Rabindranath Tagore in Germany

In the framework of forthcoming Indo – German year, Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS) together with Federation of Indo German Societies (FIGS) organized two culture, political programs on the topic Tagore and Germany. Both the events were organized in New Delhi in different locations with different contents. The first event took place on 3.2.2011 in an open forest area of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). It was a perfect area for this event. JNU is one of the outstanding elite universities in India. This event was mainly address to the German department and their students. Moreover there were students and professors from another elite university in Delhi namely Delhi University. Since 2006 HSS along with FIGS has been organizing a scholarship program with both these universities.

 

Dr. Martin Kämpchen, a scholar who is living and teaching since over 30 years in the Tagore Centre at Shanti Niketan in the state of Bengal, gave an introduction on the topic in German, after the welcome note by Dr. Volker Bauer Resident Representative of the Hanns Seidel Foundation New Delhi. Poems of Tagore which were part of his entire creative period, was firstly recited by a native speaker and a former scholar of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Bengali and then later was translated and interpreted in German by Dr. Kämpchen. The audience enjoyed the program in devotional silence. During “High Tea” Dr. Kämpchen could still discuss with the guests.

 

The second Tagore program “Rabindranath Tagore in Germany”. The history and its relevance for today” was organized on 4.2.2011 at the Indian International Centre (IIC). The IIC in Delhi is a meeting place for political, scientific, business, culture events which is located in the heart of New Delhi. Hanns Seidel Foundation along with Federation of Indo German Societies invited over a hundred Indian German guests at IIC.

 

Ambassador Lambha President of Federation of Indo German Societies along with Mr. Jawhar Sircar Culture Secretary of Ministry of India opened the session for the evening. Later Dr. Kämpchen gave a lecture on the life of Tagore in Germany. He also highlighted the meeting of Tagore with Thomas Mann in Munich in 1921.

 

Later a book “Rabindranath Tagore in Germany” by the authors Dr. Kämpchen, Rothermund and Ambassador Lambha was inaugurated by Mr. Jawhar Sircar.

 

Mr. Jawhar Sircar emphasized on the importance of the topic and congratulated the organizers for this successful and timely event. The event which lasted nearly for 2 hours came to an end by the songs sung by Mrs. Jayati Ghosh. These songs were written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. Mrs. Ghosh played the Harmonium and was accompanied by two colleagues on the Tabla and Keyboard.

 

Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Noble Prize for Literature in 1913, devoted himself during his creative period on the numerous topics such as charity as well as love for home and nature. The songs were based on that. Also the text of the Indian national anthem was written by Tagore.

 

Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941) is the most famous poet of modern India. As the first Asian, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. His universal genius created literature in all genres, he established a school and a university, acted as an actor, singer of his own songs, as a painter and a social reformer in the villages. Dr. Kämpchen is the first person who presented Tagore for German speaking readers in a selection of fifty poems and songs, which included poems and songs of his entire creative periods.

 

Tagore visited Germany thrice and enjoyed it very much. Dr. Kämpchen published his research on Tagore's relationship with Germany of the 1920s in several books. The recent book describes about Tagore’s relationship with the philosopher Hermann Keyserling, Kurt Wolff (his publisher), Helene Meyer Franck (his translator) and Heinrich Meyer – Benfey (his most ardent literary propagator)

Source: http://www.martin-kaempchen.com/tagore.htm

 

Dr. Martin Kämpchen was born in 1948 at Boppard (Rhine) and studied German literature, dramatics, philosophy and French in Vienna and Paris. He obtained a Ph.D. in 1973 and completed his second study of comparative religion in India (Madras and Shanti Niketan) with a comparison of Ramakrishna and Francis of Assisi with a further dissertation. Since 1980 Martin Kämpchen is working in India (Shanti Niketan) as a writer, translator and journalist and has made a mark for himself as an editor of literary works of Rabindranath Tagore and anthologies of contemporary Indian literature, also the monographs such as Günter Grass in India. Beside his regular lectures on Indian themes in Germany, since many years he is a cultural reporter of the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeinen in India.

Source: http://www.indieninstitut.de/go/cms/upload/pdf/Vortrag_von_Dr._Martin_Kaempchen.pdf