Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore

This unusual collection brings together Rabindranath Tagore’s writings on forms of difference based on gender, caste, class, nation, community, religion, language, art, literature, philosophy, social custom and political belief. Via new translations, along with Tagore’s own writings, lectures and conversations in English, this illustrated anthology presents his complex, dynamic approach to commonly perceived dualities -such as life/death, nature/culture, male/female, tradition/modernity, East/West, local/universal, urban/rural etc. – to highlight his humanistic vision and its significance for us today.

The accompanying Audio Visual material, Tagore & His World, provides a broader context for Tagore’s evolution as a thinker and artist, offering glimpses of his life, travels, educational vision and creative experiments in the visual and performing arts. Through a range of contemporary adaptations from diverse sources and in different languages, it marks how Tagore’s spirit lives on today, his legacy undiminished, for the world at large.

Contents: 1. A many coloured world: Rabindranath Tagore and the dynamics of difference. 2. A fantastic tale. 3. The living and the dead. 4. Trespass. 5. Misplaced hope. 6. The parrot’s training. 7. Chitra. 8. Chandalika. 9. The music of the Bauls. 10. What is a nation ? 11. The greater part. 12. State vs. Society. 13. The Welfare of the People. 14. Construction vs. Creation. 15. Charkha, the spinning wheel. 16. An eastern University. 17. The Co-operative principle. 18. Rhythm. 19. Hindus and Muslims. 20. Gandhi and the Bihar Earthquake. 21. Woman. 22. The Divinity of the Forest. 23. Crisis in Civilization. 24. To Indira Devi. 25. To R.G. Pradhan. 26. To C.F. Andrews. 27. To Margaret Sanger. 28. To Hemantabala Devi. 29. Letters from Russia. 30. In Persia. 31. Tagore and H.G.Wells. 32. Tagore and Romain Rolland. 33. Tagore and Albert Einstein. 34. From Gitanjali. 35. From The Gardner. 36. Songs of Kabir. 37. From the Stray Birds. 38. From Fruit Gathering. 39. From The Fugitive. 40. From The Fireflies. 41. From Poems. 42. Kabir and the Woman.