On July 6, 2024, Tagore Center hosted a discussion on the reception of Tagore in Ukraine. It was held within the framework of the EEDI project: Ukraine and South Asia: Open Dialogues, supported by the International Renaissance Foundation and in cooperation with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Presenter: Dr. Mridula Ghosh, Associate Professor, NaUKMA and Board Chair, EEDI. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Yulia Fil, Research Associate of the Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The background for the discussion is the article published in The World of the Orient. It describes how Ukrainians at the start of the century received Tagore with great appreciation, it was very similar to all Europeans, from the west and east parts of the continent. But the difference was, they saw in Tagore, who was from colonial India, the possibility of realization of the dream of freedom. What impact Tagore, the “great wise mystic from the East” brought to the minds of the intellectuals? Much of the Ukrainian heritage was not discussed in Soviet historiography and literature on Tagore. Many of the poets, translators suffered Stalinist repression. Later, Soviet authorities preferred to omit their names, although these contributions were significant for the nascent Ukrainian Oriental Studies. The author of the article and presenter will take questions from the audience. Please download to read the article at the following link: https://oriental-world.org.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/708