English Literature for Lawyers

Module- 3
Literary Text (Poetry)

Lecture- 24-25

Topic

Where the Mind is Without Fear by Rabindra Nath Tagore

About Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian poet, born in 1861 in what was then Calcutta, India. He was
and is the foremost poet in the Bengali language, and was also versed in short stories, plays,
and essay writing, as well as painting and composing music. He started writing poetry early and
throughout his life he would publish several books as well as a complete collection of his work.

In 1913 he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His goal was to
blend the best of Indian and Western poetry, an element of his writing clearly present in his
poem, Where the Mind is Without Fear. During the time in which this poem was written India was
still under the control of the British Empire. In 1915, only 5 years after this poem was written,
Tagore was awarded a knighthood but gave it up in protest only four years later when British
troops killed 400 Indian demonstrators. He died in 1941 in Calcutta.

About Poem

Where the Mind is Without Fear is poem No. 72 of Rabindranath’s poetical work Naivedya which
was published in the Bengali year 1308. This volume of one hundred poems, appropriately entitled
‘Naivedya‘, was dedicated by the author to his venerable 83 year old father Maharshi
Debendranath Tagore. When Rabindranath read out these poems in manuscript to his father, he
was so pleased that he gave his son a purse to meet the expenses of the publication of this volume.

The poem was translated into English by the post himself. It was included (the English version
No. 35), with fifteen other poems of ‘Naivedya,’ in the English version of Gitanjali, first issued in

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a limited edition of 750 copies only by the India Society of London on November 1, 1912. The
next year in March, Macmillan & Co. first published a popular edition of the English Gitanjali.
This was done before the award of the Nobel Prize.

Where the Mind is Without Fear Title

The title of the original Bengali poem is “Prarthana” (A Prayer). It is lyric No. 72 of Naivedya,
which means Offering. The poem has no title in the English version. It is verse No. 35 in the
English Gitanjali. The first line of the poem has been used as its title. It is a very simple way of
selecting a title. This first line however strikes the keynote of the poem. The poem was written in
1901, when India was under British rule. In the poem the poet prays to God to give his country
true freedom. This freedom means not only the absence of every bondage social, political and
economic, but it also means the freedom of the mind, courage in the pursuit of knowledge and
truth, and the fearless exercise of reason. The poet fervently invokes the Father of all mankind to
lift his country into that heaven of true freedom and perfection.

Where the Mind is Without Fear Theme

The poem is about true freedom. According to the poet, true freedom is an inner possession of man
and it can be realized only with God’s help. It means moral and spiritual uplift of the people under
divine guidance. Freedom should give India courage and should induce her people to pursue the
path of knowledge and truth. It should liberate her from narrow prejudices and superstitions and
make her people sincere in word and action.

We, men and women of India, must make a supreme mental and spiritual effort to achieve this true
freedom with God’s help and guidance. This true freedom is true patriotisms and it is something
more than narrow nationalism or “self-love of Nations”.

Where the Mind is Without Fear Summary

The poet is dissatisfied with the present state of his country. He invokes God to awaken his
motherland with a rude shock and make this country an ideal place. With God’s help, the men and
women of India will get true freedom. For this, Indians must be fearless in mind and dignified in
conduct. There must not be any barrier to the search for knowledge and truth Indians must be free

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from all Darrow habits and dead customs. There must not be narrow divisions in the way of the
realization of human unity. Indians must be frank and truthful and must strive tirelessly to achieve
perfection in an ever-expanding Field of thought and action. They must be sincere in word and
deed based on clear reason. The poet prays that with God’s our motherland will achieve this true
freedom of mind and spirit, and not merely the freedom from foreign rule.

Where the Mind is Without Fear Analysis

Rabindranath was a true patriot: he was never a narrow nationalist. “My country, right or wrong”,
was never his creed. To him love of God and love of the people are complementary and these two
justify and fulfill each other. Religion and patriotism reinforce each other.

