A Tagore Testament

Translated from the original Bengali of Rabindranath Tagore, this collection of poems, essays, letters and articles seek to bridge the gap between Tagore the man and Tagore the poet-philosopher. Tagore never wrote an autobiography. It was not in his nature to do so. He regarded his supreme gifts as attributes over which he has little authority and to have written of himself for its own sake seemed to him unnecessary. In his poems and songs, his novels and short stories, his philosophical, literary and scientific essays, it was of the universe that he wrote, and even in the works which have been selected here because of their autobiographical glimpses, it will be seen that the writer speaks of himself mainly in the context of his relation with the world as a whole. It is the first time that the book has been translated, with the exception of a few poems introduced as prefaces to chapters, and the translator, Indu Dutt, herself a Bengali, here gives us the true spirit and beauty of expression which has made Tagore one of the best-loved poets of all time.