Resistance and/as Humanism: Birth of Agency in Rabindranath Tagore’s Mukta Dharo

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) celebrates resistance against the logic of the machine as an act of public welfare in Mukta Dhara (1922) in quest of human capability to bring about change in the existing order. The play places the natural flow of the waterfall as the central question in a tussle between two states: Uttarakut and Shiv-terai. The river, Mukta Dhara, flows from the northern mountains to the lower plains, sustaining the life in the plains. The technically advanced northern state, Uttarakut turns arrogant as it succeeds in erecting a dam across the w, aterfall, whereby imprisoning the flow and denying water to the people of the lower land. The central conflict results into the awakening of agency in Uttarakut in the struggle for justice for the weak. Despite the unending appreciation from the ruling elite for the machine above Bhairav temple in Uttarakut, the Prince Abhijit sees the embedded injustice of his own state upon the people of the plains. He consciously sacrifices himself setting the flow free. Abhijit’s resistance realizes Tagore’s deep conviction for humanity. By using close reading and textual analysis, this paper seeks to examine in the text two concepts: resistance and humanism. Primarily, the analysis presents the act of resistance as humanistic traits. Besides, it seeks to uncover the interconnectedness between the two concepts in order to see how each of them can independently stand as unique concept on their own. This paper examines the relationship between resistance and humanism in the backdrop of birth of agency to bring about deeds for public welfare and further interrogates resistance as an act of humanism.