Chapter 16 In memory of the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore

Robindranath Tagore (Rabindranath Tagore1861-1941) was an outstanding representative of Indian culture and a warm and sincere friend of the Chinese people.On the 118th anniversary of his birth, as a Chinese, as his admiring reader, and as a translator of some of his poems, I offer my most sincere memory to him! Tagore's artistic genius is multifaceted. In his life, he wrote more than 50 collections of poems, 12 novels and novellas, more than 100 short stories, and more than 20 kinds of scripts. , Memoirs, travel notes, letters and other works, the number is extremely large, and he is also a composer and painter.

I came into contact with Tagore's works after the "May 4th" Movement in 1919.From the Chinese and English translations, I saw the writer's great heart, meticulous writing and fluent words, all of which captured my young heart. The so-called "short poems" "Stars" and "Spring Water" that I wrote after 1921 were inspired by his collection of short poems "The Stray Bird". From his writings (although I have not read all of them), I deeply understand that he is the most admired and loved poet of the Indian people.He participated in the leadership of the Indian Renaissance Movement, and he excluded the chaotic and suffocating culture around him, which contained colonial enslavement to some extent, and came from Britain, and studied India's own long and excellent culture in depth.He went into the villages, and heard from farmers, village women, bricklayers, and masons their sufferings, myths, songs, and folk tales, and then wrote (and sometimes translated into English himself) the simplest and most beautiful prose in Bengali script. and poetry.

From his prose, novels and poems, we can see how this great Indian writer loves his own country with a long and beautiful culture; loves the working people in this country who love peace and love democracy; loves The majestic and beautiful mountains and rivers of this country.From the lines between the lines of these poems, we see depressed Indian women with pots on top of lamps and fluttering towels, Indian workers and farmers sweating hard on the roads in the fields, Indian musicians playing the harp and flute at the ferry in the garden, the seaside The Indian children jumping and laughing with the waves on the shore, and the thunderstorm in the tropics, the trees and flowers... We seem to be able to hear the dense raindrops and smell the rich fragrance of flowers.

After the founding of New China, as a director of the China-India Friendship Association, I visited India three times. I also visited Tagore's former residence, the International University in Santineiketan.While looking up, I feel more deeply that Tagore belongs to the Indian people, and the life of the Indian people is the source of his creation. He lives like a fish in water among the people who love rhythm and poetry.He used the vivid and simple language of the people himself to refine into the freshest and most fluent poems to sing about the sorrow and joy, frustration and hope, doubt and belief of the vast majority of Indian people.Therefore, his poems are "recited at home and abroad" in India, and he will always live in the mouths of the people!

The Chinese people are grateful and miss him.In 1881, he wrote an article "The Trade of Death", condemning Britain's crime of dumping opium into China to poison the Chinese people.In 1916, he made a speech in Japan, condemning the Japanese militarism's invasion of Shandong, China.After the Japanese imperialists launched the war of aggression against China in 1937, he published many open letters, speeches, and poems, condemning Japanese imperialism and supporting and sympathizing with the just struggle of the Chinese people. Chinese People's Literature Publishing House, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Tagore's birth (1961), in order to commemorate his outstanding contribution to promoting Indian culture and striving for national independence, strengthening friendship among peoples of all countries and safeguarding world peace , has compiled and published ten volumes of "Tagore's Works Collection".I have translated his collections of poems (Gitanjali) and (The Gardener), the play "Chitra" according to the English translation.

(Chitra); and dozens of poems, and several short stories.I took part in this work not only to show my admiration for him, but also to learn more deeply the art of writing from his works. I never met Tagore. When he visited China in 1924, I was studying in the United States.After returning to China, I heard from a Chinese friend who accompanied him, "When Tagore left Beijing, he was very nostalgic. Before the car left the hotel, my friend asked him: 'Is there anything you forgot to bring?' (Anythingleft?) He said sadly: "I have not forgotten anything except my heart!" (Nothingbutmyheart!)

What an affectionate and poetic sentence!As a Chinese, I also offer our admiration for him here!April 28, 1979