Rabindranath Tagore, the revered Bengali poet and polymath, left an enduring legacy through his profound literary works and became the first non-European Nobel Laureate in Literature.
Celebrating 163rd Birth Anniversary of Tagore, Dakshinayan UK (the cultural wing of London Durgotsav Committee) presents a musical soiree, 'Vijaya: The Victorious' celebrating the life of Tagore and Victoria Ocampo. In 1924 Tagore had to stop in Buenos Aires on November 6 for medical rest while he was on his way to Peru to attend the centenary celebrations of independence. Victoria came to know about it and offered to take care of him in a beautiful mansion in San Isidro by the river Plata.
Victoria looked after Tagore with utmost devotion and had set his imagination on fire. She got a spiritual awakening and literary inspiration from the great Indian philosopher poet. The platonic love of Tagore was reciprocated by the spiritual love of Victoria.
Victoria read Gitanjali in 1914 and said ‘it fell like celestial dew on my anguishing twenty four year old heart’. She described Tagore´'s poetry as ‘magical mysticism’. She felt powerful echoes in Tagore´'s personal loving God, radiating happiness and serenity, unlike the demanding and vengeful God imposed on her in childhood. She was very excited when Tagore reached Buenos Aires on November 6, 1924. In her own words, it was one of the greatest events of her life. She wrote in the Argentine daily La Nacion on November 9 an article “The joy of reading Rabindranath Tagore”. She was overawed by his intellect and serenity and felt shy like a child before him. She listened to him mostly and did not dare to express herself as she would have liked to do. Later she wrote an essay " Tagore on the banks of the river Plata" and a book Tagore en las barrancas de San Isidro (Tagore on the ravines of San Isidro).
A Dr Ananda Gupta initiative.
