A POET OF INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20678, 25 September 1930, Page 5

A POET OF INDIA.

WORK FOR HIS PEOPLE. The life of tho famous Hindustani seer and poet, Rabitidranath Tagoro, was graphically described by tho Rev. WiLna L. Constable at a meeting of the Women's Progress Club, of the Auckland Higher Thought Temple, yesterday afternoon. The speaker was introduced by Mrs. Silcock, president of tho club. Born in Calcutta in 1861, the poet, philosopher and benefactor to bis people, had done more than any other person to open up the mind of the East to the mind of the West, the speaker said. He rose to famo as an original poet at the age of 18, when his first book of poems was published, this being followed later by many other works. The foundation of a universal school, which he later widened into an international university with the assistance of tho monetary award from the Nobel prize for literature which he received in 1914, proved to be his real life work, and the university, which still flourishes in Bengal, was recognised as one of the greatest benefactions to the people of India. In the school for tho younger children no foreign elements wore introduced, all the teachers being Indians in thought, habit, sympathies and dress. Tho university, however, was widely international, students from the western countries attending in large numbers, while the teaching staff included men and women from all over the world. It was the only coeducational university in India and by making his school open to both the sexes Rabindranath Tagore had done a wonderful thing for tho women of India. Among the many reforms introduced by his university was one affecting Hindn drama, in which women were now allowed to tako the feminine roles, these having hitherto been taken by men and boys. Ho had abolished all caste and race distinctions and also insisted on the subservience of tho college to the community ideal. The meditation and spiritual side of tho students' lives tho founder of the university kept in his own hands. During the course of her address, Mrs. Constable read several of Rabindranath Tagore's poems, the themes of which showed many of the lino points in his character.