Rabindranath Tagore: A Tribute to the Polymath on his 81st Punyatithi

It was on this day - 7th August - in the year 1941, that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore departed for his heavenly abode at Calcutta (now Kolkata) at the age of 80 years. He was the first Asian and also the first non-white to be conferred with the coveted Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). Rabindranath Tagore was an exemplar polymath whose outstanding contributions in the multitudes of creative endeavours continue to inspire generations. Today, on the occasion of his 81st Punyatithi, while I am writing this tribute and paying my reverence to this great Indian genius polymath - a versatile poet, a par excellence short story writer, great nationalist, novelist, playwright, essayist, artist, rationalist, as well as a talented painter - I am reminded of those last few years of Tagore which preceded his passing away. The later incident relates to a surgery that Tagore underwent, which he was not prepared to. There were different opinions that experts had whether Tagore should or should not undergo the surgery. Tagore himself was averse to the surgery and any allopathic medications and believed more in the traditional Ayurveda and homeopathic medicines. Unfortunately, he went by the advice of his Doctors and Tagore could not survive the surgery and passed away on 7th August 1941. 

 The last four years of Gurudev’s life - 1937 to 41 - were marked by chronic pain, urinary and kidney problems and two long periods of illness, which Tagore had to endear. It all began on 10 September 1937 in Shantiniketan where he collapsed and lost his consciousness due to an attack of ‘erysipelas’. He remained in a state of comatose and near death, for some sixty odd hours. In those days, there was no proper means to send out SOS communication for the medical team to arrive from Calcutta (now Kolkatta). Therefore, Tagore remained in a state of Comatose at Shantiniketan until the arrival of the medical team from Calcutta and their effective medical treatment. Miraculously, Tagore started responding to the medication and regained his consciousness fully on 15th September. The creative genius that Gurudev was, who had fallen in love with painting in his sixties - the last of his creative contributions - as soon as he regained full consciousness on 15 September, the indefatigable Gurudev asked for a brush and colours. Notwithstanding the fact that he had just recovered from his painful ailment, Tagore started painting a landscape on a piece of plywood. The result was “a dark wood with streaks of yellow light breaking through its gloom,”. This was one of his many remarkable paintings all of which are now classified as national treasures. Ten days later, 25 September, he wrote the first poem of a series of eighteen poems, which he scripted on life and death, dying and after death. These poems were published under the title ‘Prantik’. 

 In just three years, September, 15, 1940, while in Kalimpong, Tagore once again faced another attack and he complained of pain in his bladder. He was unable to pass his urine and suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed. He was rushed back to his Jorasanko house in Calcutta. With dutiful attendants attending to Gurudev in the presence of his near and dear ones and under the supervision of Nilratan Sarkar and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, Tagore was soon on the path to recovery. But then he continued to suffer from his urinary problems and prostate issues, which aggravated. On 16 July 1941 Doctors advised him to go for a surgery. Tagore preferred homeopathic and Ayurvedic medications and he was against allopathic treatment and that included the surgery, which he was advised to undergo by his Doctors including by Dr BC Roy. Tagore had great faith in Dr BC Roy, who incidentally is also responsible for the establishment of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, the mother museum, which later gave birth to the NCSM an organisation with which I was associated for 35 long years. 

 Dr BC Roy was considered as one of the greatest of Doctors of his time and incidentally even today his birthday, 1st July, is commemorated as the National Doctors day in India. On his advice a makeshift operation theatre was created at Jorasanko Thakurbari and Tagore, against his own wishes, was asked to undergo surgery. Although most Doctors, including Dr BC Roy had decided that operation is the only solution to Tagore’s ailments, there was another famous Doctor, Nilaratan Sarkar, who had a different opinion. Dr Sarkar was of the opinion that due to his old age, Tagore will not be able to withstand the operation. Dr Sarkar and Dr BC Roy, it is said, argued bitterly and even had fight on this issue. But then sadly the opinion of Dr BC Roy and those who supported him prevailed. 

Dr Lalitkumar Bandopadhyay was tasked to perform the operation on Tagore on 25 July, 1941 at the make shift operation theatre which was created at the residence of Tagore. Dr Bandopadhyay was assisted by Dr Satysakha Maitra and Dr Amiya Sen. The operation for ‘suprapubic cystostomy’ was carried out by the Doctors, who inserted a drainage tube into the urinary bladder of Tagore to help him drain his bladder via the urethra. Unfortunately, after the operation, Tagore complained of a burning sensation, and fell unconscious. His condition continued to deteriorate even while he was unconscious. His kidneys stopped functioning on August 4 and he was kept on medical support with saline and oxygen administered extraneously. His condition could not improve, despite the best of efforts from the team of Doctors who were attending to Tagore. Finally, on the night of August 6, his condition worsened and Doctors gave up all their hopes and Rabindranath Tagore was declared dead on 7 August, 1941. 

Today when we are observing the 81st Punyatithi of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, I am happy to share a tribute, which I had written for Tagore on his birthday in 2020 on my blog whose link is appended for those interested.

https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/05/rabindrnaath-tagore-tribute-to-polymath.html

Jai Ho Long live Tagore. 

Images : Courtesy Wikipedia and NGMA Mumbai.