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)
Hindu Marriage
Like the Hindu–Muslim problem, Hindu marriage is another social problem that Tagore addresses with great sensitivity, and which illustrates once again his critical evaluation of the Hindu social system. To understand his stance on this theme we need to look briefly into the background which provoked his polemic against traditional Hindu practices. During Tagore’s time, there was a remarkable social trend in Bengal. In response to the reformist zeal of Brahmo Samaj and Christian missionaries there arose among enlightened Hindus a new wave of thinkers dedicated towards preserving and nourishing ancient ideas of Hindu society. Thus there emerged the highly conservative tradition of Neo-Hinduism. As the Bengali writer Brajendra Nath Seal recounts, figures like Sasadhar Tarka Churamoni and Kumar Prasanna Sen were attempting to give a scientific foundation to the practices and ideologies of traditional Hindu religion and society. 18 The main target of Tagore’s critique of the irrationality of Neo-Hinduism in his ‘Hindu Marriage’, 19 however, was Chandra Nath Basu, who had written two important essays, ‘Hindu Wife’ and ‘The Proper Age and Purpose of Marriage’. 20 In ‘Hindu Wife’, he argued with force and conviction that Hindu marriage is the best marital institution in the world for two main reasons: first, its objective is spiritual, and secondly, in this system the wife is held in high esteem. In ‘The Proper Age and Purpose of Marriage’, Basu speaks strongly in favour of early marriage for its pragmatic utility in maintaining the supremacy of Hindu marriage. Tagore’s ‘Hindu Marriage’ gets its fuel from these two writings of Chandra Nath Basu. Basu’s essays had been highly acclaimed by a famous Neo-Hindu enthusiast, Akshay Kumar Sarkar who, in one of his papers in the journal Nabajiban, observed: All the quotations used here are taken from ‘The Age and Purpose of Hindu Marriage’ of Chandra Nath Basu which he read at an annual function of the Sabitri Library. Those who would take the trouble of reading my essay are earnestly requested to read it once more along with my piece. Nowhere would you find such a clear explanation of Hindu marriage. 21 In ‘Hindu Marriage’ Rabindranath remarks that it was this last sentence that prompted him to write that essay in response to Basu’s views. 22 In ‘Hindu Wife’, Basu quotes many passages from the ancient Manu Samhita and other Sanskrit texts to demonstrate that Hindu marriage has 24 The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore profound religious and social significance. He says: ‘Perhaps no one else than a Hindu has married for the sake of religion, and doing good to others.’ 23 In other words, he wants to emphasize that, for Hindus, to marry means to enter into family life of the householder not for personal gratification or worldly pleasures, but in order to fulfil religious and social obligations. Basu also invokes scriptural testimony to prove how in Hindu marriage, the wife occupies a very high position, how she is treated with great honour and respect. A man is incomplete without his wife. Hence when in a Hindu wedding the bride is given away ceremonially according to Vedic rituals, to the charge of the bridegroom, and the two perform the rite of going seven paces together, the bride becomes sacred like fire, and is given the holy dignity of the wife who gives full meaning to the life of her husband. That is why the role of the wife is so glorious and ennobling in a Hindu marriage. Basu also holds that, even before the advent of Christianity, there was respect for women in India: ‘Christianity made the wife equal to man. But Hinduism instead of doing so went further. It made her the goddess of man, the object of his worship. All the gods are pleased when the woman is worshipped.’ 24 It is just for this reason that Basu is against the introduction of the Western principle of equality in this country. He thinks that the movement for women’s rights by modern enlightened Bengalees will not ultimately pay rich dividends. For ‘a wife will gain more if her husband looks on her as his goddess rather than as his equal. One can raise one’s finger against the principle of equality. But there is no such possibility of doubt, debate and conflict when one worships gods. This worship is animated by spontaneous, unquestioned love and respect.’ 25 In ‘The Proper Age and Purpose of Marriage’, Chandra Nath Basu draws on the system of Manu to establish that the age of the husband should be three times that of his wife. In other words, a man should have a child-wife. His argument is that in our joint-family system, the wife enters into relation not only with her husband, but also with all the other members of the family. She can easily learn her duties if she has relation only with her husband, and lives under his loving care. But in our joint-family system it is obligatory on her part to do her duties for the happiness of all in the family. This requires a long, difficult training which is not possible if she does not come to the family of her husband at an early age. 26 Secondly, Basu argues, the objective of marriage in this country is complete unification of husband and wife, who thereby lose their separate identities. ‘I dare to say that such a unity or admixture of husband and wife is seen nowhere [else] in the world. In our marriage the two are no longer two, they merge into one another and become one.’ 27 Now, to achieve this unification, the preparation of the wife should start from an early age: ‘it is only a child who can be trained to be one with her husband. Hence the great authors of our Download 467.3 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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