Prez receives first copies of two books on Rabindranath Tagore

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India, inaugurated the event and received the first copy of the books ‘Tagore’s Vision of the Contemporary World’ and ‘Tagore and Russia’. The books have been edited by Prof Indra Nath Choudhuri and Dr Reba Som respectively.

President Pranab Mukherjee, expressed gratitude for the gracious patronage, guidance and support. The President said that Tagore’s idea of global harmony, co-existence and co-operation of individuals and civilizations is best expressed in his own words.

 He added, “Considering Tagore’s special contact with Russia, I thank ICCR for organising the International Seminar to unfold and reassess his perception of Communist Russia.” 

The first book, ‘Tagore’s Vision of the Contemporary World’ focuses on the world view Tagore had, where ‘knowledge is free’ and ‘where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit’ and also to discover, as Tagore had said, ‘the most profound unity, the spiritual unity between the races’.

 They had celebrated the anniversary of Tagore with events around the world and seven major conferences in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Russia, Vietnam, Hungary and India.

The second book ‘Tagore and Russia’ is about Tagore’s special love for the said country and Russia’s influence on his writings and poems. The purpose behind publishing the book ‘Tagore and Russia’, which is a compilation of the seminar papers is to give impetus to those aspects of Tagore’s study, which throws light on India’s relation with Russia and perception about other civilizations of the world.”