topics: |  biography | lit | bengali | tagore

In 1878, at age 17, Rabindranath went to England for the first time. Prior to this, he spends a couple of months with his brother Satyendranath Tagore (b.1841, 20 years older to R), at the time the only Indian to be inducted into the Indian Civil Service (1865). In May 1878 he travels with Satyendranath to Ahmedabad, where S is district and sessions judge. Here he stays in his palacial home, the erstwhile royal residence of Shahibagh, on the banks of the Sabarmati. Satyendranath, who knows Marathi, is working on a life of TukAram, and R chips in with many translations for his abhangs. (At the time, Satyendranath's wife Gyanadanandini is at Brighton along with their son Suren and daughter Indira).

Staying in a room on the massive roof, the poet is given to wandering the terrace in the evenings, overlooking the river. It is at this time that he composes his first songs.

In August 1978, R travels to Bombay prior to his departure in September. He stays with Atmaram Pandurang, a marathi doctor, with three emancipated daughers, Durga, Manik and Anna, all three of whom had spent some years studying in England. Partly, the objective is that Rabi should learn some western mores.

Rabi grew closest to the youngest daugher Anna Turkhud - he has written that
they were both 16 at the time, but possibly Anna was a few years older.
Anna teaches him English and he helps her learn Bangla.  He also shares some
poetry with her, and sings some of the songs he is composing.  , and they
grow close.  He suggests the name "nalini" for her; many of his plays feature
a character called Nalini, who is often a mercurial woman, appears
cold-hearted but loving woman.

One day Anna wants to play tug of war with Rabi - when they start, she
gives in easily.

Another time, she tells R that if someone steals the glove of a woman, he
earns the right to kiss her.  Then she falls asleep on the easy chair in her
room.  However, on waking she finds beside her that both her gloves are
intact.  While Rabi realizes that something big is happening, he is not
able to proceed. p. 12-13

from http://sesquicentinnial.blogspot.in/2010/08/shrimati-hey.html

In early 1879, while Rabi was enduring in London winter, Atmaram Turkhud,
social reformer  of Bombay visited Calcutta with his two younger daughters,
one of them Ana. It seems highly likely that marriage between Ana and Rabi
was mooted by Atmaram- and rejected by Debendranath. Ana's own feelings may
be gauged from the fact that after her marriage  (to a Scotsman), she
continued to use Nalini, the name Rabindranath had given her, as a literary
name and that one of her nephews was named Rabindranath.  Ana died young in
Edinburgh in obscurity. 

Return to jorAsAnko : Kadambari Devi

[Tagore returns from England in 1880, after a two year absence from jorasAnko]

In 1868, Jyotirindranath, Tagore's elder brother, had married
kAdambini devi. he was 19, she nine. Rabi, who is two yours younger
than her, becomes her closest playmates.  Over the next many years,
kAdambini shares his poetry and becomes his muse - they read the vaishnav
poets together - some of these verses are sexually charged, though mostly
they are about viraha or separation.  subsequently he writes bhAnusiMher
padAvali, in the vaiShNava style, claiming that it is a newly discovered poet. 


around end-April 1880, the play mAnmayI by jyotirindranAth and akshay
chaudhuri is staged, with jyoti, rabi, kAdambarI devi and nIpamayI devi in
key roles.  it may be the first dance drama (gitinATya) in bengali, to use
both prose dialogue and song.  one of the songs, Ay tabe sahachari, was
contributed by tagore; he may also have contributed two others (p.65 bottom). 

kAdambari affectionately calls him bhAnu.  rabi calls her "Hecate" after
the character in macbeth, shortened to Lady He, or "shrimati he".

vAlmiki pratibhA

rabindranAth composes the operatic dance drama, vAlmiki
pratibhA in 1881.  it is staged on feb 26, at the vidvajjan samAgam
- a literary festival which invited all the leading figures.  rabindranAth
is vAlmikI, niece pratibhA (hemendranAth's daughter) is saraswati, and a
number of others are dacoits.  among the audience is bankim, who praises the
composition and the performance. p.82-85

kAdambari is not mentioned in this connection.  

1881 april rabindranAth leaves for England.  on the ship to madras he becomes
very close with ashutosh chaudhuri, who will remain a lifelong friend - he is
to marry pratibhA devi in 1886.  

however, rabi cannot get on to the ship to britain because he has to bring
someone back... p.100

a few months later, jyotirindranAth and kAdambari moved to a rented house at
10 sudder street, next to the museum.  rabindranAth of course, stayed with
them.  this is the period when prabhAt saMgIt is written. p.147

in october 1882, the three of them spent about a month in darjeeling - it was
the durga puja period.  156

kAdambari as poet?

on p.175-6, pAl refers to an article by rabi in bhAratI, where he talks about
how after "prabhAt-saMgIt" is published and the book reaches him, he feels
despondent because the person who was with him when these poems were written
is no more.  he clearly remembers the rain, the tears. 

on the manuscript, he also can see the "hijibiji" scribbled by kAdambarI (on
some margin) - alas, hers was true poetry, but mine was the hijibiji that got
published.  

the manuscript of prabhAt-saMgIt has not been located, and may be lost. 
[possibly destroyed along with kAdambari's letters?] 

At another point, pAl finds a few names written on the margin of a
manuscript; these, he surmises, are the only extant handwritings of
kAdambarI since all else has been destroyed or lost.

