The 90th anniversary of the visit of poet Rabindranath Tagore to the city to meet Sri Aurobindo was celebrated here recently.
A special commemoration was held on Beach Road by The World Peace Trust of Puducherry and the Bangavani Trust of Nabadwip Dham West Bengal.
Tagore was on his way to England when he expressed a desire to meet Sri Aurobindo in Puducherry at a time when Sri Aurobindo was not meeting people.
This visit was an exception with the initiative of The Mother. Tagore arrived on May 29, 1928, off the coast of Puducherry by a ship Chantilly from Madras.
A sail in a barrel
“As there was no jetty in Puducherry at the time, Tagore sat in a small stool inside a barrel which was placed in a small boat and taken to the shore. The meeting lasted only 20 minutes and Tagore is believed to have repeated his poem, ‘Namaskar,’ which he had first offered to Sri Aurobindo in 1907,” said Dibyendu Goswami, secretary of Bangavani Trust.
Sri Aurobindo and Tagore had similar thoughts on uplifting humanity through the centres — World Unity established in Santiniketan, Auroville established by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo Ashram as the source of spiritual upliftment.
Member of Legislative Assembly and president of World Peace Trust K. Lakshminarayanan said Puducherry was blessed by the fact that great men such as Sri Aurobindo and Subramanya Bharathi chose to live in the town and spread their message of love.
Similar thoughts
Though Tagore and Bharathi never met during their lifetime, they understood each others’ thoughts well and this was proved by the references Bharathi made to Tagore in many of his works, he said. The programme included the recital of the poem ‘Namaskar.’
There was also dance and music on Tagore’s songs (Rabindra Sangeet) by Bangavani group.
