Isabel Hilton and guests discuss the fascinating relationship between poet Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi. How did their visions for India differ and how do they stand up today?
Tagore - a detail
Detail from photograph of Tagore.
Copyright: British Museum
Playlist
As Voices of Bengal, a new exhibition at the British Museum opens, Night Waves discusses two of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi and the Bengali born poet and essayist Rabindranath Tagore. The two were friends for over forty years and this friendship led them to name each other: Gandhi, seen as the man of action called Tagore the guru of India , the 'great sentinel'; Tagore, steeped in Indian literature, dubbed Gandhi the 'great soul'. Yet they disagreed strongly over the best way for India to achieve independence. Tagore died before independence was won in 1947 and Gandhi soon afterwards. But what has their legacy been in modern India ? Gandhi is known as the father of India but have his ideas been as important in shaping contemporary India as Tagore's?
Isabel Hilton is joined by Professor Sunil Khilnani, the author of 'The Idea of India', Krishna Dutta, Tagore's biographer and the writers Sunetra Gupta and Rana Dasgupta.
