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I have deliberately chosen to use the words
"thinkers": Tagore and Sikelianos may be familiar to us more as national
poets and writers, they are, however, both, something more, they are
comparable, and their work and their universality connects them. One of
the first in Greece to draw a parallel between them was the Indologist
Vassiliades who remarked that they shared similar inspirations. Both of
them founded, e.g., spiritual movements to promote global understanding
(2000: 174). The two lives (Tagore: 1861-1941, Sikelianos: 1884-1951)
ran, indeed, almost in parallel. Tagore, to be sure, is more known world
wide; he came from a big country, he travelled a lot, whereas Sikelianos'
Greece was and remains small, and if the country is familiar, then, its
reputation is generally meant for Ancient Greece. This was, in a sense,
also the concern of the Greek thinker helped by his first, American
wife: the revival of certain aspects of Ancient Greece, not for his
actual homeland only but for the whole world. Now admired in his country
and in Europe, Sikelianos is among the most renowned modern Greek poets,
integrated by some critics, together with Cavafis and Seferis, into a
"Modern Greek Triptych" (Ivanovici 1979).
As we know from different sources, Tagore visited
Greece, during a series of travels in European countries. His
Song Offerings or
Gitanjali had already been translated into Greek, and this cycle
was republished, for the last time in 1978.2
The collection contains 103 poems, so that it may be assumed that it
relies on the English corpus that consisted largely of the translations
made by Tagore himself. The Greek title, like the English one, may not
render satisfactorily the strong devotional connotation of anjoli,
something like a 'prayer offering', but, to be sure, the religious tenor
is well apprehensible in all texts. Trikoglidis, who approaches his work
with great respect, goes as far as to place Tagore's figure between
Jesus of Nazareth and Plato (Tagore 1978: 5). He adds that the Indian
poet, with his calmness and his serene beauty, "paved for the Europeans
the way to the orient", and "graced the entrance to the Oriental temples
with flowers; the exhausted western spirit found a new source of
inspiration" ( ib.
p. 6).
There are several points where a comparison between
the Indian and the Geek poet is relevant. Tagore may have been more
successful reaching his objectives but the universalism3
of the two authors in thought and programme is similar. Both of them
travelled a lot though, Sikelanos mostly to the West whereas Tagore
visited also several other countries. Both of them originated from a
respected family: a wealthy one, self-evident for a Brahmin family like
in the case of Tagore, whereas Sikelianos was born into a good and
educated milieu (his father was a language teacher) with an aristocratic
attitude and traditions (Anton 1988b: 253), on the western Greek island
of Leukas. Both of them had the possibility to read and learn at home,
and, strikingly, both of them began to read law: prospective barrister
Tagore left University College London to explore Shakespeare and more;
Sikelianos enrolled at the Faculty of Law of Athens University in 1901.
By 1902, it was clear that he took a much more intense interest in the
cultural and literary life of the Greek capital, and he never
transferred to the Bar. Tagore, as early as 1913, and as the first
non-European, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Greek poet was not
as lucky as that, but as a fact, he was nominated for this prize three
times, in 1945, 1947 and 1949 (Frangou-Kikilia
1993/2001: 47). Tagore, in the wake of the family tradition, founded an
ashram, and later the Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan (Vassiliades
2000: 191[17], Sen 2005: 114ff.); Sikelianos did much to develop the
so-called Delphic Idea
part if which would have been a "Delphic University" (Sikelianos 1930b).
If he had been successful the university would have been, in
continuation of the Delphic Oracle that was in a sense a centre in
classical times, a universal educational establishment, open to the
whole world (ib.,
e.g. p. 7), with a focus on art, literature, drama, dance and similar.
One may recall here that in Delphi, on the site of very ancient centres
of cult, from the 6th c. B.C. onward, a famous seat of oracle of
international reputation had developed, and it was literally believed
that Delphi was the centre ("the navel") of the Earth: the omphalos,
symbolizing the centre, an ancient religious stone artifact, is now on
exhibition in Delphi Archaeological Museum. Similarly to the Olympic
Games, the Pythian (i.e. Delphic) Games were important and had a
panhellenic character. These were, however, not only athletic games but
also various cultural events where drama and music had a paramount role.