[from http://sesquicentinnial.blogspot.in/2010/08/shrimati-hey.html:
[from june 1883, kadambari devi was suffering from an unspecified
illness - possibly a mental illness, though there is no firm evidence for
this]. 

pAl hints at an earlier suicide attempt, but says nothiing about an actual
illness. 


video "shrimati hey" (by Sravasti; Hindustan Records Inreco): 
    reconstruction of kadambari, jyotirindranath and rabi on the roof of
    the jorasanko c. 1877 - jyotirindranAth is drawing a portrait of
    kadambini.  rabi is writing in a diary with a pen being dipped in ink.
    kadambari knits a scarf and shows it to rabi.  jyotindranath is playing
    a violin - e lo sakhi le.  rabi and kadambari playing chess (rabi
    loses).  kadambari acting as Urvashi in a play - Ay tabe sahachari -
    with another woman dancer.

marriage to mriNAlini

seventeen years after jyotirindranAth, on 17 dec 1883, rabi gets married to
bhabatAriNi, a 11-year old girl from a wealthy family in jashor. it is
thought that the name mriNAlinI was given to her by rabindranAth;
prabhAtkumAr mukhopAdhyAy feels that this word has a resonance of rabi's
favourite name, "nalini".  pAl feels it reflects a line from the play
'Joutuk ki koutuk', written by dvijendranAth and dedicated to rabi's
marriage: 
	aninditA svarNa-mr^iNAliNI hok.  p.177,188

like many brides who entered the tagore family, mriNAlinI had had very
little education.   her village of dakshinDihi had a primary school where
she went upto class one, but fearing social stigma, she was not sent to take
the exam in the faraway center.  thus she never went beyond this. p.189. 

after entering the tagore household, satyendranAth's wife gyAnadannandini
appears to have taken charge of her education, [she and indirA devi, another
favourite of rabi, were the same age].  kAdambarI moved in with them to
their rented house on lower circular road (satyendranath was at the time
sessions judge elsewhere).  she was admitted to loreto convent.

[mriNAlinI was thus a vast contrast to kAdambari who is by then an
accomplished aesthete - singer, actor, and lover of literature, and going
by some comments of rabi, a poet as well.

kadambari devi suicide

Five months after rabi's marriage, on the intervening night of April 20-21,
1884, kAdambari devi died after consuming an overdose of opium.  the exact
date of her death is not known. 
on april 18 and 19, the cashbooks indicate payments to dr. d.b. smith
(rs. 400) and several other doctors brought in from afar, whose hotel bills
are also paid. 

it was rumoured that some days earlier, a few letters had been found from
jyotirindranAth's pocket, indicating an intimacy with another woman,
possibly an actress.  it is possible that her earlier depression and
possible suicide attempt was also related to this interest.  it is rumoured
that she said as much in a letter she may have written.

prof. jagadish bhaTTAcharya has also read into some works of akhShay
chaudhuri and bihArilAl some hints at possible indiscretions by
jyotirindranAth. 

indirA devi has written that "at the time, jyotikAku was busy with a
ship-building enterprise.  one evening there was to be a music jalasA there,
but at the last moment he got busy and was not able to take her there.  but
was this all that caused her to take this step?" [p. 205]

prashantakumAr pAl has commented on the possible relation to her emotional
intimacy with rabi, in the middle of a lengthy analysis.  pAl suggests that
her child-less situation, in the midst of all the children being born to
the other wives, caused her some depression.  also, it led her to shower
all her affection onto her devar, rabi.  however, with his increasing
attachment to satyendranAth's cultured family, and also his increasing fame
as a poet, was limiting their interactions.  at such a juncture she needed
jyotirindranAth's companionship more than anything else.

however at this very time, jyoti discovered the discarded hull of a ship,
which was certified to be in good condition.  remembering dvarakAnAth's
interest in shipping, he immediately became greatly enthused with the idea of
running a service from kolkAta to khulnA.  however, the ship, which he
christened 'sarojinI', got much too delayed in the process of fitting a
boiler and getting it ready, and in the interim, another company started this
khulnA service. (p. 202)

due to all these reasons, jyotirindranAth was not able to spend time with
kAdambarI, suggests pAl(p. 205)
[however, i think there also may have been some emotional disconnect -
otherwise jyoti would have found the time.]

however, if the event was caused by some affair of jyoti, we must remember
that at the time the brAhma samAj had split into two viciously rival groups,
with jyoti as the secretary of the Adi brAhma group.  surely any such
salacious news would have provided fodder to the other group and would have
come into the limelight.  pAl therefore suggests that what prof. bhaTTAcharya
and others may be incorrect in their analysis, and that most probably it
was lack of companionship that led to her taking this step. 

at the time, kadambari was not quite 25 years old. 

owing to the family prestige, the matter did not go for a proper police
investigation.  the coroner came to the house where court was held
(detailed expenses for this purpose are outlined on p. 206 - counsellor fee
rs. 51, coroner fee rs. 51, fare 58, etc.).  

pAl suggests that the original coroner report must be in some file in an
office somewhere; if this can be recovered, one may find further details of
her death.

all her letters were burned based on instructions from debendranAth. p. 204

There was no announcement in any newspaper.  An entry in the account book
says, "Expenses towards preventing the newspapers from publishing
the news of natun badhu ThAkurANi's death :  Rs. 52."  p. 207a