Surendranath Tagore (1872–1940) was a Bengali author, literary scholar, and translator. He is particularly noted for translating a number of works of
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
to English.
Early life and background
A member of the
Tagore family
The Tagore family (also spelled as ''Thakur''), with over three hundred years of history,Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65. has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissa ...
of
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, he was born to
Satyendranath Tagore
Satyendranath Tagore (1 June 1842 – 9 January 1923) was an Indian Bengali civil servant, poet, composer, writer, social reformer and linguist from Kolkata, West Bengal. He was the first Indian who became an Indian Civil Service officer in 186 ...
and Gyanodanandini Devi in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
in 1872. Surendranath's sister
Indira Devi Choudhurani, born in 1873, was a noted littereaur, author and musician.
He graduated from
St Xavier's college, Calcutta in 1893, and at an early stage in his life he became involved in the
Indian nationalist movement.
Career
He was involved in supporting strike by railway workers in Bombay in 1899, and subsequently became involved in the ''
Swadeshi'' movement in Bengal, in opposition to the
1905 partition of Bengal
The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western are ...
.
Surendranath is also believed to have been involved in the early phase of revolutionary movement for Indian independence, when he served as the treasurer of the ''
Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...
'' established under Pramatha Mitra.
Surendranath is credited with establishing a number of Indian-owned banks and insurance companies through which he sought to encourage indigenous industries.
Surendranath's work in the initial stages of establishment of
Vishwabharati university is considered crucial,
and he sat in the university's publishing board. He also served as the editor of ''
The Visva-Bharati Quarterly
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' from the July 1923 up to April 1929.
Surendranath was influenced by his uncle
Rabindranath Ravindranath or Rabindranath is an Indian name and may refer to the following:
* Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Bengali poet
* Rabindranath Bhattacharjee, Indian politician
* Rabindranath Maharaj (born 1955), Trinidad-born Canadian author
* Rab ...
from an early age which saw him develop an interest in literature.
[ Surendranath's work include both his own creative work, as well as translations of Rabindranath's work from Bengali to English. Surendranath's own noted literary works included essays on various aspects of Science which were published in the magazines '' Sadhana'' and '' Bharati''. He also contributed to Modern review, and '']Prabasi
''Prabasi'' ( bn, প্রবাসী) was a monthly Bengali language literary magazine edited by Ramananda Chatterjee.
History and profile
''Prabasi'' was founded by Ramananda Chatterjee in 1901 and ran for over 60 years. It published many i ...
''. Among the noted works in translations is his translations of Rabindranath's works The Home and the World
''The Home and the World'' (in the original Bengali, ঘরে বাইরে ''Ghôre Baire'' or ''Ghare Baire'', lit. "At home and outside") is a 1916 novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The book illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, be ...
(''Ghare baire'') in 1919, ''Glimpses of Bengal Selected from letters'' (''Chinnapatra'') in 1921, and ''Four chapters'' (''Char adhyaye'') in 1950 (published after his death).
Surendranath Tagore died in 1940.
References
Further Reading
*
*
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagore, Surendranath
Anushilan Samiti
1872 births
1940 deaths
St. Xavier's College, Kolkata alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Bengali writers
Bengali Hindus
People from Kolkata
Surendranath
Translators of Rabindranath Tagore