Anyway that song again came into my memories and soon the story behind it had caught me by the throat and I was researching it with gusto, wandering about the 3rd and 5th floors of NCSU Davis hall libraries in search of material and sources.
Until then, I had not bothered to get into the details of Tagore’s personal life, nor had I seen Ray’s Charulatha. Soon I did and dove to depths that I had not believed I would, for the story was enthralling. The mysterious lady at the centre of it all still refused to come out and show her true self and I found that as her family had wanted, she would always remain an apparition, a maid of the mist so to speak. But after so many books and articles, I got a brief and general idea and so friends, here we go, to a period long ago, a period when children were children and adolescents were adolescents and when joint family was the norm. Simple, don’t you think? Only it never was. It was far too complicated.
Tagore himself wrote sentences and poems and books and even mentioned that his story can be found between the words and sentences, if a person who could understand looked deep. But translations are not always perfect, and I knew that Gitanjali has moved people so deeply that even Bulunt Ecevit the Turkish premier learned Sanskrit (or was it Bengali) to enjoy it better and later translated it into Turkish. The people of Bengal have covered Tagore’s personal angle though not tackling it head on, so many times in the press and in books, some have fictionalized it, some have guessed the reasons and as I said before a great film maker even put to celluloid the story of that relationship, basing it on Tagore’s own novel Nashta Nir or “the Broken nest’.
A good writer uses his own experiences many a time to draw a caricature of the protagonist and the other characters of the movies, or to set the scene, and this was a classic case in Nashta Nir. Even today Bengali’s argue at length and with great passion supporting either the she or the he in this story. But for those who wonder what it is all about, here goes…I will not dwell too much on Tagore and his accomplishments for that is all available in text on various media, but for those who want to know about his muse, about the very essence of his early life, the reasons behind his early creative output, look no further, and try to get to know Kadambari Devi. I will not make judgments or conclusions, but will definitely provide my leanings & inclinations, for we are talking about human beings, much like us, though greatly and brilliantly talented. By being a genius does not elevate one to any special moral and godly pedestal and as some great people state it in simple words, it is simple and basic human actions, inactions and mis-actions which come out as an artiste’s work to enthrall us. This therefore is the story of Kadamabari born exactly a hundred years before me…..as I understood it.
We go to a mansion in Calcutta called Jorasanko Thakurbari, and into the hallways of the large house. The grandfather, the patriarch (a stony hearted Zamindar) Dwarakanath had amassed a fortune and a fiefdom from his Indigo and opium cultivation with the British and had established his large image. The son, however, though fathering a 15 member lineage, was not into successful business but was more involved with creating the Brahmo Samaj. It is to his joint family that we will pay a visit. It is situated at the Chittaranjan Ave and Dwarakanath Tagore intersection in Calcutta. The sprawling mansion, as Chitralekha Basu from the China Daily once wrote, branching out into several wings, cradling a largish courtyard illuminated by its dazzling white walls, is still pillar-box red in most parts, contrasting dramatically with the forest green on the foliage, and the wooden rails holding the ornamental grills, girdling the never-ending balconies.
Today that house has many rooms open to the public and is tastefully decorated. You will, as you walk around, find a room which is dedicated to Tagore and Mrinalini, his wife, and then the guide, if you had one that is, has finished his tour, would mention that there is a room which remains locked, an attic room. That was Kadambari’s abode. It is not open to public, but there was a time when it was the world for Robi (Rabindranath) and older brother (Jyothirindranath) and Jyothirmoy’s wife Kadambari who was roughly the same age as Rabi. The terrace where the girl bride made a small roof garden, was where Robi started out with his poetry and where Kadamabri listened to them and provided ample criticism, goading the young talent to greater and greater heights. Jyothirmoy, though 12 years older, was his mentor in many ways and initiated Robi into the world of music, thus forming a threesome intensely involved in reading, creating poetry and music. I am starting out with three young people now, not a hallowed Nobel Prize winner and his secrets, and is deliberate in not accepting him as a great person at this stage. That we will come to, much later and as the story runs it course.
In those hallowed halls and many rooms, lived the father the Brhamo Maharshi and his 15 children. The youngest of the children was Rabi (Rabindranath).
