(Text of a speech delivered at the Rabindranath Tagore Symposium organised by the Department of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Peradeniya.)
"With the growth of power the cult of the self-worship of the Nation grows in ascendancy, an individual willingly allows the Nation to take donkey-ride upon his back; and there happen the anomaly which must have such disastrous effects that the individual worships with all sacrifices a god which is morally much inferior to himself… The idea of the nation is one of the most powerful anaesthetics that man has invented.
(April 04, Kandy, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lankan nationalist discourse has always been guided by Western thinking. This is equally true of the so-called Jathika Chinthana people of all varieties as their argument is also based on the notion of nation-state that was a product of modernity project in Western Europe. Nationalism as an ideology has a pragmatic value in the sense that it can easily mobilise large number of people irrespective of their differences. Moreover, nationalism can, for a long period, bracket many similarities that exist between different national and ethnic groups. During the protracted armed conflict in Sri Lanka, we witnessed the culmination of nationalist thinking among people of all walks of life. On reflecting on the trends and development in Sri Lanka during the last three to four decades, I believe that if we pay more attention to Rabindranath Tagore’s writings on nationalism, Sri Lankan people may envision a future of different kind that is not parochial, xenophobic and centripetal but has as its foundation sympathy, generosity, mutuality and intersubjectivity. Tagore’s engagement in nationalist discourse runs like a thread through his analytical and creative writings. He wrote on nationalism when Indian people led by Mahathma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress were involved in a struggle to free India from its colonial rulers. Undoubtedly, Tagore was a highly patriotic poet, novelist and philosopher and was in support of the movement for swaraj. Nonetheless, he was aware of the danger of hyper-nationalism and inflated patriotism. Like many thinkers of nationalism, Tagore viewed nationalism as a social construct that received its validation and instrumental reasoning in modern industrial capitalistic system. He opines: "A nation, in the sense of the political and economic union of a people is that aspect which a population assumes when organised for a mechanical purpose. When the organisation of politics and commerce becomes all powerful at the cost of humanity of the higher social life, then it is an evil day of humanity."
Having recognised its purposive rational dimension, Tagore was critical of it since nationalism, according to him, upset human moral balance "obscuring his/ her human side under the shadow of soul-less organisation". Hence, children should be educated at their very early age to be critical of nationalism and to think beyond it. He wrote: "India has never had a real sense of nationalism. Even though from childhood I had been taught that idolatry of the nation is almost better than reverence for God and humanity, I believe I have outgrown that teaching, and it is my conviction that my countrymen [and women] will truly gain their India by fighting against the education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity."
It is interesting to note how he fused this vision into the characters in his creative writings. Let me now turn to his novel, The Home and the World, the book that I think we should use as a school text in post-war Sri Lanka. The difference between Nikhil and Sandip in the novel, in my view, epitomises difference between Tagore and Gandhi. Nikhil is a patriotic but would not place nation above truth and conscience whereas his friend, Sandip, a charismatic nationalist, to whom any action in the name of the nation is right, no matter how far it may be from truth or justice.
‘I am very busy this afternoon and cannot stop to argue it out. But I must refuse to tyrannise.
"It would not be tyranny for selfish gain, but for the sake of the country."
"To tyrannise for the country is to tyrannise over the country. But that I am afraid you will never understand."
Both Nikhil and Sandip accepted the importance of freedom, freedom from colonial rule. It is interesting to note that Gandhi once said that self-government was better than the good government in colonial context. On the other hand, Tagore was much more concerned about the long-term implications of hyper nationalism. Tagore’s continuous reference to god and divinity should not be understood as something religious in his thinking. He uses these terms to denote an idea that transcends purposive rational materialist thinking. Humankind should know how they could go beyond the Western modernist project that has trapped them in an ‘iron cage’. Hence Tagore writes: "With the growth of power the cult of the self-worship of the Nation grows in ascendancy, an individual willingly allows the Nation to take donkey-ride upon his back; and there happens the anomaly which must have such disastrous effects that the individual worships with all sacrifices a god which is morally much inferior to himself… The idea of the nation is one of the most powerful anaesthetics that man has invented. Under the influence of its fumes the whole people can carry out its systematic programme of the most virulent self-seeking without being in the least aware of its moral perversion –in fact can feel dangerously resentful if it is pointed out."
His vision on universal human being can be eloquently expressed in much quoted poem in Gitanjali.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the word has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words came from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.
So Tagore’s enlightened internationalism and humanism, his close and careful examination of the potential dangers of a narrow, jingoistic or sectarian reading of nationalism and patriotism and his views on inter-subjectivity and confluence of multiple streams of thought would lead us in post war Sri Lanka to go beyond narrow parochial thinking and to develop a broader vision on future. Let me finish this note by quoting some sections from his beautiful poem that also reflect his thoughts on nationalism and in my opinion very much relevant to Sri Lanka today. The poem is entitled, The Sunset of the Century:
The crimson glow of light on the horizon is not the light of thy dawn of peace, my motherland,
It is the glimmer of the funeral pyre burning to ashes the vast flesh, ..the self-love of the
Nation, .. dead under its own excess.
Thy morning waits behind the patient dark of the East,
Meek and silent
There is no doubt that the struggle against deeply rooted notions and habits demand courage, determination and commitment. The people in the Arab world have amply demonstrated that such courage, determination and commitment exist within us. This is the advice Tagore gave us.
Be not ashamed, my brothers [and sisters], to stand before the
Proud and the powerful
With your white robe of simpleness
Let your crown be of humility, your freedom the
Freedom of the soul.
Build God’s throne daily upon the ample bareness
Of your poverty
And know that what is huge, is not great and pride
Is not everlasting.
The writer teaches Political Economy at the University of Peradeniya. He can be reached at sumane_l@yahoo.com
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