He was concerned about anti-colonial resistance in India which morphed into chauvinistic nationalism, which has been the characteristic of Western nationalism. Taking the context of British colonialism in India, he observes that colonialism steers nationalism into becoming imperialistic. His conception of internationalism-located in the interactions between colonial and postcolonial, East and West, tradition and modernity-contains the seeds of cosmopolitanism, as he perceives colonialism as a two-way process. He engages in an attempt to find harmony and unity in its true essence, a call to be one with вЂњthe infinite.вЂќ We can observe this in his novel The Home and the World. In contrast, Tagore attempts to draw an overarching bridge between the East and the West. Apparently, this appears to be a trend of postcolonialism in its attempt to reassert the self (the East). He does not indulge in mirrored reactions that is to denigrate the Western culture in return for their denigration of ours, the non-Western. Tagore does not engage in an outright denunciation of the West, but acknowledges its good aspects (Tagore and Dasgupta 2009). On the other hand, Collins (2011) claims that вЂњTagore can help us better understand some of the failures of postcolonial theory.вЂќ The Perils of Nationalism and the Merits of Cosmopolitanism

It does so by laying out TagoreвЂ™s вЂњdistinctively universalist philosophy,вЂќ presented as a critique of certain aspects of modernity, and as an alternative to both empire and nation. On the other hand, it attempts to locate more precisely TagoreвЂ™s importance for historians, political scientists, and theorists of modernity, postmodernity, and postcolonialism alike. His book strives to explain, on the one hand, why вЂњTagore has been consistently misunderstood, misrepresented, sometimes ignored, and in many respects diminished as a writer and thinkerвЂќ (Collins 2011: 1). Michael Collins in his 2011 book, Empire, Nationalism and the Postcolonial World: Rabindranath TagoreвЂ™s Writings on History, Politics and Society, argues that postcolonial historiography has not accorded Tagore the intellectual standing he deserves. His works, when keenly examined, transcend postcolonial thinking. TagoreвЂ™s initiative to instil self-worth into a colonised people is portrayed through his novels (Ebenezer 2005).Д«ut, surely, Tagore cannot be appropriated by a single discourse, let alone by postcolonialism. Thus, the need for self-identity and recognition was beginning to take root in the heart and soul of the people of India at that time. The novels clearly depict the British colonisation of India, the bold rejection of subjugation by the protagonists, and the reasons for doing so.

The main focus in both the novels is on the discourse encompassing cultural, political, social, and economic issues which reflect the mindset of the people during those times. The protagonists from both the novels-represented by Nikhil, Bimala, Sandip (from The Home and the World) and Indranath, Ela, and Atin (from Four Chapters)-embody the happenings that took place during their subjugation by the British colonisers, amidst the Indian freedom struggle.

We can take two of TagoreвЂ™s famous novels The Home and the World (1916) and Four Chapters (1934), which are set against the backdrop of political upheavals, for the purpose of examining this point. The postcolonial discourse in India has made many attempts to appropriate Tagore within its fold, and it is not that its arguments are weak. Even Edward Said has accorded Tagore the identity of a postcolonial thinker. Tagore has been portrayed as a unique postcolonial scholar who approached issues from a unique vantage point. There are striking similarities between the topics covered by Rabindranath TagoreвЂ™s works and the postcolonial literature.

Tagore ekla chalo re meaning