This story starts with Jyothirmoy’s marriage to a nine year old Matangini Ganguly of Jessore, the year being 1868. Carr, tagore and Co, which made fortunes with Indigo had collapsed and son Debendranath Maharshi was not a great admirer of the British. The family of Tagore’s were highly literate an even the women in the household were encouraged to delve deep into the Bengali literary world. But it was also orthodox in many ways and men married young girls, color was sacrosanct, as there is an instance of a young bride not being fair enough (Satyendranath (ICS)’s wife) being scrubbed daily with potions to make her fairer…That was the house where the child Robi was growing up and the home where the child bride Kadambari (Matangini renamed) arrived. Soon the two young kids stuck a rapport and Robi would be found often in the women’s quarters, with his playmate Kadambari. Robi took to her fancy and other women by reading Kalidasa’s works. But it was also a typical ancestral home where antagonism and back biting existed and ran akin to many of the TV soaps we see today. On the other hand, many of Tagore’s brothers dabbled in writing. The large home had a fair share of mental illness too, with two of Robi’s brothers spending much of their time in asylums.. I hope you are getting the hang of the place now.
Jyothirmoy, the most aristocratic product of the household was a fierce anti colonial person and even created a new dress which was part trousers part dhoti and wore a turban toupee even though it was banned. He was a born musician to his peers and many others who wrote about him, such as Rothstein and Satyajit Ray. He was an actor & director dabbling in theatre, and his debonair attitude was to cast in Robi’s life a companionship ‘as necessary to my soul…as the monsoon after a fiery summer’. Robi too was caught up with patriotism and read his poems at mela’s and participated in secret and public rallies.
As Krishna Dutta writes - During the 1870’s, a highly affectionate, teasing, somewhat childish relationship grew up between Kadambari, who remained childless and somewhat lonely, and the budding poet Rabi, especially after the death of his mother Sharada in 1875.”…..Whereas music drew him to Jyothindranath, with Kadambari, literature was the first bond. Kadambari seems to have read whatever Rabi wrote as soon as he wrote it…She would cook special dishes for him…Rabi says in his memoirs – My new sister in law could cook well and enjoyed feeding people. As soon as I came from school some delicacy made with her own hands stood ready for me. One day she gave me shrimp curry with yesterdays soaked rice, and a dash if chillies for flavoring and I felt that I had nothing left to wish for…that was his bouthakrun (young sister in law) ……and since then many of his stories have characters based on bouthakruns…
It was a special relationship, what they called in Bengal the Nothun botun – debar relationship which sanctioned a great level of intimacy but stopping somewhat before the border…
Tagore explains in a poem written in 1939..
Hesitantly I tried to come a little close
To her in a striped sari, my mind in a whirl
But there was no doubting her frown, I was a child
I was not a girl, but a different breed.
Soon the unwelcome intruder was an interesting visitor, and Robi started attending his mother’s gatherings in the terrace for the women of the household, making grand lectures and recitations of Ramayana in Sanskrit and translating them with some dollops of exaggeration to the amused ladyfolk. Strangely in that family of learned, Tagore was a loner with no formal education; he was considered a ‘good for nothing’ academically, flunking out of school very early.
Life went on and Tagore was soon sent away to England to become a barrister. In preparation he spent time at his brother Satyandranath’s mansion in Ahmadabad where he read English books to sharpen his somewhat poor English. Soon he was off to London, but on arrival he hated the place and missed his home and sister in law. So by 1880, he was back in Bengal, studies unfinished, writing and singing and soon published his Bhagna Hriday which caught the fancy of the prince of Tripura who became his financial sponsor, this family continued to be his sponsors all his life. Why are we talking about Tagore, we were supposed to be talking about Kadamabri, right? You see, their lives were so intertwined all these years, she was always openly disapproving but then again Kadambari was the person Robi always wanted to please. Tagore dedicated his book Bhagna Hriday to Shrimati He…Kadambari. This was also the period when their relationship, the threesome’s that is to say was at its most intimate level. Jyothi and he were deeply involved in music, and drama and Kadambari an avid critic.
Dwarakanath, Tagore’s grandfather as we saw earlier, was an opium exporter. Rabi hated it and called the shipments the death traffic, and supported China who he believed was being destroyed by England. Little was he to know that the very same drug would play an even bigger role in his own life. But in the midst of this, Tagore was soon bound for London, but he cancelled it midway (1881). Instead he moved to Chandarnagore, part of French Calcutta with his brother and kadambari. Wandering around woods collecting berries and riding or swimming, Jyothirmoy, Kadambari and Tagore spent the summer at Morans garden. The brothers sang and composed, Robi wrote many articles and poems, during this trip. It was a peaceful idyllic sojourn, far from the hustle and bustle of Calcutta.
