The years were 1940 – 1941. Rabindranath Tagore had celebrated his eightieth birthday and was intermittently sick during that period of time till his death on 7th of August, 1941 (22nd of Shravan, S). Apart from his granddaughter Nandita (aka Buri) and youngest daughter Meera Devi, four other women stayed close to the poet, served him and later wrote memoirs of their experiences with intimate details not found in his official biographies. These were Nirbaan (1942) by Pratima Devi, selections from Alapchari Rabindranath (1942) and Gurudev (1962) by Rani Chanda, sections from Mongpu-te Rabindranath (1943) and Swarger Kachakachi (1981) by Maitreyi Devi, Baishe Shravan (1960) by Nirmalkumari (aka Rani) Mahalanobis and selections from the writings of Amita Thakur.. Translated from the original Bengali for the first time, these memoirs cover a period of approximately the last one year of the poet’s life since the time he fell sick in Kalimpong till his death Kolkata. When read side by side, they narrate the same story through subjective perspectives and help us to visualize the physical decline and end of the poet in vivid details narrated from different points of view. The essentially female gaze, colloquial tone and details of domestic nitty-gritty written in different styles also enhance the appeal of the memoirs for the readers. In them we find a different Rabindranath, not the world poet but a home-and domestic person who in his advanced age loved the company of these women who voluntarily looked after and served him. The years were 1940 – 1941. Rabindranath Tagore had celebrated his eightieth birthday and was intermittently sick during that period of time till his death on 7th of August, 1941 (22nd of Shravan, B.S). Apart from his granddaughter Nandita (aka Buri) and youngest daughter Meera Devi, four other women stayed close to the poet, served him and later wrote memoirs of their experiences with intimate details not found in his official biographies. These were Nirbaan (1942) by Pratima Devi, selections from Alapchari Rabindranath (1942) and Gurudev (1962) by Rani Chanda, sections from Mongpu-te Rabindranath (1943) and Swarger Kachakachi (1981) by Maitreyi Devi, Baishe Shravan (1960) by Nirmalkumari (aka Rani) Mahalanobis and selections from the writings of Amita Thakur.
Translated from the original Bengali for the first time, these memoirs cover a period of approximately the last one year of the poet’s life since the time he fell sick in Kalimpong till his death in Kolkata. When read side by side, they narrate the same story through subjective perspectives and help us to visualize the physical decline and end of the poet in vivid details narrated from different points of view. The essentially female gaze, colloquial tone and details of domestic nitty-gritty written in different styles also enhance the appeal of the memoirs for the readers. In them we find a different Rabindranath, not the world poet but a homely and domestic person who in his advanced age loved the company of these women who voluntarily looked after and served him.
The Last Days of Rabindranath Tagore in Memoirs
Translated and Edited by Somdatta Mandal
