Tagore's critique of nationalism

Topic: Nationalism and National Self-determination · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Nationalism"

Meaning

Tagore's critique of nationalism is Rabindranath Tagore's view that love of one's country (patriotism) is good but must never become the highest value. That place belongs to humanity. Tagore backed India's freedom from British rule, but he warned against a nationalism that puts the nation above moral values and above other peoples.

It matters because it shows that the Indian freedom movement held open, principled disagreement. It also gives a test that still applies today: national identity should be inclusive, and love of country should not turn into hostility towards others.

Explanation

The core idea: humanity above patriotism

• NCERT quotes Tagore: "Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live."

• The line is usually traced to a 1908 letter to A.M. Bose.

• What the image means:

• "Glass" stands for narrow national pride.
• "Diamonds" stand for shared humanity.

• Trading humanity for national pride is a bad bargain.

• Patriotism (love for one's own country) is accepted. It only has to stay below humanity.

Anti-colonial, but not anti-West

• Tagore was not pro-colonial.
• He opposed colonial rule (rule of one country by a foreign power).

• He supported India's right to independence.

• The British double standard:

• British civilisation itself valued the "upholding of dignity of human relationships".
• British colonial rule in India left no room for that value.

• So the empire broke the best ideals of the people who ran it.

• Imperialism vs civilisation:

• Imperialism means one country ruling and exploiting other lands.
• Western civilisation means the West's science, ideas, art and values.
• For Tagore, opposing Western imperialism ≠ rejecting Western civilisation.

• Indians should stay rooted in their own culture and also learn freely from abroad.

• His fear:

• Rejecting the West in favour of what only looked like "Indian tradition" could turn into hostility to faiths long present in India: Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam.
• Anti-Western feeling could then shrink into a narrow, exclusive idea of who is "truly Indian".

The "Nation" as a machine

• In his lectures Nationalism (given in Japan and the USA, 1916-17; published 1917), Tagore attacked "the Nation" as a mechanical organisation of power and commerce.
• He meant that the modern nation-state works like a machine.
• It is built to gain power and profit.

• In doing so, it crushes human feeling and moral sense.

• His novels on the theme:

• Gora (1910) questions narrow, exclusive ideas of Indian identity.

• Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1916) shows the excesses of the Swadeshi movement (the movement to boycott foreign goods and use Indian-made goods).

• His alternative was Visva-Bharati:

• It grew out of an experimental school in Bengal where Tagore tried to blend Eastern and Western philosophies. It became Visva-Bharati University in 1921 [4].
• He meant it as a meeting place of East and West, an answer to closed nationalism.

The wider idea: cosmopolitanism and rooted cosmopolitanism

• Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings belong to one moral community. So we have duties beyond national borders.
• It holds that all people deserve equal respect and consideration, whatever their citizenship [7].

• It has two sides: identity (I am a member of humanity) and responsibility (I must act on that membership) [7].

• Rooted cosmopolitanism joins both loyalties:

• Stay rooted in your own culture and country.
• Treat all humanity as your moral community.

• This is Tagore's own position.

• The limit Tagore sets: love of country is a virtue only while it does not override humanity.

In the Constitution and practice

• Echoes in the Constitution (settled text):
• The Preamble promises fraternity (a sense of brotherhood among all citizens), assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the nation. This reflects Tagore's warning against an exclusive, "truly Indian" identity.
• Article 25 gives all persons freedom of religion. This protects the faiths Tagore feared narrow nationalism would turn against.

• Article 51 (a Directive Principle) asks the State to promote international peace and security. This is a cosmopolitan duty that goes beyond national borders.

• Protest against colonial rule: giving up the knighthood

• Tagore received a knighthood from the British Crown in 1915 [2].
• British troops fired on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, on 13 April 1919 [2].
• Tagore gave up his knighthood in protest. It became one of the best-known cultural protests against British rule and against martial law (rule by the army in place of normal civil law) in Punjab [2].

• His letter to Viceroy Lord Chelmsford said the punishment of the "disarmed and resourceless" people had no political or moral justification [3].

