The purpose of the Tagore Society, as a non-profit cultural organization is to promote the ideals of universalism and humanism as exemplified by the life and works of the Indian poet, Rabindra Nath Tagore, and to bring Indian and Americans close together through cultural activities.

The main objective of the society is to stimulate the understanding of these ideals through lectures, symposiums, music, dance, drama, art exhibits and other relevant activities. An enthusiastic group of talented members mounted, as its first program, a Spring Festival based on Tagore’s “Cycle of Spring” on March 26, 1960 at the Community Church of New York. The successful program was directed by Dr. Penelope Estabrook (music) Dr. Jayasree Roychowdhury (dance) and Dr. Basabi Sarbadhikari.

Tagore Society celebrated Tagore Centenary in the month of May, 1961 through four colourful events; a cultural program at International House of New York with Tagore’s music, dance and poems; a Centenary meeting at Community Church with Tagore’s devotional songs and tribute speeches; a Centenary Banquet in collaboration with the Indian Consulate General and Indian Chamber of Commerce and an Exhibition of Tagore’s paintings in collaboration with the Indian Consulate General. Renowned American dancer, Hadassa, opera singer Betty Allen, Indian actor Sayeed Jaffrey, and sitarist, Penolope Estabrook performed in the Centenary Banquet Program. A special issue of Tagore Society newsletter was published on this occasion. These programs were organized by Renuka Biswas, Prafulla Mukerji and Arin Chakravarty.

Since its inception in 1959, the Tagore Society of New York has woven a unique tapestry of activities into the cultural life of the Indian community and the interested American Community. Throughout these years, there have been several major threads in this colourful tapestry.

ONE THREAD highlights a long series of public programs which offer the richness of Indian Culture through the art. Tagore society members took the lead in organizing a number of Tagore dance-drama, among them Chandalika, Chitrangada and Shyama.

We have sponsored outstanding Indian musicians such as Nikhil Banerjee, Suchitra Mitra, Kanika Banerjee and Purna Das Baul. We also presented an original program of Indian Music Thriugh the Ages by local area talent.

The society was primary force behind the eight-month long run of Tagore’s drama, King of the Dark Chamber, in an Off-Broadway theatre. Several Bengali plays have also been presented.

Carefully selected quality flims by Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and others were shown. On several occasions we enjoyed the personal appearences by Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar.

In the field of art, we mounted several painting exhibits, during one of which we heard Stella Kranrisch, the worldrenowned art historian, illuminare our exibit of Tagore’s paintings as A festival of Inspiration.

Poetry readings by our members have been a frequent feature of our programs. On special occasions we have also enjoyed poetry readings by Sayeed Jaffrey and Harindranath Chattopadhyay.

A SECOND THREAD highlights many significant lectures, symposiums and seminars. Among our well-known speakers have been Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Jaya Prakash Narain and Kamaladevi Chattopadhay.

A unique series of fifteen lectures over a four-month period explored the myriad facets of Tagore and his contributions to India and the world. Another six-lecture series was arranged jointly with the India Council of Asia society. We cooperated with the Indian Club of Columbia University on regular symposia over a two-year period. Individual events have been a regular part of our activities over the years.

A THIRD THREAD in our tapestry highlights our sustained interest in cooperating with other organizations for common cultural and educational goals. We initiated the idea of a Joint Committee of Indian Organizations some year ago. Together we celebrated India’s Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary on an annual basis. The Joint Committee has now developed into the Federation of Indian Associations.

Together with the Society of Asian Music and a number of other Indian associations, joint cultural and educational programs were arranged. We have been pleased to arrange dance-dramas and music programs at the invitation of numerous associations in the tri-state area.

The major threads of Tagore Society’s objectives continue. We recently were fascinated by Sisir Bose, nephew of Netaji Subhas Bose, speaking on “Tagore and Netaji”. A stimulating symposium on Tagore and Today’s World” was held at Columbia University with the collaboration of the Southern Asia Institute of Columbia University.

