The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore
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The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) (Ashgate World Philosophies Series) by Kalyan Sen Gupta (z-lib.org)
Society, Marriage and Education
25 scriptures think, the age of the wife should be far less than that of her husband.’ 28 Finally, he discounts the charge that due to early marriage the wife gives birth to a child at an immature age, with the consequent danger of both the mother and the child being physically weak. ‘I cannot accept that the physical weakness of the Bengalees is due to child-marriage. At least this has not been conclusively proved.’ 29 Again, he argues, the enemies of child-marriage do not see that the child-wife is meant not for those who marry only to meet their biological needs, but for those who, like our forefathers, marry for primarily spiritual reasons. So the possibility of early pregnancy is very remote. This strong commitment to child-marriage by Chandra Nath Basu got warm support from other Neo-Hindu thinkers. Bhudev Mukopadhyaya, for example, advocates early marriage on the following ground: ‘In those countries which entertain late marriage or marriage between grown-ups, we often find that bond of marriage does not last long, and that conjugal love, since it is confined to blind attachment, soon goes wrong.’ 30 This does not happen in our country where the system of child-marriage ensures long, happy and unbroken marriages. Likewise, Rashiklal Sen argues that when there is marriage between two adults, the partners may, under the spell of infatuation, fail to be making a wise selection. ‘Consequently, they are first separated from their parents, and subsequently from each other. This is evident from frequent divorce, adultery suits, etc. which we encounter in countries like England.’ 31 Such an attitude may sound strange to the modern, enlightened mind. That is indeed why Rabindranath wrote his stinging paper, ‘Hindu Marriage’, in which we find a passionate defence of modernity and an expression of an unmistakably catholic mind. Tagore holds that under the impact of Western education, we have realized that change and modification in our ways of thinking and action are urgent. Yet, due to our extreme indolence and fear of society’s disapproval, we eulogize our past tradition and blindly stick to it. In order to forget our sufferings and the humiliations of everyday life, we remain immersed in traditional practices. As he puts it: We have neither physical courage nor mental strength to protect ourselves against injustice and humiliation. So we have to sustain the illusion of self-respect by returning to ancient wisdom. We do not dare to give up the practices which cause our humiliations; hence we remain content and indulge in self-deception by qualifying those practices as spiritual or holy. 32 The writings of Chandra Nath Basu and his supporters on Hindu marriage are, according to Tagore, manifestations of this spurious vanity. They do not see that present-day social conditions are far different from those of the past. Under modern circumstances, it is futile to try to establish the supremacy of ancient Hindu marriage by quoting scriptural passages and recommending 26 The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore them for present-day society. It is of no use to hang on to old ideas in the new milieu of a changed outlook on life. After this general observation against Chandra Nath and his friends, Tagore takes up their contentions in detail. One important assertion of Chandra Nath is that in ancient Hindu society women had great respect and were worshipped as goddesses. He draws this conclusion from the scattered remarks in Sanskrit literature, notably Manu Samhita. Tagore in response points out that there is no dearth of slokas or verses which reveal just the opposite, namely how low was the status of women in ancient India, and how considerable was contempt for them. As he observes: I feel both shame and pain to quote those slokas from Manu Samhita written in utter abuse of women. I [will] only refer to [those] here where Manu explicitly states that women are solely responsible for the cardinal passions of man, viz., sex-passion, anger, greed, infatuation, vanity and envy. They have no real identity of their own. 33 He then cites, for example, the relatively moderate fourteenth sloka: ‘Women do not judge anything; they are eager only to have sex with a man, no matter whether old or young.’ 34 Rabindranath also collects examples from the great epic Mahabharata, particularly from the Chapter 38 dialogue between Yudhisthira and Visma about the nature of women, all of which, he says, ‘are not fit for printing’. The sloka he quotes is: ‘If you place death, poison, snake, fire etc., on one side of a pair of scales, and women on another side, you will find that the latter are equally dreadful like the former. In fact, God has created women as the source of all evils.’ 35 Rabindranath is equally well-versed in Sanskrit literature and scripture as Chandra Nath and this enables him to pay Basu back in his own coin by giving many examples of ancient Hindu views not at all congenial to women. While Basu asserts that women are given the highest respect in Hindu scriptures and society, Tagore proves the contrary. Women were generally looked down upon in Hindu scriptures. Tagore also rejects a further point of Basu’s. According to the latter, Hindu marriage is spiritual, while Western marriage is one of contract. In response, Tagore points out that a Roman Catholic bride at the time of her marriage performs the religious rite of praying to God for her inseparable union with her husband. So why is not Western marriage ‘spiritual’? Of course, he says, no marriage can be said to be exclusively ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious’ if its purpose includes the happiness and well-being of the family or oneself. But that is as true of Hindu as of Western marriages. 36 Above all, in ‘Hindu Marriage’ Tagore attacks Basu’s support for child- marriage. As we have seen, Basu and others take child-marriage as a reliable means of achieving complete unification between husband and wife which, according to them, constitutes the noble objective of marriage. This is Download 467.3 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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