Something was happening between Robi and Kadambari during this period, we do not know any details, but we do know that she attempted suicide. Was Tagore trying to drift away? Was he enamored by other women? Or were they getting even more deeply attached? Robi perhaps tried to warn his brother at that time by writing a poem ‘Suicide of a star’. Gossip was increasing in the Jorosonko house and Robi soon moved to a house rented by his elder brother and away from his beloved Nothun Bouthen, to concentrate on writing.
The Nothun bouthen was anguished and close to losing her life, but why? Was it because Jyothirnath had no time for her? Was the platonic relationship between her and Robi changing to something else? Who was the instigator? Was Robi falling in love with Kadambari? That a certain level of intimacy is permitted between the debar and the nothun bouthan in Calcutta of the past is well known, but who drew the border? Did the border shift or did one of them cross it? Tagore as we saw, moved out of the family house to his brother Satyendranath’s (he had returned from UK) house. Why would he do that? Was life becoming difficult at Jorasanko (for him or Kadambari?)? He moved again with his elder brother to Karwar. Tagore was 22 then. In the meantime, the Jorasanko ladies including Kadambari started a lookout for a bride for Robi. Marriage was being discussed and he was soon involved in the match making, even checking out a girl in Madras. Rabi was on that occasion was enthralled by the more beautiful girl, who unfortunately happened to be the step mother of the rather ‘plain’ girl in the market.
One fine day he was summoned by his father and within days (Dec 1883) married off to a plain & illiterate child bride (but of the same Piralai caste as Dwarakanath had insisted) just 10 years old, named Bhabatarini, daughter of an estate hand. Rabi did not complain, he obeyed his father and sat impassively through the event conducted in his own house. Many of the family were not even present, even the father came a month later, presented four gold mohurs and departed. The brides name was changed to Mrinalini and she was immediately sent away to a convent school for studies & polishing. Rabi and Mrinalini did not live together for over a year.
Why was he married off to a lesser status house, that too in a hurry? Was it because he had earlier found the girls in England like Ana Turkhud attractive? Was it something to do with Kadambari? Was there something else wrong in Jorasanko? Why was Tagore not happy with the marriage? We have unfortunately no clues or facts to provide any answers. But we do know one thing, he wrote a set of poems in 1884, again dedicated to Kadambari, some days before his marriage while at his elder sister in law Jnanadanandini’s house. The song Rahur prem ..the song of bodiless Rahu in love with the moon and swallowing her occasionally in eclipse was probably one that precipitated the relationship with Kadambari. He wrote…
"From the very beginning of time, you have been my partner because I am your shadow. You could better see me in your smile and tears.... You will be surprised to see me gazing on your face in the pitch darkness when you are wrapped in a blanket of despair...
Wherever you turn, you will see me. My shadow will taper off to the sky but it will enshroud the whole world. My miserable voice and sinister smile will resound in all directions because I have an insatiable hunger... In short, I am a malady to your mind and body. I am the sword piercing your heart. Just as the night comes at the end of the day, I am behind you and that is your destiny". (from "Rahu"s love).
Some months later, on the 21st April 1884, Kadambari committed suicide by an overdose of opium. She suffered for two days before her eventual death. The mandatory suicide letter was destroyed, together with the coroner’s report and all her other letters and diaries. The expense for suppressing the facts and events was duly recorded in the family ledger, Rs 52.00.. With that Kadambari the enigma, vanished from this world, mysteriously…
That there could be any gap in the unbroken procession of the joys and sorrows of life was a thing I had no idea of. I could therefore see nothing beyond, and this life I had accepted as all in all. When of a sudden death came and in a moment made a gaping rent in its smooth-seeming fabric, I was utterly bewildered. All around, the trees, the soil, the water, the sun, the moon, the stars, remained as immovably true as before; and yet the person who was as truly there, who, through a thousand points of contact with life, mind, and heart, was ever so much more true for me, had vanished in a moment like a dream. What perplexing self-contradiction it all seemed to me as I looked around! How was I ever to reconcile that which remained with that which had gone?
The terrible darkness which was disclosed to me through this rent, continued to attract me night and day as time went on. I would ever and anon return to take my stand there and gaze upon it, wondering what there was left in place of what had gone. Emptiness is a thing man cannot bring himself to believe in; that which is not, is untrue; that which is untrue, is not. So our efforts to find something, where we see nothing, are unceasing.
