India to Organise Cultural Festival in Egypt to mark Tagore's 156th Birth Anniversary

India will organise Tagore cultural  Festival in Egypt to mark the 156th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore from May 8-12. Tagore Festival will be organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC), which is the cultural wing of the Indian Embassy in Cairo. The fest will be organised in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Cairo Opera House, Cultural Production Sector, Dancers’ Guild and the Indian Community Association in Egypt. The festival will feature a dance show, film screening, a play and painting competition.  As a part of the festival, a dance drama based on Tagore’s work called ‘Chitrangada‘ will be performed by the Kolkata-based Dancers’ Guild. Chitrangada is the warrior princess in the epic, Mahabharata.

Egypt’s Connection

Tagore visited Egypt as a young adolescent in 1878 and later in 1926. Tagore was impressed by the strong literary trends of Egypt. On his visit, he met King Fouad and has interacted with many scholars in Alexandria and Cairo. He had an enduring friendship with Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawki and wrote a moving eulogy on his death in 1932. Tagore had also written about the beautiful relationship between the Nile River and the flourishing civilisation of Egyptians.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a famous Indian poet (1861-1941). He was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his collection of poems, ‘Gitanjali‘. His poetry, novels, plays, short stories and essays are world famous and are widely read across the world. He has contributed immensely to Bengali literature and India’s literary heritage. Rabindranath Tagore had renounced his knighthood protesting against the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre. Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore who was associated with the Brahmo Samaj.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2017