Sikelianos was helped by his wife, Eva, with her
contributions, and in an altruistic fashion, with her whole fortune.
Eva's contribution is set out in a large autobiography (Palmer-Sikelianos
2010). Tagore was happier: the Visva-Bharati
University in Santiniketan provides education on Indian culture both to
Indians and foreigners. The Delphic University would have been also part
of a universal Delphic Union
(on which cf. Sikelianos 1932). There is no direct information on any
relationship between Sikelianos and Tagore. I don't know if they knew
each other personally or by repute but certainly, the Indian tradition
and culture is present in the Greek thinker's work. E.g., he writes on
cultural and moral "revolution" and he acknowledges Gandhi's
achievements (1932: 3-4). He also invites East and West to meet at
Delphi (ib. p. 16), and does not forget about Eastern and Western
music either, for the cultivation of which he had ordered a special
organ for his wife from Germany capable to analyze and play also Eastern
tunes (ib. p. 17). One remembers that Tagore was a composer, too.
In his treatise on the Delphic Union,
in quest for the origins, Sikelianos alludes to "the clean foundations
of primeval societies", and Vedic India, together with "Orphic Greece",
is among them (1932: XI). Surprisingly, he cites Dhan Gopal Mukerji who
wrote that "Europe cannot attract India any more since Greece is not any
more with Europe; Greece, however, speaks to the heart of the Indians" (ib.
p. 2). Last but not least, love is essential in the poetry of
Tagore. Sikelianos may not have written on love and affection so often
if compared, but in his Delphic Appeal
this is, beside universality, very emphatically present: "Mankind needs
love", he repeats several times (e.g. 1930a: 4-5). Similarly, an
important thought is expressed in his work on Digenis Akritas, a
medieval Greek epic hero, when he declares that thought is unable to
come up because love had come before (cited by Ivanovici 1979: 67).4
Whereas Tagore ’s
religiousness and spirituality cannot be questioned, his Supreme Lord
was neither a Hindu god nor the Christian one but a universial spiritual
being; similarly, as Keely and Sherrard remark, “Sikelianos felt no
embarrassment in invoking
‘my
Christ and my Dionysos’
in a single breath” (Sikelianos 1979: XVI). Both of them were prolific
writers, and in any case, Sikelianos was much more prolific than Cavafy
and Seferis, his two comparable fellow-travellers (ib. XIX). Last but
not least, the "Delphic Idea" can be compared with the "Idea of India",
at least in Tagore's interpretation, who thought that the idea
"militates against the intense consciousness of the separateness of
one's own people from others" (Sen 2005: 72). Sen adds: "Celebration of
Indian civilization can go hand in hand with an affirmation of India's
active role in the global world". On Tagore, he writes further that
"Tagore put the rationale well, in a letter to C.F. Andrews: 'Whatever
we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours,
wherever they might have their origin' " (ib. p. 86).
Having a look at Tagore's Nobel Prize Winner work,
the Gitanjali, the Western reader is impressed by the fact how similar
his poems to works of Christian inspiration are. This might be a
"departure" from the prescribed course of Indian thinking. We know,
however, that the moral worth of Hinduism and the Christian values are
close. Sikelianos also "departed" from accepted values, but this was not
a real departure: he remained in his native culture and native land. He
only expanded various dimensions and stressed things differently. Beside
universality of the two spiritual commitments, Hinduism and
Christianity, there is also the universality, strongly felt, both in
Tagore's and Sikelianos' work. One may consider Tagore's short poem "Who
is This?" meaning the Lord in whose company the poet is "ashamed to come
to [His] door" - this finds a parallel in Christian liturgy .
Cf.
this New Testament passage:
“ When Jesus entered
Capernaum, a Roman officer met him and begged him for help:
‘Sir,
my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering
terribly.’
‘I
will go and make him well,’
Jesus said. ‘Oh,
no, Sir,’
answered the officer.
‘I do not deserve to
have you come into my house. Just give the order, and my servant will
get well’
(Matthew 8: 5-8). In the Catholic liturgy, during the Holy Communion, the
passage
beginning with “Just give the order”
is
adapted as a parable where the word “soul” substitutes the original
“servant”.
