When Rabindranath Tagore turned to women in his family for ideas

The Tagore family has long been the focus of public curiosity and like its men, women of this illustrious family have had a great and enduring influence on the life and people of Bengal and also on the Nobel laureate, says a new book.

"Women of the Tagore Household" by Chitra Deb and translated by Smita Chowdhry and Sona Roy reveals hitherto unknown aspects of women's emancipation in Bengal in which the
women of the Jarasanko Tagore family were at the forefront.

Chandramukhi and Kadambini were the first two female graduates of India, Protiva opened up music and dramatics to
women by preparing musical notations for Brahmo sangeet and
Hindustani classical music, and Pragya's prefaces to her
cookbooks are still considered storehouses of not only recipes
but also homemaking skills.

The role of Rabindranath Tagore's sisters and sisters-in-law was no less important than that of his brothers in creating a literary atmosphere for budding poets. 

"Even in his later years, Rabindranath always turned to the women in his family while trying to give shape to his ideas on music, dance and drama. The women of the Tagore family deserve to be remembered for this alone, even if their own contributions to artistic fields were not as spectacular as those of the men," the book, published by Penguin, says. 

According to the writer, women of the Tagore household portray several generations of connoisseurs, aesthetes and lovers of literature who were nurtured under the umbrella of cultural richness and spiritual freedom that the extended family provided.

Rabindranath's wife Mrinalini and his sister-in-law Kadambari, had considerable influence on the young poet; the progressive Jnandanandini sailed alone to England in the 19th century, presenting to ordinary women a vision of courage and daring; and Sushama broke out of the confines of music, literature and culinary arts, to tread the path of women's empowerment, the book says.

"The most important gifts that Bengali women received from the ladies of the Tagore family were self-confidence and a wide road on which to march ahead. This preceded contributions to music, art and literature. 

This is why the various activities of these ladies, like cantering on horseback along the Maidan, and travelling to England, crossing to the kalapani (as the Bay of Bengal was called then), attending parties at the Viceregal Palaca, lecture-tours in the US, school education, lessons in painting and establishment of various women’s organisations became important," Deb writes.

"These acts were necessary to sow the seeds of courage in the faint hearts of Bengali women and to give a jolt to the static society."