Tagore's strong faith in the resilience of Korean culture

Prof. Pankaj Mohan

By Pankaj Mohan

There is a Chinese proverb, "When you drink water, think of those who dug the well." Success of Korea as a cultural powerhouse, as evident from the popularity of hallyu in many parts of the world, compels us to think gratefully about numerous nationalist leaders of Korea who instilled well-deserved pride in the hearts of the Korean people during the Japanese colonial period about their cultural heritage.

Indeed, we need to think with deep sense of gratitude not only about Koreans but about foreign cultural leaders also whose efforts led to the rejuvenation of Korean culture and confirmation of Korean pride in their past achievements.

Although numerous missionaries from Europe, North America and Australia contributed immensely to the systematization and enrichment of Korean language and modernization of Korea through establishment of modern schools and colleges, the name of a foreigner that shines most luminously in the cultural world of modern Korea is that of Indian poet and Nobel-laureate (1913) Rabindranath Tagore. In 1929 he composed the following poem about Korea which galvanized Korean nationalism:

In the Golden Age of Asia
Korea was one of the lamp-bearers
That lamp waits to be lighted once again
For the illumination of the East

This short poem represents Janus-face logic of nationalist fervent, in that it made Korean people look at the glorious past as a source of inspiration and at the same time it set before their eyes the vision of a resplendent future.

It is befitting that India has decided to celebrate forty years of its robust diplomatic relationship with Korea with various cultural events including a seminar on the topic "Gandhi and Tagore in Korea" at the India Pavilion, to be inaugurated by India's Human Resource Development Minister, Hon'ble Dr. M M Pallam Raju.

There is hardly a Korean who has not heard of Tagore's poem "Lamp of the East." However, it appears that Tagore acquired close familiarity with Korea much later in his life. In 1916 when made his first visit to Japan he met Korean students in Japanese universities and heard about the uniqueness of Korean culture and the Japanese policy of cultural annihilation.

He became so moved that in all the speeches, delivered in various Japanese cities, he exhorted Japan to abandon the path of imperialism. His Japanese hosts sought to undermine his message by projecting him as a representative of a defeated nation, capable of speaking only vain, pacifist words. This accusation of inspired him to write a poem entitled "The Song of the Defeated".

"She is silent with eyes downcast; she has left her home behind her.
From her home has come wailing in the wind.
But the stars are singing the love-song of the eternal to a face sweet with shame and suffering."

Tagore gave this poem, a testament of the poet's belief that it is not defeat and humility but conquest by swords that calls for shame, to a Korean student in Japan. Tagore visited Japan twice more, once in 1924 on his way back from China and finally in 1929. In his speech "On Oriental Culture and Japan's Mission" Tagore strongly condemned the imperialist policies of Japan which violated the rights of other lands.

During the 1920s Tagore's early works of poetry (in Korean translation) represented to the Korean mind a glowing warmth, not a boiling turmoil, a sob of grateful tears, not an outcry of anguish. Nonetheless, Tagore's poetry appealed to several writers and his influence found its best expression in the poetry of Han Yong-un (1879-1944), a Buddhist monk and author of "Nim ui Ch'immuk" (The Silence of Love) which is universally acknowledged as a milestone in modern Korean poetry.

Like Tagore, Han made an effort in his poetry to transmute human passion into a yearning for an eternal and divine bliss, and to make the divine accessible by investing it with human attributes. Han Yong-un wrote a poem entitled "After Reading Tagore's Poem ‘Gardiner'" which articulates his understanding of the thoughts of Tagore.

Tagore acquired an appreciative understanding of the strength and resilience of Korean culture through discussion with Korea's nationalist intellectuals. He met Mr. Cho So-ang (1887-1959), an intrepid freedom-fighter, in London in 1920. More than two decades later when Mr. Cho So-ang heard about the death of Tagore, he attended a condolence meeting in Chongqing (Chungking), China and said that Tagore's mind was like an ocean, comprehending Eastern and Western philosophy and his love for Korea was boundless.

While in Russia, Tagore remembered a Korean student who symbolized in his mind the resilience and strength of the Korean civilization. The Korean student told Tagore that Korea would defeat Japan on the strength of her suffering. He said, "Those who suffer unite and those who exploit others, remain divided, preoccupied as they are with the need to guard their loot." The student further noted, the suffering humanity of Asia, yoked to colonialism, will unite and gain freedom.

It is apparent that during the dark days of the colonial era, Tagore believed that Korea was a land of immense cultural potential and his vision of Korea has become a reality in the form of ubiquitous hallyu.

The writer is a professor at the Academy of Korean Studies.