In the poems of Naivedya, hymns to the Divine are also prayers for the people. The ideal that the
poet held aloft for his country and for which he invoked divine aid was also his ideal for every
other country of the world. Rabindranath rose above that narrow patriotism which is aggressive
and unmindful of other’s good. He protests against the so-called patriotism which means self-love
of Nations and which makes a man forget the higher values and principles of human life.

The poem “Where the Mind is Without Fear” is the English version of a famous Bengali poem
composed by Rabindranath Tagore, and first published in his Bengali poetical work, Naivedya
(1901). Later on it was included in the Gitanjali (an offering of songs), published in English in
1912-13, and occurs at No. 35.

It is one of Tagore’s most popular and admired lyrics and shows his firm faith in God and His
benevolence. It is suffused with patriotic feelings and shows the poet’s vision of a free and ideal
India. It is a remarkably inspiring poem in which the poet envisions an ideal future for his
motherland. He dreams of a free India in which people will lead a good and virtuous life.

It satisfies and appeals to the intellect and inculcates a desire for the growth of moral and spiritual
values for which India had been a beacon light to the rest of the world. The poet seems to have felt
deeply and intensely all that has suggestive of Tagore’s love for India and her culture. He
visualizes a country where the people’s minds will be free from fear and narrow-mindedness such
as casteism, racialism, conservatism, etc. In free India everybody will have equal right to attain

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knowledge. People will remain fully united and live like one community. All old and lifeless
beliefs, blind customs and superstitions will be abolished and clear reason will reign. There will
be an atmosphere of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment, and people will always follow the
right path. They will be inspired by God, and arise and awaken in this ‘heaven of freedom.’

By heaven of freedom’ the poet means not only political and economic freedom, but also spiritual
freedom from fear, superstitions, narrow-mindedness and evil desires and motives. This kind of
spiritual freedom the poet envisages for his country.

The poem is rather unusual as a poem on freedom. In this poem, the poet preaches the gospel of a
new patriotism which is without fear, without narrow prejudices, and which is based on truth and
reason and is realized under God’s spiritual guidance.

The song is a fine example of Tagore’s spiritual humanism. It speaks of his love for freedom, and
is intensely patriotic in nature. The whole poem is in the form of a single sentence. The key to this
sentence is provided in the last line where the poet prays to God to grant true freedom to his
country. The rest of the poem is concerned with explaining what this freedom really means. The
poet calls it the ‘heaven of freedom.’

Where the Mind is Without Fear Line by Line Explanation

11. where the mind is without fear- The poet wishes that his countrymen (i. e. the Indians) should
be free from all sorts of fear. They should be able to live and think independently and fearlessly.

and the head is held high– People hold their heads high with self-respect and dignity.

12. where knowledge is free– Where all have equal opportunities to gain knowledge without any
distinction.

23. where the world…narrow domestic walls– Where the people are not divided into small groups
on the basis of their caste, creed, language, region, etc.

broken up– divided into

fragments– small groups

narrow domestic walls- narrow- minded family prejudices.

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14. where words come out from the depth of truth – Where people speak from their conscience;
where people are honest and truthful.

15. where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection-Where people never fell tired of
making fresh efforts to improve themselves and achieve perfection in all fields of life.

tireless– untiring.

striving– efforts.

stretches– holds out.

perfection-an ideal state, moral and spiritual excellences.

16. where the clear stream of reason of dead habit– Where all antiquated customs, lifeless, habits,
blind beliefs and superstitions will be abolished, and clear reason will reign.

the clear stream of reason– reason is spoken of as a stream of clear water.

lost its way– digressed from the right path.

dreary– dry dull.

desert sand– Dry barren land where nothing can be produced.

dead habit– old, antiquated, lifeless habits, customs, beliefs, dogmas, superstitions, etc.

17. where the mind is led forward.. action– Where people will be inspired by God to pursue their
ever-expanding thoughts and

ever-widening actions.

led forward– inspired, guided.

by thee– by God.

ever-widening– always expanding.

18. Into that heaven of freedom…awake– The poet fervently prays to God to lead his country to
such a ‘heaven of freedom’ where spiritual outlook, universal brotherhood, free education, unity,
peace, truth, reason, love, lofty thoughts and noble actions will reign supreme.

