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8 - A New Nalanda in Bolpur

Visva-Bharati and the Quest for a Global Humanism

from Part II - The Interwar Politics of Greater India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

Yorim Spoelder
Affiliation:
Freie Universität Berlin
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Summary

This chapter reconstructs how Tagore and Nag’s agenda for a global humanism, inspired by the template of Greater India, was put to the test at Visva-Bharati university, a space closely monitored by the colonial authorities as a potential breeding ground for sedition. Tagore’s peculiar blend of Orientalism and internationalism resonated with an international group of intellectuals, including Romain Rolland, Carlo Formichi, Sylvain Lévi and Yone Noguchi, but ultimately lost traction amidst the ideological turmoil and political developments that marked the 1920s and 30s. As Tagore’s controversial visit to Fascist Italy painfully revealed, a vision of world order premised on the cooperation of cultural ambassadors from the East and West sharing the same humanist ideals, became increasingly untenable. Furthermore, the Indian exceptionalism and cultural essentialism that energized Tagore’s vision turned out to be unpalatable for figures such as Lévi, who supported the GIS but dismissed any notion of an Eastern mission to ‘redeem the West’. Japan’s geopolitical ascendency altered the East for good and shattered the dream of a united Asian front inspired by the legacies of ‘Greater India’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Visions of Greater India
Transimperial Knowledge and Anti-Colonial Nationalism, c.1800–1960
, pp. 232 - 261
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • A New Nalanda in Bolpur
  • Yorim Spoelder, Freie Universität Berlin
  • Book: Visions of Greater India
  • Online publication: 09 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009403177.010
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  • A New Nalanda in Bolpur
  • Yorim Spoelder, Freie Universität Berlin
  • Book: Visions of Greater India
  • Online publication: 09 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009403177.010
Available formats
×

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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • A New Nalanda in Bolpur
  • Yorim Spoelder, Freie Universität Berlin
  • Book: Visions of Greater India
  • Online publication: 09 November 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009403177.010
Available formats
×