The spirit of India: An exploration of Rabindranath Tagore’s and Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas on nationalism

Abstract

Rabindranath’s stand on the ideas of nation and nationalism has become a part of a national debate that often left him isolated and misunderstood in his own country. This paper explores the India Rabindranath Tagore envisioned at the end of her journey to freedom, knowing the liberation that comes with holistic education, taking her people out of the stifling sense of apathy and thus restoring the spirit of India. In doing so, the paper also makes a comparative study of Gandhi and Tagore. It argues that for Tagore, nation/nationalism has been always anti-hegemonic with a small ʼn' which expresses the spirit of the nation, its history and its civilization, signifying the continuity of a nation’s life, like a stream’s onward nourishing flow. This paper will explore the India Rabindranath and Gandhi invisioned at the end of the nation’s journey to freedom through a study of their public debate.