Here is the famous “Prayer” by Sikelianos, where
love is
also present, comparable not only with Tagore ’s
“Give me Strength” using the word “prayer” but first of all with his
“Face to Face”. Sikelianos writes:
“ Naked
the soul prays to You. Stripped of joy,
of
suffering and pleasure,
naked
the soul prays to You, Creator, with its
uncreated voice alone,
that
voice which, before entering my flesh, in Your breast
–
as a
cicada hidden in the olive tree
–
beat
in my heart as Your will, crying “Victory,
victory in all things,”
and
it was not my voice, it was Yours, Lord; with that
alone
I pray to You: release in me
the
secret purpose I tasted deeply outside time,
so
that I may love, may love
beyond human images and all created things, beyond the single
pulse
that throbs inside me,
one
now for the living and the dead: grant me,
grant
me deliverance,
to
feel again the uncreated Eros
filling my breast,
and
to be to all, to things near and far away,
as
the wind ’s
sound and breath.”5
Tagore ’s
“Face to face” from the Gitanjali:
“ Day
after day, O lord of my life,
shall
I stand before thee face to face.
with
folded hands, O lord of all worlds,
shall
I stand before thee face to face.
Under
thy great sky in solitude and silence,
with
humble heart shall I stand before thee face to face.
In
this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil
and
with struggle, among hurrying crowds
shall
I stand before thee face to face.
And
when my work shall be done in this world,
O
King of kings, alone and speechless
shall
I stand before thee face to face.”6
The "Signet of Eternity" by Tagore expands the
horizon both in time and space: the poet waits for "the happy moment
[when he is going] to see", whereas in the "Brink of Eternity", at which
he has arrived to see "the allness of the universe" one feels an
affinity with Christian hymns. Let's stop here: this is not the place to
analyze the amazing passage by Sikelianos on "The death of Digenis".
Beside "love", already mentioned, that "overtakes thought", there is an
addition. Thought says "you can't enter", but the poet is defiant: "I'll
enter; and I enter free, and I will step out free" (Ivanovici 1979: 67).7
Sikelianos, like Tagore, "did not fit", either. He
was not cursed, like Tagore was in the end, by Yeats, yet Tagore gained
a unique professional and social standing. For Sikelianos, there was the
indifference instead. This may happen to great spirits. In such cases,
it is Posterity that must discover them, and give them a just
evaluation.8 Should, perhaps, Sikelianos
have been born in India?
Notes
1. The paper
is a revised version of the original read as a Special Address at Shri
Venkateshwara College of Education & Shri Venkateshwara College of Arts
& Science on 3.1.2011 at Peravurani, South India.
2. This is an edition by the
Athenian publisher Iridanos, under the title " Lyric
Offerings", with the subtitle "Gitanjali",
containing the 1921 Foreword by the translator K. Trikoglidis, and a new
note by Iridanos. The same publishing house, in the same year also
issued the Indian Short Stories
by Tagore, containing e.g. the story on the Ganges riverside, that of
Kouzoum. The second edition of the "Lyrical
Offerings" translated by Rena Kartheou
(Athens, 1954) was comprised in the series "A
Hundred Immortal Works" under no. 51. The
volume contains also "The Gardener"
(published by Tagore in 1913), translated by Kostas Kartheos, and "Stray
Birds" (published by Tagore in 1916),
translated by Kostas Kartheos and Rena Kartheou). This book gives, in
Greek translation, the Introduction written by W.B. Yeats to the
Gitanjali (pp. 5-14). Naturally, a number of other works of Tagore have
also been translated into Greek.
3. Sen (2005: 95) relates that
"Tagore's many sided writings" did not fit "into the narrow box Yeats
wanted to place - and keep him" so that the latter, whereas he admired
the Gitanjali and helped its English edition, by 1935, arrived at
Tagore's denunciation: "Damn him".
4. On Sikelianos' religiousness,
cf. Palmer-Sikelianos 2000: 143.
5. For the Greek original, see
Sikelianos 1979: 40, where also the English translation, cited here.
6.