For the past several years, the annual celebration of Tagore’s birth anniversary has been held at the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium of the United Nations with outstanding programs featuring, among other, Suchitra Mitra, Ritha Devi and music by a special performing group of members and friends.

Now, with this inaugural edition of the Tagore Society Literary Series, we have another thread into the tapestry with the desire to further serve the ideals which continue to be the roots of Tagore Society as we celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary in 1984. We hope this literary series will be a spearhead by which an ongoing tribute to Rabindranath Tagore and what he stood for can flourish on American soil with all the vitality and diversity of changing contemporary times.

Abhas Dutta & Ratna Dutta

From its inception in 1959, the Tagore Society has grown in strength and stature through active participation of members in a wide variety of social, cultural and educational programs. It has thus served the purpose of cultivating interests in the many faceted creations of the poet among Bengali ethnic and other Indian and American groups.

Activities through 1986 to the present date have included musical Soirees presented by various eminent artistes, such as Sm. Bani Thakur (1987). Dr. Amiya Benerjee (1987) Rukayia Hasina-Neely and Dr. Arup Ratan Chowdhury (1988) from Bangladesh and Sm. Pratima Mullick (1989). The noted choreographer and dancer Sm. Alakananda Roy (1987), Bina Ramaiah and Iris Park presented a successful dance performance. Self composed poems of Joan Zinderman and selections from Tagore were recited by members and guests at the annual meetings, sarod recital by Shyamal Sen (1988) and a Sitar recital by Samar Dasgupta (1988) also added to the enjoyment of an appreciative audience in two of these meetings.

The Tagore Society organized a few seminars and lectures inviting eminent educationists. Notable among them was Professor Sovan Som, Indian national Professor and Head of the Department of Fine Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, who delivered a unique and artistic well illustrated with rare slides on Tagores works.

In May of 1986 the Tagore Society sponsored a three day event to celebrate Tagores 125th birthday jointly with the Banga Sanskiriti Sangha, Milani and other organizations. In this conference discussions and seminars were mainly organized by the society. Besides these, in this conference interesting programs featuring dance, music and dance drama drew large audiences from various parts of U.S.A.

The Tagore Society participated in the Asian Studies conference for the first time in 1988 in the State University of New York at Albany, The Panel on Tagore’s relevance to contemporary life was chaired by Dr. Rose Mukherji-Bergesen, Dr. Khondker M. Alamgir’s paper on Tagore was presented at this panel while Dr. Prem Prasad discussed deeper meanings and values of a selection of Tagore’s poems.

In 1989 a seminar was organized in collaboration with the Bangladesh students of the Columbia University. Dr. Ujjal Majumdar, Head of the Department of Bengali Literature, Calcutta University presented a well researched paper highlighting the life and early writings of Tagore. Later in the same year Mr. Koushik Ahmed of Bangladesh presented a thought provoking paper on Tagore.

Tagore’s birthday and the 75th anniversary of his being awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature were celebrated at the Community Church of New York in 1988. Dr. Donald Harrington honoured the occasion as the guest speaker.

A unique celebration of Tagore’s birthday (1989) featured the distribution of cakes to the children at various schools that offer lessons in Bengali language. Tagore’s life and works as a poet, philosopher, novelist, painter, writer and educationist were briefly described in this birthday to the young children.

The first book in the Tagore Society Literary Series On Tagore was first published in 1984 and distributed to many public and University libraries in the Unites States. Is is also catalogued in the U.S. Library of Congress, The onerous duty of publishing the second book in the Tagore Literary Series has been entrusted in the efficient hands of Dr. Renuka Biswas during her visit to Calcutta in the Summer of 1991.

Under the able leadership of Mr. Amiya Patnaik, immediate president and Dr. Khondkar M. Alamgir, the current president the society has made collaborative efforts for propagation of Tagores literature and creative works with other organizations and undertaken a number of new programs and activities during the past few years as described here.