Just as a young plant, surrounded by darkness, stretches itself, as it were on tiptoe, to find its way out into the light, so when death suddenly throws the darkness of negation round the soul it tries and tries to rise into the light of affirmation. And what other sorrow is comparable to the state wherein darkness prevents the finding of a way out of the darkness?
One could speculate, One angle is that Jyothirnidranth was in deep debt, his stage activities and his business were floundering and he was perhaps involved in a fling with an actress (some letters were found in his coat pocket the day Kadam decided to take her own life). It is also known that Kadam was upset because Jyothirmoy would not take her for a party on the steamer. Then again, Rabi had drifted away by now, the threesome were no longer together and Rabi was living with his senior sister in law. He was no longer the Rahu waiting to envelop the moon. It is even said that Kadambari herself chose the unattractive bride from the estates hoping that Robi would turn down the proposal, but he accepted. Was it because of Robis’ entanglement with Ana? Finally, the childless Kadambari had previously adopted the youngest daughter of Swarnakumari, Rabi’s sister, but by late 1879, she died. By 1883, Kadamabari was sick, possibly suffering from deep and long bouts of depression, for which she had no outlet. And so, one day, she took her life.
Tagore recovered and continued to write and started Shantiniketan, and got deeply involved in his own world. Kadambari was forgotten at Jorasanko, but Tagore continued to include her in his writings. He had dreams and nightmares frequently of her and sketched faceless women, many alluding to memories of Kadambari. In fact Tagore even admitted to the artist Nandalal Bose when he was in his late seventies that it was Kadambari's eyes which lay behind the hundreds of haunting portraits of women he painted in old age. At one time, he even talked to Sigmund Freud and studied his works, to look into himself.
Kadamabari – ah the mystery lady…we know she loved poetry, music and literature, we know she read a lot, something not taken easily by the other women in the household and she cooked well, from what we know, bringing many new dishes to the household. The young Rabi was intensely jealous if she went away to visit relatives, but Kadambari handled him with much aplomb. She loved flowers and birds, it was she who converted the terrace to a garden and she who incessantly criticized him always, except his slicing of the betelnut, by doing it she perhaps kept his vanity in check as his poems brought him fame, little by little…but it was indeed a complex relationship which could never have ended ‘happily ever after’ for any of the three involved. Tragedy eventually struck Kadambari but that was to teach Tagore the essence of creation, that being pain….
That was Shrimati He, the Notun bouthan of Jorasanko. You can see her and feel her in Tagore’s poems, sangeeth and books. Read deep and you will perhaps find out more about her as Tagore intended.
Bandana Mukopadhyay sums it up very well…..As a central character of Tagore's personal life, Kadambari is all but forgotten, snuffed out for having committed suicide, disgraced for her indiscretion that she had dared to love unwisely, ignored for her socially unacceptable role in the making of a poet whose genius knew no bounds.
She was ultimately the one sacrificed and forgotten, in the midst of the people of Jorasanko searching for success and recognition.
Tagore survived, became stronger with the knowledge of grief and wrote prodigiously, but remembering his Nothun bouthen often…for she lived always, in his heart…..
References
Rabindranath Tagore Krishna Kriplani
Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man - Dutta, Robinson & Desai
Selected letters – Tagore, Dutta, Robinson
Tagore – Sriparna Basu
Satyajit Ray: the inner eye Andrew Robinson
Tagore – Sisir Kumar Bose
Gateway to the life of Tagore – Chitralekha Basu – China Daily
pic - Kadambari - Telegrapgh India
27 comments:
Great post.
I read somewhere that Jyotindranath was either gay or not interested in conjugal relations with his wife. Maybe, since brides were so much younger that grooms back then, he never saw her in that light. Apparently, he was liberal in his attitude to her- teaching her horse riding and so on.
Perhaps, for this reason the gossips turned against her and started poisoning her mind.
Since the husband would have been in company with actors and musicians a lot of the time, small minded people would have alleged he was having affairs with all and sundry.
Very tragic story.
Incidentally, I read that Meena Kumari, the great actress was also from the Pir Ali Tagore family-
' One tradition connects her to the Tagore family. Meena Kumari's grandmother, Hem Sundari Thakur (Tagore) was married into the Tagore family but after her husband, Rev Bill's death, she was compelled to give up the use of the family name by the powerful Tagore clan. Her daughter, Prabhawati Devi was a stage actress and dancer with the stage name Kamini before meeting Ali Bux. After their marriage, Prabhawati converted to Islam and changed her name to Iqbal Begum.'
