In an era marked by fragmentation- political, ecological, and existential- Rabindranath Tagore's vision of a borderless humanism resonates with urgent clarity. This book, Cosmopolitanism and the 'Universal Man' in Tagore's Literary and Philosophical Texts, seeks not merely to analyse his ideas but to reanimate them as tools for global renewal. Tagore's life and work defy categorization: he was a poet who founded a university, a novelist who debated Einstein, a global icon who rooted his ethics in village soil. His synthesis of Upanishadic spirituality, Baul mysticism, and Enlightenment rationality offers a blueprint for transcending the binaries of our time- tradition versus modernity, nationalism versus globalism, human versus machine.
As you journey through these pages, you will encounter Tagore as both a historical figure and a living interlocutor. His critiques of mechanized modernity, articulated a century ago, speak directly to Silicon Valley's algorithmic empires. His ecological ethos, rooted in the belief that "the world is one nest," challenges the extractive logic driving climate collapse. His insistence that education must "awaken joy in creative expression" rebukes the transactional utilitarianism of contemporary pedagogy. This book is an invitation to dialogue with Tagore's legacy, to test his ideas against the crises of our age, and to rediscover the radical hope that sustains both art and action.