• The Tagore–Gandhi debate (1921):

• Background: Tagore had hailed Gandhi as "Mahatma" (great soul) in 1915 [5]. Gandhi planned for non-cooperation to begin on 1 August 1920, starting with giving up titles and honours and boycotting schools, colleges, law courts and councils [6]. The programme also boycotted British manufactures and institutions run or aided by the British [5]. Gandhi took to the loincloth in September 1921 to step up the campaign [6].
• Tagore, "The Call of Truth" (1921): criticised blind obedience in non-cooperation, the burning of foreign cloth, and the charkha (spinning wheel) treated as a cure for everything.
• Gandhi, "The Great Sentinel" (1921): defended non-cooperation and the charkha as tools of moral and economic self-reliance.
• Gandhi was also open to other cultures: "I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."

• Outcome: the two men disagreed on methods, not on the goal of freedom.

• In present-day Indian diplomacy:

• "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" ("the world is one family") comes from the Maha Upanishad. It was the theme of India's G20 Presidency (2023): "One Earth, One Family, One Future" [9].
• The theme stresses the value of all life (human, animal, plant and micro-organism) and how all of it is connected [9].
• The Presidency ended with the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Leaders' Declaration (9–10 September 2023) [10].

Don't confuse with

• Anti-colonialism vs anti-Westernism: Tagore was firmly anti-colonial (he opposed British rule). He was not anti-Western, because he welcomed Western science, ideas and art.
• Patriotism vs nationalism (Orwell, "Notes on Nationalism", 1945): patriotism is devotion to a particular place and way of life. It is defensive and does not try to force itself on others. Nationalism is the will to power (the urge to gain power and prestige for one's group) and is aggressive. Tagore accepted the first, as long as it stayed below humanity. His "Nation" as a machine is the second.
• Tagore's position vs Gandhi's position: both opposed colonial rule and both were open to other cultures. They differed on methods: non-cooperation, burning foreign cloth and the charkha.
• Cosmopolitanism vs rejecting the nation: cosmopolitanism does not mean giving up one's country. Rooted cosmopolitanism keeps national roots and adds duties to all of humanity.

Prelims Hooks

• Tagore was knighted in 1915 and gave up the knighthood in 1919 after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919). His protest letter went to Viceroy Lord Chelmsford [2] [3].
• Nationalism (1917) is a set of Tagore's lectures in Japan and the USA (1916-17). Trap: it is not a novel.
• Ghare Baire (1916) deals with the Swadeshi movement. Gora dates from 1910.
• Visva-Bharati became a university in 1921, as a meeting place of East and West [4].
• "The Call of Truth" was by Tagore and "The Great Sentinel" was by Gandhi (both 1921). The quote "I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house..." is Gandhi's, not Tagore's.
• "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" comes from the Maha Upanishad. It was India's 2023 G20 theme, "One Earth, One Family, One Future" [9]. "Citizen of the world" is from Diogenes [7]. Perpetual Peace is by Kant, 1795 [8].

Mains Points

• Disagreement inside the freedom movement (GS-I):
• The 1921 Tagore–Gandhi debate shows that the national movement was not one uniform voice.
• Both opposed colonial rule. They openly disagreed on non-cooperation, burning foreign cloth and the charkha.

• This tradition of principled dissent fed into India's democratic culture.

• Inclusive vs exclusive national identity (GS-I/GS-II):

• Tagore separated rejecting Western imperialism from rejecting Western civilisation.
• He warned that a narrow idea of "Indian tradition" could shut out Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Muslims, communities long part of India.

• The Constitution's promise of fraternity and religious freedom (Article 25) carries this warning forward. It remains a test for today's debates on who belongs to the nation.

• Nationalism and foreign policy (GS-II):

• India's 2023 G20 theme "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" shows a cosmopolitan idea used in diplomacy [9].
• This is rooted cosmopolitanism: India pursues its national interest within a sense of global responsibility.
• The trade-off is that national interest must be balanced against shared human concerns. In Tagore's words, India must not "buy glass for the price of diamonds".

Related concepts

• Cosmopolitanism

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