It seems, life for the women in the grand zamindar havelis had its dark side- like in Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam.
What a sad tale! not sure if one should grieve for Kadamabri or for Tagore...but as you wrote, this grief made Tagore write even better.
thanks windwheel..
one thing is clear, the thakurs were strong willed and even though the tagore women were firsts in many things, some things were not meant for home consumption...
Strange that kadambari is still an enigma...
thanks HK..
i understood the situation very well and i understood the consequences too after having watched other instances.. so the way the matters unravelled is not surprising in any way i.e.if the border had been crossed by these two young people..but then who knows??
Gosh Maddy, I always enjoy reading your blogposts.
You should consider writing a book :)
Excellent post, Maddy!
I have seen "Charulatha" when I was young and I was totally moved by the story and the way it was pitcurized by master craftsman, Mr. Ray. I never knew it was based on a true personal story of Tagore. Your post brings out the depth and the unique nature of the love between the two souls and the torment they go through for not being able to take it to the level they might have wished for.
I enjoy all your posts and I sincerely thank you for all the hard work that you putforth to bring out these gems!
Best wishes,
Chandrakumar
Enjoyed reading this. Very sensitive protrayal of a delicate relationship. Incidentally, the aside about Tagore hating the opium trade and sympathising with the Chinese is quite revealing. His patronage of Chinese culture and language in Shantiniketan may have had a lot to do with his reaction to the family trading in opium!
Thanks Chandrakumar.
Only wish I could find some source to check out Kadambari's side of the story and understand the real reasons behind her anguish..
Thanks CHF..
Yes, his family fortune was created from that trade, and he wrote against the practice. I think a lot of Bengalis at that time (if you recall orwell's father was one of the persons involved with administering the opium cultivation) hated the practiuce and also believed the soil was spoiled by the growing of these weeds.
Very captivating read. Your posts are engrossing and introspective.
I have successfully managed to read the posts without being judgemental about the characters involved.
In today's writing world the reader is cornered to bring out specific emotions and label the characters good or bad.
There is always an unknown aspect to every story told. None other than the characters involved will ever know the truth. Your posts let us dwell on that note, leaving us pondering over life as such.
Its a long time since I enjoyed reading. Thanks.
Regret I am discovering them today.
thanks kadambari..
nice to hear that you enjoyed the post, this one is a personal favorite of mine.
please do try and cover some of the others, it is not always that I get a discerning reader spending time on the reams (or should i say millions of 0's and 1's of digital code) I have posted over the years
hi...ahhh..i am not fond of readings books..but i was curious about the relation between kadambari devi and Robi thakor....your writting helped me..to know it better...thanks....
thanks swati.
glad that you understood the connection - still somewhat mysterious!
I am glad that there is enigma around. Most of my friends go to an extent of typing Rabindranath+Kadambai on Google, or the filthy mocking. I feel pity for them but let the essence of this relationship remain esoteric.
thanks jhankar..
i agree.the depth of this relationship is astounding. it takes a really mature mind to understand it, I suppose.
Thanks Maddy for sharing this rare melancholy story and informative as well.
Thanks Sujoy..
It is a melancholic story alright!
glad you enjoyed it
I found your article while searching books that Rabi Thakur dedicated to his Notun-bouthan... I really feel something very differnt whenever I go thorugh any articles relating this mysterious relation... Her death was a big blow in Robi's life... You are right.. Seriously it takes a very developed mind to understand their relationship and the actual reasons of such a painful destiny of Kadambari.. The more curious thing is why Thakurbari is always silent about her death?? there are left no notes.. no letters.. no signs of her.. After reading a lot blogs n book regarding this relation now I think that was there really no suicide note?? Was it really a suicide of a extremely lonely and depressed women?? I know there are no answers for these.. I am ever sad for this mysterious Lady..
Loved reading your post and was moved and impressed by your interpretations. No one would say that you are not a Bengali (except for adding the 'H's where we do not; like Charulata and Jyothirindranath do not have 'h's when we spell them. :-)
There are just a few spell checks you need to run. E.g. "...was the world for Robi (Rabindranath) and older brother (Jyothirindranath) and Jyothirmoy’s wife Kadambari..." -- it should be Jyothirindranath everywhere. In another place, 'bouthan' has been written as 'botun' and something else.
