Crisis of civilization (Santiniketan, April 1941) RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941)

Crisis of civilization (Santiniketan, April 1941)
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941)

Tagore had been unwell for sometime. He was making preparations to leave

Santiniketan for Calcutta, and was perhaps aware that he would not return

to his beloved university. On Bengali New Year’s Day, he spoke in Viswa

Bharati of his anguish at the killing and destruction he saw around him.

is speech, given at the height of the Second World War, turned out to be

not only the last speech he made in Santiniketan but also his last public

pronouncement. For these reasons it is a profoundly moving and powerful

speech—the final testament of a man disillusioned by history but clinging

to his faith in man.

main speech

Today I complete eighty years of my life. As I look back on the vast stretch

of years that lie behind me and see in clear perspective the history of my

early development, I am struck by the change that has taken place both in

my own attitude and in the psychology of my countrymen—a change that

carries within it a cause of profound tragedy.

Our direct contact with the larger world of men was linked up with the

contemporary history of the English people whom we came to know in

those earlier days. It was mainly through their mighty literature that we

formed our ideas with regard to these newcomers to our Indian shores. In

those days the type of learning that was served out to us was neither

plentiful nor diverse, nor was the spirit of scientific enquiry very much in

evidence. us their scope being strictly limited, the educated of those days

had recourse to English language and literature. eir days and nights were

eloquent with the stately declamations of Burke, with Macaulay’s longrolling

sentences; discussions centred upon Shakespeare’s drama and Byron’s

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poetry and above all upon the large-hearted liberalism of the nineteenthcentury

English politics.

At the time though tentative attempts were being made to gain our national

independence, at heart we had not lost faith in the generosity of the English

race. is belief was so firmly rooted in the sentiments of our leaders as to

lead them to hope that the victor would of his own grace pave the path of

freedom for the vanquished. is belief was based upon the fact that

England at the time provided a shelter to all those who had to flee from

persecution in their own country. Political martyrs who had suffered for the

honour of their people were accorded unreserved welcome at the hands of

the English. I was impressed by this evidence of liberal humanity in the

character of the English and thus I was led to set them on the pedestal of

my highest respect. is generosity in their national character had not yet

been vitiated by imperialist pride. About this time, as a boy in England, I

had the opportunity of listening to the speeches of John Bright, both in and

outside Parliament. e large-hearted, radical liberalism of those speeches,

overflowing all narrow national bounds, had made so deep an impression on

my mind that something of it lingers even today, even in these days of

graceless disillusionment.

Certainly that spirit of abject dependence upon the charity of our rulers was

no matter for pride. What was remarkable, however, was the wholehearted

way in which we gave our recognition to human greatness even when it

revealed itself in the foreigner. e best and noblest gifts of humanity

cannot be the monopoly of a particular race or country; its scope may not be

limited nor may it be regarded as the miser’s hoard buried underground.

at is why English literature which nourished our minds in the past, does

even now convey its deep resonance to the recesses of our heart.

It is difficult to find a suitable Bengali equivalent for the English word

‘civilization’. at phase of civilization with which we were familiar in this

country has been called by Manu ‘Sadachar’ (lit. proper conduct), that is, the

conduct prescribed by the tradition of the race. Narrow in themselves these

time-honoured social conventions originated and held good in a

circumscribed geographical area, in that strip of land, Brahmavarta by

name, bound on either side by the rivers Saraswati and Drisadvati. at is

how a pharisaic formalism gradually got the upper hand of free thought and

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the ideal of ‘proper conduct’ which Manu found established in Brahmavarta

steadily degenerated into socialized tyranny.

During my boyhood days the attitude towards the cultured and educated

section of Bengal, nurtured on English learning, was charged with a feeling

of revolt against these rigid regulations of society. A perusal of what

Rajnarain Bose has written describing the ways of the educated gentry of

those days will amply bear out what I have said just now. In place of these

set codes of conduct we accepted the ideal of ‘civilization’ as represented by

the English term.