For the Greek
rendering of
this poem, see
Tagore 1978:
56-57 (no.
76). For the
English translation,
here, as well
as elsewhere,
I used online
sources that
could be thought
as reliable.
7. As far as I know, there is no
English translation of this drama. I cite the whole passage in the
French rendering:
“ Je
me suis endormi dans un profond vertige,
Comme
l’abeille
une nuit entière dans la rose,
Et
je viens de rouvrir les yeux pour veiller
Sur
mes derniers moments, là où la pensée n’arrive
pas,
Mais
où l’
amour parvient,|
Là
où la pensée écrit: «tu ne peux entrer», à quoi je réponds
«J ’entrerai»,
car j’entre
et sors comme je veux…” (Sikelianos 1960: 117-118). For the
Greek original, cf. Sikelianos 1948: 76).
8.On the
contemporary lack
of understanding
about Sikelianos'
ideas, cf.
Samoladas 1982: 25.
Still, in a
sense, posterity
decided in
favour of the
Greek poet.
Now, an International
Delphic Council
exists the
founder of which
is the German
Christian Krisch.
He could win
for his plans
late Minister
of Education Melina
Mercouri whose
death in the
early 90 ’s
was a serious
setback. Yet
some international cultural
events in
recent years took
place. But
Delphi was not
the only
scene of the
modern games.
See some remarks
on the
ancient and modern
importance of
Delphi by M.
Laser (1995)
and by the
archaeologist F.
Lang (1995),
in German, with
parallel Greek
texts.
References
Anton, J.P.
1988(a) Eva Palmer-Sikelinos (in
Greek). World Biographical
Lexicon 9A (Athens:
Ekdotiki Athinon), pp. 255-256
1988(b) Angelos Sikelianos (in
Greek). World Biographical
Lexicon 9A (Athens:
Ekdotiki Athinon), pp. 253-255
Frangou-Kikilia, Ritsa
1993/2001 Sikelianos, Angelos
(in Greek). Encyclopedia
Papyrous- Larousse-Britannica
54: 46-49
Ivanovici, V.
1979 A Modern Greek Triptych:
Cavafis, Seferis, Sikelianos
(in Greek). Athens: Exandas
Lang, Franziska
1995 Die Pythischen Spiele von
Delphi. Chronika 2, Nr.4: 1-2
Laser, M.
1995 Wiederbelebung: Delphische Spiele der
Neuzeit. Chronika 2, Nr.4: 3-5
Palmer-Sikelianos, Eva
2000
The Sacred Panic (Autobiography)
(in Greek). Athens (Koropi Attikis): Militos (Translated and
complemented with an Introduction from
Upward Panic:
The Autobiography of Eva Palmer-Sikelianos,
Routledge 1993, by J.P. Anton)
Samoladas, Z.
1982
Sikelianos, the Delphic Idea, and its Future
(in Greek). Thessaloniki: Graphic Arts ASE
Sen, Amartya
2005
The Argumentative Indian. Writings on Indian
History, Culture and Identity.
London etc.: Penguin
Sikelianos, A.
1930(a)
The Delphic Appeal
(in Greek). Delphi: ©Author
1930(b)
The Delphic University
(A Preliminary Draft)
(in Greek). Delphi: ©Author
1932 The Delphic Union
(An Intimation)
(in Greek). Athens: ©Author
1948 The Death of Digenes
(in Greek). Woodcuts by Spyros Vassiliou. Athens: Ikaros
1960 Poèmes akritiques. La
mort de Digénis. Tragédie.
Adaptation française par Octave Merlier.
Bois de Spyro Vassiliou. Athènes: IFA
1979
Selected Poems.
Translated and Introduced by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
[Bilingual Edition]. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Tagore, R.
1978 Lyric Offerings. Gitangali
(in Greek). Translated by Kostas Trikoglidis. Athens: Iridanos
2010
Gitanjali: Selected Poems.
“Song Offerings ”.
Translations made by the author from the original Bengali. Online source
http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/history/teachers/rabindranath-tagore/gitanjali
Vassiliades, D.Th.
2000
The Greeks in India. A Survey in Philosophical
Understanding.
Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
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