the enthusiasm for a liberal nationalistic revival generated by the Indian Renaissance. Maharsi Devendranath personified in himself the forces of religious reformation, eliminating from his new religious creed the meaningless, superstitious and outworn rituals of Hinduism, thereby introducing the spirit of eclecticism that truly characterized the Upanishads which were his main fount of inspiration. His second and third sons, Satyendranath and Jyotirindranath, were the champions of the cause of emancipation of women. Their courageous discarding of the Purdah rudely shocked the contemporary society. Jyotirindranath was also distinguished for his pioneering attempts to introduce western musical instruments and western melodies into the world of Indian music. In a similar way, the best elements of the nationalistic sentiment were also manifest in the thoughts and deeds of the family. It has already been mentioned how Tattvabodhinī Patrikā, founded by Maharsi Devendranath, held aloft before the country the noblest tradition in Indian thought and culture. Bhāratī of Dwijendranath Tagore followed similar traditions. Sanskrit literature and philosophy were widely cultivated, and the traditional, social and religious ceremonies were performed according to the choicest injunctions of the Vedas. Attempts were made to Indianize the dress; Jyotirindranath’s invention of a common national dress, though patronized by him alone, is an instance of the point.⁴ Finally, the mother tongue was given the pride of place instead of English and was intensively and extensively cultivated in the family. Tagore has recorded how his father sent back to the writer a letter written to him in English by a relative of his.⁵ Thus, the family of the Tagores represented the best of the traditions of the old and the new and stood apart with all its distinction of culture and enlightenment. As Tagore himself has put it, “The distinct individuality that had grown into this family in such isolation was quite a natural phenomenon—like the individuality of the flora and fauna of an island remotely separated from a continent.”⁶ It was in such environments that Tagore saw the light of the day. As Edward Thompson has rightly observed, “If he was fortunate in the time of his birth … in his family he had a gift which cannot be over-estimated. He was born a Tagore; that is, he was born into the one family in which he could experience the national life at its very fullest and freest.”⁷

Notes

1 A. N. Basu, Education in Modern India, p. 28.

2 Ibid., p. 31.

3 Ibid., p. 37.

4 Jīvansmṛti, p. 79.

5 Ibid., pp. 77–78.

6 Ātmaparicay, pp. 85–86.

7 Rabindranath Tagore, p. 20.

Chapter 2
Early Years and Education 1861–1880

THE EDUCATION OF Tagore, like that of most children, started with nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Their ineffable melody and fascinatingly strange meters and imagery powerfully stirred and profoundly impressed the excessively sensitive mind of young Tagore—an experience which found repeated echo in his later writings.

Like the children ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword to the Second Edition
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction: The Art of Learning
• Part I The Pre-Santiniketan Period 1861–1901
• Part II The Santiniketan Period 1901–1918
• Part III The Visva-Bharati Period 1918–1941
• Part IV Review and Estimate
• Bibliography
• Index