In Memoriam: Smaran and Palataka

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Rabindranath Tagore routinely witnessed the death of loved ones throughout his life of eight decades. From a very early age he learnt about the irrational, ruthless and non-negotiable permanence of death, which could snatch away human lives, young or old. Though the immediate impact of death of a family member would render the grieving poet distraught as he battled with the excruciating agony of loss of a loved one, gradually each of these decisive partings would make him seek release from the trauma and aspire towards transcendence through spiritual union with the departed souls. Many poems and lyrics of Tagore challenge death with wry humour, irony and angst, noticeably similar to the sentiments expressed by the 17th century British poet John Donne in his holy sonnets. Tagore however was on the contrary noticeably mellower in his expressions of mourning and in his sorrowful implorations seeking release and attaining transcendence, when compared to the dismissive rhetoric of the assertive Anglican poet.