Tagore's Critique of the Cult of Vande Mataram in the Home and the World

Rabindranath Tagore's "The Home and the World (Ghare Baire) is an extremely intelligent novel raising questions about nationalism and the thin line dividing it from jingoism. Set against the backdrop of the swadeshi movement in Bengal in the early 1900's the book portrays Tagore's dissatisfaction with the direction the anti colonial movement was taking.

The swadeshi movement was a protest in response to the partition of Bengal sanctioned by Lord Curzon in 1905. The British agenda was to divide the state into two parts on the basis of the religious majority present on both sides. The reaction to the above decision was an outcry of protest from the entire country (especially Bengal) and led to the first organized anti colonial movement in India -The Swadeshi movement. It was also the first successful anti-colonial movement with complete non-cooperation with the Raj with Hindu-Muslim unity like never before with Hindu women tying rakhis to Muslim men and vice versa. The result was the withdrawal of the proposal to partition Bengal .

This movement was extremely nationalistic and drew great inspiration from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's poem, "Vande Mataram"which when translated means "We Salute you Mother". The poem likens the country to Goddess Durga and deifies it. As the movement and the protests continued, burning foreign goods became commonplace.

Tagore, who had been one of the forerunners of this movement, became more and more agitated with the turn the events were taking, until he finally denounced it in no uncertain terms.

It is this dissatisfaction with the movement that Tagore, shows in his most political novel. "THE HOME AND THE WORLD". Through the characters of Nikhil, Bimala and Sandip, Tagore manages to portray the follies and foibles of the Swadeshi Movement. The character of Nikhil many say is Tagore's alter ego and voiced Tagore's arguments against the Swadeshi Movement as it was progressing at that time. The novel however drew much flak at the time of its publication from the Bengali Bhadralok as it criticized a movement very dear to them.

Tagore however, is so democratic a writer that he still does not impose his views on the reader. He gives them three different perspectives of the movement through three different characters in the narrative form of the "atmakatha" with the accounts of all three being dealt equally and leaves it to the reader to sympathize with the perspective they agree the most with.

Tagore's critique of the cult of Vande Mataram-

To understand why Tagore, who was initially a staunch believer in the movement later became anti-swadeshi, we must understand the main reasons for his critique of the cult of Vande Mataram.

One of Tagore's main points of dissention with the swadeshi movement was the portrayal of the country as a goddess. He believed that if the nation was sacred, one could not criticize it and is thus prevented from pointing out its faults and correcting them which is extremely necessary in nation building. In "The Home and the World", Sandip absolutely refuses to hear any kind of criticism about his country. Tagore is very forceful in his criticism against this jingoistic type of nationalism that Sandip represents. According to Tagore, Nationalism as a response to colonialism was acceptable but if on this pretext the population of one nation says it is better than that of others, it cannot be acceptable. This violently nationalistic streak in the movement was disapproved of by Tagore. He wanted " India 's right to be independent without denying the importance of what India could learn from abroad"

Tagore also believed that the movement was becoming unnecessarily violent especially with the burning of foreign goods and ill-treatment of innocent British people. He did not agree with the destructive turn the movement was taking and the idea that in order to prove ones love for the country, one must engage in love for violence.

Tagore puts his words in Nikhil's mouth when he says that he does not understand why it is necessary for the protesters to burn foreign goods or force poor traders to trade in only Indian made goods thus causing them a lot of loss.

Moreover as is pointed out in "The Home and the World", the nationalists in their blind fervour attack an English woman, Ms. Gilby who considers herself more Indian than British. Although there is just one such incident pointed out in the book there must have been many more. This non disassociation of the criticism of the Raj from innocent English people and the anger towards the Raj displaced towards them is what irked Tagore. In directing their ire against innocent English men and women, the swadeshis were acting from a misguided nationalism. Likewise Sandip doesn't understand that the institution of colonization