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Rabindranath Tagore

150 Years Birth Anniversary

19 September 2011

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the great poet and educationist, immensely enriched the Bengali language and in literature promoted the spoken Bengali language which had until then been looked down upon by Bengali intellectuals. He also improvised Bengali songs and music to a great extent. In 1913 Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for his invaluable literary work Gitanjali (Song Offerings). He was very critical of the educational curriculum set by the British colonial system, and in 1918 he founded the university Visva Bharati through which he hoped to bridge the best of the West and the best of the East.

Tagore was active in protests against the British colonial regime when the partition of the large province of Bengal in East and West Bengal was announced in 1905. However he renounced political activities when the protests turned violent.

His song 'Jana gana mana' has been adapted as the National Anthem of India and 'Amar Sonar Bangla' as the National Anthem of Bangladesh.

Preliminary programme, 19 September 2011

Venue: Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen,
Building 23, Auditorium 23.0.49
Njalsgade 128, DK-2300 Copenhagen S

10:00 Introduction by organizers
 - Chair of the Asian Dynamics Initiative, Marie Roesgaard, University of Copenhagen
 - Associate Prof. Peter B. Andersen, Centre of Global South Asian Studies, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen

10:25 Speech by H.E. Ashok Kumar Attri, Ambassador of India to Denmark

10:45 Coffee and tea

11:00 Lecture by Associate Prof. Peter B. Andersen
Tagore and Denmark

11.30 Lecture by Mag.Art. Annemette Karpen
Tagore's drama and Satyajit Ray's film

12.15 Lunch

13.15 Lecture by Dr. Reba Som, Director, ICCR Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata
Chhabi O Gaan - Pictures and Songs - the Tagorean Connect (between the exhibition of Tagore's pictures at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen in 1930 and the present exhibition)

14.00 Lecture by Professor William Radice, SOAS, University of London
Tagore, Gitanjali and the Nobel Prize

14:45 Coffee and tea

15.00 Lecture by Dr. Asoke Bhattacharya, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
Tagore's Pedagogic Ideals as Manifested in Shantiniketan

15:45 Conclusion

16:00 End of conference

Sponsored by:

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India
The Embassy of India, Copenhagen
Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI), NIAS, and the Rectorate/International Office at the University of Copenhagen
In collaboration with Indian Music Society, Denmark

Contact person for the Tagore 150th anniversary programme in Copenhagen:

Dr. Peter B. Andersen, Associate Prof., Ph.D., Centre of Global South Asian Studies, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Artillerivej 86, DK-2300 Copenhagen S.
Phone +45 35 32 91 90, E-mail peterba@hum.ku.dk

The celebration of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary continues with a cultural evening (20th September) organised at Teater Sagohuset in Lund as well as academic seminars in Lund (21st), Stockholm (22nd) and Uppsala (23rd).