In our own family this change of spirit was welcomed for the sake of its

sheer rational and moral force and its influence was felt in every sphere of

our life. Born in that atmosphere, which was moreover coloured by our

intuitive bias for literature, I naturally set the English on the throne of my

heart. us passed the first chapters of my life. en came the parting of

ways accompanied with a painful feeling of disillusion when I began

increasingly to discover how easily those who accepted the highest truths of

civilization disowned them with impunity whenever questions of national

self-interest were involved.

ere came a time when perforce I had to snatch myself away from the

mere appreciation of literature. As I emerged into the stark light of bare

facts, the sight of the dire poverty of the Indian masses rent my heart.

Rudely shaken out of my dreams, I began to realize that perhaps in no other

modern state was there such hopeless dearth of the most elementary needs

of existence. And yet it was this country whose resources had fed for so long

the wealth and magnificence of the British people. While I was lost in the

contemplation of the great world of civilization, I could never have remotely

imagined that the great ideals of humanity would end in such ruthless

travesty. But today a glaring example of it stares me in the face in the utter

and contemptuous indifference of a so-called civilized race to the well-being

of crores of Indian people.

at mastery over the machine, by which the British have consolidated

their sovereignty over their vast empire, has been kept a sealed book, to

which due access has been denied to this helpless country. And all the time

before our very eyes Japan has been transforming herself into a mighty and

prosperous nation. I have seen with my own eyes the admirable use to

which Japan has put in her own country the fruits of this progress. I have

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also been privileged to witness, while in Moscow, the unsparing energy with

which Russia has tried to fight disease and illiteracy, and has succeeded in

steadily liquidating ignorance and poverty, wiping off the humiliation from

the face of a vast continent. Her civilization is free from all invidious

distinction between one class and another, between one sect and another.

e rapid and astounding progress achieved by her made me happy and

jealous at the same time. One aspect of the Soviet administration which

particularly pleased me was that it provided no scope for unseemly conflict

of religious differences, nor set one community against another by

unbalanced distribution of political favours. at I consider a truly civilized

administration which impartially serves the common interests of the people.

While other imperialist powers sacrifice the welfare of the subject races to

their own national greed, in the USSR I found a genuine attempt being

made to harmonize the interests of the various nationalities that are

scattered over its vast area. I saw peoples and tribes, who, only the other

day, were nomadic savages being encouraged and indeed trained, to avail

themselves freely of the benefits of civilization. Enormous sums are being

spent on their education to expedite the process. When I see elsewhere

some two hundred nationalities—which only a few years ago were at vastly

different stages of development—marching ahead in peaceful progress and

amity, and when I look about my own country and see a very highly evolved

and intellectual people drifting into the disorder of barbarism, I cannot help

contrasting the two systems of governments, one based on cooperation, the

other on exploitation, which have made such contrary conditions possible.

I have also seen Iran, newly awakened to a sense of national self-sufficiency,

attempting to fulfil her own destiny freed from the deadly grinding-stones

of two European powers. During my recent visit to that country I

discovered to my delight that Zoroastrians who once suffered from the

fanatical hatred of the major community and whose rights had been

curtailed by the ruling power were now free from this age-long repression,

and that civilized life had established itself in the happy land. It is

significant that Iran’s good fortune dates from the day when she finally

disentangled herself from the meshes of European diplomacy. With all my

heart I wish Iran well.

Turning to the neighbouring kingdom of Afghanistan I find that though

there is much room for improvement in the field of education and social

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development, yet she is fortunate in that she can look forward to unending

progress; for none of the European powers, boastful of their civilization, has

yet succeeded in overwhelming and crushing her possibilities.

us while these other countries were marching ahead, India, smothered

under the dead weight of British administration, lay static in her utter

helplessness. Another great and ancient civilization for whose recent tragic

history the British cannot disclaim responsibility, is China. To serve their

own national profit the British first doped her people with opium and then

appropriated a portion of her territory. As the world was about to forget the

memory of this outrage, we were painfully surprised by another event.

While Japan was quietly devouring North China, her act of wanton

aggression was ignored as a minor incident by the veterans of British

diplomacy. We have also witnessed from this distance how actively the

British statesmen acquiesced in the destruction of the Spanish Republic.

