omonatheydid | Tagore fired Korean imagination 81 years ago

M R Venkatesh SEOUL, July 25, DHNS

An elevating poem penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1929 that presaged Korea as a ''Lamp of the East'' has now, 81 years later, become a cornerstone to deepen India-Korea relationship.The epigrammatic verse that Tagore wrote, capturing Korea’s glorious past and signaling a bright future by eulogising it as a “lamp waiting to be lighted once again for the illumination of the East,” has fired the imagination of Korea which later emerged as one of the world’s largest techno-economies.

While there is already a Tagore Society in Korea with some of Tagore’s famous works, including the Nobel winning “Gitanjali” having been translated into Korean by a woman writer Kim Yang-Shik, the Republic of Korea (RoK) government came up with a unique gesture to immortalise Gurudev.

Coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore this year, the RoK has recently offered a place in Seoul’s cultural heart of Daehangro, to install a bronze bust of the poet.

President of India Pratibha Patil on Monday paid floral tributes to the statue of the great poet.

The approximately four-foot high metal masterpiece has been carved by master sculptor from India Gautam Pal and was gifted to Korea by the Indian Council For Cultural Relations, Indian Embassy.

“This is the first bust for any foreign dignitary or writer that has been installed in Seoul,” said Indian Ambassador to Korea Skand R Tayal. The statue placed alongside a busy thoroughfare of Seoul, which attracts a lot of Korean students, “is a fitting memorial for the great poet,” said Sanjay Singh, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs .

Tagore had been to Tokyo in 1920s when the Japanese were ruling the roost in Korea. At that time, some Korean freedom fighters urged him to visit Korea, but the poet could not then travel to Korea, recalled the Indian Ambassador. Yet, Tagore in an inspirational moment composed a poem on Korea, “which is even now taught in the history books of school children here,” Skand said.

As predicted by Tagore, it was only a matter of time that Korea lived up to his prophecy of being the “Lamp of the East” by emerging as a powerful nation.

Tagore’s statue, which will become a permanent landmark in this booming metropolis and a symbol of his admiration and love for Korea, was formally unveiled by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar here on May 18, 2011.

The Korean government’s gesture also coincided with the “Festival of India” in Korea inaugurated earlier in April this year.

FYI, Tagore is the first Asian Nobel laureate and considered a cultural asset in India.