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heaven of freedom-.e. spiritual freedom from tyranny, injustice, exploitation, fear, slavery,
falsehood, hatred, and evil desires and motives.

my Father– the Almighty God, Creator of the universe.

let my country awake– rise and live in this heaven of freedom

Summary

Where The Mind Is Without Fear turns from a religious to a patriotic theme. Tagore prays for the
freedom of the country and that too an ideal freedom. He prays that his country become a place
where a man can go with his mind, free of any fear and where he can hold his head high with self-
respect and dignity. A country where everybody has free access to knowledge and where narrow
boundaries set up between man due to caste, creed, region, and religion, do not exist and the
country is therefore not broken up into small pieces. A new and free India where people speak
with the conviction of truth and man earnestly endeavors and endlessly tries to achieve perfection.

A country where man's power of determining right and wrong is not forced to stagnate and die like
a desert stream dies in the sand, where his power of reasoning would not be choked by old,
orthodox, and outdated customs, habits, and traditions. Where man's mind is always inspired by
God to go forward and progress and achieve better thought and action. Finally, he prays to God
that his country is changed from the darkness of ignorance and slavery into a heaven; "let our
country awake a free country, a heaven, a paradise."

Analysis

Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo (Gitanjali 35) is a distinctly political and patriotic poem amongst the
religious lyrics that make the Gitanjali. Though the subject is patriotic and political, the form is
still religious, it is Tagore's prayer to God for a country, a free India evolved with the qualities and
characteristics to be idealized and cherished. And which he feels that all his countrymen would
adopt. He in this poem prays for the spiritual emancipation of his country and therefore a country
where man can move fearlessly and can conduct themselves in a national and truthful manner with

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nobility and generosity. Where every individual can be imparted knowledge freely, where there
are no bounds nor are there any fragmentation of the country are too the boundaries of cast, creed
and religion. Where a man can strive for perfection and his mind is not bound by outdated habits
and customs.

Tagore prays fervently for such a country and prays for "a heavenly freedom", this paradise would
be a place full of spiritual freedom rather than material.

"Where the mind is without fear and head is held high; where knowledge is free; where the world
has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls where words come out from the
depth of truth."

The lyric is inspiring and patriotic. These effective lines depict the prayerful mood of the poet who
asks God to lead him and his people to a plane where the mind is fearless, knowledge is free, it is
not narrow and bonded in the shackles of orthodoxy and selfishness. Into that region where there
is regard for truth, where there is yearning for perfection, and reason, is respected, he prays to God
to awaken his country.

Tagore here expresses his conception of his Ideal Country. He does not believe in mere political
independence but wants to make an all-round progress and also to inculcate the highest ethical
qualities. The patriotic passage is the influential one. That Tagore is a great patriotic writer can be
seen in the fact that his songs have shaped revolutions not only in India but also recently in
Bangladesh as well.

"Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; where the clear stream of reason has
not lost its way into the dreary desert or sand of dead habit; where the mind is led forward by thee
into ever-widening through and action - Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country
awake."

The lines make it clear that the poem is in the form of the poet's earnest prayer to God to deliver
his country out of the shackles of slavery and to transform it into a heaven on earth. Citizens of
new, independent, India should not be bound by dead customs and obsolete orthodoxies, since they
stultify reason. 'The progress of India has always been impeded by the fact that many of its people
have slavishly followed retrograde customs and rituals and never given free play to their reasoning
faculty. They should believe in God, so that He inspires them continually into ever increasing

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mental and physical efforts. A country cannot progress, in fact, it cannot even retain its
independence if its citizens do not always strive for progress. Tagore's dream of an independent
and progressive India is very inspiring.

Annotation

The head is held high: in a free country men live with their head held high with self-respect and
dignity and are not democratized by slavery.

Narrow domestic walls: the walls of caste, creed, religion, region etc.

Tireless striving: unending, ceaseless struggle, to endeavor endlessly.

Stream of reason: faculty of determining right and wrong.

Dreary desert sand of dead habit: old and outdated customs and traditions that are like desert sand
that absorbs water, bring man's reason to a halt.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

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