Friday, February 10, 2017

Rabindranath's formal education

Rabindranath's attendance at Bengal Academy did not improve. He was frequently absent on one lame excuse or another, even after returning from the Himalayas.  He was then admitted to St.Xevier's school along with his other brothers. But the result was the same. In the meantime, Sarada Devi, wife of Devendranath, died in 1875,  when Ranindranath was fourteen years old. At the death of such a well organised housewife of the family, every thing became disorderly. The elder sisters and sisters-in-law of Rabindranath, being sympathetic to him,  also did not press him to go to school.
At home, Rabindranath began to study Bengali books, Bengali magazines and anything which he could lay his hands on. Specially, he began to study Baishnab Padabali. As a result, he was not promoted to the next class after the end of the year. This led to the discontinuation of his going to school and that  was the end of his school education at the age of 14+ when he was reading fifth standard, i.e., class VI.  The summary of his School education was as follows :
  1. At the age of 5 - in 1866 - Rituals for first lesson was done along with Somendranath.
  2. At the age of 7- in 1868- he was admitted to Oriental Seminary and then to Normal School.
                                                         3. At the age of 10- in 1871- he was transferred to Bengal Academy, an Anglo-Indian School with the intention of  acquiring a better vocabulary in English.
                                                         4. At the age of 13- in 1874- he was admitted to St. Xavier's School. The last Indian School where he was admitted.
About five years had elapsed since Rabindranath returned from the Himalayas and there was no sign of improvement in his formal education. The anxious guardians were wondering whether he might be sent to England for studying law but before that he was sent to Ahmedabad to his second elder brother, Satyendranath, to improve his English vocabulary.
Satyendranath stayed in a big house meant for the Judge at Shahibag, on the bank of Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad.  During the day, Satyendranath used to remain in the court and his wife and children were in London at that time. Rabindranath usually passed his time in the library reading books, specially in English with the help of a dictionary and using his imagination.
Simultaneously, he was writing articles for "Bharati" on various famous Eurpean writers. He roamed about the house from top to bottom and sang to himself.  His first music composition in music of a set of songs was created here- "Nirab rajani dyakho mogna jochanaya", "Boli o amar golap bala" and others.  He wrote poetry also which were simply translations of English poems.
But he could not develop  his vocabulary in English alone. He was removed to the house of a friend of Styendranath, Atmaram Panduranga, whose daughter, Anna, was well versed in English. Rabindranath was a poet and used to recite poems several times which the girl would commit to memory. One day, she asked Rabindranath to give her a name. Rabindranath gave her a name and wrote a poem using the word. Anna used to listen songs of Rabindranath almost everyday and they became closely acquainted. Rabindranath remembered her even in his old age.  In the "Shaishab Sangeet Kabya,"  there are references to  his close relationship with Anna. 

Rabindranath's formal education was brief. He had changed schools four times (Oriental Seminary, Normal School, Bengal Academy, St. Xavier's School) in eight years (1868-1876). Then he tried to study law in UK for about two years (1878-1880) and came back home without obtaining any degree. He again attempted to go to England but after reaching Madras he changed his mind. To become a graduate one has to undergo 10+2+2=14 years of study. But he had undergone only 10 years of study and did not secure any formal diploma. During this time, however, he did not spoil any single moment. He followed  strictly a daily time table from morning till night and was tutored at home by his brothers (Hemendranath and Dwijendranath) and by his father, Devendranath during journey to Dalhousie and 20 private tutors on different subjects including wrestling, swimming, trekking. He was so equipped during this time that he could translate Kumarsambhaba from Sanskrit to Bengali  and Macbeth from English to Bengali, both in verse. He had filled up a Blue Book obtained from the office of the Tagore family with own written verses at the age of eight and started his life in literary work both as a  writer and a performer and established himself as a poet, a singer, a playwriter, a m

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