But really beautifully written and presented. Enjoyed every line. I have shared it with many friends. Tagore was a school dropout and I did not know one could go to study law without finishing school. But the rich have their ways, I suppose.
Thanks Sreeparna
I am sure those diaries and the note alluded to something or many things..who knows what was in them?
a mystery...
Thanks Anoushka..
very nice to hear a good review and any kind of critical viewpoints, thanks a lot. appreciate it..
Hi....Today I went to Jorasanko to find Kadambari and her belongings but find nothing so...not even the room where she died nor the Nandankanan,,the garden built by both Tagore and Kadambari...Even I was looking for the Suicide Note written by Kadambari where we find the Pathitic Life of her.....Did you have any Idea why it is still hidden ????
I appreciate your research on Kadambarii...Keep Up....!!!!
Hi....Today I went to Jorasanko to find Kadambari and her belongings but find nothing so...not even the room where she died nor the Nandankanan,,the garden built by both Tagore and Kadambari...Even I was looking for the Suicide Note written by Kadambari where we find the Pathitic Life of her.....Did you have any Idea why it is still hidden ????
I appreciate your research on Kadambarii...Keep Up....!!!!
Thanks Maddy for writing an unbiased post on this lady.
Unlike what is generally presumed, Robindranath's wedding was not the reason that drove Kadambori to end her life. It was perhaps one among many...Robi's wedding, she assumed, and correctly so, would shift his attention towards his new bride (that was the intention when he was married off in such a hurry)...apparently he had written somewhere "Step aside old one...it is time for new to step in" (roughly translated)...something Kadambori perhaps could not accept. After all, Robi was her oldest companion and perhaps the only one in the household who did not pass a judgement about her being infertile and therefore unable to hold her husband back to her.
Now coming over the husband...Jyotirindranath Tagore, a very talented writer and musician shared almost a similar relationship (like the one between Robindranath and Kadambori) with his sister-in-law Jnyanadanandini Devi, the wife of Satyendranath Tagore. Why nobody ever questioned it perhaps was because she was a mother to two children, and perhaps one more who died in infancy and one more who died in the womb...implying however she controlled Jyoti, she also got the attention of her husband and being the polished, educated, practical, and intelligent lady never really moved away from her husband. Something Kadambori did, and perhaps circumstantially...with Jyoti being busy with either theatre, theatre actresses, or his own "Bouthan"...who kept him busy and away from Kadambori strategically. The final nail in the coffin was hit when he failed to turn up to pick up Kadambori for the launch function of his new steamer. A well decked Kadambori sat waiting and incidentally discovered letter written to Jyoti by one of the theatre actresses, stating she was carrying Jyoti's child in her womb (the truth of this is however not confirmed)...having lost the child she held dear (her sister-in-law Swarnakumari's daughter, Urmila) in a freak accident, caused very minimally by her own momentary lapse, Kadambori, already issue-less was chided tremendously by all the women in the family.
It was perhaps all of these together that drove her to the extent of desperation where she did not want to live any more. Or maybe she wanted to prove a point in her death. She was ignored in her life, but her death shook the entire family who went out of their way to hush up the entire incident. Kadambori, hushed out of family and public memory, however, remained and haunted the family forever...
What an enigma!
Thanks Sanchari..
I can imagine how it all was...and a time when things like depression had no treatment or for that matter any understanding...
Life can be so complex for some and life can also choose to be so simple for others....
Could somebody please tell me in which book of poems did Tagore write mostly about his love and sorrow for Kadambari?
It is such a heart-breaknig life story. Such sublime love is possible only in India, Bengal, western world is too physically conditioned. Also the film Kadambari very beautifully presents that tragic love. It is not surprising that the director and the two main actors are Bengalis, especially Kadambari’s role is played so heart-touchingly. Bengal is definitely a land of deep and enlightened emotions – I have seen some other older films like Kamallata, Arogya NIketan, Alo Amar Alo, Shilpi, Saat Pake Bandha…they are all so rich in message of love. And the recent Devon ke Dev Mahadev – the main actor of Sati is also Bengali.
Great post with some information about Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral home of the Tagore family. The house has been restored and currently serves as the Tagore museum .Apart from the heritage routine, Rabindra Bharati University organizes regular cultural programmes ,festival of arts etc. Explore Jorasanko Thakurbari for more details.
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