Preface
I believe it is my solemn duty to write this book: firstly, to bring to light, as a son of the soil, the glory and pride of Tripura for its spiritual bond with the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore for a period of sixty years; secondly, to present an episode that remains unfamiliar, unknown and unexplored among followers, critics and scholars of Tagore; and, thirdly, and most important of all, to rediscover Rabindranath as a human being with his own set of strengths and vulnerabilities, which were never exposed anywhere other than in Tripura. This is a different Rabindranath and an untold story that the world does not know. The relationship of Rabindranath with four generations of the Maharajas of Tripura began in the year 1882. When seeking refuge from the intense grief caused by the death of Maharani Bhanumati, his prime queen, Maharaja Bir Chandra found solace in Tagore's Bhagna Hriday, written when the poet was a teenager. Maharaja Bir Chandra was so deeply moved by the heart-rending poems of Rabindranath that he sent his minister, Radha Raman Ghosh, to Jorasanko, Calcutta (now Kolkata), miles away from Tripura, to bestow on him the honourific title of a 'Great Poet'. Rabindranath unhesitatingly acknowledged that in this period, when he was struggling as an amateur poet and was yet to become famous, he had received cordial recognition as a 'Great Poet' only from Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya of Tripura. He said, 'For the first time, I have received felicitation from the country. After that, in praise of Maharaja Bir Chandra's farsightedness, he added: In my immature beginnings, his wisdom could foresee the picture ahead in the future and that was why he honoured me as a "Great Poet". The fame that I am getting in my life; he was the first person in the entire world who had predicted. A person who stays on the peak can see what is not normally visible to others; Bir Chandra identified what would make me distinctive. He further termed the relationship with the father-like Maharaja Bir Chandra as historical and said, It is difficult to obtain in the history of literature an account of such a spontaneous and open friendship of a king with a tender-aged poet whose road to fame was totally uncertain and doubtful. After the death of Maharaja Bir Chandra, during the twelve years of Maharaja Radha Kishore's reign, like Kautilya, Rabindranath as a true friend took full responsibility of running the administration of the state. He proved his wisdom by counselling Maharaja Radha Kishore in all matters of administrative reforms: social, economic and political-ranging from cautioning the Maharaja against the antagonism of courtiers, unveiling of conspiracies, to aiding him in the appointment of ministers and solving family complexities and feuds. Tripura was singularly fortunate to have witnessed the most astonishing, multifaceted talent of Rabindranath.
About The Book
An exploration of the little-known bond between Rabindranath Tagore and the kingdom of Tripura
While most aspects of Rabindranath Tagore's writings and life have been extensively analyzed, not much is known about his enduring connection with the kingdom of Tripura. Tagore's relationship with the Maharajas of Tripura began in 1882, when Maharaja Bir Chandra was so moved by his poetry that he sent his minister to bestow on him the honorific of a 'Great Poet For the next fifty-eight years, Tagore maintained close ties with the royal family, especially Maharaja Radha Kishore, Bir Chandra's son, who helped set up and fund the Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan. During the reign of Radha Kishore, Tagore was even involved in Tripura's administration, and visited the state on several occasions to advise the Maharaja on official matters. Later generations of the royal family continued to patronize Tagore and Visva-Bharati, sending several students with stipends to the university. On Tagore's eightieth birth anniversary, the title of 'Bharat Bhaskar was conferred on him by them.
This book, written by Khagesh Dev Burman, a member of the Tripura royal family, explores their connection with Tagore, including the friendships and associations the poet formed, nd the ways in which Tripura appeared in his writings.
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