On the other hand, we also noted with admiration how a band of valiant

Englishmen laid down their lives for Spain. Even though the English had

not aroused themselves sufficiently to their sense of responsibility towards

China in the Far East, in their own immediate neighbourhood they did not

hesitate to sacrifice themselves to the cause of freedom. Such acts of

heroism reminded me over again of the true English spirit to which in those

early days I had given my full faith, and made me wonder how imperialist

greed could bring about so ugly a transformation in the character of so great

a race.

Such is the tragic tale of the gradual loss of my faith in the claims of the

European nations to civilization. In India the misfortune of being governed

by a foreign race is daily brought home to us not only in the callous neglect

of such minimum necessities of life as adequate provision for food, clothing,

education and medical facilities for the people, but in an even unhappier

form in the way people have divided themselves. e pity of it is that the

blame is laid at the door of our own society. So frightful a culmination of

the history of our people would never have been possible, but for the

encouragement it has received from secret influences emanating from high

places.

One cannot believe that Indians are in any way inferior to the Japanese in

intellectual capacity. e most effective difference between these two eastern

peoples is that whereas India lies at the mercy of the British, Japan has been

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spared the shadow of alien domination. We know what we have been

deprived of. at which was truly best in their own civilizations, the

upholding of the dignity of human relationships, has no place in the British

administration of this country. If in its place they have established, with

baton in hand, a reign of ‘law and order’, in other words a policeman’s rule,

such mockery of civilization can claim no respect from us. It is the mission

of civilization to bring unity among people and establish peace and

harmony. But in unfortunate India the social fabric is being rent into shreds

by unseemly outbursts of hooliganism daily growing in intensity, right

under the very aegis of ‘law and order’. In India, so long as no personal

injury is inflicted upon any member of the ruling race, this barbarism seems

to be assured of perpetuity, making us ashamed to live under such an

administration.

And yet my good fortune has often brought me into close contact with

really large-hearted Englishmen. Without the slightest hesitation I may say

that the nobility of their character was without parallel—in no country or

community have I come across such greatness of soul. Such examples would

not allow me to wholly lose faith in the race which produced them. I had

the rare blessing of having Andrews—a real Englishman, a real Christian

and a true man—for a very close friend. Today in the perspective of death

his unselfish and courageous magnanimity shines all the brighter. e whole

of India remains indebted to him for innumerable acts of love and devotion.

But personally speaking, I am especially beholden to him because he helped

me to retain in my old age that feeling of respect for the English race with

which in the past I was inspired by their literature and which I was about to

lose completely. I count such Englishmen as Andrews not only as my

personal and intimate friends but as friends of the whole human race. To

have known them has been to me a treasured privilege. It is my belief that

such Englishmen will save British honour from shipwreck. At any rate if I

had not known them, my despair at the prospect of western civilization

would be unrelieved.

In the meanwhile the demon of barbarity has given up all pretence and has

emerged with unconcealed fangs, ready to tear up humanity in an orgy of

devastation. From one end of the world to the other the poisonous fumes of

hatred darken the atmosphere. e spirit of violence which perhaps lay

dormant in the psychology of the West, has at last roused itself and

desecrates the spirit of Man.

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e wheels of Fate will some day compel the English to give up their Indian

empire. But what kind of India will they leave behind, what stark misery?

‘When the stream of their centuries’ administration runs dry at last, what a

waste of mud and filth they will leave behind them! I had at one time

believed that the springs of civilization would issue out of the heart of

Europe. But today when I am about to quit the world that faith has gone

bankrupt altogether.

As I look around I see the crumbling ruins of a proud civilization strewn

like a vast heap of futility. And yet I shall not commit the grievous sin of

losing faith in Man. I would rather look forward to the opening of a new

chapter in his history after the cataclysm is over and the atmosphere

rendered clean with the spirit of service and sacrifice. Perhaps that dawn

will come from this horizon, from the East where the sun rises. A day will

come when unvanquished Man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all

barriers, to win back his lost human heritage.

Today we witness the perils which attend on the insolence of might; one

day shall be borne out the full truth of what the sages have proclaimed:

‘By unrighteousness man prospers, gains what appears desirable, conquers

enemies, but perishes at the root.’